NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
December 5, 2008
ScholarCentric Adds Peggy Morrison-Thurston as
Vice President of Professional Development
Nationally Recognized Expert on Alternative Education and Student Retention
to Lead Future Expansion of ScholarCentric’s Success Highways Resiliency
and Dropout Prevention Program
Denver, CO – December 5, 2008 – ScholarCentric, a leading provider of K-12 educational materials specializing in dropout prevention, is pleased to announce that Peggy Morrison-Thurston has joined the company as Vice President of Professional Development. With her leadership, Scholarcentric will be building out its Success Highways professional development components to facilitate educators’ understanding of how to apply social emotional data in their daily teaching strategies. Numerous research studies have shown that if social and emotional skills are taught and practiced and students feel a sense of connectedness to their school and their teacher, learning and academic performance increases.
Morrrison-Thurston has been involved in education for the past 40 years, with the last 20 in the Dropout Prevention/Alternative Education, Broward County Public Schools, Florida. Since 2001, she served as Director, developing and managing programs targeting 38,000 Broward County at-risk youth, K-12. Additionally she was principal of a community-based, dropout retrieval program that served 1700 youth in 2007-08. Morrison-Thurston has initiated and supported many school and community initiatives throughout her career, including effective parenting, stress management, adolescent issues, effective learning environments, improved graduation rates, and the celebration of cultural diversity. She has worked diligently to improve conditions of youth and families within the Florida education community.
"I am thrilled to be a part of Scholarcentric and am looking forward to working with districts, schools and teachers to support students ability to remain in school and succeed,” states Morrison-Thurston. “My experience working in Dropout Prevention/Alternative Education in Broward County and collaborating with local and Florida children services agencies has confirmed that students need to acquire resiliency skills that transform their outlook on education and equip them to experience success. Our kids do not want to fail, so let's not fail them."
A Florida Licensed Secondary Educator with certification in Vocational Education and Educational Leadership, Morrison-Thurston earned her Bachelor and Master’s Degrees from Florida State University and her Educational Leadership from Florida Atlantic University. Ms. Morrison-Thurston has earned certification in Dropout Prevention, E.S.O.L and in the Department of Juvenile Justice, Quality Assurance Accountability program. She is also certified through the Darden Executive Leadership program, part of the University of Virginia Graduate School of Business Administration.
About ScholarCentric
ScholarCentricTM is a K-12 educational publishing company focused on helping students stay in school and achieve academic success. The company’s flagship product, Success Highways, is an innovative, research-based program designed to help transition middle and high school students into the higher grades and develop the skills they need to learn the rigorous coursework required to achieve a high school diploma. With Success Highways, students stay in school, score higher on achievement tests, and prepare for future education. This innovative program is aligned with state standards and was developed from the results of 15 years of research at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a seven-year pilot program in an urban school district. For more information, visit www.ScholarCentric.com.
For more information, press only:
Carol Ann Waugh, VP Marketing, cwaugh@scholarcentric.com
ScholarCentric
2406 W. 32nd Ave., Suite C
Denver, CO 80211
www.ScholarCentric.com
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