3 superintendents share their COVID “a-ha!” moments

When the COVID-19 pandemic closed physical classrooms, schools had mere days to get up and running online. And not only did they have to meet students’ academic needs, they had to meet their social and emotional needs, too.

With a light at the end of the tunnel and plans to open in-person this fall, three superintendents are sharing lightbulb moments, what technology they’re using this fall, and what practices they would leave behind if able.

Hosted by Carl hooker, panelists are Seth Feldman, EDD, JD, superintendent of Bay Area Technology School; Scott M. Borba, superintendent of Le Grand Union Elementary School District; and Janice Pavelonis, incoming superintendent of Carbondale Elementary School District 95.…Read More

5 myths about device buyback programs

While most school district officials are aware that they can sell their digital learning device fleets at the end of their lifecycles, many don’t do it because they don’t understand the device buyback process.

This is a key finding from a recent study conducted by Project Tomorrow, best known for its annual K-12 Speak Up education research.

The survey showed that while just 7 percent of district administrators and 14 percent of technology leaders were unfamiliar with buyback services, only a little more than half said they were somewhat or very likely to participate in a buyback program over the next two years.…Read More

DreamBox Learning® Appoints Key Executives in Record Growth Year

BELLEVUE, Wash. —DreamBox Learning®, the company on a mission to radically change the way the world learns, today announced the appointment of five new executives across key functions of the business. Lakshmi Nidamarthi joins the company as Chief Product Officer, Ronit Peled as Chief People Officer, Dr. Jason Sinquefield as Senior Vice President of Sales and Partnerships, Michael Savitz as Senior Vice President of Operations, and Tracy Kleine as Vice President of Marketing. These leaders join a high performing executive team at DreamBox during a year of unprecedented growth – a year which validated the long-term DreamBox vision and strategy and further established the company as best-of-breed in the industry.

As school district demand for proven, personalized learning technology experiences its largest boom in history, these executives join the DreamBox team in time for a school year in which educators are ready to leverage the skills, knowledge, and connectivity gained during the pandemic. They are charged with delivering on the company’s winning strategy of providing customers with rich and engaging personalized content, embedded formative assessment, robust data and analytics capabilities, and value-added services to accelerate student learning.

“All of these proven leaders bring something unique to the DreamBox team, and to the market we passionately serve. They are deeply committed to unlocking the learning potential of all students – regardless of race, gender, or zip code, and redefining personalized learning in classrooms everywhere,” said Jessie Woolley-Wilson, President and CEO of DreamBox Learning. “As DreamBox enters a significant new phase of growth, we believe that leveraging diversity across our executive team and the entire company will continue to empower us to build empathetic and impactful solutions for our customers.”…Read More

Onwards and upwards: How one district not only survived, but thrived, through the pandemic

Every district obviously had struggles during this past year. But for Chattahoochee County School District, a small, rural community in Southwest Georgia, it was also a time to automate and accelerate.

In this episode of Innovations in Education, Superintendent Kristie Brooks, Ed.D., describes how they were able to grow their student body, provide improved personal and professional development, and change some pre-pandemic practices like attendance for the better.

This conversation has been edited for clarity.…Read More

5 ways IT leaders can inspire digital transformation post-pandemic

The past year propelled IT teams and leadership into the spotlight with never-before-seen digital transformation and multi-year technology plans executed practically overnight. After a year of awe-inspiring progress, Hillsborough County Public Schools CTO Jeremy Bunkley believes K-12 IT leaders need to keep the momentum going to ensure the year’s gains translate to long lasting technology and culture transformation.

A veteran IT leader and change agent, Bunkley embraced the pandemic’s challenges as a catalyst for district transformation. After building a collaborative ecosystem of partners, he executed some of the largest technology projects in the district’s history in a span of only 11 months, including migrating to a new, more effective email client, increasing technology staff through additional federal funding opportunities, creating the blueprint for a dark fiber WAN, and overhauling the district’s Wi-Fi network to a cloud solution.

Additionally, Bunkley worked directly with an OEM–a move rarely leveraged in K-12–to design custom Windows laptops tailored to the needs of district students and the technology environment, enabling HCPS to roll out 190,000 devices with a focus on 1:1 in grades second through twelfth while saving the district $5.6M. Future projects on the horizon include building a private LTE network and integrating application usage data analytics.…Read More

Connecticut’s Bristol Public Schools Deepens Long-Term Partnership with Discovery Education to Enhance Civic Literacy

SILVER SPRING, MD (Thursday, July 1, 2021) — Connecticut’s  Bristol Public Schools (BPS) today announced it is deepening its long-term partnership with  Discovery Education, the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. In the latest phase of this multiyear collaboration, all district middle school students will receive access to a dynamic digital social studies textbook.  In addition, district educators will have the opportunity to participate in professional learning that supports the creation of relevant and lively lessons that engage students wherever learning takes place.  

BPS seeks to graduate all students with the essential academic knowledge, skills, and disposition to be self-sufficient and make meaningful contributions in a rapidly changing global society. Among the skills the district has identified as essential to preparing students for future success is civic literacy.  Specifically, BPS seeks to prepare all students to: 

  • Participate effectively in civic life through knowing how to stay informed and understanding governmental processes  
  • Exercise the rights and obligations of citizenship at local state, national and global levels 
  • Understand the local and global implications of civic decisions 

To empower educators to provide middle school students these essential skills, the district selected Discovery Education’s  Social Studies Techbook. Featuring standards-aligned, core-curricular resources that use an inquiry-based approach to enhance literacy and critical thinking skills, the Social Studies Techbook aids teachers and students as they approach inquiry through the 5Es: Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend, and Evaluate framework. From stories of ancient cultures to in depth explorations of civics and government, this comprehensive digital textbook takes concepts off the pages and brings lessons to life.  …Read More

5 ways this district evaluates its digital content purchases

K-12 schools spend billions on edtech tools, but often, many of the tools go unused or aren’t evaluated for effectiveness. So how can district technology teams ensure an effective evaluation and purchasing process for digital content and new software?

The Pickerington Local School District in Ohio has done just that, with a carefully-honed process that ensures communication and transparency between its curriculum and technology departments, as well as with teachers.

“The big problem is that we spend a lot of money on edtech,” said Brian Seymour, PLSD’s director of instructional technology, during an ISTELive 21 session. “Now, with everything that happened with COVID, so much more money was invested into edtech so much more quickly than in the past, because we had to adapt. The problem is that we’re spending a lot of money, and are we really doing it in a wise way?”…Read More