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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.

K-12 cybersecurity vendors: Is the threat already in your house?

K-12 vendors are key components in all aspects of K-12 education. From operational needs such as attendance and payroll to learning applications for reading, science, and mathematics, vendors ensure school districts operate as efficiently and effectively as possible.

But K-12 vendors are also one of the greatest single sources of cybersecurity vulnerability for schools and districts. The U.S. Government Accountability Office asserted that “cyberattacks carried out directly against edtech vendors […] tend to have an especially severe impact on K-12 because they affect a large swath of students across multiple school districts at the same time.”

In fact, K12 SIX’s annual report asserted that 55 percent of reported school data breaches in 2021 were connected to incidents originating from district vendors.…Read More

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6 key elements to build a successful coaching program

A successful coaching program can have an extraordinarily positive impact on teachers, students, and schools. A recent national survey of educators showed that most districts agree — 75 percent see the connection between coaching, teacher growth, and student achievement.

Here are 6 key elements of successful coaching programs that can serve as a roadmap for building and sustaining a successful instructional coaching program.

1. Create a strong vision for the coaching program…Read More

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5 ways to prep students for online learning success

Students who attend online school today range from homeschoolers, to those seeking an alternative to in-person public schools, to learners who want to mix virtual schooling with in-person learning. Also, some districts have decided to keep an online option open for students who choose that method.

And while numerous parents and students have chosen to make online learning part of their education, the transition can be challenging. As someone who’s been involved with online schools for more than eight years, here are five common areas of concern and tips for how teachers and parents can navigate these challenges successfully.

Organization and Scheduling are Vital…Read More

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Schools can do better than retaining struggling readers

Grade retention is ineffective and expensive, but 17 states and Washington, D.C. mandate it (and at least 12 more states allow it) for students who are not reading proficiently by grade 3. The best way to stop grade retention, whether you live in a state with laws mandating it or not, is to provide students with explicit, phonics-based literacy instruction rooted in the science of reading, beginning in kindergarten.

Here’s how schools and districts can help students begin learning to read on track and stay there to avoid retention.

Who Gets Retained?…Read More

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Learn how to modernize your K-12 financial operations

Over the past several years, K-12 school districts experienced the limitations of legacy systems. With the recent government funding available for pandemic recovery, a window of opportunity opens for K-12 schools to modernize and bring resilience to their spend management systems.

Automating your school district’s spend management solution should be a top priority. Market uncertainty has shown that faculty and staff spending data is often dispersed and hard to track, meaning you are missing complete spend visibility. This lack of reliable, consistent data is leaving school districts vulnerable to risks.

Join an eSchool News panel of experts as they discuss understanding and managing your school expenditures with a single platform that captures employee spend, when and how it happens, and how investing in a digital spend management solution can help enable school districts to increase efficiency, transparency, compliance, and control.…Read More

LINQ Expands TITAN Nutrition Claims Solution to Ohio and Montana

WILMINGTON, N.C. (PRWEB) — LINQ, creator of leading nutrition program solutions, has expanded its  TITAN nutrition claims submission solution to Ohio and Montana. This expansion equips more state agencies and K-12 school districts with effective nutrition program reimbursement methods.

The claims solution integrates directly with the participating states’ claims portals, allowing district administrators to easily verify, audit and submit their claims from the TITAN platform. Claims are seamlessly submitted to the state agency, expediting reimbursement and improving the accuracy of claim submissions because districts don’t have to manually re-enter information from one system to another.

“We work very closely with each state agency and K-12 school district to understand their needs and build solutions that support the effective management of their nutrition program,” said Mike Borges, President, State & Nutrition Solutions at LINQ. “Since individuals spend a lot of time on district nutrition programs, we made sure that our solution saves time and helps education leaders navigate the complexities that come with it. This is especially important given the staffing shortages that many districts are facing.”…Read More

Dedication to STEM learning makes this eSN Hero Awards winner a standout leader

One of three eSN K-12 Hero Awards winners and nominated by Bluum, Kim Leblanc was selected for the innovative STEM learning initiatives she champions in her district and for her students.

Conventional wisdom would say that economically disadvantaged schools across the country would need to think twice before making a major investment in technology. However, not all districts in that predicament have a technology director like Kim Leblanc.

Calcasieu Parish School Board is the fifth-largest school district in Louisiana, resting in the southwest part of the state. In total, the district serves 29,500 students across 60 elementary, middle, and high schools. It is a 100 percent CEP district, which means that every student is eligible for free lunch based on the economic poverty data submitted to the federal government.…Read More

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What’s missing from your professional development?

The importance of professional development in education cannot be overstated. In fact, according to research, when teachers receive well-designed professional development, an average of 49 hours spread over six to 12 months, they can increase student achievement by as much as 21 percentile points.

Yet, professional development is often overlooked and considered an afterthought—especially with pressing concerns around students’ mental health and well-being, gaps in reading and math skills, and so much more. The COVID-19 pandemic shook up professional development, encouraging schools and districts to rethink what this process looks like and how to best set their educators up for success and, in turn, their students.

At Waxahachie ISD in Texas, we’ve implemented professional development through the use of video, and lean on self-reflection and personalization that is naturally part of the video process to transform how our educators learn, collaborate and grow.…Read More

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Teacher shortages remain a top problem–here’s how to fix them

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.

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.

In this eSchool News webinar, you’ll hear how districts are working 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