First Tracks, Inc.

First Tracks was the winner of the University at Buffalo's Panasci Business Plan Contest in 2003. The company has designed and is offering to the education community the first universally practical solution for reporting assessment data as required by State and Federal education programs. First Tracks will be building onto this platform with online test software for scoring and reporting. The time savings in scoring and grade recording from this new testing software will allow teachers to focus on educating. First Tracks displays the progress of every student against national benchmarks, while providing comprehensive reports and analysis to promote focused instruction in areas of need. None of First Tracks' three competitors have this feature.

Currently over 20 New York school districts are using First Tracks to provide immediate feedback to teachers of their Reading First Assessment data requirements for NY's No Child Left Behind initiative. First Tracks is targeting 10,325 school districts in the U.S. An average size school district with 2000 K-12 students will pay $16,000 for a one-year contract. Eligible schools may include funding to pay for the First Tracks program in grant applications under federal programs that have over $4 billion allocated to them for each school year.

First Tracks' management team has combined expertise and experience in reading education, information technology, sales and business management. The company is now looking for $1.2 million in financing over the next 18 months to expand the software's scope and launch a national sales campaign.