netTrekker Partners With the Arkansas Department of Education to Provide Students, Educators With High-Quality Online Content

CINCINNATI, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The Arkansas Department of Education (ADOE) has signed a two-year agreement with netTrekker, a leader in the delivery of digital K-12 educational content and developer of the leading educational search tool, to provide districts statewide with access to online instructional resources. Through the partnership, more than 460,000 public school students and teachers will have access to the netTrekker search tool for the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years. Students enrolled in teacher education programs also will gain access to netTrekker, allowing them to become familiar with its features and capabilities to incorporate resources in their own classrooms in the future.

"The Arkansas Department of Education is pleased that netTrekker's resources and features are now available to all public school students and teachers in Arkansas," said Jim Boardman, assistant commissioner of research and technology for the Arkansas Department of Education. "The netTrekker tools ensure that students and teachers will receive excellent, educationally relevant Internet search results and instructional resources."

netTrekker provides students and educators with over 300,000 educator-reviewed and state standards-aligned digital resources. A universal design for learning and a variety of unique features designed to support personalized learning enable netTrekker to support every student's individual learning needs.

The state's two-year subscription for netTrekker's service also supports the EAST® Initiative, a program funded by the ADOE that focuses on student-driven service projects through the use of technology. Established in 1996, the EAST Initiative has successfully engaged students in their education, their communities and emerging technologies.

"netTrekker's powerful, collaborative tools help our students to explore and develop their projects," said Matt Dozier, president and CEO of the EAST Initiative. "We believe that the work we are doing together will lead to a better educational experience for our students and ultimately to their contributions in improving communities around the world."

Many educators in the state were already using netTrekker through district subscriptions. "netTrekker has been the first stop for our student Internet research for the last three years," said Jim Yeager, director of instructional technology for Pottsville School District in Pottsville. "Not only has it saved our students countless hours of fruitless searching, but it has added a collection of valuable tools for our teachers. It has become one of the most important tools in our district."

Representatives from the 15 Education Service Cooperatives across the state have already begun training as netTrekker administrators, and are moving quickly to start training with districts across Arkansas.

For information on the Arkansas Department of Education, please visit http://arkansased.org/.

For more information on netTrekker, please visit http://www.netTrekker.com.

About netTrekker
netTrekker is a leader in the delivery of digital K-12 educational content. The company is dedicated to enhancing the education of today's youth with highly effective technologies that deliver the rich educational value of the Internet to every child in a safe, relevant, easy-to-use format. netTrekker is the #1 educational search tool and was first to market with a standards-based solution utilizing the services of Academic Benchmarks, the premier provider of comprehensive standards-based K-12 educational databases, alignment tools, and integration products. Peers, educators and parents have honored netTrekker more than 25 times for its contribution to education. Founded in 1999 by Robert Reinders, the company serves millions of students and thousands of schools around the world. For more information, visit www.netTrekker.com or phone 877-517-1125.