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| Press Release Wireless Generation's mCLASS®:CIRCLE™ and mCLASS®:Reading 3D™ Solutions Named 2006 SIIA CODiE Awards Finalists New York, February 27, 2006 - Wireless Generation, the educational software and services company, announced today that its mCLASS®:CIRCLE™ and mCLASS®:Reading 3D™ handheld-to-Web assessment solutions have been named finalists in the Software & Information Industry Association's (SIIA) 21st Annual CODiE Awards. Both have been nominated in two categories: Best Student Assessment Solution and Best Mobile or Handheld Education Solution. Wireless Generation is the leading provider of handheld software for pre-K to 6 observational assessments. mCLASS®:CIRCLE™ software, developed by Wireless Generation in collaboration with Dr. Susan Landry and her team at the Center for Improving the Readiness of Children for Learning and Education (CIRCLE) from the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston, helps early childhood educators to observe and understand each child's ongoing early literacy, social, and emotional development, and to be thoughtful and intentional in planning activities for 3-,4-, and 5-year-olds. While children do fun, age-appropriate assessment tasks, teachers record children's responses on the handheld, then receive immediate feedback and suggested activities for fostering development based on the needs of the whole class, groups of children, and individual children. By "syncing" the handheld to a computer, information about each child is uploaded to a secure Web site, where teachers can view a portfolio of reports that assist in classroom planning. A recent CIRCLE study concluded that use of mCLASS:CIRCLE software helped educators pinpoint young children's needs and track their development over time, and was more cost-effective than paper-based assessments. mCLASS®:Reading 3D™ software enables K-2 teachers to use a handheld computer to give two different kinds of assessments commonly relied upon to evaluate young students' reading development: the scientifically-based DIBELS for screening and progress monitoring in the five Big Ideas in Beginning Reading; and diagnostic inventories based in balanced literacy, which blends phonics instruction with holistic activities emphasizing understanding meaning through context. mCLASS:Reading 3D software allows teachers to easily capture data from these different assessments in one central place, for a complete, detailed view of a student's reading development; and to support both the needs of students at risk and students achieving at benchmark. Once the handheld is “synced” to a computer, data is uploaded to the secure mCLASS Web site, where educators access rich reports on an individual student, class, school and district for further analysis and instructional planning. Wireless Generation developed the software in collaboration with Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, one of the nation's highest performing districts. “The 21st Annual CODiE Awards continue the tradition of honoring the best of the software, information and education technology industries,” said Ken Wasch, SIIA President. “When one considers the number of outstanding companies that competed this year, being named a CODiE Awards Finalist is a significant achievement.” “Wireless Generation is honored to have two products as finalists for such a prestigious award,” said Larry Berger, Co-Founder and CEO of Wireless Generation. “We are fortunate to have development partners like CIRCLE, Montgomery County Public Schools, and the DIBELS authors, who share our vision of what mCLASS software and services can do in the world of teaching and learning.” Awards will be announced on May 16, 2006 at the Westin St. Francis hotel, San Francisco, CA. A complete list of all of the Finalists for 2006, can be found at http://www.siia.net/codies/2006/finalists.asp. About Wireless Generation | ||