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This new report from Project Tomorrow and Spectrum highlights how the role of district technology management has expanded beyond the more traditional responsibilities due to the pandemic, and identifies key questions that can help jumpstart important discussions with teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders regarding the new role of technology within the learning experience.
…Read MoreEven if the old spoon under the pillow trick hasn’t worked for the students in your district yet, it doesn’t mean it won’t be your turn next!
No matter how well prepared you are, weather cancellations can be cause for confusion. It’s worth taking a few extra precautions so your families know exactly what the story is.
Here are a few simple tips districts can follow to make sure weather communication messages are reaching home without causing confusion:…Read More
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.
For the past couple of years, the Detroit Public Schools Community District has been able to tap its share of federal COVID relief aid to fund after-school enrichment programs that help students recover from learning lost during the pandemic.
But those funds will soon run out, and Detroit and other districts face some tough decisions about which programs and employees they can afford to keep once federal support is gone. …Read More
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
As recipients of public funding and taxpayer dollars, K-12 school budgets and spending expenditures are under a microscope. Relief funds stemming from the pandemic have only sharpened the focus, particularly on infrastructure and technology investments. In my role as Chief Technology Officer at one of the nation’s largest school districts, Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS), being accountable and ensuring we are making prudent financial decisions is a top priority for my team.
Striking a balance between innovation and sustainability is a challenge most school districts are facing. At HCPS, we have adopted three guiding principles that serve as the driving force and framework behind every IT decision—equity, efficiency, and excellence.
Equity…Read More
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
In a 2022 survey, 72 percent of the participating school administrators responded that cybersecurity was either a priority or high priority for their district leadership and local school boards. However, only 14 percent of the respondents said their district was very prepared for a cyberattack event.
This alarming disparity between prioritization and preparedness is indicative of the challenges school districts are facing pertaining to cybersecurity. As the Director of Technology at Maconaquah School Corporation located in north-central Indiana, I know firsthand that implementing a proactive cybersecurity posture is a difficult and time-consuming–yet necessary–process. School districts are prime targets for hackers; therefore, we must be prepared.
In our own school corporation, we have adopted four key practices that enable us to continuously strengthen and advance our cybersecurity mitigation and prevention strategies.…Read More
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
Burnout is one of the leading causes of workforce shortages in U.S. schools and its impact is being felt by students who need consistent, high-quality educators the most. Some of the hardest hit are students with unique needs that require services from qualified professionals, such as speech-language pathologists, sign-language interpreters, teachers for the vision and hearing impaired and special education teachers. Special education positions have some of the highest number of vacancies in school districts across the US.
As the number of students who receive special education services continues to grow, there is an increased demand for special educators. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), school age students who receive special education services in public schools represented about 15 percent of enrollment in the 2020-21 school year, up from 13 percent in 2009-10.
While staffing schools continues to be a priority, teacher retention is key to successful positive outcomes on campuses for students. School administrators are taking a hard look at how to prevent burnout. Preventing burnout is essential in building a positive school climate, improving morale, and keeping professionals in the field of education. …Read More
The 2023 TCEA Convention & Exposition offered the opportunity for educators to connect in person and share insights and innovations around teaching and learning.
Held in in San Antonio this year, TCEA 2023 was “the intersection of passion and possibility, curiosity and discovery, education and technology. And it’s the kind of learning that will change the story of education.”
Conferences gave educators–including administrators, classroom teachers, IT leaders, curriculum directors–to attend sessions targeted to their interests and their individual school or district needs. Content touched on social media in the classroom, IT challenges, innovative edtech tools, and more.…Read More