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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.

South Carolina Adds Classworks® Universal Screener to State-approved Literacy Screener List

Duluth, GA – Classworks Universal Screener for Reading, an NCII-validated formal assessment used to measure grade-level readiness, is approved by South Carolina as a high-quality Literacy Screener. The best-in-class academic screener is on the  approved list for the 2022-23 school year.

In 2019, South Carolina implemented Act 213, requiring all districts to implement Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). When implemented effectively, an MTSS framework addresses the whole child, including students’ academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs. To support school districts in choosing high-quality resources to support MTSS, the state provided a list of approved screeners. 

“Classworks is a perfect fit for the South Carolina Literacy List list due to the validity and reliability of our widely-adopted screening assessment,” notes Melissa Sinunu, Classworks President and Chief Operating Officer. “As an all-in-one MTSS solution, we share South Carolina’s vision to address the needs of the whole child. We look forward to working closely with South Carolina districts to achieve that goal using Classworks. Our platform makes it simple for teachers and effective for students.”…Read More

Frontline Education and interviewstream Form Official Partnership to Strengthen K-12 Recruiting and Hiring Strategies

Malvern, Pa. and Chicago, Ill. (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Frontline Education, a leading provider of administration software purpose-built for educators in K-12, and interviewstream, a market-leading video interviewing solution, today announced a strategic partnership that will strengthen the recruiting and hiring efforts of K-12 districts. The partnership will make interviewstream Frontline’s recommended video interviewing partner providing clients early access to best-in-class integrations, functionality and features. To date, many Frontline and interviewstream clients have successfully leveraged the integrations to streamline the hiring process. Access to the joint solution will equip K-12 organizations with the right tools, data and insights to find the best candidates quickly and to make effective hiring decisions, which will ultimately contribute to greater student outcomes. 

With the Frontline Recruiting and Hiring solution, school leaders are able to proactively engage with jobseekers, increase their applicant pool and hire the best candidates efficiently and effectively. interviewstream’s platform offers live and on-demand virtual interviews via web browser and SMS/text to streamline and expedite the recruiting process. Integration of the two solutions optimizes the hiring process by expanding geographical reach and attracting candidates from anywhere; providing a more candidate-friendly interviewing process; leveraging actionable market insights; and collaborating with peer groups, all while filling open positions with qualified talent. 

“interviewstream and Frontline are like-minded and mission-driven companies that place the needs of K-12 school leaders at the center of our strategies,” said Mark Friedman, Chief Marketing Officer of Frontline Education. “Our deepened partnership with interviewstream is evidence of our strategy to provide solutions and services that help school leaders address some of the most pressing challenges facing K-12 education today, with persistent staff shortages near or at the top of the list.”…Read More

Chicago students can take up to 5 mental health days

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.

This story was produced as part of the Medill Media Teens journalism program for Chicago Public School students at Northwestern University. The writer worked under the mentorship of Medill graduate Anandita Bhalerao.

With working 25 hours a week at her minimum wage job at an ice cream shop, juggling a stressful workload with AP and honors classes, and dealing with anxiety, sometimes Jones College Prep sophomore Meghan Cuddy just needs a break. …Read More

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Using house points and digital coins to promote school values

GEMS American Academy in Abu Dhabi has had a Houses system for a number of years. Over the last few years, while I was working in the PE department, my team and I worked to revamp the system that was in place. The old system meant that students were changing houses each year based on which class they were in. This created some limitations and also meant that students were not learning to be loyal to their house and develop the team spirit.

Last year, I changed from being a PE teacher to being the elementary innovation and technology coach and coordinator, and also joined our PBIS team. As a team, we saw that the faculty wasn’t able to use the old system to support our PBIS framework as well as we wanted.

We’re a K-12 American Curriculum/IB school, so our goal with Houses is to support our learners to develop specific skills that have a positive impact on the school culture. Our elementary school follows the PYP Program, which uses the 10 IB Learner Profile Attributes, which include being principled, caring, and a risk-taker. These help our students to become global citizens.…Read More

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Immediate solutions to teacher shortages

School districts nationwide are facing unprecedented teacher shortages, with thousands of classrooms unstaffed as the school year begins. Filling these vacancies with certified teachers is a critical need.

With no end in sight to this teacher crisis, some districts across the country are filling instructional gaps utilizing non-traditional teaching and learning models.

In this eSchool News webinar, you’ll hear how Stride Learning Solutions is working with districts on innovative solutions education leaders can put into place for a single class, school, or the entire district to launch this school year with a fully qualified and certified instructional team.…Read More

Digital On-Demand Class Sets for Required Curriculum Books Now Available in Sora Student Reading App

CLEVELAND – To help educators provide students with the books they need as efficiently as possible, OverDrive Education announced the new On-Demand Class Set digital access model for curriculum titles. This model makes available ebooks and audiobooks on-demand in the Sora reading app to as many students as needed, with or without codes. Digital On-Demand Class Sets give schools the flexibility to allocate budget for assigned classroom reading even in situations where classes and rosters are not finalized. Educators can use this model – as well as many other cost-effective models in the OverDrive Marketplace – with required reading for English language arts, history, social science and other classes, as well as for all-school required reads and literature circles.  

Educators can buy digital On-Demand Class Sets in bulk to correspond with the units of study and modules they plan to teach throughout the school year. Rostering a list of students is not required, so schools can purchase the approximate number of class sets they think they’ll need. Students use copies as needed, and if demand is higher than anticipated, schools can purchase more copies and make them available within hours. When a student borrows an On-Demand Class Set title in Sora, they will have access for three months, ensuring availability throughout their unit of study.

“On-Demand (Digital) Class Set rentals significantly increase our capacity to be responsive to district-wide curriculum needs,” said Suzi Tonini from Denver Public Schools in Colorado. “They’re a smart, responsible use of our curriculum budget dollars. In short, they’re a game-changer!”…Read More

Educational Support for Students Reaches New Levels with Paper’s™ 2022-2023 Platform Upgrades

MONTREAL— Paper, the leading provider of academic support, today announced a series of upgrades and additions to its best-in-class Educational Support System (ESS). The new features will be available to all 2.5 million students on the Paper platform just in time for the 2022-2023 school year.

Over the last several months, Paper worked with students and other stakeholder focus groups to understand how to improve its ESS and find better methods to engage with today’s students and their preferred ways to interact and learn. 

“From the beginning, we have always relied on student and teacher feedback to help us build and improve Paper,” said Philip Cutler, Paper co-founder and CEO. “Our team is focused on constantly innovating to create a more engaging and effective platform that students will regularly use to get help with their academics and preparing for life and a career.”…Read More

Why digital formative assessment is critical in today’s classrooms

The accelerated digitization of today’s classroom impacts every aspect of instruction–from attendance to summative assessment and everything in between. As educators have shifted to the hybrid environment, they have had to make significant changes in the way they approach formative assessment.

Formative assessment is a wide-encompassing term that allows teachers to monitor student progress. In person, this can mean a variety of things like thumbs up/thumbs down, class review games, exit tickets, science activities, and more. As classrooms moved to an online or digital format, the approach to formative assessment had to be considerably changed to meet the needs of a digital landscape.

Digital Formative Assessment Programs…Read More

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5 ways to create a strong math culture in your schools

Picture this: a student enters your classroom, a negative attitude at the ready. They are distant during class, uninterested in engaging with the material, and their beliefs confirmed every time they get a question wrong – “I can’t do math.” How can teachers combat this belief?

The culture that schools foster through the messages, beliefs, and behaviors that educators promote can help create a positive attitude among students that leads to better math achievement. Furthermore, research suggests that having a positive attitude toward math can boost math achievement.

In my 40-year tenure, where I concluded my career as a math specialist at New Caney Independent School District (ISD), I employed the following five strategies to help educators foster a strong math culture that leads to greater success for their students.…Read More

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