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.

South Carolina’s State Board of Education Approves High School Biology Course From Discovery Education for Statewide Use

CHARLOTTE, NC —Following a comprehensive evaluation, the South Carolina State Board of Education has approved the South Carolina-aligned High School Biology course of the award-winning Science Techbook by Discovery Education for statewide use as a core instructional resource. South Carolina’s adoption of Science Techbook’s High School Biology course empowers school systems statewide to integrate this innovative blended curriculum into teaching and learning.  Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place.    

The High School Biology course of Science Techbook offers a unique and engaging three-dimensional learning experience that aligns with SC College & Career-Ready Science Standards and supports learning and achievement. Delivered through Discovery Education’s award-winning K-12 platform, Science Techbook offers both print and digital editions designed to maximize classroom flexibility and student engagement. Technology tools streamline teacher prep with differentiation and auto-grading and lesson content is available in multiple Lexile levels and authentic Spanish, increasing accessibility for all learners. 

“Discovery Education appreciates the South Carolina Board of Education’s careful review of Science Techbook’s South Carolina-aligned High School Biology course,” said Anna Strassner, Discovery Education’s Director of Educational Partnership. “The engaging, phenomena-driven learning experiences this course makes possible will help South Carolina’s students develop the skills and knowledge important for success beyond the classroom.” …Read More

COVID-era teletherapy authorizations are expiring, but the problem persists

COVID-19 safety guidance has been relaxed and schools have returned to in-person learning, but it’s not yet time to breathe a sigh of relief. Many schools continue to encounter challenges in effectively serving their students, faced with special education staff shortages, backlogs of evaluations, and a youth mental health crisis.

Before the pandemic, a complex web of restrictions limited the ability of schools to leverage online services. From professional associations to state licensure boards, virtual therapy and evaluation services were discouraged or prohibited. In some cases, new graduates were prevented from obtaining their necessary practice hours through remote work. Many states imposed extensive barriers to allowing a licensed therapist to serve students across a state border, slowing down the ability to serve students through teletherapy.

These boards and associations then moved quickly to lift restrictions and clarify guidance to prioritize serving children in need. But as often happens in times that call for rapid action, these changes were made with a short-term mentality. Most of the removal of barriers to teleservices was done through temporary waivers and allowances, rather than taking action to permanently include remote and online services as a solution to serving the growing number of students with special education or mental health needs. These decision makers did not imagine the long-lasting impact of the pandemic, and they did not anticipate the evolution of educational services to a more technology-forward model.…Read More

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6 reasons to improve teacher and principal evaluation policies

New data and analysis released by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) finds ample opportunities for improvement in states’ teacher and principal evaluation policies. With educator quality as the most powerful in-school factor that contributes to students’ academic success, an essential component to supporting student recovery in the wake of pandemic-related learning loss must be ensuring all students have access to effective teachers and administrators.

Evidence-based teacher and principal evaluation policies, when well-implemented, have great potential to help individual educators strengthen their practice, promote overall improvements in the quality of the workforce, and—most importantly—support increased student achievement.

“Strong, well-implemented teacher and principal evaluation systems can make a big difference for both teachers and students,” said Dr. Heather Peske, NCTQ President. “It’s disappointing to see that states have continued to back away from evidence-based evaluation policies and practices over the past several years, especially when we need to ensure every child has access to great teachers more than ever.”

The new NCTQ report, State of the States 2022: Teacher and Principal Evaluation Policies, presents data and analysis on policies from all 50 states and D.C. covering essential, evidence-based components of teacher and principal evaluation systems. Despite increased state adoption of evidence-based evaluation policies over a decade ago, the most recent data documents a continued decline in the number of states with teacher and principal evaluation requirements in place that research shows have the potential to drive significant improvements in student learning. 

Key findings in the NCTQ data include:

  • Fewer states require that objective measures of student growth be included in a teacher or principal’s evaluation. Helping students to grow academically is core to the role of all educators. Between 2009 and 2015, most states adopted policies that required educator evaluations include some objective measure of student growth, such as student state, district, or school assessment data or data from student learning objectives. However, while 43 states had this requirement for both teacher and principal evaluations in 2015, that number has since dropped to 30 states for teachers and 27 states for principals. While the pandemic may have interrupted assessments, recent declines in student results should reinvigorate states’ focus on student growth.
  • Fewer states now explicitly allow or require that student feedback be incorporated into a teacher’s evaluation. Teacher evaluations that include multiple sources of data, including from student assessments, teacher observations, and student surveys, create a fuller, more accurate picture of a teacher’s performance. Despite evidence that feedback from students is an important component to include in assessing teacher quality and to gauge students’ experiences, only five states now require that student surveys be included in a teacher’s evaluation. Support for including survey data in principal evaluations has also declined, with now only eight states requiring surveys or feedback from students, teachers, parents, and/or peers be included in a principal’s evaluation.

Related:
Prediction: The future of teacher evaluations is video
Post-COVID plans should focus on program values and evaluation…Read More

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With Rising Concerns About Dyslexia in Young Learners, Riverside Insights Introduces First-of-its Kind Playbook to Streamline Evaluations

ITASCA, Ill. – Riverside Insights®, a leading developer of research-based assessments and analytics, today debuted a new Assessment Playbook focused on streamlining the evaluation of dyslexia, the most common learning disability, affecting 20% of the population. The new playbook makes assessments more effective and efficient by providing a recommended process for selective testing and a specific test list for querying the most salient features of dyslexia.

“The pandemic disrupted teaching and learning, and has led to a dramatic increase in the number of students who are referred for dyslexia evaluations by their teachers and/or parents. Consequently, evaluators must determine if a student’s reading difficulties are primarily a reflection of this disruption or an indication of a true reading disability,” said dyslexia expert Dr. Nancy Mather, a professor in the  College of Education, Department of Disability and Psychoeducational Studies at the University of Arizona. “To address this issue and the increase in assessment referrals, evaluators need effective and efficient assessment tools to ensure that all students are accurately identified and get the help they need. In this way, children can be provided with systematic interventions prior to experiencing chronic reading difficulties.”

In the 2021-2022 school year, more than 20 states – including California, Florida, Texas and Connecticut – updated their dyslexia legislation, passing new codes and statutes to support more effective identification and intervention practices to address the increasing dyslexia referrals.…Read More

Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready® Assessment Named to the Georgia Department of Education Approved List of Gifted Identification Screeners

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass., August18, 2022—The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) has added Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready Assessment for Grades K–12 to its approved list of Gifted EducationAssessment Measuresto identify students’ eligibility for gifted education programs in the achievement domain. With this approval, districts throughout the state can now use their existing reading and mathematics data from the i-Ready Assessment as a source of evidence to support a referral for gifted education programs. The i-Ready normative scores can be used to determine if students meet the criteria in the achievement category of the evaluation and eligibility process, eliminating the need for a separate achievement assessment.

“The i-Ready Assessment data is powerful in helping teachers identify students’ strengths and needs so they can provide more personalized instruction,” said Rob Waldron, CEO of Curriculum Associates. “The Georgia Department of Education’s approval of i-Ready to support gifted identification will help districts throughout the state save valuable time and resources by eliminating the need for another achievement assessment. A more efficient screening process will also help schools connect students more quickly with services that help them reach their full potential.”

The GaDOE gifted education screening process requires information be gathered about a student in four categories: mental ability, achievement, creativity, and motivation. In order to be eligible to receive gifted programming, students must qualify in three of the four categories, or they must have a qualifying score in both the mental ability and achievement categories. i-Ready data is used in the achievement category.…Read More

Discovery Education’s Science Techbook Approved for Statewide Use by South Carolina’s State Board of Education

Silver Spring, Md. (December 20, 2021)—Following a comprehensive evaluation, the  South Carolina State Board of Education has approved the  Discovery Education Science Techbook for the K-5 and 6-8 grade bands, plus high school Earth & Space science, for statewide use as a core instructional resource through its state adoption process. South Carolina’s adoption of the award-winning Science Techbook empowers the state’s school systems to integrate this innovative digital curriculum into teaching and learning.  Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place.    

Delivered through  Discovery Education’s flexible K-12 platform, Science Techbook drives engagement with exclusive phenomena and interactive content. Virtual and hands-on investigations, STEM activities, and a variety of instructional supports that enhance the delivery of impactful, blended instruction in person or at a distance. 

Available with the Science Techbook are coordinated digital teacher guides offering unit, concept, and lesson overviews, standards connections, and differentiation activities to inform instructional planning and guide three-dimensional learning. Teacher editions also provide flexible pacing options, embedded teacher notes, and Pathways for Learning to address diverse learners.   …Read More

The unbeaten path to hybrid learning

Virtual learning, and the forms in which virtual and in-person education meet, have sparked controversy in the educational community. 

Often we debate what consequences this type of education has. We wonder whether traditional learning methodologies–with their big appetite for control and constant evaluation–are even achievable when classes are hybrid. But by focusing on impacts only, we overlook the essential issue: What’s the real purpose of education?

We should be primarily concerned with how education helps students achieve their personal and professional goals, whether virtual, in-person, or hybrid–a methodology targeting students’ development will help teachers capitalize on every lesson triumphantly.…Read More

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Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready® Classroom Mathematics for Grades 6–8 Named a Highly Rated, “All Green” Program by EdReports.org

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass., September 24, 2021—Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready Classroom Mathematics for Grades 6–8 was recently named a highly rated program by EdReports.org, an independent nonprofit that conducts evidence-based reviews of instructional materials. After undergoing a comprehensive review using the organization’s updated and more rigorous evaluation rubric, expert educators from EdReports.org found the standards-aligned core math program met expectations for all evaluation criteria across Grades 6–8.

EdReports.org conducts extensive third-party reviews to increase the capacity of teachers, administrators, and leaders to seek, identify, and demand the highest quality instructional materials to improve and deepen student learning. The organization’s review process includes a three-gateway system in which a “green” rating signifies that the program meets expectations for a given set of criteria.

i-Ready Classroom Mathematics for Grades 6–8 met the expectations of all criteria for each grade level with a “green” rating across the following:…Read More

5 websites to help students build media literacy skills

Over the past couple years, students have been inundated with a near-steady stream of information and headlines about politics, racial and social unrest, the pandemic, and more. Helping students form discerning media literacy skills is even more essential.

Students must understand how to recognize reputable information and how to identify credible, high-quality journalism. Bias is everywhere, and it’s necessary for young people today to identify it and call it out.

Identifying bias and forming strong media literacy and evaluation skills starts in the classroom. Teachers need resources to illustrate the importance of these skills, and it’s never too early to expose students to news outlets and point out the difference between high-quality and suspect news.…Read More

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5 digital tools for school libraries

School libraries have evolved from strict, quiet, hush-hush rooms to more interactive spaces with flexible seating, readily-available edtech tools, and educators on hand to help with research, critical resource evaluation, makerspaces.

It’s in school libraries where students often discover and hone their love of coding and programming, create amazing projects via makerspaces, and where they develop important 21st-century skills.

As schools plan to return to full in-person learning in the fall, students will no doubt be eager to return to their school libraries and pick up where they left off.…Read More

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