8 terrific learning podcasts for students
When podcasts first gained popularity in the early 2000s, they seemed to be a quaint throwback to radio. But that changed quickly as more and more people jumped…
4 terrific teacher communities for summer PD
Thinking about ways to avoid the "summer slide" over the next few months? Keeping up on skills over the summer isn't just for students. The summer break is…
How to drive a successful digital transformation in urban districts
It’s generally understood that integrating edtech into schools can be complex, but what’s less often discussed is that it represents one of the most universal pain points for…
5 ways technology can support educators in an environment of expanding school choice
President Trump’s recent education budget proposal has received a great deal of attention for cutting education by $9.2 billion or 13.6 percent. The administration is proposing an additional…
School’s out! Finding teacher tools that finish at the top of the class
Technology delivers plenty of tools to help teachers manage their classroom and transform how they teach–from solutions rolled out by ... Read more
Why losing control of your classroom is a good thing
Even when students aren’t sitting through lectures, they’re still accustomed to letting their teachers dictate the pace, style, and direction of learning. But some forward-thinking classrooms have turned…
3 ways to use technology for amazing parental engagement
Involving parents in their children's progress in the classroom has long been shown to significantly increase student outcomes. With parent engagement top of mind in many school districts–partly…
Traditional assessment rewards the wrong behaviors-here’s why
If you told me that students as young as first grade can learn to solve complex linear equations—an algebraic concept that generally isn’t taught until the seventh or…
9 reasons why today’s students are loving innovation-based courses
One of the most important aspects of reaching students in a meaningful way is the ability to keep them engaged and engrossed in their work. As digital natives,…
These edtech tools are perfect for hassle-free assessments
With the shift in education towards data-driven instruction, teachers spend inordinate amounts of time on assessments: checking for understanding, formative assessment, summative assessment, quizzes, tests, essays, research papers,…
Teachers: 3 ways technology can make learning visible, easily
John Hattie’s meta-study, Visible Learning (2009), changed the way we think about what works in the classroom. His analysis of 50,000 educational studies involving more than 80 million…
11 online summer camps to keep kids learning while school’s out
Virtual summer camps–where kids head to the computer instead of the pool or park–are a thing now. But don’t worry: ... Read more
How video cameras help improve classroom learning and campus safety
The topic of video cameras in the classroom has been brewing for years. Schools that have deployed cameras in public areas have experienced dramatic safety benefits. For example,…
Inspiring: Technology flips a school’s culture from negative to positive
Technology has begun to transform how K-12 leaders track and manage student behavior, giving administrators real-time access to discipline information ... Read more
How can schools ensure a “return on instruction?”
[A portion of the following is an excerpt from the new ASCD book, Learning Transformed: 8 Keys to Designing Tomorrow’s ... Read more
5 reasons why every school needs to brand NOW
It’s woven in every aspect of modern daily life, but branding isn’t new to the scene. Archeologists found branded wine ... Read more
The 3 major dos and don’ts of blended learning
With the goal of making the learning experience more personalized and individual, a growing number of schools have embraced the concept of blended learning. The transition from more…
Why you should include simulations in your STEM lessons
During my first year of teaching, a mentor teacher showed me interactive PhET simulations, and it changed my curriculum forever. To be honest, I was blown away by…
3 ways to ease grading with blended technology
Grading papers is still a daunting teaching duty. But it doesn’t have to be. Teachers have many tools available to encourage students to turn-in those assignments on time.
Educator: These are “My Tech Essentials”
“My Tech Essentials” is a new monthly feature on eSchool News that highlights the choice of ‘must-have’ technology used by one tech-savvy educator, with the hope that other…
Is VR education an answer to the U.S. inmate problem?
Are education and incarceration two sides of the same coin or competing industries? The short answer is ‘yes.’ They are ... Read more
4 ways to tie summer reading to the real world
Want to hear the story about the most embarrassing moment of my life? My students sure did. I tell that ... Read more
3 school security musts for summer kick off
I don’t really need to belabor the point that securing educational institutions is both incredibly challenging and crucially important; it’s a bit like describing the importance of water…
How to be an award-winning teacher
My homeroom is 4th- and 5th-graders: 21 gifted students, a mix of boys and girls. It’s nice because the 5th-graders are really the mentors, and next year the…
Wow! This inquiry-based, technology-rich school has no tech staff
When I first became principal, I was compelled to explore all aspects of what it meant to be a 21st-century learner in an international baccalaureate context: as a…
Virtual island destination aims to prevent the summer math slide
The summer slide, a loss of academic progress during the summer break between school years, has been confirmed in many research studies since an early publication by White…
5 ways teachers can improve student learning based on current brain research
Educators can positively influence students’ learning by understanding how the brain is shaped by their early experiences—and how it can be rewired and reorganized to work more quickly…
Is writing education vital to emerging technology?
In an age of technological advancement, it’s easy to feel obsolete. I feel confident that education will always be needed; ... Read more
How a sheriff’s department and a school teamed up for SEL
School has always been a place for learning math, science, history, and art, but now it’s also becoming the place for students to learn other skills that are…
Principal: Real school transformation starts with a magical triangle
Every child deserves the opportunity to lead, learn, grow, and succeed. It’s only through a 360-degree approach to learning that we can provide these necessary opportunities to all…
In a shaky political climate, here’s why students are more important than ever
Politics is a funny beast. Being a journalist, I watch the gyrations and positioning with interest. When I was coming up in the business, I used to cover…
Best practices for rolling out tech in the classroom—an administrative perspective
In 2013, Shipley made the integration of technology a priority, and the Board of Trustees approved a 1:1 program—a program where we provide each student (grades 6-12) with…
HOT: Millennial parents are loving this school communication app
We are parents of a 1st-grader and are used to communicating with friends and colleagues instantly and often. Today, almost 90 percent of parents own a smartphone and…
3 better alternatives to “gotcha” tactics for teachers
I have been in school administration for 12 years now, and one of the things that I absolutely have learned to hate is the formal teacher evaluation process.…
These schools are leveraging E-Rate for a complete digital transformation
Textbooks and blackboards have become a thing of the past in K-12 schools as educators collaborate with IT teams to shape a full digital core curriculum as part…
Debunked: 5 myths about classroom technology
Parents, lawmakers, and even some educators have spoken out against this trend, arguing that excessive classroom technology could end up doing more harm than good, but the foundations…
Researchers develop groundbreaking technology for student writing success
As with any skill, the key to better writing is more practice. But that creates a dilemma for the teachers tasked with helping students improve their writing skills:…
Here’s how you tie spending to student outcomes—with big success
When I first came on board as the CFO in Pueblo, Colorado, I asked my finance manager to compile a complete financial report of all of our budgets.…
5 teacher-loved technology tools to meet STEM NGSS standards
The Science and Engineering Practices of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) require students to ‘obtain, evaluate, and communicate information’ (NGSS Lead States, 2013). As students engage in…
How to prevent accidental plagiarism in an online world
Don't hurry up to blame a student. They might plagiarize accidentally. A responsible educator, you can help students write original academic papers and teach them to distinguish whether…