About CA

Curriculum Advantage is a technology learning company that provides educational solutions through Classworks, a web-based curriculum resource in mathematics, reading, language arts, and elementary science. Curriculum Advantage offers students, teachers and administrators with software solutions that are proven to be effective in raising student performance.
 
Launched in 1993, Curriculum Advantage's Classworks consistently provides instruction that improves student achievement, and tools to help classroom teachers meet the growing demand for accountability. Classworks instruction is aligned to local, state and national standards and assessment objectives. Classworks is grounded in scientifically based research and has a proven record of positive results, which allows schools using Classworks to be confident that the instructional strategies are sound and that the program will contribute to improved student academic achievement.

Curriculum Advantage's solutions are educator-developed and research-based, offering more than 5,000 hours of interactive, standards-based, managed instruction. More than 3,000 schools use Curriculum Advantage solutions daily.

The Right Instruction for Every Student

Curriculum Advantage's solutions provide targeted individual instruction for every student.  Students are assigned instruction to meet their needs based on district achievement objectives, including:

• Reading assessment scores and automatically assigning activities based on individual areas of need
• Standards-based, state mandated on-grade level instruction
• Alternative instructional settings – extended day, summer school, instructional labs
• Dropout Prevention Solution
• Target populations – English as a Second Language, at-risk, special needs students

Management Team

Lindsey Cook
Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Cook brings extensive leadership experience to Curriculum Advantage. He has served as President and CEO for Curriculum Advantage since early 2003. Previously, in his capacity as a Managing Director with Corporate Development and Capital, Mr. Cook advised numerous education companies regarding product sales, financial and corporate development. He also served as the Chief Executive Officer for Nschool, an innovative internet company that connects parents, teachers and students seamlessly. Prior to his education experience, Mr. Cook was a practicing attorney for 15 years, including 4 years as Judge Advocate in the U.S. Army. Mr. Cook earned his J.D. and M.B.A. from the University of Georgia and is a member of the state bars of Georgia and Florida.

Melissa Sinunu
Chief Operating Officer

Ms. Sinunu brings 14 years of experience in the educational technology industry to Curriculum Advantage. This includes product management for Compass Learning during the launch of a new K-8 Reading, Math and Language Arts program, as well as the assessment lines. She also had a successful sales tenure with both Compass Learning and Houghton Mifflin's Classwell Learning Group. Since joining Curriculum Advantage in 2003, Ms. Sinunu has guided vast changes to the flagship product, Classworks, bringing new technology and a results-based approach to Classworks implementations across the country.

Daniel Dooley
Executive Vice President of Sales

Mr. Dooley brings a wealth of sales and executive management experience to Curriculum Advantage. Prior to joining Curriculum Advantage in late 2004 Mr. Dooley was in sales management for the Atlanta Falcons and Georgia Force. He also served as Chairman of Nschool, an innovative internet company that connects parents, teachers and students seamlessly. Mr. Dooley started his sales career with one of the largest privately held companies in GA, ultimately serving as their EVP. Under his sales management Curriculum Advantage has experienced tremendous growth and year over year double digit revenue increases.

Debbie Rankins Nicholas
Vice President, K-12 Education

Ms. Nicholas brings 15 years of experience in implementing computer assisted instruction curriculum. She holds a Master's Degree in Information Science from the University of North Texas. Ms. Nicholas co-authored Dallas ISD’s English as a Second Language classroom guides and served as an instructional technology specialist for the district. She was a member of the original team that established Dallas’s Reconnections Drop-Out Recovery and Prevention. After leaving public education, she worked in professional development with Pearson Digital Learning until joining Curriculum Advantage, Inc where she managed the Professional Development team and put in place Implementation plans for all schools and helped create the initial Curriculum Advantage Course Catalog providing educators with expanded and advanced training opportunities. The courses were developed to help teachers quickly and efficiently plan, deliver and integrate instruction using Classworks. Ms. Nicholas has a track record of providing outstanding customer service and support utilizing sound research-based methods to successfully meet the challenges of the ever changing educational landscape.

Cathy Sump
Director of Research and Curriculum

Ms. Sump brings a strong educational background including seventeen years of classroom teaching at all levels. She has been a District Curriculum Director, led district-wide school improvement teams and served on a state committee for development of performance-based curriculum. Before joining Curriculum Advantage in 2003, she was Director of Research for an educational internet-based search engine. With Curriculum Advantage, Ms. Sump manages the Research and Curriculum team in developing Classworks curriculum and research-based materials, and works with educational companies to evaluate potential partners that are a match for Curriculum Advantage.