5 different ways IT directors handle student data privacy
As districts continue to go 1:1 and encourage teachers to integrate digital tools into their lessons, IT directors need to pay close attention to the way edtech companies…
data
10 conversations about digital equity
Educators universally agree that equity should be one of the top priorities in every school and in every district across the country. Addressing equity issues is more difficult…
Teachers struggle to find time to use data, study says
Most teachers rely on data to personalize learning and understand student performance--and parents overwhelmingly support teachers' data use, according to a poll from the Data Quality Campaign. The…
4 examples of engaging vision-impaired students in STEM
STEM learning is a cornerstone of education in today's K-12 schools, but STEM classrooms often aren't all that inspiring to students who are blind or have low vision.…
The other gap that schools aren’t talking about—relationships
The NAEP scores released in April set off a flurry of headlines about the sobering state of achievement gaps across the nation. The general consensus? Despite pockets of…
The other gap that schools aren’t talking about—relationships
The NAEP scores released in April set off a flurry of headlines about the sobering state of achievement gaps across ... Read more
3 data-driven tips for successful bonds and levies
At some point during the year, many school districts will fall into one of these three areas: Thinking about planning a bond or levy measure Attempting to pass…
Are virtual schools failing students?
Virtual schools continued to under-perform academically, including in comparison to blended schools. Overall, 36.4 percent of full-time virtual schools and 43.1 percent of blended schools received acceptable performance…
Data-driven learning, not instruction, is the future of education
Data-driven instruction may be the popular catchphrase in education, but in a recent edWebinar, the speakers advocated for data-driven learning. The student, they said, should be at the…
Here’s how we made data usable for our teachers
In today’s digital classroom, teachers have access to more data than ever. With a few clicks, we can view detailed reports on student test scores, formative assessments, progress…
8 informal assessments to pinpoint what your students need
The great thing about informal assessments is they help us gauge students’ understanding during the learning process instead of after. Informal assessment also changes teachers’ relationship to student…
3 ways our district avoids data overload
Schools give many tests throughout the year to identify students’ skills and gaps in their learning, including universal screening, diagnostic, formative, interim, and summative assessments. These tests generate…
App of the Week: Otus
Ed. note: App of the Week picks are now being curated by the editors of Common Sense Education, which helps educators find ... Read more
How to transform problem solving
Technology has become vital to our day-to-day lives and critical in the K-12 classroom. In a tech-saturated market, parents of our students have raised questions about how artificial…
Fixing the grade passback pain point
Grade passback is a pain point for educators and school systems. Just go online and look up the help desk for popular grading platforms and you’ll notice the…
How to get students interested in STEM
Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are not just important topics for school children—they are essential to our culture. These fields help the environment, revolutionize healthcare, innovate our…
How to integrate emotional intelligence into the classroom
Social-emotional learning. Character education. Bullying prevention. These programs all fall under the larger umbrella of emotional intelligence (EQ)—the ability to manage one’s feelings and interact positively with other…
Beyond ESSA: How to use your data to make informed decisions
The deadline has passed for states to submit final Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plans. Now it’s up to school districts to figure out how to capture and…
Want to put your data into action? Here’s how!
Classroom assessments represented a nearly $1.6 billion market in 2017, and that market is expected to grow by 30 percent through 2020. In fact, classroom assessment now makes…
3 ways our school uses data to drive instruction
For the last six years, data has been part of our “secret sauce” here at Bronson Elementary School in Bronson, Fla. Many of our students come from economically…
Are K-12 data systems ready for AI?
As educators who love technology, we can barely contain our enthusiasm for the potential applications of artificial intelligence (AI). But AI requires massive amounts of data, so before…
Why my school switched from virtual to blended learning
Online learning has transformed contemporary education. It has opened the doors for students to digest information in an entirely new way, learn on their own time and at…
6 ways school bus wi-fi could benefit your district
Gaps in internet access are an all-too-familiar struggle for many schools, particularly those in rural or low-income districts where coverage is spotty or too expensive. In 2015, President…
Report reveals surprising data about mobile broadband usage in schools
A recent Mobile Beacon report analyzing mobile broadband usage by non-profit organizations, including schools, finds that schools utilizing Mobile Beacon’s 4G LTE internet service indicate that the ability to…
Building a smarter network
Given the data, networking, and security implications of upcoming technology trends, K-12 schools will require a variety of innovations to meet dramatically increased wireless and wired network performance…
How to use data to increase student success rates
Roughly 10 percent of freshmen class students nationwide find themselves struggling to earn enough credits to pass ninth grade, leaving them with only a 20-percent chance of graduating…
Weak cell service? How schools can solve this still-pervasive problem
Today’s students are more connected to their devices than ever before, whether they’re using their tablets or cellular devices to take notes in class, conduct research, or write…
How 5 states are rocking education data
States are on the right path when it comes to using real-time education data to inform teaching and learning, but the should continue taking critical steps to improve…
OneRoster – Securely share roster, course, and enrollment information between systems
OneRoster is a data standard for securely sharing roster, course, and enrollment information between systems, and is already seeing broad ... Read more
Why this school is thriving after implementing a 100% blended learning model
Located in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, 225 students along with the faculty and staff of the Village Green Virtual Charter High School (VGV) have been pioneering the school…
Thriving special education programs have these 7 elements
Focusing on inclusion, using data, and forming partnerships are among the practices that can help make special education programs successful in schools, according to a report.
Does your district’s broadband measure up?
A free tool from nonprofit EducationSuperHighway is intended to help district technology leaders compare broadband and connectivity information with other districts nearby and across the nation. Compare &…
Text, tweet, email, call—what do parents want in school communications?
When it comes to school communications, parents today want more information from their children’s teachers and schools, but they also want that information to be timely, targeted, and…
The must-have for a SIS? It’s not what you think!
Earning buy-in from stakeholders is one of the most important factors when moving to a new SIS.
5 AR & VR tools for social skills
Virtual and augmented reality, once far-off on the classroom horizon, have moved with relative speed into the realm of possible classroom technologies. In fact, recent data indicates that…
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,…
School sees massive literacy boost thanks to new assessment attitude
At the beginning of the 2016-17 school year, 82 percent of Morgen Owings Elementary School’s students were working below grade level. Now, six months later, just 40 percent…
In the marketplace: Schools expect digital learning budgets to increase
Tech-savvy educators know they must stay on top of the myriad changes and trends in education to learn how teaching and learning can best benefit from technology's near-constant…
How does your district’s broadband stack up?
A free tool from nonprofit EducationSuperHighway is intended to help district technology leaders compare broadband and connectivity information with other districts nearby and across the nation. Compare &…
Report warns a decline in language learning could spell bad news for U.S.
A diminishing share of United States residents speak languages other than English--a trend that could have important consequences for business, international affairs, and intellectual exchange, according to a…