NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--More than $3 million in free classroom supplies and exclusive discounts are being made available to teachers nationwide as part of the national launch of the ClassTag Marketplace, an online exchange where schools can redeem credits earned every time a teacher and parent interact on the ClassTag parent-teacher engagement platform.
ClassTag, which will be used in over 20,000 classrooms nationwide this school year, is the free, easy-to-use, collaborative app for parents and teachers that automatically schedules events and conferences, manages volunteer opportunities, and shares classroom news, events, and assignments. When parents sign up to volunteer, attend conferences, or simply read teachers’ messages, classrooms earn ClassTag Coins for teachers to spend on free supplies in the ClassTag Marketplace.
An Urgent Need for Classroom Supplies
Budget and education cuts have wreaked havoc on the American school system, and the classroom supplies that teachers need to provide quality education have been the first to go. That is, unless teachers buy them themselves. The National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) found 94 percent of public school teachers spend their own money on supplies, and during the 2014–15 school year, they spent an average of $479. One in 10 teachers at high-poverty schools spends $1,000 or more each year.
Major Brands are Trying to Help
Major retailers are responding to this crisis by offering teachers discounts this August as they do their back-to-school shopping, but ClassTag is taking it to an entirely different level. The company’s Marketplace features $3 million in free offers and exclusive discounts for teachers and their classrooms as they earn ClassTag Coins in the app—all at no cost to the teacher, parents, or school.
Thanks to ClassTag’s partnerships with 40 top education, consumer, retail, and technology brands, teachers can select items such as popular educational technology, Amazon gift cards, cleaning products, literacy apps, science and art kits, and more tools. Partners include Lands’ End, Yoobi supplies, Yumble Kids, Renzo’s Vitamins, Rosetta Stone, ABC Mouse, Sesame Street Workshop, Kiwi Co STEAM kits, Speakaboos, Kids Academy, Adventure to Fitness, Miss Humblebee’s Academy, StoryboardThat, ThinkCERCA, InsertLearning, School Outfitters, ClassCraft, Nearpod, Legends of Learning, Symbaloo, Rethink Reading, Immersed Games, and Wolfram Alpha.
“As a teacher, I know firsthand there is little choice but to spend your own money on quality supplies for your classroom," says Marcia McInnes, a former teacher who works in Marketplace partnerships for ClassTag. “Everything offered in the Marketplace has been vetted and tested for quality by teachers themselves. It truly is by teachers, for teachers."
A Mother Examining the Problem and Creating an Answer
Vlada Lotkina, founder of ClassTag, created the platform when she needed a better way to stay up-to-date on her child’s classroom events. She designed ClassTag to work in over 50 different languages and in the parent’s preferred medium. Now, they have even more reason to be engaged - the purchase of classroom tools for their child’s use -- and teachers have another alternative to dipping into their paychecks to buy classroom supplies.
Teachers can sign up and learn more about earning ClassTag Coins at: https://www.classtag.com/users/sign_up.
About ClassTag
ClassTag provides teachers with a free, intuitive, easy-to-use platform for automating communication with parents, who can track their child’s classroom progress, all the while earning credits that can be redeemed for valuable classroom supplies. Forget about notes stuffed into backpacks, ClassTag brings classroom engagement into the 21st century. To make your classroom more engaged and earn credits toward classroom supplies, sign up here: https://www.classtag.com/
