Continuation of 8-Year Collaboration Ensures Students and Educators Access to Engaging K-12 Digital Resources
Silver Spring, Md. (January 15, 2020) – The North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) today announced the extension of its 8-year partnership with Discovery Education, the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms. This collaboration, which creates dynamic digital learning environments for students across North Carolina with high-quality content from the award-winning Discovery Education Experience, is a critical component of NCVPS’s learning model.
Since its founding in 2007, NCVPS has grown to become the second-largest virtual school in the country. This growth can be attributed to the ever-expanding set of educational options NCVPS makes available to students, including:
- hard-to-staff subjects like: Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese,
- over 150 courses, such as Advanced Placement (AP) and blended courses for the Occupational Course of Study, and
- opportunities for participating middle schools to offer students a chance to gain high school credit.
This past year, over 57,000 students enrolled in NCVPS courses and 115 North Carolina school districts, over sixty charter schools, plus private and home-schooled students have attended the school. Today, NCVPS offers six different educational programs: Traditional, Occupational Course of Study, Flex Learning, Math Intervention, Middle School, and English Language Learners
“The North Carolina Virtual Public School is pleased to continue this longtime partnership with Discovery Education,” said NCVPS’s Chief Operations Officer Mia Murphy, Ed.D. “Discovery Education Experience provides our highly qualified teachers access to best-in-class, engaging digital content that helps them personalize the learning of all the students they serve.”
Discovery Education Experience—the latest iteration of Discovery Education’s popular Streaming Plus service—is a comprehensive digital service supplementing instruction across all K–12 curricular areas. Discovery Education Experience assists educators in creating real-world learning opportunities that engage all students and lead to improved academic achievement. The service’s standards-aligned content is assignable and can be bookmarked and saved for later use and remixed to meet the varying needs of diverse student populations in a safe and secure environment. In addition, the service’s up-to-date, high-quality, and ever-growing digital content collections, as well as a library of immersive virtual field trips and viewing parties, are drawn from trusted partners.
Students in elementary, middle and high school that have regular access to Discovery Education’s comprehensive, K-12 digital content service have higher attendance rates and are outpacing their peers on state assessments in reading, mathematics, and social studies. Additional findings tell a consistent story of how access to Discovery Education’s supplemental content services can be linked to higher student achievement, especially for racial/ethnic minorities and students impacted by poverty, disabilities, and limited English proficiency. Click here to learn more.
In addition to providing NCVPS’s educators continued access to Discovery Education Experience, the renewal of this partnership ensures the Discovery Education Community will continue supporting the Virtual School’s teachers. A global community of education professionals, the Discovery Education Community connects members across school systems and around the world through social media, virtual conferences, and in-person events, fostering valuable networking, idea sharing, and inspiration.
“Discovery Education’s partnership with the North Carolina Virtual Public School has, for 8 years, ensured students from the Appalachians to the Outer Banks access to rich, multimedia content that captures learners’ attention and drives engagement in instruction,” said Shawn Ferrell, Discovery Education’s Manager of Partner Success. “We look forward to continuing this great collaboration, as it supports our shared mission to support the success of each student.”
For more information on the North Carolina Virtual Public School, visit https://ncvps.org.
For more information about Discovery Education’s digital curriculum and resources, visit www.discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Facebook, follow us on Twitter at @DiscoveryEd, or find us on Instagram and Pinterest.
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About Discovery Education:
Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms. Through its award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia resources, and the largest professional learning network of its kind, Discovery Education is transforming teaching and learning, creating immersive STEM experiences, and improving academic achievement around the globe. Discovery Education’s services are available in approximately half of U.S. classrooms and primary schools in the U.K. and reach over 5 million educators and 51 million students in more than 90 countries. Inspired by the global media company Discovery, Inc., Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and like-minded organizations to empower teachers with customized solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.
Contact:
Discovery Education
Stephen Wakefield
Email: SWakefield@discoveryed.com
Phone: (240) 463-2894