WebED Contracts to Provide Online Staff Development for K-12 Educators in Kansas.

Business/Technology Editors

HAMPTON, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 9, 2000

WebED, Inc. (www.WebED.com), one of the nation's leading providers of fully Internet-based professional development curricula for educators, today announced the recent signing of a contract to sell its courses for K-12 educators to the Educational Services and Staff Development Association of Central Kansas, Interlocal #622 (ESSDACK), an educational service agency. ESSDACK will re-sell the WebED courses into its customer base of more than 36 school districts and nearly 4,000 educators in Kansas.

"ESSDACK will be instrumental in helping us deliver our online professional development to educators in the State of Kansas," said WebED Chairman and CEO, William O'Connell. "We hope to be a long-term participant in the educational excellence that Kansas represents."

Mike Cook, ESSDACK executive director, commented, "The ability to complete continuing education requirements online, through quality courses such as these, will be an important personal and professional advantage for Kansas teachers and administrators."

On May 15, 2000, WebED announced the completion of agreements to sell more than 330,000 of its courses in 17 states ranging from North Carolina to Washington. The Company works in close cooperation with the national Association of Education Service Agencies (AESA), whose 520 local ESA affiliates and over 100,000 nationwide employees are leading providers of educational services to America's school districts.

Started just over a year ago and privately held, WebED serves a marketplace of more than four million K-12 educators in school districts that currently spend nearly $600 million a year on professional development. The Company has engineered a proprietary Web-based system for tracking and administering its courses. It acquires and re-designs its academic content in cooperation with qualified authors, workshop providers, select institutions, and professional practitioners. WebED's current course catalog offers over 200 multi-disciplinary course titles.

WebED markets courses to public and private school districts and state education agencies for use in the professional staff development of teachers and administrators. The 10-lesson, self-paced courses are fully qualified for continuing education credits (CEUs) or professional development credits

(PDPs), enabling educators to complete compulsory training via the Internet. The courses benefit educators with increased personal convenience, access to a broader range of professional development opportunities, and instructionally designed guidance to rich Internet learning and teaching resources. Reducing the need for substitute teachers and travel budgets, WebED programs provide schools cost-effective alternatives to traditional seminars and workshops. Through an affiliation with Endicott College, WebED also offers courses that qualify for graduate credit.

WebED is based in Hampton, New Hampshire, where it operates with a staff of experts in education, engineering, publishing, marketing, administration, and finance. The Company has established formal affiliations and sponsorships with a number of leading academic, philanthropic, and media organizations, including Educators Publishing Service, The Neag Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, National Education Institute, U.S. Learning Systems, The Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism, and New Hampshire Public Television.