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COPERNICUS LEADS THE WAY TO SCHOOL WEB SITES

October 13, 1999

Darien, Ill., education company Copernicus Interactive Inc. is creating new online communities for schools and school districts to create more interaction between families and schools. The Copernicus Education Gateway provides a local Internet-based community with learning, communication and professional development resources and direct links to local schools. The site does not contain resources specifically designed for special education teachers or parents, though it has listed other Internet special education resources on past news pages, which are updated daily.

Through the site's "School Notes" feature, teachers can post assignments, tests and other class information for students to access, while parents can get information on their children's progress. By allowing schools and teachers to post information on the web site, the Copernicus Education Gateway enables parents, teachers and students to communicate electronically. Such interaction could increase overall parent participation in their students' education, the company argues. For example, the father of a first-grade student at Indian Head, Ga., Elementary School e-mailed his child's class from a submarine in the Atlantic Ocean, according to teacher Tracy McMullen. The students sent back questions about life on the submarine.

In addition, the site features a "collaboration station" designed to help students in different communities contact each other and help teachers talk to each other and to parents. The site also provides a shopping area for education-related items.

Through an agreement with credit card company VISA U.S.A. Inc., Copernicus is providing grants to establish Copernicus Customized Communities in 10 school systems across the country: Atlanta City School District, Boston School District, City of Chicago School District #29, Miami's Dade County School District, Dallas Independent School District, District of Columbia Public Schools, New York City Public Schools, Philadelphia City School District, San Francisco Unified School District and Seattle School District #1. The Los Angeles County Unified School District is now in the process of creating such a community.

Through the VISA grant program, about five million students will have access to Copernicus by the end of the year. In addition, the Copernicus Foundation will use a percentage of the web company's revenues to provide computer hardware, software and Internet access to school districts that do not have the needed financial resources.

Other schools are already creating Copernicus commuinties on their own, the company said. More than 5,000 schools are in the process of linking through Copernicus.8