PD Master Suite from Benchmark One is a web-based SaaS application dedicated to making the gathering and management of teacher and leader performance and training data simple and efficient, so schools everywhere can focus on what matters most: helping their students succeed.
Recent years have witnessed a drive in the United States education sector to increase teacher accountability, with federal, state and local initiatives including No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top and the newly instituted Common Core State Standards emphasizing the importance of teacher evaluation and ongoing training.
With no streamlined, dedicated platform to aid in the management of new evaluation and training mandates, compliance has become a minefield for school districts nationwide, causing numerous headaches and putting serious strain on time, energy and resources for educators and administrators alike.
Benchmark One’s PD Master Suite has been built from the ground up to provide schools with a simple, intuitive platform to manage their teacher evaluation and training responsibilities.
Automated data gathering and analysis has already transformed operations in industries ranging from energy to medicine, and with PD Master Suite, Benchmark One is bringing the data revolution to education.
PD Master™ offers schools an integrated suite of easy-to-use tools that simplify and streamline the teacher evaluation and training process, helping schools:
PD Master’s web-based system provides complete up-to-the-minute information to staff about their performance and progress through their school or district’s required programs.
By consolidating information and streamlining the data collection and reporting process, PD Master Suite can help educators and administrators everywhere reclaim hundreds of hours of valuable time, reduce workload and stress, and get back to the important work of teaching and supporting students.
Founded in 1995, Benchmark One has been a trusted provider of staff development and training solutions in the education space for almost 20 years.
Our knowledgeable and experienced team has completed staff development and other consultations for organizations including the US Department of Education, Colorado Department of Education, the Archdiocese of New Orleans Catholic Schools, the Midwest Regional Education Lab, the Education Commission of the States, and a wide range of school districts and regional education centers in Colorado and the surrounding states and Canada.
Benchmark One’s innovative education solutions are not limited to the United States education market: internationally, our team is working with the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia as they embark on an ambitious journey to transform their education system and provide a comprehensive K-12 education program that allows them to better compete in the global knowledge economy.
Our professional development and management solutions can also be implemented outside of the education sector by any company with substantial staff training and development needs.
Looking toward the future, Benchmark One is positioned to become a leading provider of innovative professional development and performance evaluation solutions, both in education and beyond, in the years to come.
A crucial component of Benchmark One’s approach to professional development is fostering partnerships with companies and other organizations whose services and goals align with the Benchmark One mission.
As of January 2014, Benchmark One entered into a strategic partnership with PCS Edventures (www.edventures.com), which will provide enhanced business opportunities in both domestic and international markets.
In March 2014, Benchmark One announced a partnership with AELTA Professional Development Center—the initial focus of which is the pursuit of joint projects with the Ministry of Education in the Sultanate of Oman.
Kelly Cobean, CEO
Mr Cobean has combined a highly successful business career working in the fields of software development, multi-media performance development tools, and education with a 27 year active and reserve military career as an executive level leader (US Army, Lt. Colonel) .
Mr. Cobean is skilled in:
• strategic planning and development;
• virtual learning and performance development management;
• development and management of cross-functional teams;
• systems development and management; and
• leadership management and development.
In 1995, Mr. Cobean co-founded Benchmark One, Inc., a company targeting education performance development and management practices. As CEO of this privately owned company, he introduced and supported professional development management and tracking systems into school systems across the nation. This experience provided him with a unique and thorough understanding of the these products, their potential in the marketplace to fill the need for education’s performance tracking, data collection and analysis, and the possibilities for future enhancements based upon customer needs and local, state and national requirements for staff training and evaluation.
Auxiliary to the software development division, Benchmark One offers educational consulting services in support of organizational and educator performance development. The company designed and delivered programs for a Colorado district that won the National Staff Development Award in 2008. From 2000-2005, the company designed and delivered a $500,000 / year program to transform the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Office of Catholic Schools curriculum, instruction and performance management systems to meet state and federal trends to standards and data driven systems focused on improving teaching and learning for 50,000 students. The company is currently working toward providing education services and professional staff development training and evaluation data management in Saudi Arabia in a major project supporting the Saudi multi- billion dollar Education Development Project.
Mr. Cobean has co-founded several successful, privately held companies fwhere he served as President, CEO and Director. For example, he co-founded American Training Center, Inc. to develop, produce, and market multi-media training programs using nationally recognized experts and current technology.
With the exception of one year during his commission as a military officer, Mr. Cobean served in command roles, both in active and reserve status. He became known as the commander to “fix” troubled units and during the last 20 years of his career, he was repeatedly assigned to improve performance to required levels. His last eight he commanded a unit responsible for training, evaluating, and improving the combat readiness capacities of National Guard and Army Reserve artillery units west of the Mississippi River.
Helen Ryley, VP of Education Products and Services Division
Author, educator, and national consultant, Helen Ryley has worked to improve organizational and teacher performance for over 25 years. She led teams of national consultants to study and refine best practices in areas of professional development, organizational and leadership development. Helen has written a number of publications including: Building Championship Schools: A Blueprint for Organizational Change (1991) and the Policymakers Education Seminar Kit for Education Commission of the States (1998).
Helen designed and directed the “Leadership Institute for Educators” (1997-98) providing professional development for over 200 Colorado K-12 administrators. She led the development of the Guidelines for the Professional Development of Educators in Colorado in 1997-98. Helen was president of the Colorado Staff Development Council in 2001. From 2000-2005, As Benchmark’s VP of Educational Projects Helen created and directed a major program for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Office of Catholic Schools designing and delivering their professional development and implementation of a wide variety of training opportunities focused on improving teaching and learning for over 3600 teachers and administrators each year throughout their 108 PreK-12 schools.
Helen spent 10 years (1981-1991) as Director of Product Development, Sales, and Marketing for professional development products targeted for the education market. She has served on the Colorado State Advisory Board for Adult and Community Education and on the NCSIE National Advisory Board for the Development of Standards and Certification of Professional Developers. She is included in Who’s Who in the West, Who’s Who in Education and Emerging Leaders in America. Helen has completed over 60 hours of post-graduate work focused on the business and educational trends, issues and research-based strategies to achieve improved organizational, teaching and learning results.
In recent years, Helen has designed and drected a nationally recognized professional development program for a 28,000 student District’s support staff. She is a member of the Colorado Department of Education team auditing and supporting academically struggling schools and is a team leader for accreditation audits for the AdvancedEd.
Sherri Stephens Carter, Director of Data Assessment
Sherri brings 30 years’ experience to her position in which she designs analysis and use of student and teacher data to design appropriate instruction for improvement of staff performance. Sherri created and supervised a major school District’s long-range plan for assessment of standards .
Sherri is sought after for her expertise and style to present at state and national conferences particularly in the areas of assessment, mathematics and “Connecting Data to Classroom Instruction.” For the past 15 years, she has been an adjunct professor at a variety of Colorado Colleges and Universities teaching courses such as, “Leadership in Mathematics Education,” “Tools for Determining If Students Have Met Proficiencies,” and “Math for Bigger Kids.” In 1984, Sherri was nominated High School “Teacher of the Year” in Colorado. She has been recognized at state and national levels as an outstanding teacher, trainer and leader of standards-based education implementation and assessment.
Ms. Stephens Carter will assist the company in developing future extensions to the core PD Master Suite™ product.
Shaleen Shah, CTO
Mr. Shah has extensive experience with application/software development, creating IT infrastructure and governance, vendor management, team and subcontractor leadership particularly international relationships, procurement and logistics and client and team training. He is highly knowledgeable about the K12 education market space and its technology needs. Shaleen possesses excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to develop trusted relationships with customers, business partners and stakeholders and strong multi -cultural skills, being born in India, living in NZ and the USA and working with teams across 21 countries.
Noelle Branch, International Project Director
Noelle has an accomplished career demonstrating consistent success as an administrator and educator at the K-12 and higher education levels with an outstanding track record in assuring student success. As a school and central office administrator, she demonstrated her skills at conceiving and building programs from the ground up, project and program management, staff development and improving teacher, student and organizational performance. She has an extensive background as a lead evaluator for school accreditation in the U.S. and Internationally. In June 2014 Sherri was named as the 2014-15 AdvancED International Excellence in Education Award recipient.
Noelle brings to the company extensive experience in working with schools around the world but most extensively in Saudi Arabia. It is this experience that will help the company create effective projects for the Saudia Arabia Ministry of Education.
She demonstrates outstanding skills as an effective communicator with excellent planning, organizational and negotiation strengths, and the ability to establish goals and attain results.