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.

Nearpod Announces the 2022 Educator of the Year Award Winners

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (PRWEB) —  Nearpod, a Renaissance company and a teacher-centric, interactive instructional platform that gives teachers real-time insights into student learning, announces the  2022 Educator of the Year Award winners. With 2,900 nominations and 4,600 votes received, Nearpod’s 2022 Educator of the Year Award winners represent the best and brightest in education, recognizing five winners and five finalists within the U.S. and abroad for their innovative and impactful work in the classroom.

“You cannot imagine how much I am excited to be one of the five winners for the 2022 Educator of the Year Awards,” said Liudmyla Katereniuk, a School Director in Ukraine and one of the award recipients. “I believe that teaching is the most difficult job in the world. As a school director, I am always trying to support and encourage my teachers, especially these days, in spite of the challenges presented by the ongoing war. Some people say challenges and barriers make our lives complicated, but I think they are essential for success and self-development.”

The awards program—now in its second year—highlights how educators use  Nearpod and  Flocabulary in their classrooms to best support their students. Nearpod expanded the awards program in 2022 from one to five winners to shine a light on the hard work and dedication of educators who are making an impact. Educators were encouraged to nominate someone making a difference with their students, peers, and local communities and then vote for their favorites.…Read More

Strategies to help IT leaders combat imminent cyberattacks

It is undeniable–the education sector is prone to cyberattacks from malicious cybercriminals due to the amount of personal data available across user devices and organization networks. Just this past fall, the FBI, CISA and MS-ISAC issued an alert on Vice Society, whose actors have been known to disproportionately target the education sector with ransomware attacks.

While cybersecurity is certainly a top concern among this sector, tight budgets and resources mean that it is often not addressed until a major incident occurs. Given the imminent nature of today’s threat landscape, now more than ever, the urgency surrounding how best to protect and mitigate such attacks is at an all-time high.

With 40 percent of education devices found to have sensitive data stored, educational institutions must be adequately prepared to proactively prevent and respond to potential cyberattacks before a system breach occurs.…Read More

1 2

5 K-12 IT insights from IT leaders

IT leadership is an essential component of school and district operations, and in today’s post-pandemic landscape, K-12 IT security is critical in combatting increasing cybersecurity attacks that can cripple even the largest districts in a matter of moments.

It’s important to establish the right K-12 IT practices and policies that support teaching and learning–and it’s even better to share those best practices in the event that other K-12 IT leaders are seeking to establish the same kind of policies.

Here is K-12 IT advice from a handful of IT leaders:…Read More

1 2

Curriculum Associates and Corwin Partner on i-Ready® Assessment and Professional Learning Services

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass.— Leading education companies Curriculum Associates and Corwin are partnering to help districts nationwide elevate teaching and learning practices that most impact student growth. The partnership allows the two companies to make recommendations and referrals for the other’s products and services. Educators will see the power of adopting both the i-Ready Assessment with its best-in-class services to help measure and deliver purposeful, data-driven instruction, and Corwin’s professional learning consulting services, which are rooted in Professor John Hattie’s Visible Learning research to build knowledge and skills for effective teaching practices. Additionally, Hattie will now serve as a technical advisor for i-Ready Assessment, bringing over 30 years of research on what works best to improve learning.

“Professor Hattie’s Visible Learning research and our i-Ready Assessment program are a natural complement to one another. The research helps teachers tune into the strategies that have the most impact on student learning, and i-Ready helps teachers truly understand the impact their instruction is having in that moment,” said Rob Waldron, CEO of Curriculum Associates. “Through the partnership with Corwin, we will collectively be able to help more educators use practices to drive student outcomes, while further strengthening i-Ready Assessment through Professor Hattie’s expertise.”

Corwin’s professional learning consulting services provide sustained, job-embedded professional learning to support educators in implementing effective classroom strategies that have the greatest influence on student achievement. Notably, the Visible Learning research, which is at the center of these services, is the world’s largest evidence base on what works best to improve learning. It encompasses more than 1,850 meta-analyses, comprising more than 108,000 studies involving more than 300 million students to date.…Read More

How administrators can keep funding in their district

One challenge school administrators face is how to keep funding in their districts, especially as enrollment in public schools continues to decline. As public school funding is often directly tied to student enrollment, administrators around the country are having to make difficult decisions to ensure there is no delay in student learning like combining classrooms, laying off staff, and in some instances, closing schools entirely.

As someone who has worked in a variety of administrator roles from a principal in Miami-Dade County Public Schools to the President and Chief Executive Officer of Florida Virtual School (FLVS), I know what that pressure feels like, especially when our ultimate goal is to do what is best for our students and staff.

While there were certainly enrollment declines pre-pandemic, COVID-19 has continued to exacerbate the issue, as more than half of all parents considered or are considering choosing a new school for their children, with 17 percent of parents indicating they chose a new school for their children within the past year, 11 percent considered new schools, and 26 percent are currently considering new schools. Additionally, 48 percent of parents said their community does not offer enough education options for them.…Read More

1 2

Paper™ acquires MajorClarity to Create a Comprehensive Career & College Readiness Platform

MONTREAL – Paper™, the leading Educational Support System (ESS), today announced that it has acquired MajorClarity, a best-in-class Career & College Readiness (CCR) tool. Together, the companies will offer a comprehensive CCR platform that will support all students, regardless of their preferred path after high school.

Today, most high schools and CCR programs are focused primarily on college preparation, despite the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting that in 2021, only 61% of high school graduates enrolled in college—a 20-year low for college enrollment.

These reports indicate that a growing number of high school graduates are enrolling in Career and Technical Education (CTE) or trade schools, enlisting in the military, or going directly into the workforce. However, these students have fewer career readiness tools at their disposal than their counterparts who plan on attending college.…Read More

Leading American Educator And Journalist, Esther Wojcicki, Joins Award-Winning Edtech Startup Pressto Ai

New York, NY — EdTech startup Pressto AI is thrilled to announce that Esther Wojcicki will be joining the leadership team as the Chief Academic Advisor. Wojcicki brings a plethora of experience to the role, ranging from journalist and educator to speaker and author. As Chief Academic Advisor, she will be guiding pedagogy, building a teacher task force, and creating a library of exemplary lessons for students. Having built the best student journalism program in the world, Esther and Pressto are together distributing her exemplary lessons to millions of students.

“Using AI to develop new and useful tools that help teachers improve their students’ education is at the core of empowering a successful next generation, and Pressto is doing just that,” says Esther Wojcicki, Pressto Chief Academic Advisor. “This means adapting to how we approach teaching overall to remain relevant with the times, so students not only learn the skills needed, but also become intrinsically motivated to learn more in all subject areas.”

Wojcicki is widely heralded as the one of the most successful parents, educators and journalists in the United States. She created a high school journalism program that changed the lives of thousands of kids, inspired Silicon Valley legends including Steve Jobs and raised three daughters – YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, Fulbright Scholar Janet Wojcicki, and 23&Me Founder Anne Wojcicki – each of whom have become distinctively successful.…Read More

5 math resources to boost student inquiry

Lloyd Alexander once said, “We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from the answer itself.” I love this quote because I’ve witnessed the truth of it firsthand in the classroom. Like much of life, the best parts are often found in the journey rather than the destination itself.

When students are truly engaged in inquiry, they are able to construct deep knowledge and understanding rather than just passively receiving the information. It also gives them the opportunity to encounter different perspectives that build upon prior learning, which they can then return to for guidance as they continue to grow.     

This is particularly true when it comes to the study of mathematics. With math, educators often find themselves jumping between two worlds: the conceptual knowledge and the procedural knowledge. Procedural knowledge is what’s learned through standard memorization (like math facts), but conceptual knowledge is where students are able to grasp deeper learning through thoughtful, reflective activities. …Read More

1 2

Savvas Learning Company Introduces the Newly Updated enVision Mathematics 2024

PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY — Savvas Learning Company, a K-12 next-generation learning solutions leader, introduced its newly updated enVision Mathematics series with many exciting enhancements inspired by feedback from math teachers, including brand-new family engagement resources to support student learning at home.

enVision © 2024, the newest edition of Savvas Learning Company’s highly-effective and best-selling math series for grades K-12, is now packed with even more student-centered activities that engage learners in real-world, meaningful math, along with a variety of new instructional support tools to save teachers time while offering them flexibility for lesson planning.

“Savvas has always been focused on providing educators the highest-quality math curriculum combined with the most flexible resources to make teaching easier, a commitment that has made enVision the nation’s most popular math program used in thousands of classrooms everywhere,” said Bethlam Forsa, CEO of Savvas Learning Company. “With new features centered around students and more supportive resources for both home and classroom, enVision offers an innovative curriculum that helps educators teach with confidence and engages students with hands-on, problem-based learning.”…Read More