“Oh, say can you see?....”

We’re delighted to share that we have had over sixty innovative companies apply to be part of our February 22 Summit in Baltimore, birthplace of the “Star Spangled Banner.” We are seeing some familiar names: eight of the companies applying to Baltimore took part in our Silicon Valley conference in November. We'll be gathering at a pretty swanky place, the Four Seasons Hotel.

Now it’s up to the judges.

Each time EdSurge runs a Tech for Schools Summit, we partner with local school districts. We expect each event to be unique and, dare we say, personalized for the local community. Educators from our partner organizations form our judging panel.

In Baltimore, we’re thrilled to have seven distinguished educators evaluating the Summit applications. (You can read their full bios here.) They are:

Baltimore City

• Joseph Manko, Principal, Liberty Elementary

• Joshua Shaw, Functional Analyst on School Support Team

Baltimore County

• David Robb, Specialist, Department of Digital Learning

Howard County

• Lisa Katz, Instructional Technology Specialist, Office of Instructional Technology

Maryland Society for Education Technology (MSET)

• Jennifer Pleszkoch, Executive Director

• Selena Ward, President-Elect and Instructional Lead Teacher for Arts Integration, Northwestern High School, Prince George's County

The SEED School of Maryland

• Justin Eames, Technology Teacher

EdCamp Baltimore

• Shannon Montague, Middle School Technology Integrator, Bryn Mawr School

Key questions that the judges are using to evaluate the applications include:

• Does the product address a critical issue for teachers?

• Does the product offer a unique approach to solving the issue?

• How easy is it to implement?

• Can the product be used across multiple platforms?

• Does it work for different types of learners?

And in Baltimore, educators have said that they have a particular interest in seeing fledgling companies still in beta, companies that support 21st century learning skills, tools that allow teachers and/or students to create, and tools that individual teachers can adopt and implement quickly.

By next week, we should have the thirty final companies selected. Stay posted!