illuminate
™
TM
EDUCATION INCORPORATED
CEO/President Lane Rankin Launches Illuminate Education, Inc. Former DataDirectorTM founder “reacquires” core products and broadens vision for data-driven education CORONA, CA—(July 27, 2009)—CEO/President Lane Rankin has announced the launch of Illuminate Education, Inc. to provide next generation web-based software and services to the K-12 market. The former founder of Achieve Data Solutions (ADS) and its products DataDirector, IrisTM and FocusTM, Rankin further announced the repurchase of Iris and Focus from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ADS was sold to Harcourt Education in 2007, which in turn was acquired by Houghton Mifflin later that same year. The two dynamic products and their respective customer bases are now reunited with their original founders. “Illuminate Education is picking up where Achieve Data Solutions left off and continuing the vision of centralized data and information to support all aspects of the education process, eliminating the need for multiple systems,” said Mr. Rankin. “This will revolutionize the way information is used in education – by students, parents, office staff, teachers, and administrators.” Iris, affordable and easy to use, breaks the student information system (SIS) mold. While it does everything a traditional SIS can do, Iris provides all the information and tools educators and office staff need to operate and progress in the current high stakes environment. Iris is already in place at a number of school districts. It features a single web-based point of access to demograph- ics, attendance, and schedules, as well as discipline, grades, assessment data, state reporting mandates, and much more. By meeting the reporting demands of large complex sets of information as well as the needs of individual instructional goals, Iris supports data-driven decisions at the county, district, site, and classroom levels. The other “reacquired” product is Focus. While Iris breaks the SIS mold, Focus does the same for special education systems. For example, most systems provide a “form fill” approach to Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Focus, however, leads educators through the IEP process with a step-by-step wizard that incorporates all available data and ensures compliance. In addition, Focus handles all aspects of managing a Special Education student’s needs. Developed with Calhoun ISD in Marshall, Michigan, this standards based system allows educators to have meaningful conversations with students, parents, and other stakeholders. Either integrating with Iris or working alone, Focus helps create and report on student evaluations, manage referrals, track and report student progress toward IEP goals, log caseload encounter information, and collect billing information for appropriate Medicaid eligible encounters. “As a company of educators who are also technology experts, Lane and the team at Illuminate Education look at things differ- ently than a technology company might,” said Mike Oswalt, Assistant Superintendent of Regional Technology Services at Calhoun ISD. “They work closely with us to understand the needs, develop a possible course of action, and then push past that to develop a collaboratively created solution—a solution that will work for everyone, not just a single district.” With a pre-existing reputation for educator-friendly interfaces, expert customer support, and 99.9% client retention rate, several of the founders and original staff from Achieve Data Solutions are joining Mr. Rankin at Illuminate Education. Having previ- ously developed solutions that are still in use at over 450 districts, the Illuminate Education team plans to eclipse its former successes and unlock the potential of data-driven decision making for everyone trying to close the achievement gap. For more information on Illuminate Education, please visit www.IlluminateEducation.com or call 951-739-0186.
Illuminate Education, Inc. 4740 Green River Road | Suite 305 | Corona, CA 92880 Phone: 951-739-0186 | Fax: 909-266-1935
[email protected] | illuminateeducation.com
illuminate
™
TM
EDUCATION INCORPORATED
Press Contact: Lane Rankin
[email protected] 951-739-0186 About Illuminate Education: Illuminate serves the K-12 educational market with innovative web based products and services. An educator perspective drives all of Illuminate’s technology solutions, which are thus designed to maximize efficiency, incorporate user-friendly interfaces, and support practical and progressive needs at the county, district, site, classroom, parent, and student levels. Illuminate’s groundbreaking products are Iris and Focus. Additional information can be found at www.IlluminateEducation.com or by calling 951-739-0186
Illuminate Education, Inc. 4740 Green River Road | Suite 305 | Corona, CA 92880 Phone: 951-739-0186 | Fax: 909-266-1935
[email protected] | illuminateeducation.com
