Big Deals: Advanced offerings in curriculum and data analytics, parent communication, remote tutoring, and more

Discovery Education this month acquired DreamBox Learning, a PK-12 education technology provider serving more than 6 million students and 600,000 educators nationwide. Headquartered in Bellevue, WA, DreamBox Learning offers the only dual-discipline solution rated “Strong” by Johns Hopkins University’s evidenceforESSA.org in both mathematics and reading. Through its adaptive learning solutions independently proven to accelerate student growth, DreamBox Learning empowers educators with data analytics and content-specific professional development solutions to complement instruction.

DreamBox Learning’s products complement Discovery Education’s other digital solutions, which include Discovery Education Experience, the company’s award-winning K-12 platform, the Techbook series of digital textbooks, Mystery Science, and more, in supporting student achievement. The acquisition of DreamBox Learning comes at a time when school districts are seeking comprehensive, yet consolidated platforms to address a wide range of core and supplemental learning needs, backed by research that underscores meaningful gains in achievement. The addition of DreamBox Learning’s intelligent adaptive learning technology to the Discovery Education suite will provide educators and students with more options for engaging, personalized learning experiences across a variety of disciplines.

DreamBox Learning will be Discovery Education’s most recent acquisition, joining Pivot Interactives and DoodleLearning, which were acquired in August of 2022, and Mystery Science, which was acquired in 2020. …Read More

3 quick & easy ways I connect with parents

Parents are at the center of a child’s academic success. A Columbia University study done in 2017 revealed that when the parents of middle- and high-schoolers received texts each week outlining their child’s grades, absences, or missed assignments—an example of a strategy known as “nudge interventions”—there was a 39-percent reduction in course failures and an 18-percent increase in student attendance.

A successful relationship between educators and parents requires this sort of constant communication, whether via phone call, email, or even an in-person conversation.

Related: 4 evidence-based ways parents improve student achievement…Read More

Are you making the most of mass notification?

Customization, using social media and pushing out safety routes just some new capabilities of mass notification systems (MNS).

Anyone who says the use of mass notification is a new trend for education institutions and communities doesn’t fully understand it. Mass notification is as old as communication itself. Paul Revere blasted a verbal warning that “the British are coming.” The Cold War broadcasts interrupted TV shows with the message “this is a test of the emergency broadcast system.” Local volunteer fire departments conduct regular fire drills at the elementary schools. Some schools already send campus-wide text messages with class cancellations.

What has changed about mass notification is the methodology, the granularity and specificity of the message, and the customization to individual recipients or groups. Mass notification itself is a general term. With respect to critical events, the capability better fits into the category of “mass communications,” in which an organization sends a message through a communication channel to a large anonymous group of people and/or organizations.

So when did the transformation to modern mass notification systems (MNS) occur? Despite the advances through the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, nearly every critical event during these time periods was characterized by dangerously ineffectual communication.…Read More