COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
P.O. BOX 2120
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 18
February 1, 2002
INFORMATIONAL
|
TO: |
Division
Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Jo Lynne
DeMary Superintendent
of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
2002 State
Price List for Selected K-12 Educational Software Programs |
The Virginia
Department of Education, in an effort to assist school divisions in procuring
K-12 educational software at competitive prices, is announcing a new 2002
state contract price list for educational software. School divisions (and state agency operated school programs,
independent schools, and higher education institutions) may purchase software
from this list at the prices stated for one year.
Educational
software programs evaluated and included in the current edition of two
nationally recognized educational evaluation sources formed the list of
programs selected for pricing. The EvaluTech
online evaluation database by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and
the Educational Software Preview Guide
by International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) were the evaluation
sources. Following state procedure,
the Virginia Department of Information Technology (DIT) managed the competitive
bidding process. The titles and prices are listed on the DIT website. A link to this site is available for your
use on the Department of Education Web pages:
http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Technology/techinithandbook/k12swcontracts.html
Vendors
participating in the DIT competitive low bid process are under contract with
DIT to offer the lower price to all Virginia schools. Should a vendor offer any product on this list to any Virginia
school division at a lower price than stated on the list, we are requesting
that this be reported immediately to the department. By the terms of the DIT
contract with the vendor, the lower price will become the new lowest price for
all Virginia school divisions to use when purchasing software.
This year, DIT will monitor purchases from this list by Virginia schools. The number of purchases will determine if this DIT service will be available to schools in the future. Therefore, we encourage schools to consult this online list of reviewed educational software and websites. When appropriate, schools are encouraged to use the DIT vendor contracts for making purchases.
School
divisions also are encouraged to review this list as a step in their software
selection process. The list is NOT a
recommended purchase list. It is a list
of programs that merit your review and consideration. Before any purchases are made, a team of teachers, library media
specialists, and technology specialists should conduct hands-on activities and
in-the-classroom review of each program being considered. Final selections for purchase should be
based on the findings of these reviews, correlation with state and local
curriculum goals and standards, and budget.
As a part of
the Technology Initiative 2000, school divisions are encouraged to submit to
the Department of Education reviews and Standards of Learning (SOL)
correlations of any products purchased from this list or that may already be
included in your local collection. An
online guidebook for the software selection process and an online form for the
submission of reviews and correlation are available for use on the departments
website:
Web-based
Standards of Learning Technology Initiative:Handbook for the Evaluation and
Selection of Software for Instruction and Remediation
http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Technology/techinithandbook/
Web-based
Standards of Learning Technology Initiative: Template for the Evaluation of
Instructional and Remedial Software/websites
http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Technology/imt.html
For
additional information contact: Joyce Faye White, instructional technology
specialist, mailto:jfwhite@pen.k12.va.us
at 804/225-2958.
JLD/jfw