Pinnacle Suite Offers Educators and Administrators One Comprehensive Solution for Impacting Instruction and Achievement

GREELEY, Colo. (Jan. 23, 2009) – Focusing on what educators can accomplish using technology, considering the student as the central concern, and understanding that school leaders need dynamic, collaborative tools to manage their schools and districts effectively, Excelsior Software has developed a comprehensive solution to meet this need.  Long trusted for its assessment and reporting capabilities, the Pinnacle Suite now provides an all-inclusive set of tools, bringing together the previously separated pieces that stakeholders need for efficient data-driven decision-making.

Fully web-based, the Pinnacle Suite now allows administrators and educators anytime, anywhere access to student information, manage curriculum, formative and summative assessments, and find supplementary resources through one flexible, easy-to-use system.  The recent addition of the ExLogica, Inc., student information system and scheduler to the Pinnacle Suite broadens both the scope of the product and the benefits it now offers schools and districts.

Through continued development, and collaborations with ExLogica, Inc., and GlobalScholar – parent company of Excelsior Software – the Pinnacle Suite seamlessly integrates six main modules, centered on the student information system:

• Gradebook (attendance, grading, standards tracking)
• Curriculum (resources lesson plans, activities)
• Assessment (benchmarks and measurements)
• Supplemental Education Services (professional development, external instruction, external resources)
• Analysis (remediation, RTI, item analysis)
• Student information system (student data, schedules, reporting)

“This combination of tools, functionality and resources offers educators and administrators a complete end-to-end solution,” said Brad Baird, Chief Operations Officer of Excelsior Software.  “With the addition of a student-centered SIS and digital-age learning resources, we are giving school leaders and classroom teachers the ability to truly make decisions in real time through effective data analysis.  The Pinnacle Suite offers one single interface to access the tools and data they need to accomplish their goals, directly affecting the student learning experience.”

The addition of the SIS allows school leaders to integrate assessment information with student data effectively, streamlining the processing and analysis of each student’s educational record.  The new SIS provides powerful tools to manage all student-related data, including schedules, contact information, discipline, enrollment, transportation, attendance, extracurricular activities, compliance with NCLB, Title I, ESL, and more.  Additionally, data is archived for longitudinal analysis, and the system’s Telephony API allows for efficient and transparent communication with parents.

Providing teachers hundreds of learning resources and benchmarks to integrate into their curriculum, the Pinnacle Suite also encourages parent participation by offering a user-friendly parent portal where educators can share student feedback and remediation goals, building an extended, supportive learning community.

The expanded Pinnacle Suite is available this spring with pricing based on student enrollment.  For more information about the Pinnacle Suite, visit www.pinnaclesuite.com

About the Pinnacle Suite
The company’s Pinnacle Suite provides educators the tools and real-time data needed to have a meaningful impact on student performance from one comprehensive online solution: a newly integrated student information system; the industry’s premier standards-based gradebook; intuitive tools to effectively create, manage and align content, assessments, curriculum, standards, and supplemental learning resources; advanced data reporting and analytics technology.  Excelsior Software works with educators in nearly 1,000 districts nationwide, and its Pinnacle system is the sole student assessment software product recommended by internationally recognized educator, scholar, author, and expert in the field of standards-based grading and assessment, Robert J. Marzano.

About Excelsior Software
Based in Greeley, Colo., Excelsior Software is committed to raising student achievement by providing immediate access to performance information, increasing teacher productivity and improving communication.  As the pioneer of the electronic gradebook concept in 1986, the company’s experience in assessment management supports educators by delivering the technical innovations that meet the needs of today’s evolving data-driven educational system.  Excelsior Software is a wholly owned subsidiary of GlobalScholar, a member of the Knowledge Universe family of companies.  For more information, please visit http://www.excelsiorsoftware.com or phone 800-473-4572.

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