North Central Council for Educational Media Services

Form 990, Part III - Statement of Program Accomplishment 4a: The North Central Council for Educational Media Services (NCCEMS). A consortium of northwestern Minnesota and North Dakota schools for over 56 years, provides over 230 school districts and more than140,000 students in the Prairie Region with cost effective supplemental classroom resources and educational services in niche areas of identified need. The NCCEMS offers easily accessible, curriculum based video, interactives, and hundreds of relevant lesson plans accessed through broadcast and online digital media services. Professional development opportunities to effectively integrate technology in classroom planning and to provide teachers with credits for licensure renewal are offered online and on-site, as well as through conference-based trainings. The NCCEMS's early childhood education initiatives support efforts to ensure that children are prepared for the formal learning process by providing supplementary resources emphasizing literacy and STEM-based learning as well as gaining solid bases. for the social & emotional needs of young children for childcare providers, parents, family outreach workers, and early childhood educators. By providing seamless services year round, NCCEMS through its partnership with Prairie Public, uses the appeal and impact of PBS of PBS characters and story lines across multiple platforms for the purpose of providing coordinated learning experiences for children that make "anytime learning time," which research shows helps prepare children for school and raises student achievement levels. The NCCEMS has obtained rights to offer a research based pre-school curriculum to area schools including those on the regional Indian reservations. Prairie Public Education Services, in partnership with PBS has made available the PBS LearningMedia searchable, standards LearningMedia searchable, standards based digital video website, hosting most PBS Kids, PBS prime time, and clips from Prairie Public's ocal programs, educational games and interactives, background essays, and correlating parent/teacher resources. This major archive/collection is an invaluable resource to all educators for easy access to a wealth of curricular background and supplemental material. Further, in response to the identified need to access digital resources with emphasis on regional assets for classroom instruction the NCCEMS provides a searchable North Dakota Studies website hosting archived video, articles, primary documents, images, lesson plans, and related resources and developing content for the site. In addition, the NCCEMS and Prairie Public have partnered with the digital streaming service Learn360 to allow North Dakota member schools most up to date collection of standards-based videos, video clips, and audio programs. An image library, speeches, and a very popular of newsreels are also available. Teachers can find content via key word search, subject, or state educational standards.