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Students Enter School Year Eager to Tap Into
Online Resources
Nearly 6000 schools partner with Thinkronize
to customize Internet resources
for students' individual learning needs
Cincinnati, OH - Embarking on the 2005-2006 school year,
educators recognize that the Internet is an inseparable part of
students' lives. According to a recent study from Knowledge
Networks/Statistical Research, one-third of children ages eight
to 17 say that the Internet is the medium they would choose if
they could only have one - exceeding the demand for television,
telephone and radio. Last month, the Pew Internet & American
Life Project reported that teen use of the Internet at school
has grown 45% since 2000.
With so many children relying on online resources for educational
purposes, the way educators use the Internet to help children learn
is also evolving. For instance, Thinkronize, Inc., creator of the
award-winning netTrekker academic search engine, introduces
a new, safe Internet search tool for accessing more than 180,000
educator-selected, standards-based online resources. netTrekker
d.i. supports teachers and librarians in differentiating
their instruction by matching online resources to individual students'
learning needs.
netTrekker d.i. works by assigning each online resource
a readability measure based on Lexile® ratings and
eight other popular methods. This rating system allows educators
to target search results to find grade-level content at an appropriate
reading level for every child. Additionally, netTrekker d.i.
offers an entire section of resources devoted to helping instruct
English language learners, which is significant as the ELL student
population is reportedly growing at 10 times that of total student
enrollment. A final new addition is an image database that provides
over 80,000 suitable, school-friendly images for use in multimedia
projects or classroom presentations.
"Using netTrekker d.i., our teachers can filter their
search results by readability level, which helps them match resources
to individual student's needs," said Linda Morrell, Director of
Instructional Technology for Cobb County School District, Ga. "netTrekker
d.i. also helps our English language learners translate learning
resources so the material actually makes sense to them, minimizing
their frustration."
Ninety percent of the more than 6,000 schools subscribing to "netTrekker
classic" began using the upgraded netTrekker d.i.
on Sept. 1. The Pennsylvania Department of Education also signed
an agreement to provide netTrekker d.i. to 1.8 million
students in the state's 500 districts this fall.
As educators continue to seek easy access to standards-based online
resources that provide the best educational content to their students,
more schools are expected to move toward the differentiated instruction
approach afforded by the netTrekker d.i. search engine.
Districts wishing to preview the new Internet search tool can contact
Thinkronize at 877-517-1125 for a free trial.
Introductory pricing for netTrekker d.i., which can be
as low as 86 cents per student annually, is available through October
31st. Affordable pricing options, such as volume discounts, are
based on a district's total number of buildings or student enrollment,
allowing districts to choose the option that best meets their needs.
For more information, visit www.netTrekker.com.
About the netTrekker Product Suite
The netTrekker product line, including netTrekker
classic and netTrekker d.i., features award-winning
academic search engines specifically designed for school use. Unlike
ordinary search engines, products from the netTrekker
suite provide fast and easy access to only the best educational
resources from the entire Internet in a safe, organized, standards-aligned
format, helping to increase student achievement. Using netTrekker
search engines, educators, school librarians, students, and parents
save valuable time because their Internet searches are powerfully
productive. A netTrekker search engine delivers only safe,
relevant, educator-selected results - meaning less time spent on
searching and more time focused on learning. To learn more about
the netTrekker suite, visit www.netTrekker.com.
About Thinkronize
Thinkronize, an Internet developer of award-winning K-12 educational
products, was founded
by Robert Reinders in July 1999 and grew out of a commitment to
enhancing teaching and learning with the Internet and standards-based
online resources. The company's flagship product, netTrekker
classic, the trusted search engine for schools, was launched
in October 2000. Since the initial launch of netTrekker classic,
Thinkronize has enjoyed continued growth, success, industry recognition
and awards. The netTrekker product suite now includes
netTrekker d.i., which organizes online resources by readability
level to meet individual students' learning needs and also includes
ELL content. Thinkronize serves nearly 4.7 million students in
47 states, and the netTrekker product suite has been adopted
by key districts nationwide. For more information visit visit www.thinkronize.com
or phone 877-517-1125.
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