New Bento personal database software and FileMaker Pro 9 featured at 2008 Microcomputers in Education Conference

FileMaker Pro “real world” K-12 solutions highlighted in five conference sessions

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – March 2008 – FileMaker, Inc. will feature Bento, the new personal database software for Mac OS X Leopard, and FileMaker Pro 9 at the 2008 Microcomputers in Education Conference (MEC), March 10 to 12, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. ( http://mec.asu.edu/index.html ), in Booth No. 17. Conference goers will see demonstrations of Bento and FileMaker Pro 9 and learn how FileMaker solutions help schools manage a variety of administrative and classroom tasks.

Bento is the stylish new personal database software for Mac OS X Leopard that is as easy to use as a Mac. Its iTunes-like interface puts Address Book, iCal and other Mac information in one place, making organization easy. More than 140,000 copies of Bento were downloaded during its two-month public preview. Bento trial software is available at http://www.bentotrial.com .

FileMaker Pro solutions will be highlighted in the following five conference sessions:

“Using Rubrics to Improve Grading Systems” – Learn how to create rubrics that effectively communicate project expectations and can accurately assess student performance. The session will be presented from 2:45 to 3:45 p.m. on Monday, March 10 and led by Michael Perry, a business education teacher at East Paulding High School in Paulding County School District, Dallas, Ga., and adjunct instructor of business for the Coles School of Business at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Ga.

“Kid’s Talk Radio” – Find out how teachers and students can become podcasters with their own Web radio station as a means to study standards-based curricula, while integrating technology, sciences, mathematics, music, art and oral and written language course material. The session will be presented on Monday, March 10, from 4 to 5 p.m. and led by Bob Barboza, teacher on special assignment, California Association of Resource Specialists.
“The Complete Teaching Toolbox: From Lesson Plans to Improved Student Performance” – This session will demonstrate education training tools targeted at technology topics such as database usage, teacher and administrator classroom observation, lesson plan and test design, parent participation and IEP development. The session will be presented Tuesday, March 11 from 8 to 9 a.m. and also will be led by Bob Barboza.

“Special ED on Track” – See how the Los Angeles Unified school district developed a database system to track special education compliance and reporting for 900 schools, and how to ensure all Individual Education Plans are complete, accurate and up to date. The session will be presented on Wednesday, March 12 from 9 to 10 a.m. and will be led by Timothy Skilton, compliance specialist with the Special Education Compliance Department of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

“Enhancing Student Information Systems to Ensure No Child Left Behind” – Discover how the Pinellas County school system implemented a database system to interact with its Student Information System (SIS) and expedite analysis of student data for assessing individual and grade-level performance results. The session will be presented on Wednesday, March 12 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. and will be led by Greg Walker, database administrator for the Pinellas County school system in Largo, Fla.

FileMaker database software helps schools collect, manage and report on student and administrative data. More than 10,000 K-12 schools use FileMaker in their data-driven decision-making processes to achieve greater operational efficiency, comply with federal and state reporting requirements and track student performance.

At the FileMaker booth, educators can receive free 30-day trials of Bento and FileMaker Pro 9 while supplies last.

FileMaker also offers the K-12 Education Starter Kit, featuring five education starter solutions, and other helpful K-12 resources. The Starter Kit with a trial version of FileMaker Pro 9 can be downloaded at www.filemakertrial.com/k-12 .
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