Joe Warden, Business Development Executive for Northrop Grumman, discusses diversity and strong interest in the K–12 community.
ESD: Tell our readers a little about your company. What’s your main line of business?
JW: This is an interesting story. Many people who have heard of Northrop Grumman think of a large government contractor or a defense company. What most folks don’t know is that Northrop Grumman is very diversified and has a strong interest in K–12 education. Northrop Grumman has many types of mentoring programs and partnerships with school districts mostly focusing on helping students into careers in math and science. I focus primarily on the ASPIRE assessment system, which is a bit different in that we have developed a flexible and teacher-friendly student assessment software system focusing not only on student learning but also helping teachers in the classroom.
ESD: What makes your company unique?
JW: Northrop Grumman is a technology company that has developed many types of safe and secure software solutions based on customer needs and requirements. With more than 120,000 employees, Northrop Grumman has the depth and breadth of technological expertise and resources to deliver to and support our customers.
ESD: What distinguishes your products from the competition?
JW: ASPIRE was created by teachers for teachers so it is very flexible and user friendly. We knew that when we started down this path, we wanted to develop a product that would really help teachers with their classroom instruction. Therefore, we worked very closely with teachers and other educators from day one of the development of ASPIRE. Our belief is that users or practitioners know what type of functionality they need in an assessment tool and we continue to enhance ASPIRE based on customer feedback and suggestions.
ESD: Compare the position of your products and their technology against the current market.
JW: ASCD provides the professional development and educational content for ASPIRE, while Northrop Grumman focuses on what the company does best—deliver cutting-edge technology in a secure environment.
ESD: Who are your target end-users?
JW: We have a wide range of educators that we want to engage. Of course, we always want to talk with the educational technology folks and also district curriculum staff as well. Also, since ASPIRE has a strong focus on formative assessment and helping teachers in the classroom, we are always interested in talking with school-based folks as well—principals, teachers and school technology staff. Additionally, we always want to talk with districts that have a philosophy of empowering teachers and have implemented professional learning communities at their schools.
ESD: How do you see the next year in terms of economy, sales, technology and product evolution?
JW: Great question. I think that with how the economy is going these next few years will be challenging to say the least. Having said that, with our belief of where education is going in terms of empowering teachers with the tools and information they need in the classroom, Northrop Grumman, in partnership with ASCD, has a very unique and strong solution that many districts will have a need for.
For more information, visit www.northropgrumman.com.
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