Blackboard Inc., the enterprise learning management system that powers Illinois Compass, announced the launch of an initiative that the company says will merge the communication gap between elementary or high schools and higher education institutions. The company plans to spend more than $1 million on this Blackboard K-20 Connection project.

To develop this initiative, Blackboard worked with the schools that use the system to find ways to improve and create relationships between all levels of the educational spectrum.

“We’re going to try to leverage the relationship we already have with schools by sharing best practices, setting up resources and providing consulting and financial incentives to use our software across the board,” said Melissa Chotiner, senior manager of public relations at Blackboard.

Chotiner said 1,900 higher education institutions and 1,200 K-12 school districts in the nation use Blackboard. She said the company hopes this initiative will lead more schools to subscribe to the program.

“We aim to increase the dialogue among education stakeholders by encouraging use and access to collaborative educational technology solutions that bridge K-12 and higher education constituencies,” Chotiner said.

To accomplish this, Blackboard plans to allow educators to view various tools to advance their own technical knowledge that will be passed on to their students.

According to the 2005 Eduventures ACT Institutional Data File, an estimated 50 percent of students who enter college do not meet placement requirements and 40 percent take remedial courses.

“We’re really seeing a gap between K-12 learning and upper-level learning,” Chotiner said. “Students get to college and are not prepared for the school’s actual requirements.”

Chotiner believes that if the initiative works successfully, teachers would know how to better prepare students for college. They also would know which courses students should take to avoid remedial classes in college.

Blackboard also plans to connect students from kindergarten through the university level by enabling them to take upper-level classes using Blackboard software that a local college may be implementing.

The Champaign and Urbana school districts do not use Blackboard.

“In general, we start with a need and look for a tool to fill that need,” said John Morrow, director of instructional technology for the Urbana School District. “It may just be that Blackboard hasn’t shown up as a tool for the current, specific needs that we have.”

However, Morrow said that the district will continue to look into the possibility of subscribing to it.

“If Blackboard could foster a relationship between our schools and colleges, it would be something worth looking into,” he said.

Leslie Hammersmith, CITES director of educational technologies, said efforts must be made to make sure elementary, middle and high school-aged students have a certain amount of information literacy.

She thinks that the program Blackboard is putting together provides another resource for instructors and teachers in higher education to discuss, share and develop standards that will help students achieve certain levels of competencies.

“It’s nice that a large company in the online learning marketplace is helping the development of young learners,” Hammersmith said.

“When (students) enter college they will be better prepared for an environment that expects them to be innovative, creative and skilled in technology and other skills,” she added.