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Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

North Carolina Education Corps and Littera Education Partner to Improve Reading Achievement for North Carolina K-3 Students

New York — The North Carolina Education Corps (NCEC) will partner with Littera Education to support and improve reading outcomes for thousands of North Carolina students who need to get back on track after more than two years of learning interruptions.

Launched as a joint project of the North Carolina State Board of Education and the Office of the Governor as a response to the pandemic, NCEC now works with state-level agencies and local school districts as an independent 501(c)(3) not-for-profit to recruit, train and support part-time literacy tutors. This year, Corps members will deliver high-impact tutoring to K-3 students in over 30 districts and charter organizations throughout North Carolina.

The partnership with Littera will give NCEC unmatched ability to track and assess the instruction. Littera’s Academic Support Platform simplifies scheduling and matching tutors with students; it also enables easy data aggregation, including what skills students covered and the length of sessions. A new mobile app allows tutors to instantly log feedback and session data from their phones, giving program coordinators continuous feedback as they support over 500 Corps members serving students across the state.…Read More

Do we do our best work for machines?

The revolution in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) has been a long time coming. Since the mid-1980s, scholarly journals have been predicting the widespread adoption of AI in education. However, momentum is accelerating.

Just four years ago, a study predicted that AI in education and learning would increase 47.5% through 2021; as it turned out, the prediction was conservative.

The current landscape…Read More

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New Partnership Provides Texas Educators Easy Access to Critical Data

Portland, Ore., June 7, 2022 — NWEA — the not-for-profit, research and educational services provider serving K-12 students — in collaboration with the Region 7 Education Service Center (ESC 7) announced today a new partnership to better serve districts.  As a part of this initiative, MAP Growth data will transfer seamlessly into DMAC, enhancing this valuable tool used by Texas educators by providing quicker access to student data that supports instruction and student achievement.

The partnership was formed out of discussions around the need for a screener, used to determine which students may be struggling in a particular topic, across their 100 plus districts and, charter organizations.  MAP Growth (an interim assessment. which can measure academic growth and predicts performance on the annual STAAR state assessments) was selected, in part, due to its reliability and validity.  The rich data provided by MAP Growth allows districts to streamline their assessment programs, saving valuable time for instruction. Currently, this new integration is available to all ESC 7 districts who use NWEA MAP Growth assessments.

“We’re excited to have MAP Growth available for ESC 7 districts.  Our partnership will provide timely access to reliable data,” said Raquel Hamons, Senior Account Executive at NWEA serving Region 7. “We know there will be better outcomes for students when educators ground their decisions in high quality data and implement them with fidelity.”…Read More

How an AI tutor more than tripled my school’s literacy rates during the pandemic

In pandemic and post-pandemic era education, teachers, school leaders, and parents have been concerned with getting kids back on grade level and closing the achievement gap. In fact, according to the most recent Educator Confidence Report from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 62 percent of teachers say students falling behind is a top concern this school year.

Across the nation, schools and districts have utilized additional funding to hire tutors who can provide additional support to students before, during, and even after school in efforts to help kids learn skills that they need to become proficient. 

At Brewbaker Primary School (BPS) in Montgomery, AL, we decided to leverage an AI tutor–Amira by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt–to help our students improve their reading achievement. Amira is a 1:1 virtual reading tutor that uses state of the art AI and voice recognition software. Our Amira implementation efforts have yielded astounding and significant learning outcomes.…Read More

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Riverside Insights Acquires Aperture Education

ITASCA, Ill. – June  2, 2022 – Riverside Insights®, a leading developer of research-based assessments and analytics, today announced its acquisition of Aperture Education, the leading provider of research-based social and emotional learning (SEL) assessments for K-12 schools. With more than 65 years of combined research and SEL experience, Aperture sets the standard for research-based SEL assessment solutions. The addition of Aperture’s SEL solutions to the Riverside portfolio of research-based ability and achievement assessments will help K-12 educators obtain the most valid, reliable, and comprehensive view of each learner. Through use of the highest quality and most rigorous tools, educators are empowered to better understand and support student growth. Riverside is a portfolio company of Alpine Investors, a people-driven private equity firm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Aperture team has developed the DESSA suite of assessments to meet the needs of students and educators. Based on the CASELTM framework, the DESSA assessment system provides an in-depth, comprehensive view of student social and emotional skills and is entirely strength-based.

“With our K-12 solutions for students and educators, Aperture and Riverside have a synergistic goal of enriching one billion lives globally by 2030,” said Rajib Roy, CEO of Riverside Insights. “With Riverside’s strong research tradition blended with Aperture’s SEL product expertise and vision, we are excited to continue our commitment to creating insights to understand the whole learner. Together, we believe that through our assessments, we can make a greater impact in the lives of students and educators.”…Read More

New Report Shows the National Math and Science Initiative’s Long-Term Impact on Ensuring Equitable Access to STEM

DALLAS (PRWEB) MAY 20, 2022 — New data from the  National Math and Science Initiative demonstrate the long-term impact of NMSI’s  College Readiness Program in expanding learning outcomes and opportunities for all students. In a report released today, data suggest that compared to the national average, students enrolled in NMSI-supported Advanced Placement® courses are more likely to further their education and earn STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) degrees. The College Readiness Program expands access and achievement in high-quality, public STEM education, particularly among students underrepresented in STEM careers. View the full impact report  here.

STEM education is widely recognized as a critical component in preparing students for success in postsecondary education and their future careers. A  recent report shows that the U.S. will need to fill 3.5 million STEM jobs by 2025, with more than two million going unfilled due to a lack of highly skilled candidates. In addition, STEM inequities disproportionately affect young people of color, rural kids, kids in poverty, and girls. NMSI’s College Readiness Program is working to close the STEM gap for all students.

“Technology drives economies worldwide, and to keep up with the global economy, all students must be steeped in STEM education,” said Dr. Bernard Harris, former astronaut and CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative. “Right now, we have communities that don’t have access to STEM education. When that happens, not only do those communities lose, but we all lose. This report exemplifies the mission-critical work the College Readiness Program is doing to help level the playing field for all students.”…Read More

PowerMyLearning Honors Student, Family, and Teacher at 2022 Innovative Learning Awards

NEW YORK (PRWEB) MAY 16, 2022 — PowerMyLearning, a K-12 nonprofit that unlocks the power of collaboration between families, teachers and students, recognized  Brooklyn Landmark Elementary for exemplary resilience throughout the pandemic. At the nonprofit’s Innovative Learning Awards on Tuesday, May 10, a student-family-teacher “trio” was honored with the Triangle Award for demonstrating how teachers and families both play a significant role in academic achievement and student wellbeing.

“Today’s students are facing unprecedented trauma from the pandemic resulting in a critical need to double-down on student wellbeing. The school community at Brooklyn Landmark Elementary understands that a strong support system engages both teachers and parents,” said Elisabeth Stock, PowerMyLearning CEO and co-founder. “That is why PowerMyLearning gives our Triangle award to an exceptional student, caregiver, and teacher each year.”

The Triangle Award winners from Brooklyn Landmark Elementary are:…Read More

4 steps to a successful SEL implementation

After several years of using a homegrown social emotional learning (SEL) approach, our district decided it was time for a more official curriculum that would support our middle and high school students’ mental health, academic achievement, and overall well-being.

With about 840 students in grades 8-12, we’d already developed a homeroom/advisory period meant to create community among students. Our goal was to develop a “belongingness” within our students and staff.

As we built that out, we started creating our own lessons using some of the PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports) curriculum. We assembled an advisory team of teachers who helped aggregate resources about mindfulness, kindness, and other core topics.…Read More

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New York State Education Department Approves IXL’s Real-Time Diagnostic to Assess K-12 students

SAN MATEO, Calif.  — IXL, the personalized learning platform used by more than 13 million students, announced that the New York State Education Department (NYSED) has added IXL’s Real-Time Diagnostic to its list of approved assessments. All schools and districts in New York can now use the diagnostic to more accurately track student progress and teacher effectiveness, as required by state regulations. IXL is used by nearly 30 percent of all K-12 students in New York, accounting for approximately 900,000 learners.

New York evaluates the impact educators, schools and districts have on student achievement through Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) and Annual Professional Performance Reviews (APPRs). SLOs are ambitious, measurable academic goals set for an educator’s students based on past performance data.  To evaluate teachers and principals in the state, districts and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services are required to conduct APPRs.

Following NYSED’s approval of the Real-Time Diagnostic, all New York districts can use the assessment to track student progress for SLOs and personalize educational opportunities for learners. Additionally, purchasing IXL gives districts access to an end-to-end learning solution. The Real-Time Diagnostic is part of IXL’s personalized learning platform, which guides each student to specific skills in IXL’s curriculum that will fill the knowledge gaps identified by the diagnostic. This seamless connection between assessment and instruction helps educators more efficiently tailor their lessons to ensure every student meets key learning objectives.…Read More

Some Students Lose More Ground When School is Out

Portland, Ore. — April 14, 2022 — As we approach the end of the third straight year of learning disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. classrooms continue to address the immediate needs of students while prioritizing academic progress for all. For many students—particularly those that are historically underserved—the summer break from learning perpetuates inequitable achievement gaps.

This insight was among those released today by  NWEA in an  overview of current  research studies that examined K-8 student progress during a typical school year (non pandemic) and over the summer. The research reveals important information about the degree to which being in school reduces achievement gaps and points to the importance of high-quality summer programming in supporting student success.

“Our research analysis revealed reasons for both optimism and concern. While the findings disrupt some long-held deficit-based thinking about some of these student groups, they also demonstrate the disproportionate impact that learning interruptions have on their achievement in the long-term, making high quality summer learning opportunities and other interventions critical,” said Lindsay Dworkin, VP of Policy and Advocacy at NWEA. “Taken collectively, these studies can help education leaders and policymakers identify interventions needed for these student groups to help address the inequitable learning patterns in U.S. public schools.”…Read More