“HMH is proud to partner with a leading district like Worcester Public Schools,” said Mike Lavelle, Education Group President, HMH.  “Both WPS and HMH understand the importance of this holistic approach to learning. By combining class-leading content, innovative technology, and stronger parental engagement, we can expect impressive results here. Though the efforts are broad, the approach is simple: Personalize education for each learner, and ensure learning can take place anytime, anywhere.”

HMH worked with the school district to identify its specific needs, then created customized a solution that would explicitly address those requirements.  The multifaceted solution includes a three-tiered approach to engage students in seven schools across the district, their families, and community members. That approach includes:

• Parent Academies - In an effort to enhance parent and community engagement in the school district, HMH built a parent academy for WPS, which creates parent-to-school connections, utilizes local community organizations, and offers content and professional development services to ensure success.

• Digital Curriculum - As traditional classrooms continue to evolve and educators fine-tune their approach to teaching 21^st century learners, HMH is committed to providing the most cutting-edge, interactive digital curriculum.  By making large strides in the variety of content that is available and tailored for mobile devices, HMH and WPS are giving students the opportunity to learn and grow with the devices they favor most.

• Connectivity - As a way to enhance both the parent academies and digital initiatives, HMH worked with WPS to create and offer a personalized version of its education management suite, Pinpoint.

The Pinpoint suite is a customizable solution that connects all essential components of the education ecosystem, and offers a wide variety of tools for administrators, teachers, parents and students.  With Pinpoint, administrators can more effectively manage curriculum and assessments, produce district and state reporting, and place students based on performance.  For teachers, Pinpoint offers access to curriculum management, assessment tools and grade books, all through a single portal.  For students, Pinpoint will provide interactive educational content, including quizzes, gaming activities, video clips and online tutoring, all in line with classroom curriculum.

“The opportunity to implement a comprehensive technology platform that gives students, parents and teachers greater connectivity is at the crux of our interest,” said Dr. Jeffrey Mulqueen, Chief Academic Officer, Worcester Public Schools.  “Pinpoint allows us to break free from time and place, allowing teachers and parents to work at higher levels of productivity.”

As part of its continued support of the Worcester Public Schools community, HMH will also be making a significant book donation to the new Union Hill school library. 

For more information on Pinpoint, please visit http://www.hmheducation.com/pinpoint/index.php. 

About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 

With education products and services used by 57 million students throughout all 50 U.S. states and 120 countries, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is a global education and learning company. The world’s largest provider of materials for pre-K–12 learning, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is leading the way with innovative solutions and approaches to the challenges facing education today. Through curricula excellence coupled with technology innovations and professional services, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt collaborates with school districts, administrators, teachers, parents and students, providing interactive, results-driven learning solutions. Its Educational Consulting Services group works to increase student achievement in underperforming schools by developing, implementing and supporting education transformation through sustained district partnerships.  With origins dating back to 1832, the Company also publishes an extensive line of reference works and award-winning literature for adults and young readers. For more information, visit www.hmhco.com.