Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Steve Montgomery
smontgomery@oz-systems.com
214-212-0304

OZ Systems Partners with Innovative Pre-K Initiative

Houston, Texas – April 27, 2006 – OZ Systems was selected by the State Center for Early Childhood Development (State Center) to provide a web-based information system to support data collection and the implementation of a School Readiness Certification System in Texas Early Education Model (TEEM) project classrooms across the state.

"This system is groundbreaking as it means Texas will be the first state in the nation to link the quality of the early childhood program to their child's potential,” said Dr. Susan Landry, Director of the State Center. “In the future, when parents see a certified early childhood program, they can feel confident that the program has components in place to help in preparing their children for kindergarten so they may succeed later in school. The Texas Legislature should be congratulated for having the foresight they had in a bipartisan vote making the development of this certification system mandatory."

In September 2003, the Texas Legislature charged the State Center with promoting school readiness. As part of its mandate, the State Center must demonstrate a system for identifying those pre-school programs that are adequately preparing children to enter kindergarten school ready. OZ Systems’ web-based platform, eSchool PlusTM (eSPTM), offers a secure method for tracking children’s attendance and the results of children’s learning to fulfill this mandate.

“One of the public’s greatest investments is in our early education learning environments where bright minds are developing everyday,” said OZ Systems CEO, Dr. Terese Finitzo. “OZ Systems understands the need to facilitate the objective determination of whether programs are achieving higher levels of school readiness. This is the aim of the School Readiness Certification System and our role is to implement the State Center’s business rules in order to aid their efforts. We hope to help programs focus on outcomes and give parents facts to make informed decisions.”

Early childhood programs serving 3- and 4-year old children will voluntarily participate in the School Readiness Certification System. For a program to achieve a school readiness designation, a percentage of children entering kindergarten need to be ready for school. Children to be counted in this percentage need to be enrolled in the pre-k program for a minimum amount of time to ensure exposure to the program. Programs not able to achieve school readiness certification status can receive community-based technical assistance tailored to their program needs.

Dr. Susan Landry, Ph.D. is also the Chief of the Division of Developmental Pediatrics and the Director of the Center for Improving the Readiness of Children for Learning and Education (CIRCLE) in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. The State Center is actively involved in research, community programs, and training activities related to the goal of promoting quality learning environments for young children. For more information about their works, visit www.uth.tmc.edu/circle/index.html.

###