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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.

Madison Metropolitan School District Selects Open Up Resources And Kiddom To Provide K-5 English Language Arts Blended Learning Program

MADISON, WI – Today, Open Up Resources and Kiddom announced Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) has selected its top-rated EL Education K-5 Education Language Arts (ELA) curriculum for its 31 elementary schools in support of the district’s efforts to prioritize early literacy and beyond. Open Up Resources, a nonprofit, works to increase equity in education by making the highest quality curriculum accessible to educators, and Kiddom is the first all-in-one education platform for high quality digital curriculum.

MMSD’s investment will provide its teachers the ability to utilize the ELA curriculum to:

●      Share assignments digitally;…Read More

Charleston County Schools Selects Open Up Resources And Kiddom To Provide K-8 English Language Arts Blended Learning Program

CHARLESTON, SC – Open Up Resources, a nonprofit increasing equity in education by making the highest quality curriculum accessible to educators, and Kiddom, the first all-in-one education platform for high-quality digital curriculum, announced today a new partnership to bring the top-rated EL Education K-8 English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum to Charleston County School District (CCSD) in support of the district’s blended learning efforts.

The partnership will provide teachers the ability to utilize the ELA curriculum on Kiddom’s platform to share assignments digitally, communicate with students, and deliver personalized feedback on submissions, while prioritizing student reading proficiency and content knowledge of science and social studies. Additionally, the partnership will equip CCSD with a full-service, multi-year professional learning plan from EL Education to support teachers, plus access to peer-to-peer communications within Open Up’s K-8 EL Education digital community.

“Putting students at the heart of this work has been our tagline for a while, but we watched schools make the decision to opt-out of what’s easier or more comfortable and that’s the true evidence that we are putting students first,” saidEmilie Woody, Executive Director of Curriculum & Instruction, Charleston County School District.…Read More

4 ideas to infuse critical thinking in ELA and social studies

Every teacher knows the importance of critical thinking in education. Strong critical thinkers make better decisions, are more informed, have more career opportunities, and are generally better equipped to navigate the challenges of everyday life.

In the classroom, critical thinking is essential to the growth and betterment of our students. It’s not enough for them to simply memorize that 6 times 6 equals 36; they also need to know the underlying principle behind the equation. And, when put into practice, it can unleash student potential in ways we’ve never dreamed.

Just consider Ann Makosinski (16), a student who created a flashlight that is powered by her own thermal energy. Kelvin Doe (13), of Sierra Leone, built a radio transmitter and generator for his village out of spare parts. Another student, Gitanjali Rao (12), was inspired by the crisis in Flint, Michigan, to build a way to send water-quality information via Bluetooth. …Read More

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4 ways online tutoring helps our at-risk, low-income district achieve goals

Our urban Title I district serves a population of 78 percent at-risk students and 84 percent low-income families. We were already managing low proficiency rates on math and ELA state assessments prior to the pandemic, and the move to remote learning made it even more difficult for teachers to engage with students who couldn’t be on campus.

The shifting rigor of Maryland’s College and Career Ready Standards pushed our students even further behind the curve. We knew we needed a program to accelerate learning outcomes and boost proficiency rates on MCAP/PARCC assessments while also providing academic support to students in need.

Finding the right solution…Read More

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iTutor’s Virtual Quarantine Classroom Offers Educational Lifeline for COVID-Affected South Carolina and New York Students

As many as 2,000 students on any given day this school year in Richland Two (South Carolina) and other school districts, and, in partnership with PNW BOCES, across the state of New York — required to quarantine at home because of COVID-related concerns — have been able to continue their studies uninterrupted, thanks to iTutor and its new Virtual Quarantine Classroom service featuring live, online, instruction provided by state-certified teachers.

In the Richland Two School District, Columbia, SC, iTutor is serving all 24 elementary schools, providing group classes in ELA and Math for eight hours each week throughout the school year. Students begin receiving academic support within 24 hours of starting their quarantine at home.

“iTutor’s Virtual Quarantine Classroom has been an important partner in ensuring that students continue to receive premier learning experiences even when they must be away from school due to the pandemic,” said Richland Two Superintendent Dr. Baron R. Davis.…Read More

Wasted Technology: Why Many Teachers Don’t Use the Programs Their Districts Provide

Imagine you’re about to give a big presentation to a large audience. Just before you go on stage, your boss hands you a new gadget and tells you to use it. You’ve never seen the gadget before, you have no idea what it does, and you’ve never received any training on how to use it. Your boss assures you that it will make your presentation better, and just before you can respond, the curtain goes up.

If the thought of using the gadget for the first time in front of a large audience gives you any level of anxiety, you now know why many teachers never use the technology their districts provide.

According to EdNews Daily, the projection for educational technology spending in the United States will reach an astounding $38.2 billion this year. And while it may seem as though students will reap all the benefits of having innovative technology so close at hand, there is a giant hurdle that stands directly in their way of accessing it — their teachers.…Read More

Virtual Education in a Post-Pandemic World

During an ordinary life, it often feels like we’re living the same day over and over due to the structured routines we’ve all implemented over time. But when we least expect it, a paradigm shift can take place, and life as we know it can suddenly change forever.

A paradigm shift is anytime an event occurs that changes the way we think and act as we move forward throughout our lives.

Past examples of paradigm shifts include major events like the assassination of JFK or the terrorist attacks on September 11th which drastically altered people’s thoughts on safety, politics, and peace.…Read More

Virtual Education Vs In-Person Classes

When the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March of 2020, teachers around the world had to reinvent themselves in a joint effort to avoid a complete halt in educational activities. The challenges they faced over the course of the last year and a half, have generated some key insights about virtual teaching that we need to learn from, and be prepared for, as we return to our brick and mortar schools.

Most academic articles that have been published on this topic during the pandemic argue that in-person classroom interactions are favored over virtual classes. The arguments they offer, however, have more to do with the shortcomings of the software or hardware used than with the many benefits such as the potential for innovation that a solid virtual learning platform offers. Schools should not overlook the added value of offering virtual classes as an option to the traditional classroom.

The power of personalization…Read More

Returning to School When the Pandemic Isn’t Really Over

In just a few weeks’ time, kids all over the United States will be returning to in-person school. And while that may seem like a huge relief to parents after dealing with school closures and virtual learning from home since early 2020, it raises a lot of concerns regarding whether or not students should be returning to school en masse while the Covid-19 pandemic is still raging in the US and around the world.

While the numbers continue to change daily, at the time of this writing 1,000+ counties in the US are experiencing the highest level of community transmission with an additional 500+ counties falling into the substantial transmission category according to the Centers For Disease Control.

What this means is that there are more than 100 new cases per 100,000 people in the past 7 days in the high transmission areas and 50-99 new cases per 100,000 people in the substantial transmission areas. And unfortunately, the numbers keep increasing.…Read More