Standards-based searching allows educators to locate resources in ProQuest’s portfolio of K-12 products by content standard and benchmark. ProQuest’s proprietary, patented correlation technology allows the knowledge database to update constantly as content and standards change. The feature will be available in eLibrary®, eLibrary Curriculum Edition®, and the SIRS® suite of databases.
When complete, the new feature will cover all core curricula subjects and will include all states’ standards for English Language Arts, Mathematics, Sciences, and Social Studies/Sciences—plus national standards for Technology and Health. Standards-based searching saves time for educators during the lesson-planning process. It provides students with targeted, on-task information and insures that library resources are aligned directly to learning benchmarks. The searches are dynamic so that the results are always current.
“As the standards-based education movement grows, teachers want more than ever to find and use the right instructional resources to address national, state and local educational standards,” said Al De Seta, President K-12, ProQuest Information and Learning. “As a leading K-12 content provider, one of ProQuest’s most important roles is to provide educators with the tools and resources to achieve that goal.”
Other providers offer standards-based searching only for limited content sets, with static alignment to standards. ProQuest is the first aggregated database provider to offer the service with dynamic searching across content and every current state and national learning standard. In total, eLibrary and SIRS will allow educators to search by standards across more than 50 million documents.
The new feature provides schools with a vast pool of reliable, relevant content to augment existing curriculum materials. For the first time, educators can access standards-aligned full-text periodical articles, reference works, primary sources, websites, maps, pictures, audio/video, transcripts, and more in a single search. Plus, unlike other databases, the web content is monitored and reviewed hourly by ProQuest editors to ensure it’s safe and appropriate for the classroom.
Standards searching launches directly from the main search page with customized displays and work-station access. Users will find topics, websites, and articles that match the curriculum standards for their state. With a few clicks, users find benchmarks and begin matching them to ProQuest resources. Results display all topics related to the benchmark. Topics lead to related websites, periodicals, reference works, and multimedia sources. Dynamic searches include updated content as new documents are added daily.
Free trials are available. Libraries may receive more information by contacting their account representative at 1-800-521-0600, ext. 3183 or 3452 (outside the U.S., call +44-1-223-215-512) or pqsales@il.proquest.com . Editors may call 1-800-521-0600, ext. 6489 or email pr@il.proquest.com .
About ProQuest Information and Learning
ProQuest Information and Learning is a world leader in collecting, organizing, and publishing information worldwide for researchers, faculty, and students in libraries and schools. Known widely for its strength in business and economics, general reference, humanities, social sciences, and STM content, the company develops premium databases comprising periodicals, newspapers, dissertations, out-of-print books, and other scholarly information from more than 8,500 publishers worldwide. Users access the information through the ProQuest® Web-based online information system, Chadwyck-HealeyTM electronic and microform resources, UMI® microform and print reference products, eLibrary® and SIRS® educational resources, and XanEdu® online faculty and student resources. For more information about ProQuest Information and Learning, visit www.il.proquest.com.
ProQuest Information and Learning is a business unit of ProQuest Company (www.proquestcompany.com), which was recently named one of the 100 fastest growing technology companies in the United States by Business 2.0.
