Best Practices in School Technology: Winter 2013
The science of the sudden school turnaround
New research helps to unveil the science of the school turnaround, revealing that improving schools dramatically isn’t about working miracles—it’s about having the right tools and the right focus.…
Encourage greater interaction and engagement with classroom management software
NetSupport School is a classroom management software program that gives teachers the ability to instruct and visually or audibly monitor, as well as interact with, their students—either individually, as a…
How to sustain technology funding in schools
Involving the community, identifying backup revenue sources, and dedicating time and resources for professional development are the keys to sustaining technology funding and ed-tech initiatives, according to a survey conducted…
Tips and take-aways from a successful mobile learning program
Starting small might be the key to success when it comes to deploying a mobile learning initiative, according to two educators whose district has implemented a successful mobile program that…
Social learning networks promote student engagement, global awareness
One of the goals of a social studies curriculum is to ensure that students are aware of different cultures and geographies—including how these are similar to or different from their…
Data: It’s more than test scores
It’s pretty common these days to hear the term “data-driven decision-making” in education and assume it is synonymous with standardized test scores. But we all know that students are more…
Making gains with real-world science connections
Helping middle school students grasp abstract science concepts can be a challenge. Many times, when we teach something in class, students have nothing to relate it to in the real…
Technology helps make speech therapy easier
With speech language pathologists in short supply, rural Glenn County in northern California has turned to PresenceLearning to provide online speech therapy services for about 10 Willows Unified School District…
How to have assessment without testing—and without losing valuable instructional time
Most educators can agree that frequent progress monitoring is critical to achieving a data-driven culture. However, under my direction at Cahuenga Elementary School in Los Angeles, we employed a different…



