Research-Based Digital Family Engagement Program Set to Expand Student Support

SAN FRANCISCO/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ —  ParentPowered PBC, an education technology company that provides research-based digital family engagement, today announced the appointment of Terri Soutor as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Melissa Palmer as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). These moves coincide with ParentPowered’s preparations for substantial growth as it continues expanding its product portfolio to further enhance student support.

Soutor is an experienced C-suite leader and go-to-market strategist, skilled at building and growing education technology companies. As CEO at FastBridge Learning, Soutor scaled the company over a four year period to $11M ARR at a 45% annual growth rate and delivering more than 25 million assessments to over 1.6 million students across the country and earning the company the honor of becoming the second fastest-growing private company in the Twin Cities. Her business acumen, leadership and accomplishments have been publicly recognized. She made the list of CEOs in The Real Power 50 by Minnesota Business and was a recipient of a Titan of Technology award from Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. She has served since early 2022 on the ParentPowered Board of Directors and brings an in-depth understanding of the organization’s mission to support student learning.

“We are poised to make a real difference in student learning with a dedicated team and a mission that truly matters. I’m proud and excited to lead the charge and amplify our impact together,” said Terri Soutor, ParentPowered’s incoming CEO.Tweet this…Read More

How to (correctly!) use ChatGPT for essay writing

Key points:

Since OpenAI’s ChatGPT launch in November 2022, it continues to bother teachers. No wonder:

The tool has a fascinating ability to craft texts that look like a human wrote them. Influencing the education niche, it’s a game-changer in the classroom. Not only does it make educators revise their approach to teaching academic writing, but some still see it as a threat to students’ academic integrity.…Read More

3 lessons on perseverance from a honey badger

Key points:

  • A classroom that values perseverance is a safe space for students to take chances
  • Setting goals is another key part of creating an environment of perseverance
  • See related article: 3 ways teachers can drive student growth

Have you ever heard the story of Stoffel the honey badger? Stoffel was rescued by a wildlife rehabilitation center after being injured by a pride of lions and quickly became infamous for his many escape attempts.

No matter what his caretakers did to deter him, Stoffel always found a way to escape his enclosure. First, he taught his fellow honey badger how they could work together to open the door to their habitat. Then, he began using tools and objects to scale the walls when his caretakers weren’t looking. At one point, he even built a small ramp over the wall using accumulated mud and debris. Suffice it to say, Stoffel knew a thing or two about perseverance.…Read More

How to support student agency

Key points:

In my more than 20 years of supporting students on their academic journey, I’ve realized there are no “magic” solutions in education. But there are some strategies that have proven to be more effective than others in helping all students succeed.

One of the most basic, yet effective, strategies is giving students choice and agency over their learning.…Read More

Prioritizing social growth during online learning

Key points:

The expansion of online education has been a real boon for busy parents, teachers, and students. Online learning lets children learn from the comfort of their own homes and gives teachers a chance to set their own schedules.

However, some parents and teachers are worried about the social growth of students who are learning remotely. This is understandable, as some kids who learn online do so alone and only meet their peers via video calls.…Read More

6 tips to detect AI-generated student work

Key points:

As the school year starts, the excitement and stress about the potential use of generative AI has K-12 teachers and university faculty collectively stressed about these new tools and their potential impact on instruction. A recent professional development meeting about AI at a midwestern university set a new attendance record for such events.

There is no sure-fire way to identify text as generated by AI, and some of the early tools offered to do such have either been shown to be only somewhat effective or have been withdrawn from public use as not meeting their developer’s standards. A spate of AI detectors are available, including CopyLeaks, Content at Scale, and GPTZero, but most will note it is important to consider the results in conjunction with a conversation with the student involved. Asking a student to explain a complex or confusing portion of a submission might be more effective than any of the AI detectors.…Read More

Tutor.com Announces Launch of Round-the-Clock Online Tutoring for South Orange and Maplewood Students

NEW YORK   Tutor.com, one of the world’s largest and most innovative online tutoring organizations, announced today that it has been selected by the  South Orange & Maplewood School District to provide round-the-clock online tutoring for students in grades 3 through 12 at no cost to them. Through the partnership, expert tutors are available 24/7, and 1-to-1 tutoring for each student is unlimited.

We applaud SOMSD for their commitment to providing equitable, individualized tutoring for students districtwide, said Sandi White, Chief Institutional Officer at Tutor.com and The Princeton Review. We have seen the impact that on-demand support has on student achievement, and we are dedicated to providing expert help—anytime, anywhere—that gives students agency to achieve their educational goals.

“One of the most effective ways to enhance instruction and student achievement is through tutoring. This partnership is making tutoring more available than ever, and that is completely aligned with our efforts to build greater equity among our students and their ability to achieve academic success,” said Dr. Ronald Taylor, Superintendent of the Schools of South Orange and Maplewood. “This would not be possible without the efforts of our Information Technology Department successfully providing all of our students with Chromebooks and internet access during the pandemic shutdown. I want to thank them, Assistant Superintendent Ann Bodnar, and our Curriculum and Instruction Team for their efforts in making this resource available to so many of our students.”

The program features include:…Read More

4 ways edtech tools drive student engagement and build classroom culture

Key points:

As a teacher, I constantly wondered how to get students more engaged in my lessons. As an administrator, this question was the guiding force of my coaching.  Student engagement can be tough to define and difficult to systematize, but for anyone who’s walked into a highly engaged classroom, it’s immediately apparent. 

In my experience, it’s almost a direct path from increased student engagement to stronger learning outcomes. The two combined can often mean improved classroom culture, and in turn, higher teacher retention and other major benefits. There are four key ways that edtech tools can increase student engagement, and when done correctly, be a catalyst for building a culture of learning.…Read More

5 ways to update aging media centers

Key points:

  • Prioritize high-need schools and ensure technology is in place from the beginning
  • With updated media centers, schools can support modern learning goals and student activities
  • See related article: 4 ways we designed collaborative learning spaces

It’s been about two years since we received the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding that we needed to be able to update our aging media centers. Not only were the furniture and fixtures old, but most of the seating was made of cloth and nearly impossible to sanitize or disinfect.

We used this ESSER funding opportunity—plus some additional funding from other sources—to thoroughly review our current facilities across 27 different schools. We sought out the facilities with the highest need, knowing that some of them had been upgraded in recent years. Others, however, were still using furniture from 1972—the same year that the schools had opened.…Read More

How AI could advance computer-based tutors—and student success

Key points:

Benjamin Bloom explained the 2 sigma problem in his seminal 1984 article of the same title. Briefly stated, the problem consists of the following:

  • The average student who is taught by a tutor using mastery learning techniques outperforms 98 percent of students taught in a typical classroom.
  • Society cannot afford to provide full-time tutors for every student.
  • As a result, the majority of students fail to reach their potential due to the way we teach them.

Because there appeared to be no viable path to providing each student with their own personal tutor, Bloom called on educational researchers to “find methods of group instruction as effective as one-on-one tutoring.” Educational technologists weren’t so quick to give up on the idea of providing every student with their own individual tutor, however, and have made laudable progress toward the 2 sigma goal by designing what are called intelligent tutoring systems (ITS). Unfortunately, these systems are both difficult and expensive to design and build, and typically work only in a single domain of knowledge (such as algebra).…Read More

What does learning fueled by student motivation look like?

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Editor’s note: This article on learning and student motivation originally appeared on the Christensen Institute’s blog and is reposted here with permission.

In 2020, my wife and I bought a used 2017 Nissan Leaf (an all-electric vehicle) for her commute to work. We thought it was a practical choice, but we soon found our purchase had come with some serious limitations. First, the car had very limited range, meaning we had to restrict our trips to about a 30-mile radius from our house. Then, about a year into owning the car, an even worse issue came up that gave us major heart palpitations: the car would completely lose power and stall while climbing the freeway grade between our valley and the neighboring town where my wife works. …Read More