New York State Education Department Approves Curriculum Associates as a Continuing Teacher and Leader Education (CTLE) Sponsor

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass., September 14, 2020—The New York State Education Department has approved Curriculum Associates as a Continuing Teacher and Leader Education (CTLE) sponsor. With this approval, educators across New York can now receive state-approved CTLE credits by completing Curriculum Associates’ active, personalized, and research-based professional development courses which can be delivered online or in-person.

“Professional development is so critical to educators’ growth and success, especially now given the challenges of this school year,” said Rob Waldron, CEO of Curriculum Associates. “Our courses are tailored to meet the unique needs of each school and district and to support all educators in an engaging and effective way. With the CTLE sponsorship, we look forward to continuing to provide New York educators with both timely and topical professional learning facilitated by former educators who truly understand the ins and outs of classroom teaching.”

Curriculum Associates was chosen as a CTLE sponsor after completing a rigorous review that examined the organization’s procedures to identify, design, and evaluate CTLE activities; procedures and criteria for selecting instructors; procedures to evaluate effectiveness; plan to maintain records; and more. As part of the state requirements, educators must complete 100 CTLE hours every five years.…Read More

New Mental Health Service to Address Student Anxiety and Stress

PresenceLearning, the leading provider of live online behavioral and mental health services for K-12 schools, has partnered with iOpening Enterprises to develop Finding Your Power in Uncertain Times, a 6-week trauma-informed group therapy program designed to help students who are struggling with life’s current stressors including social, emotional, and economic impacts from COVID-19 and civil unrest in their communities. iOpening Enterprises is a professional development and media company that delivers groundbreaking, science-based mental wellness solutions to schools. The Finding Your Power in Uncertain Times program is exclusively available online from PresenceLearning and provides school districts a solution that can be used in any learning model to serve more students than is possible when limited to in-person, onsite therapy.

“Given the COVID-19 crisis and the recent racial injustice headlines, many school districts are grappling with how to support faculty, teachers, and students as they navigate the trauma faced during the lockdown. It’s critical that schools are equipped with the right culturally-responsive tools and trauma-informed approaches to support students,” said Dr. Isaiah Pickens, CEO of iOpening Enterprises.

A licensed school psychologist or social worker will lead live, interactive small group sessions designed to support middle and high school students. Students will acquire tools to help them manage unhealthy responses to current events, techniques to help them navigate challenges, and skills to better understand themselves.…Read More

BetterLesson Sponsors $1 Million Matching Grant Program for Professional Development

To provide expanded access to K-12 schools and districts with virtual professional learning services to improve teaching and learning in remote and hybrid environments and to promote social justice, BetterLesson is sponsoring a matching grant program. Public and private K-12 schools, districts and education service agencies are invited to submit their proposals between today and Friday, September 4, 2020.

“Teachers and school leaders are facing intense challenges right now. And if we want success for all students, educators need to be meaningfully, continuously supported; now more than ever,” said Erin Osborn co-founder and COO of BetterLesson. “We’ve seen over the past few months how much BetterLesson’s virtual Professional Learning can help districts and schools improve the use of powerful distance learning strategies, as well as help educators take real steps toward advancing social justice. The grant program felt like a concrete way to increase access to this support and reach as many educators as possible.”

The program provides public and private K-12 schools, districts and education service agencies in the United States with virtual professional learning services to improve teaching and learning in remote environments and integrate practices that advance social justice as part of regular classroom instruction.…Read More

Interactive Online Tool that Gives Teachers a Shortcut to Creating Quality Project Based Learning Units

PBLWorks, the leader in professional development for high-quality Project Based Learning (PBL), has created a first-of-its kind PBL Project Designer to help teachers plan standards-based PBL units for students. Teachers can build PBL projects from scratch or easily adapt one of 72 Gold Standard PBL units for their students and context.

The Project Designer walks teachers through each step of designing a project, providing tips for creating or adapting projects, instructional ideas, links to project resources, and modifications for online learning. Once complete, projects can be downloaded, printed, and immediately implemented with students.

“Project Based Learning is an incredible way to engage students and promote deeper learning and we want to provide as much support as we can to help teachers do it well, whether they are teaching in classrooms or remotely,” said PBLWorks CEO Bob Lenz. “The PBL Project Designer is a great resource for teachers – whether they’re experienced in PBL or just starting out – to help them confidently plan their next PBL unit.”…Read More

mSL CAPITA Introduces the Nation’s First Esports Fellowship, Making Esports More Accessible for Coaches and Educators

mSL CAPITA, a professional development program by mindSpark Learning specifically designed to support coaches and sport organizations, launched its inaugural CAPITA COLab Esports Fellowship for coaches and educators to shape the convergence of traditional sports, esports, industry and education. This first esports fellowship of it’s kind is a personalized, customizable six-month program, running from September 2020 – March 2021, and is dedicated to supporting fellows in the process of designing an esports program that can be integrated into schools and sports organizations.

Fellows will receive 20 hours of intensive leadership coaching and professional development, broken into two parts. Part one is a two-day launch, complete with three-hour training clinics on September 23 and 24. Part two is composed of five monthly sessions of two-hour training clinics beginning October 21. All sessions are virtual.

With an emphasis on next-generation technology, social purpose, workforce development and social-emotional learning, the CAPITA COLab Esports Fellowship creates a collaborative environment where fellows will work closely with our experienced facilitators and esports industry partners to develop the tools and confidence they need to bridge the gap between traditional sports, esports, industry and education.…Read More

Professional Development Pandemic Style—How one District Is Prepping Staff For Success

Jon Castelhano, Executive Director of Technology at Gilbert Public Schools in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, is making lemonade. Instead of stopgap measures to make it through the COVID-19 crisis, his district is crafting strategic changes with an eye toward the long term. These are ideas long talked about but never implemented in the 40 schools that serve 34,000 students. For it to work, faculty need to reinvent themselves too. In this conversation with eSchool News, Jon describes how they intend to do just that.

ESN: What does your fall look like at the moment?

JC: We are developing a number of options for families. The first is a complete online option, which is really just our current virtual academy. The one I’m excited about is our flex option—think blended/hybrid type model for our elementary schools and a little different flex look at the high school. It’s similar to what some kids do now where they might take a few classes on campus but then take a couple online.…Read More

Infobase Acquires Professional Development and Training Platform

Infobase, the award-winning provider of the Infobase Learning Ecosystem, which delivers interactive learning experiences and award-winning digital reference content to the school and library community, today announced the acquisition of Hoonuit’s Professional Development and Training Platform, the leading solution for educators needing to improve student learning and meet district, state, and department objectives. With this purchase, Infobase empowers educators with the professional development and training resources they need to create college- and career-ready students.

Helping Educators Close Student Learning Gaps

Infobase is now positioned to connect educators with the solutions they need to fill learning gaps, provide social-emotional learning support, and successfully utilize distance learning technology through the COVID-19 pandemic and into the future.…Read More

How Newport-Mesa Unified School District became closer by being apart

Jenith Mishne is a relentlessly positive person. Not even a global pandemic can dampen her enthusiasm when talking about her job as Director of Education Technology in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District (CA), where she serves 22,500 students at twenty-two elementary schools, two intermediate schools, four high schools, one alternative education center, and one adult education center.

In this conversation with eSchool News, Mishne finds the silver linings in the world’s largest beta test for remote learning—from device management to compassionate teacher professional development and better community communication. She also shares some of her thoughts about how education can grow from this tragedy.

Related content: How this district made the remote transition…Read More

How to employ a differentiated mindset when teaching STEM

When we facilitate professional development events, there’s often a common theme: teachers understand the importance of active STEM teaching and learning, but don’t always know how to implement it in a way that supports the diverse needs of their students. In our work with TGR EDU: Explore, a partnership between TGR Foundation and Discovery Education, we provide guidance to educators on how to prepare students for success through active, engaging instruction.

Differentiated instruction is a critical part of providing an equitable, effective STEM education. When instruction is differentiated, students are able to actively explore careers in STEM, hone their individual skillsets and build confidence.

Related content: 10 trends and predictions for STEM education…Read More

Free Online Career Development

With the school closures caused by the COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic, school counselors, teachers, parents, and students are looking for online resources. But they’re also looking for ways to stay inspired – and to feel a sense of optimism – about the future. For a limited time, Kuder is offering access to its career development systems for students in grades pre-K to 12, as well as a 10-hour professional development course for career advisors, free of charge.

Kuder, Inc., a worldwide leader in evidenced-based career assessment and advisement tools and resources for all ages, announced that it is now offering two of its award-winning products for school counselors, teachers, families, and students, as well as a professional development course free of charge during the COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic.

Free access to online early career awareness and career readiness systems for grades pre-K to 12:…Read More

Distance Learning Training and Resources

Boxlight Corporation a leading provider of interactive technology solutions for the global education market, is offering complimentary training, professional development, and support resources for educators transitioning to distance learning.

Boxlight Together is a collection of multimedia resources to upskill K-12 teachers on using Google’s G-Suite for Education and Microsoft’s Office 365 for Education platforms to deliver distance learning during the COVID-19 crisis. Educators can select from a series of live webinars and self-paced online professional development courses, as well as access our team of Digital Learning Specialists for personalized support.

These resources have been developed by the team at Boxlight’s wholly-owned PD subsidiary, EOS Education, and are being made available to the public free of charge. Customized school and district PD plans are also available through Boxlight-EOS.…Read More

FREE professional development courses

TEQ had made all of our PD courses FREE to help schools implement distance learning and online professional development.

There are two pathways to getting an account:

  • Any individual can sign up
  • Any district that wants an account for all of their teachers can fill out the form at the link and get a group code from us that they can share with all of their teachers. We will need information from them to generate the code.

The website that outlines the free OTIS resources: https://www.teq.com/remote-learning/…Read More