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.

Why design thinking is important in early childhood education

In early childhood education, most parents are aware of the importance of teaching key academic skills such as early literacy and mathematics skills. Recent research also suggests that problem-solving is an equally important skillset to teach young children. While the design thinking model is implemented in K-12 education, it is relatively new in early childhood education but highly effective.

What is design thinking? Design thinking is an iterative process used to solve real-world problems. At its core, design thinking has several steps: Identify a problem, design potential solutions, test the solutions, redesign as needed and share the solutions with a wider audience. Design thinking is used regularly in many fields (engineering, business, IT, health care, etc.) and has recently gained wide popularity due to the effectiveness of this problem-solving approach.

Why is design thinking important? As pediatrician Laura Jana notes in her book, The Toddler Brain, 65 percent of today’s children will face unknown careers and problems when they are adults. Children will always need to solve problems throughout their lives and the difficulties they face will grow in complexity as they mature. Design thinking is a lifelong skill that children may use to tackle complex problems throughout their lives, so it is a valuable skill to learn early in life, particularly within the first five years. According to Dr. Jana, there is a direct connection between early skills and workforce development. The 21st century competencies valued by today’s business world are one and the same with the core social, emotional, language and executive function skills that can be fostered in early childhood. Forbes explains that design thinking is a way for businesses to increase productivity, foster innovation and eliminate wasted time and money on guesswork-based development by empowering front-line workers to collaborate on diverse teams and explore new ideas. Design thinking helps children build a resilience-focused mindset and teaches many of the 21st century skills, such as the four C’s: creativity, collaboration, compassion and confidence. These are skills children can use to address increasingly complex problems throughout their lives.…Read More

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Clark County School District Gives Educators in 241 Elementary Schools Access to Lexia’s LETRS Professional Learning

BOSTON – Clark County School District (CCSD) in Nevada, has made Lexia LETRS ® (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) professional learning programs available to most elementary schools in the district with a plan to continue expanding the program to additional elementary and early childhood teachers and administrators. Offered by Lexia, a Cambium Learning Group company, LETRS professional learning programs provide educators with the deep knowledge required to be literacy and language experts in the science of reading.

Developed by Dr. Louisa Moats and leaders in the field of literacy, the LETRS suite provides practical support with tools that are available 24/7—online and in print. It also offers professional learning sessions led by national LETRS experts. These sessions provide classroom application examples of the learnings and refine and extend participants’ understanding of the content. The LETRS suite consists of three professional learning programs:

· Lexia LETRS for Elementary Educators…Read More

Learning Without Tears Showcases Assessments to Guide Instruction for Get Set for School®

Washington, DC – Showcasing as part of its new literacy solution at the NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) annual conference,   Learning Without Tears’ acclaimed Early Childhood curriculum, Get Set for School® (GSS), now includes Assessments to Guide Instruction (AGI), an addition to the complete program that provides greater value and more complete foundational learning. This new assessment tool allows educators to easily assess, track, and remediate student performance over the course of the school year.  With AGI, teachers can easily provide updates and suggestions to families, building strong school-to-home connections, an important element of young learners’ success. 

“Learning Without Tears has built a powerful literacy solution, based on the success we have had in early childhood education for more than 40 years,” said Terry Nealon, CEO of Learning Without Tears. “Get Set for School is a central component of that literacy expertise and is already being used by thousands of schools across the country for kindergarten-readiness. Expanding GSS to include Assessments to Guide Instruction increases the impact LWT’s literacy solution can have on very young learners. With a clear, individual assessment of what their students need at this early point in their education, teachers can create a lifelong learner and lover of reading, by understanding and then meeting students where they are.” 

The award-winning Get Set for School complete curriculum is divided into six learning areas that seamlessly create a better academic outcome for pre-K students. Students are taught developmentally, learning the easiest skills first, then building on that knowledge as learning progresses. Multi-sensory activities provide hands-on learning and play-based opportunities for students to learn.   …Read More

Riverside Insights Continues to Lead Innovation in Assessments for English Learners

ITASCA, Ill. – Riverside Insights®, a leading developer of research-based assessments and analytics, today announced the launch of the Battelle Developmental Inventory, Third Edition (BDI-3) in Spanish. This early childhood solution continues Riverside’s strong tradition of developing leading assessments to support deeper understanding of English learners (EL), who are often over- or under-identified for special learning accommodations.

“We are on a mission to elevate the potential of every learner by helping evaluators and educators understand each student’s aptitude, skills and strengths,” said Dr. Sarah Holman, a former EL teacher and bilingual evaluator who now serves as a director for Riverside Insights. “Given the unique and often overlooked challenges of English learners, Riverside Insights has focused on providing multi-dimensional, research-backed insights that help evaluators and educators differentiate between language/exposure learning barriers and academic/cognitive learning barriers to help meet students’ personalized needs.”

Through its product development and design process, Riverside Insights aims to ensure that assessments are accessible to diverse learners, especially those for whom English is not their native language. Riverside Insights offers a comprehensive suite of solutions that have powerful tools to help support English learners in their native language.…Read More

Learning Without Tears Announces Assessments to Guide Instruction; Expanding Impact of Get Set for School®, a Complete Multisensory, Early Childhood Curriculum

Washington, DC – Learning Without Tears’ acclaimed Early Childhood curriculum, Get Set for School® (GSS), will now include the new Assessments to Guide Instruction, an addition to the complete program that provides greater value and more complete foundational learning. This new assessment tool allows educators to easily assess, track, and remediate student performance over the course of the school year.  With AGI, teachers can easily provide updates and suggestions to families, building strong school-to-home connections, an important element of young learners’ success. 

“We have been experts in successful early childhood education for 40 years,” said Terry Nealon, CEO of Learning Without Tears. “Get Set for School is the culmination of that learning expertise, and is being used by thousands of schools across the country. The addition of Assessments to Guide Instruction expands the impact GSS can have on very young learners. With a clear, individual assessment of what their students need at this early point in their education, teachers can create a lifelong learner and lover of reading, by meeting students where they are.” 

The award-winning Get Set for School complete curriculum is divided into six learning areas that seamlessly create a better academic outcome for pre-K students. Students are taught developmentally, learning the easiest skills first, then building on that knowledge as learning progresses. Multi-sensory activities provide hands-on learning and play-based opportunities for students to learn.   …Read More

7 educators share back-to-school action plans

This year, classrooms are opening with a combination of optimism and uncertainty. On one hand, this is the first truly “normal” back-to-school opening since the fall of 2019. But on the other, teacher burnout, educator shortages, and mass teacher resignations have plagued districts and states across the nation. Pandemic-related learning loss and student mental health remain among educators’ top concerns.

But, ready or not, back-to-school season is here. Seven educators shed light on their own back-to-school experiences, from early childhood education to STEAM and robotics and teacher recruitment.

Here’s what a return to classrooms looks like for these educators:…Read More

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Why evidence-based solutions are critical for edtech buying

As districts budget for the 2022-2023 school year, they’ll have some additional funds to spend thanks to the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund created by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

To ensure that these funds are well spent and will benefit students, Congress has mandated that 20% of district funds and 5% of state funds must be spent on evidence-based programs to recover from learning loss; plus additional funds for evidence-based enrichment, summer and afterschool programs.

When it comes to early childhood STEM resources, evidence of efficacy is more than just a stamp of approval. Evidence gives confidence that those products will lead to the buzzing environments we want for our youngest students, full of playful learning, collaboration, and the kinds of concrete engagement that come with hands-on manipulatives.…Read More

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Scholastic Launches Early Childhood Program to Start Every Child’s Learning Journey with Both Academic and Social-Emotional Support

PreK On My Way™, Designed in Collaboration with UTHealth’s Children’s Learning Institute and Yale Child Study Center, Brings Together the Latest Early Childhood Education Research in Language, Literacy, Math, and Social-Emotional Development

NEW YORK, May 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Scholastic has announced the launch of PreK On My Way, a comprehensive PreK program, with print and digital resources available in both English and Spanish. At the heart of the program is the Mind Builder™ skill-building methodology, developed with the Yale Child Study Center to support social-emotional learning, executive function skills, motivation, and creativity. PreK On My Way also incorporates UTHealth’s Children’s Learning Institute’s Developing Talkers/Hablemos Juntos research model, which is proven to significantly expand children’s receptive and expressive vocabulary skills.

To learn more, visit: www.scholastic.com/prekonmyway.…Read More

Rhode Island schools gain new tool for meeting Biden administration’s goals for social emotional learning


Conscious Discipline, a 25-year leader in the field of social-emotional learning (SEL), and Sargent
Rehabilitation Center’s Regional Resource Center have entered a partnership that will unite schools,
parents, and community SEL services state-wide.

The partnership between Conscious Discipline and Sargent will provide the state’s schools with access to a single, evidence-based approach to SEL for education programs from birth through adulthood. The
penetration of SEL into Rhode Island schools meets many Biden Administration priorities for education,
which include providing increased services during the early childhood years, equity in education,
increased mental health services, community school outreach, and investing in “resources for our
schools so students grow into physically and emotionally healthy adults.”
www.joebiden.com/education/

The partnership, launching March 10, 2021, is the culmination of four years in which thousands of
Rhode Island educators and students experienced improvement in discipline, school climate, academic
achievement and sense of belonging after training in Conscious Discipline with key Sargent staff. These
improvements will expand in both depth and breadth under the partnership as school administrators
and educators state-wide receive classroom coaching, exclusive content, professional development
workshops, and priority status for attending Conscious Discipline’s public events. An immersive weeklong Summer Institute (August) and a 2-day Building Trauma-Sensitive Classrooms and Schools
workshop (October) are among the public events scheduled in Rhode Island with Dr. Becky Bailey, the
founder and originator of Conscious Discipline.

Conscious Discipline is a brain-based, trauma-informed, adult-first methodology that integrates SEL,
school culture and discipline in order to create collaborative, equitable learning communities that
support all members in reaching their highest potential. In 2020, the Collaborative for Academic, Social,
and Emotional Learning (CASEL) named Conscious Discipline a “SELect Program,” its highest designation for effective, evidence-based SEL. www.ConsciousDiscipline.com


Sargent Rehabilitation Center is a nonprofit organization offering educational consulting,
neurorehabilitation, day school programs, diagnostic services and restorative justice practices
throughout Rhode Island and surrounding Massachusetts and Connecticut. www.sargentcenter.org

Regarding this collaboration, Dr. Bailey said, “There is nothing more inspiring than partnership.
Conscious Discipline and Sargent Rehabilitation Center’s Regional Resource Center are united in helping all educators and families build the social-emotional skillsets and inner resources needed to manage their external experiences.”

For more information, contact Amanda Weinstein at press@consciousdiscipline.com.…Read More