New Web-Community Seeks to Remove Isolation in Scheduling K-12 Schools
Princeton, New Jersey – June 9, 2008 – Cimple Systems, a leading provider of Student Information Systems, has launched a website for the K-12 community, where for the first time ever school administrators will be able to connect with their peers from other schools nationwide—even globally, in sharing common problems and concerns. CimpleOnDemand.com will be officially presented to the education community at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) being held from June 30th to July 2nd in San Antonio, Texas. “The goal of the site is to create an effective environment, where solutions concerning student needs can be found. The end result is that the students benefit,” says Art Ardolino, Cimple’s CEO. Currently, CimpleOnDemand.com provides this unique resource for administrators. In the Fall of 2008, teachers, students, and parents can join. (Membership is free, with the site funded through the development of corporate partnerships and sponsors.)
The thrust for CimpleOnDemand.com is to offer an alternative for the K-12 community, rather than them having to work in isolation and struggling with various problems, such as student scheduling, the site provides a real-time forum, where members working together will be able to share concerns, solve problems and achieve results. Membership as mentioned, is free, and includes community support, on-line lessons, self-service tools and software at no cost. Professional programs and services, offered for a fee, provide members with the training and help from experts, if needed, to address their specific needs.
CimpleOnDemand is working in step with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, which reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)—the main federal law affecting education from kindergarten through high school. NCLB is built on four principles: accountability for results, more choices for parents, greater local control and flexibility, and an emphasis on doing what works based on scientific research. In January 2007, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings released the Administration’s NCLB reauthorization proposal, Building on Results: A Blueprint for Strengthening the No Child Left Behind Act.
Indeed, it is much more difficult to maintain any level of accountability (one of NCLB’s four pillars) while so many schools are operating in isolation. Mr. Ardolino says, “The isolationism of our schools is a chief cause of the education crisis in our nation today”. He goes on to say, “According to Hoovers.com, a D&B Company, there are 50 million students in the U.S. K-12 public school systems, with a combined annual budget of $350 billion,” which, given the size of the industry, makes the crisis that much more tragic”, he concludes.
In fact, nationally recognized scheduling consultant, Dr. Joel Brodsky, who has over 35 years experience as a public school administrator, says, "There is a missing link in the scheduling of schools today contributing to the education crisis, where students are not being optimally matched with the resources they need.” Indeed, seventeen of the nation’s 50 largest cities had a high school graduation rate lower than 50 percent, according to America’s Promise Alliance.
Mr. Ardolino continues, “Many people do not realize that 85 percent of the nation’s K-12 public school districts have less than 5,000 students*, which makes the problem that much more acute. Regardless of its size, most school principals are isolated, working alone within their own buildings. This greatly contributes to the fragmentation of the market,” he concludes.
CimpleOnDemand seeks to instantly bring help to administrators struggling in finding better ways to serve today’s schools. Hundreds of schools have been helped so far in the northeast. The goal now is to share this approach and technology with thousands of schools nationally and globally. Dr. Brodsky goes on to say, “ The tie-in of the need within the schools, coupled with today’s technology and the growing trend of community web-based sharing is perfect. In fact, even the corporate-funding connection makes sense, given their interest in wanting to invest in a child’s education: their future workforce,” he concludes.
Cimple’s OnDemand Scheduling Software is ideal for today’s schools because it is incredibly simple and easy to use. It saves administrators hundreds of hours, because it’s smart. Built with artificial intelligence, it thinks of all the scheduling possibilities; it tries the best options available; it learns from its successes and mistakes; it makes numerous decisions, balancing student needs with teacher restrictions and qualifications, and it ultimately schedules the best choice for each and every student. Scheduling is done in less time, with fewer problems and with better results. This eliminates the missing link of matching a student’s needs with the appropriate and available resources.
At the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in San Antonio, Texas, Cimple will host the Grand Opening of CimpleOnDemand.com at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 1st at the Marriott River Center Hotel. Wine and cheese, will follow a short presentation and exhibit prize winners will be announced.
Cimple pioneered in the 1980s on the IBM PC with the use artificial intelligence in its student scheduling software, enabling the machine to think and to learn from its mistakes. In the 1990s, Cimple reinvented its Student Information System (SIS) using Model Drive Architecture with Plug-In and Add-On Software Components producing the first Built-To-Order systems. Today, Cimple is a leading provider of Student Information Systems. Its K-12 District Wide Enterprise Solution uses a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) built with Microsoft .NET framework and it includes an All-In-One Data Center for Central Administrators to have historical student data for multiple years.
*Source: U.S. Department of Education
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Press Contact:
Arthur J. Ardolino,
President and CEO
Cimple Systems, Inc.
ajardolino@cimple.com(609) 452-6484 office
(732) 501-3144 cell
Cimple is a registered trademark of Cimple Systems, Inc. Other company and product names are trademarks of their respective owners; namely, IBM and Microsoft.