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administration

Vivi raises US$20m to further accelerate overseas expansion, sets target for 1m classrooms within five years

Vivi, a leading Australia-based visual learning, collaboration, and administration platform for education, is pleased to announce it has successfully completed a capital raise of US$20m (A$26.5m) with New York-based education investor, Quad Partners.

The investment will help Vivi further accelerate overseas expansion, particularly in the US where its team has expanded from two to 18. The funding will allow the company to introduce a series of teacher efficiency features that will further
cement Vivi as a major component of the technological infrastructure of schools and districts. With its technology in over 40,000 classrooms around the world, the investment will expedite Vivi expanding into one million learning spaces within
five years.

One of the company’s co-founders, US-based Simon Holland, led the oversubscribed raise with investors immediately buying into Vivi’s vision.…Read More

3 ways to get the most out of a digital classroom

Recent Food and Drug Administration approval of the COVID-19 vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds means that thousands of children who have continued to learn from home will dust off their lunch boxes and climb onto the school bus, destined for in-person instruction once again.

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance for COVID-19 prevention in K-12 schools indicates, students benefit from in-person learning, and face-to-face should be the primary method of instruction. Still, eLearning has earned its place in education, and smart educators welcome the addition.

Two are better than one…Read More

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4 ways digital tools streamline summer program administration

Summer school is more important than ever this year as school administrators establish new learning programs to give K–12 students an opportunity to catch up on schoolwork and enrichment programs they missed during the pandemic. The federal government is also paying extra attention to summer programs, earmarking $1.2 billion in its massive relief package.

By the end of the 2020–2021 academic year, most U.S. schools were open, but administrators are still taking precautions to mitigate potential virus outbreaks among staff and students. This will be the norm for the foreseeable future since vaccines are widely available for staff and older children but haven’t yet been approved for younger kids.

Last year, teachers and school administrators adopted digital tools in greater numbers than ever before. Companies offering tools like online forms saw a spike in demand, and they are now seeing it rise again as schools organize summer learning programs.…Read More

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Rhode Island schools gain new tool for meeting Biden administration’s goals for social emotional learning


Conscious Discipline, a 25-year leader in the field of social-emotional learning (SEL), and Sargent
Rehabilitation Center’s Regional Resource Center have entered a partnership that will unite schools,
parents, and community SEL services state-wide.

The partnership between Conscious Discipline and Sargent will provide the state’s schools with access to a single, evidence-based approach to SEL for education programs from birth through adulthood. The
penetration of SEL into Rhode Island schools meets many Biden Administration priorities for education,
which include providing increased services during the early childhood years, equity in education,
increased mental health services, community school outreach, and investing in “resources for our
schools so students grow into physically and emotionally healthy adults.”
www.joebiden.com/education/

The partnership, launching March 10, 2021, is the culmination of four years in which thousands of
Rhode Island educators and students experienced improvement in discipline, school climate, academic
achievement and sense of belonging after training in Conscious Discipline with key Sargent staff. These
improvements will expand in both depth and breadth under the partnership as school administrators
and educators state-wide receive classroom coaching, exclusive content, professional development
workshops, and priority status for attending Conscious Discipline’s public events. An immersive weeklong Summer Institute (August) and a 2-day Building Trauma-Sensitive Classrooms and Schools
workshop (October) are among the public events scheduled in Rhode Island with Dr. Becky Bailey, the
founder and originator of Conscious Discipline.

Conscious Discipline is a brain-based, trauma-informed, adult-first methodology that integrates SEL,
school culture and discipline in order to create collaborative, equitable learning communities that
support all members in reaching their highest potential. In 2020, the Collaborative for Academic, Social,
and Emotional Learning (CASEL) named Conscious Discipline a “SELect Program,” its highest designation for effective, evidence-based SEL. www.ConsciousDiscipline.com


Sargent Rehabilitation Center is a nonprofit organization offering educational consulting,
neurorehabilitation, day school programs, diagnostic services and restorative justice practices
throughout Rhode Island and surrounding Massachusetts and Connecticut. www.sargentcenter.org

Regarding this collaboration, Dr. Bailey said, “There is nothing more inspiring than partnership.
Conscious Discipline and Sargent Rehabilitation Center’s Regional Resource Center are united in helping all educators and families build the social-emotional skillsets and inner resources needed to manage their external experiences.”

For more information, contact Amanda Weinstein at press@consciousdiscipline.com.…Read More

Mark Friedman Joins Frontline Education as Chief Marketing Officer

Frontline Education™, a leading provider of school administration software purpose-built for K-12, today announced that Mark Friedman has joined the company as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Friedman will lead Frontline Education’s go-to-market strategy, business development and client communications programs, bringing 25 years of sales, marketing and business development experience to the company.

“The chief marketing officer is critical to the future success of Frontline Education as we continue to scale the company, growing our portfolio and our brand,” said Mark Gruzin, CEO of Frontline Education. “We are excited for Mark Friedman to bring his broad expertise and client-centric approach to Frontline, enhancing ur go-to-market initiatives with a proactive strategy that provides tangible value to our clients.”

Prior to joining Frontline Education, Friedman served as SVP, Global Customer Success for Genesys, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer for SoundBite Communications, President & CEO of Peppercoin and VP of Global Marketing for Lucent/Kenan Systems. In these various positions and throughout his career, Friedman has explored the organic integrations between marketing, customer success, and other customer-facing functions.…Read More

Lockstep Technology Group Partners with Impero Software to Support Students’ Tech

Managed solutions provider Lockstep Technology Group and student safety leader Impero have partnered to offer Impero’s solutions to Lockstep’s partner schools, including tools to support student safety, classroom management, network administration, and web filtering, and to better support students’ technology use.

The partnership expands Impero’s footprint in the south-eastern United States and helps Lockstep provide its school customers with innovative solutions to support hybrid learning. Lockstep was particularly drawn to Impero because of its focus on supporting student wellbeing and mental health – something that has become a priority in Lockstep’s work with K-12 schools. Lockstep was also attracted to Impero’s tools that help districts protect their networks from vulnerabilities such as ransomware attacks.

The partnership comes at a time when many school districts across the country continue to offer distance or hybrid learning during the coronavirus pandemic and need technology partners that can support them in all aspects of this work. Lockstep helps schools plan, develop and implement technology programs, including helping them shift to distance learning and expand 1:1 initiatives. Impero supports hybrid and remote learning by helping teachers and administrators manage student devices and track student safety concerns in a central record. Its web filter blocks inappropriate or malicious online content and IT teams can use Impero to manage and patch Chromebooks remotely – which is an especially attractive feature for many schools.…Read More

Frontline Education has Acquired Forecast5 Analytics

Frontline Education, a leading provider of school administration software and services purpose-built for K-12, today announced that it has acquired Forecast5 Analytics from Riverwood Capital. Forecast5 offers a suite of decision support software that provides financial forecasting, benchmarking, student performance dashboards and geovisual analytics to empower school administrators to make more informed financial, academic and strategic decisions. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

“We are excited to welcome the Forecast5 team to Frontline Education. Forecast5’s decision support capabilities are a natural extension of our solutions and further our commitment to innovation, supporting the growth of district staff and optimizing the management of their processes,” said Mark Gruzin, CEO of Frontline Education. “In the current climate, budgetary, financial management and planning considerations have become more complex. Together, our organizations will provide more advanced solutions and resources to address those needs for school districts.”

The acquisition expands the reach and impact of Forecast5’s data analytics and decision support capabilities by introducing the company’s solutions and expertise to thousands of Frontline Education clients across the country. Frontline’s Student Information System (SIS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) clients will have opportunities to take advantage of Forecast5’s decision support capabilities. Forecast5 clients will benefit from Frontline Education’s expansive data set as well as the company’s broad portfolio of school administration software and services for human capital management, business operations and student management. Frontline will continue to support Forecast5’s unique expertise, client success and advisor model, as well as their extensive partnerships to provide best practice guidance and resources to clients.…Read More

Frontline Education Acquires SuccessEd

Frontline Education, a leading provider of school administration software for the K-12 education community, today announced that it has acquired SuccessEd, a Texas-based K-12 software provider. With this acquisition, Frontline enhances its commitment to serving the special education community.

“This new partnership between Frontline Education and SuccessEd brings a best-in-class relationship management and customer care model together with continuous technical innovation in product functionality,” said Mark Gruzin, CEO of Frontline Education. “Our combined organization will drive additional value and an enhanced client experience for our partners in special education management across the country.”

SuccessEd team members, most of whom are former educators, have worked on behalf of special education and special programs for over 25 years. This acquisition provides Frontline Education with an opportunity to further serve its special education and special programs clients through expanded levels of Texas state-specific domain expertise. As part of the Frontline Education family, SuccessEd clients will benefit from access to a broad portfolio of connected solutions that are purpose-built for K-12 schools and proactively adapted to the changing ways schools operate.…Read More

Riverside Insights Launches Battelle Early Childhood Assessment with Updated Data Validity

Riverside Insights®, a leading developer of research-based assessments that provide insights to help elevate potential, announced today the official launch of the Battelle® Developmental Inventory, 3rd Edition™ (BDI-3™) to customers in the United States and internationally, including Canada and Mexico. The enhancements to the BDI-3 include expanded digital administration and reporting tools, as well as updated standardization and norms. This makes the BDI-3 the most comprehensive early childhood assessment on the market. With this release, Riverside is also the first assessment provider to introduce an affordable subscription model that enables continued enhancements of the testing experience – from administration to reporting.

Recommended in 44 states and listed as a preferred state assessment in 16, the BDI enables early childhood development centers, schools, school psychologists, speech pathologists and private clinicians to obtain early insight into a child’s developmental progress, evaluate readiness for school, and inform eligibility for special education resources. It has consistently been the industry standard for early identification, offering the most comprehensive and up-to-date norms. The BDI-3 measures mastery of developmental milestones and behaviors from birth to age 7 years, 11 months across the five critical domains – communication, social-emotional, adaptive, motor and cognitive – and 13 subdomains.

The third edition has been expanded to include the Battelle Early Academic Survey (BEAS), which measures early foundational literacy and mathematics skills for children aged 3 years, 6 months to 7 years, 11 months.…Read More

School Health Management to Navigate a Safe & Healthy Return to School

Frontline Education, a leading provider of school administration software for K-12 education, today announced that Mobile County Public Schools will leverage Frontline’s School Health Management solution as part of their school reopening plan. Frontline School Health Management, a comprehensive electronic health records and school nursing management system, includes recent enhancements and new functionality to support COVID-19 management, tracking and reporting for students and school staff. The software is being implemented at a critical time for Mobile County Public Schools who will be responsible for the health and safety of more than 57,900 students as well as 7,950 teachers across 89 schools this school year.

“The health and safety of our students and staff is our first priority. In these uncertain times, we need an innovative and adaptable system in place to alleviate some of the administrative burden and allow our staff to focus on creating and maintaining a safe and healthy environment,” said Terrence Mixon, Assistant Superintendent of Mobile County Public Schools. “Frontline School Health Management represents an investment, not only in our protection against the pandemic, but in the overall health and well-being of our district and community.”

Mobile County Public Schools’ health services program encompasses everything from first aid and safety, communicable disease control and crisis intervention to health education, special education support and personnel programs. Frontline School Health Management supports these efforts with nurse office management as well as tools that provide increased visibility and early warning signs to help schools and state health officials as they work to manage the spread of COVID-19. With states across the country, including Alabama, finalizing and executing their school reopening plans, ensuring a safe environment is more critical now than ever before.…Read More

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