UA Education Research Web Site Receives Award for Innovation

Fayetteville, Ark. - The Web site developed by the University of Arkansas National Office for Research, Measurement and Evaluations Systems was named one of the nation's best and most innovative Web sites by the Center for Digital Education. Travis Anderson, NORMES director of technology, accepted the award at a ceremony in New York.

Sean Mulvenon, director of NORMES, said, "This award recognizes the creative work of the NORMES staff in designing a Web site to serve all of the schools in Arkansas."

The NORMES site, available at normes.uark.edu, provides data to school personnel, parents, legislators and other individuals interested in education. For example, superintendents and principals can access and analyze individual achievement data for each child in their system.

Other individuals may access summary achievement data for any public school in Arkansas. The site also uses geographic information systems technology to provide data-driven answers to key educational questions facing Arkansas.

The Center for Digital Education is a national research and advisory institute on K-12 and higher education technology. It provides research, events and professional publishing services tailored to private industry and public education leaders. Annually, it conducts surveys that examine how information technology is being used to serve public schools and community colleges.

This is the inaugural year for the Digital Education Achievement Awards, which recognizes the work of a broad range of public schools and universities, including programs developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Texas at Austin. The NORMES Web site was one of three to receive the Digital Education Achievement Award for an administrator-focused application. Also named were sites of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the Fulton County Board of Education, Atlanta.