NNI Nelnet Inc

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CPP, Inc. (CPP.com), an industry leader in research, training, and organizational development tools including the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^® (MBTI^®) assessment, and its partners Peterson's Publishing, Nelnet, and OnVal are showcasing a joint technology project at the White House Education Datapalooza event on October 9, 2012. During the event, innovators and entrepreneurs will present ideas that have the potential to advance educational achievement to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, United States Chief Technology Officer Todd Park and top officials from the U.S. Department of Education.

The Education Datapalooza is part of the White House Open Data Initiative, one of five projects within the new Presidential Innovation Fellows program launched by Park at the 2012 TechCrunch Disrupt Conference. Composed of an agile team of government and business innovators and led by Park, the Open Data Initiative will put government data to work on behalf of the American people.  

At the event, CPP and its partners will demonstrate how they have developed the foundation for a technology platform that will combine data from the government, educational institutions and corporations with student data from CPP's CPI 260^® assessment. The end-result is a set of personalized career futures that help the student identify, appraise and pursue viable pathways to a successful career.  

"With this innovation, we're making 'Big Data' personal," said Chris Mackey, Director of Business Development, CPP. "The ultimate goal of this project is to use open data to support all students in achieving academic success and fulfilling careers. That can only be accomplished when students are able to integrate what is unique about themselves into recommended career futures."

The CPI 260 assessment is the key element that reveals a student's approach to life and work, providing insight into professional and personal styles on five dimensions: Dealing with Others, Self-Management, Motivations and Thinking Style, Personal Characteristics and Work-Related Measures.

For students, the technology will present career options and pathways based on their individual interests and aptitudes, while providing concrete data that enables a better understanding of the effort, sacrifices and specific actions required to achieve those goals. For parents and counselors, the platform will offer an easily accessible way to identify where students are in relation to their goals and when and how to best intervene on behalf of students to help ensure their success.

"As today's students plan their careers, rising tuition and increasing competition leave little room for guesswork," said Dave Kochbeck, CEO, OnVal. "This partnership showcases how private technology can tap open data to help students make well-informed decisions at every point on the road to success."

Every student deserves a path to a decent future – the challenge is finding and sticking to a path that is viable for the student's financial situation, aptitude, interests and personal lifestyle preferences. While the goal of CPP and its partners is to help all students, the new technology will be particularly beneficial to those at risk of dropping out, who don't benefit from aggregate improvements in student retention.

"The path to a successful career can be difficult to navigate, and too many of our young people are getting lost along the way," said Dominic Rotondi, Executive Director, Peterson's/Nelnet. "We're proud to partner with CPP and OnVal to give students more control over their futures than has ever been possible before."

About CPP, Inc.

Since its founding in 1956, CPP, Inc. has been a leading publisher and provider of innovative products and services for individual and organizational development, supplying reliable training solutions to businesses of all sizes, including the Fortune 500. The company's hundreds of offerings have been used by millions of individuals in more than 100 countries, in more than 20 languages, to help people and organizations grow and develop by improving performance and increasing understanding. Among CPP's world-renowned brands and services are the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^®, Strong Interest Inventory^®, Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI), FIRO^®, CPI 260^®, and California Psychological Inventory™ (CPI™) assessments; and CPP Professional Services. For more information about CPP, visit CPP.com.

About Peterson's Publishing

Peterson's Publishing has more than 45 years of experience helping students and their families succeed in their lifelong educational journey. As a Nelnet company, our business segments provide parents, students and schools access to more online educational resources, higher education planning tools and educational loan services than any other company in the nation. For more information, visit PetersonsPublishing.com.

About Nelnet

Nelnet (NYSE: NNI) provides innovative educational services in loan servicing, payment processing, education planning and asset management. These products and services help students and families plan, prepare and pay for their education, while making administrative and financial processes more efficient for schools and financial institutions. For more information, visit Nelnet.com.

About OnVal

OnVal provides an online simulation and decision support platform. This technology powers products that enable businesses, consumers and institutions to quantify complex processes and receive actionable guidance that increase the likelihood of success and decrease costs. For more information, visit OnVal.com.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Myers-Briggs, and MBTI are trademarks or registered trademarks of the MBTI Trust, Inc. Strong Interest Inventory, FIRO, and CPI 260 are registered trademarks and California Psychological Inventory and CPI are trademarks of CPP, Inc.

SOURCE CPP, Inc.