Parchment Inc. Selected by Pennsylvania Department of Education to Lead PA eSTARS Initiative
Now Partnering with Seven State Education Agencies and Increasing Direct Sales, Parchment’s Momentum Builds in Secondary and Postsecondary Markets
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (Sept. 12, 2012) – Parchment Inc., the education credentials pioneer, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) announce the Pennsylvania Electronic Student Transcripts And Records System (PA eSTARS), a statewide network that will enable Commonwealth schools to quickly and securely exchange student records and transcripts.
An increase in student mobility, dual enrollment, and college applications has led to a greater administrative burden on academic institutions to process student record and transcript requests. As a result, more state PK-12 education agencies and commissions of higher education are collaborating on broad PK-20 initiatives to make the process more efficient and cost-effective, as well as to enhance the reliability and security of the information exchange.
This initiative will improve the process of moving student records and transcripts across the Commonwealth, while ensuring schools receive more timely access to critical information so that they are able to provide the appropriate services to Pennsylvania’s students.
Pennsylvania is the seventh state education agency to select Docufide® by Parchment™ through a competitive bid process. Nearly 1,000 local education agencies (LEA) and institutions of higher education (IHE) in Pennsylvania are eligible to benefit from this voluntary initiative. A federal grant awarded to PDE will be used to underwrite the initial implementation costs for entities signing on prior to July 1, 2013. K12 LEAs can register for PA eSTARS now at https://securetranscript.docufide.com/districtreg/PAeSTARS. Any questions from K12 LEAs can be addressed to PAeSTARS@parchment.com. Postsecondary institutions may register by contacting PAeSTARS@parchment.com.
“This initiative signals PDE’s commitment to improved practices that ultimately benefit students on their path to a college degree,” said Parchment CEO Matthew Pittinsky. “Pennsylvania is one of a growing number of states building a digital records infrastructure to support data-driven institutions. Docufide provides unrivaled capacity, and is well positioned to help education institutions progress from electronic transcript exchange to credentials data intelligence.”
Parchment’s Docufide Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform enables the secure, rapid exchange of millions of electronic transcripts and student records among a rapidly growing network of schools, education agencies, and scholarship organizations. Nearly 80 percent of Indiana’s eligible high schools are using Docufide through its statewide initiative, exchanging more than 115,000 transcripts in the last 12 months. Michigan has experienced similar success, where 70 percent of eligible schools exchanged nearly 200,000 transcripts over the past year. In 2011, Parchment doubled the number of transcripts delivered through its Docufide to 1.6 million, and is on track to double the volume again this year.
About Parchment
Parchment is the leader in electronic transcript (e-transcript) exchange. More than 9,000 high schools (over 30 percent of the U.S. secondary school market) and postsecondary institutions have exchanged 4 million transcripts using the Docufide by Parchment™ SaaS platform. Beyond providing the cost and operational efficiencies of electronic transcripts, Parchment works with learners and institutions around the world to unlock the value of transcript and credential data – helping people collect, promote, and share their education credentials in simple and secure ways. At Parchment.com, students can research colleges and discover their chances of admission, see how they compare with peers, get college recommendations, and send official transcripts when they are ready to apply. Founded in 2003, Parchment Inc. is a venture-backed company headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz. with offices in Roseville, Calif. and Washington, D.C.
Media Contacts
• Mark Cohen, Parchment, Inc., 480-719-1646 x1009, mcohen@parchment.com
• Kristen Plemon, C. Blohm & Associates, 608-216-7300 x18, kristen@cblohm.com
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