PPS is a thriving, urban school division serving more than 13,300 students. The district consists of three high schools, three middle schools, and 13 elementary schools, as well as preschool, alternative school, and adult education facilities. The district’s strategic plan—Expedition to 2025: Purpose. Promise. Success.—is a multipronged approach that outlines five goals for PPS with specific objectives and action steps to ensure the school system meets those goals. To meet the plan’s first goal of providing all students educational opportunities ensuring high academic growth, the district sought a suite of dynamic digital resources capable of supporting instruction in the in person or remote environment. Following a review of potential solutions, PPS selected the Virginia Discovery Education Science Experience for use in all K-12 classrooms. Virginia Discovery Education Science Experience includes: 

The Discovery Education platform. 
Connecting educators to a vast collection of high-quality, standards-aligned content, ready-to-use digital lessons, intuitive quiz and activity creation tools, and professional learning resources, Discovery Education provides educators a recently enhanced learning platform that facilitates engaging, daily instruction in any learning environment.   

Discovery Education’s team continues adding, contextualizing, and organizing exciting new content and timely and relevant resources to the platform each month in response to current events and the ever-evolving needs of educators. These resources, sourced from trusted partners, are aligned to state and national standards, and help educators bring the outside world into teaching and learning every day.  

The K-12 learning platform is designed to work within school systems’ existing infrastructure and workflows and provides safe, secure, simple access methods for educators and students. Through expanded, lasting partnerships with Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, Schoology, Canvas, Brightspace, and Clever, integrating Discovery Education’s K-12 learning platform into existing IT architecture is easier than ever. 

Discovery Education Science Techbooks. 
The Discovery Education Science Techbook series—which is currently used in classrooms across the United States and Canada—is a comprehensive, research-backed science solution for grades K-12. Delivered through Discovery Education’s K-12 platform, the Science Techbook series drives engagement with exclusive phenomena and interactive content. Virtual and hands-on investigations, STEM activities, and a variety of instructional supports enhance the delivery of impactful, blended instruction, in person or at a distance.  Digital teacher editions also provide flexible pacing options, embedded teacher notes, and Pathways for Learning to address diverse learners.  

The Virginia edition of the Discovery Education Science Textbook was approved for statewide use by the Virginia State Board of Education in September of 2020 and was recently selected for use by Virginia’s Chesapeake Public Schools in May of this year. 

“A high-quality education in the sciences helps students develop the important communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creative skills that we know drive academic achievement,” said Laura Nelson, Portsmouth Public Schools’ Supervisor of Science K-12. “The addition of Discovery Education’s digital resources to our already powerful science curriculum helps our educators meet the needs of our current strategic plan as it simultaneously helps students build the skills needed for both K-12 and future success.” 

PPS teachers and students in grades K-5 will also receive access to Discovery Education Coding. With Discovery Education Coding, elementary and middle school students are inspired to learn important coding concepts as they develop computational thinking skills through decomposition, logical reasoning, and problem solving. Based in part on the award-winning Discovery Education Coding service used by teachers across the United Kingdom, the U.S. version of Coding features a wide array of coding resources that help students take coding from concept to reality. 

To help the school system recognize the full return on their edtech investment, Discovery Education will provide PPS educators dedicated professional learning. Through these interactive professional development sessions, participants will learn best practices for integrating their new digital resources into instruction. Effective professional development will maximize the power of these resources, increase student engagement in learning, and support students’ continued academic development. 

The district’s partnership with Discovery Education also provides all district teachers access to the Discovery Education Community. A global community of education professionals, the Discovery Education Community connects members across school systems and around the world through social media, virtual conferences, and in-person events, fostering valuable networking, idea sharing, and inspiration. 

“Portsmouth Public Schools have set out a comprehensive plan for meeting the evolving needs of their diverse student body and Discovery Education is excited to support this effort,” said Kelly Hoce, Discovery Education’s Senior Director of Education Partnerships. “We look forward to starting the year with the talented Portsmouth Public Schools team to integrate these new resources into instruction.” 

For more information about Discovery Education’s digital resources and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.com and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Twitter and LinkedIn.   

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About Discovery Education
Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Through its award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, and innovative classroom tools, Discovery Education helps educators deliver equitable learning experiences engaging all students and supporting higher academic achievement on a global scale. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 140 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Discovery, Inc., Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and trusted organizations to empower teachers with leading edtech solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com. 

Contact
Stephen Wakefield 
Discovery Education
Phone: 202-316-6615
Email: swakefield@discoveryed.com 

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