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.

West Virginia Department of Education selects Istation’s ISIP™ Assessment for Reading, Math, and Dyslexia Screening

Dallas, TX (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Istation, a leader in educational technology, announced today that the West Virginia Department of Education has selected Istation as a K-3 formative assessment for literacy, numeracy, and indicators of dyslexia selection criteria. This approval will empower schools and districts across West Virginia to implement Istation’s Indicators of Progress (ISIP) assessment to measure readiness in critical skills, identify learning barriers, and improve instructional approaches. 

“This news means classrooms across West Virginia will receive screening tools to help educators implement an evidence-based approach to learning.” said Vice President of Research and Assessments, Victoria Locke, Ph.D., “During the 2023-2024 school year, K-3 student achievement benchmarks will directly benefit from having Istation available.”

With the goal of improving student grade-level proficiency for early learners in reading and mathematics, the Third Grade Success Act requires every school to establish a process for ensuring the developmental and academic progress of all students with evidence-based tools. 

Istation’s reading and math assessment provides an evidence-based method for evaluating literacy skills, core math competencies, and dyslexia risk factors by offering benchmark assessment resources that facilitate universal screening more than three times a year.…Read More

Buchanan County Schools See 380% Improvement in Reading with Carnegie Learning

Pittsburgh, PA– Carnegie Learning, a leader in artificial intelligence for K-12 education and formative assessment, announced today that elementary students from Buchanan County, Virginia School District achieved unprecedented reading gains using Carnegie Learning’s Fast ForWord® reading and language program.

Buchanan County Public School students in grades K-5 (950 students) worked in the program five days a week for thirty minutes a day. After just a few months in, students’ hard work started paying off.

“Our third graders take state standardized tests, and our scores used to be pretty good,” explained Connie Hibbitts, Instructional Coach for all four elementary-middle schools in the county and an educator with 34 years of experience. “But over the years, they declined. We knew we needed a program to build foundational reading skills,” she explains. “That’s major. We were looking for something that covered all the underlying components of strong literacy. And this program was it.”…Read More

Oregon Public School Breaks State Assessment Score Record with Carnegie Learning

Pittsburgh, PA – Carnegie Learning, a leader in artificial intelligence for K-12 education and formative assessment, announced today that students from the Howard Street Partnership School achieved record-breaking results on Oregon’s state assessment, SBAC, using Carnegie Learning’s core secondary math solution that comprises MATHbook, a consumable write-in text that fosters collaborative classroom learning, and MATHia, the one-on-one, adaptive math coaching software.

Howard Street Charter School in Salem, Oregon, is a project-based institution that pushes students to achieve excellence in all areas of study. Howard Street Charter School is no stranger to academic success and had already achieved  curricular excellence with passing rates above the state average. Carnegie Learning’s math solution helped them achieve even higher.

“Our highest passing rate ever in the history of the school was fifty-two percent before Covid. And now that’s the mid-range,” Principal Christina Tracy states. “Our SBAC data was the best we’ve had for math in 25 years! And we did not teach to the test. We just used Carnegie Learning Math.”…Read More

Carnegie Learning Recognized as Global Innovator on 2023 GSV 150 List

Pittsburgh, PA – Carnegie Learning, a leader in artificial intelligence for K-12 education and formative assessment, announced today it has been selected for the GSV (Global Silicon Valley) 150, a list of the world’s most transformative private companies in education.

Carnegie Learning was chosen from over 4,000 venture capital and private equity-backed private companies revolutionizing the world of education technology. GSV estimates that together, these 150 companies reach roughly 3 billion people—almost half of the global population—and generate approximately $25 billion in revenue.

“It’s an honor to be recognized among such a distinguished list of companies,” says Carnegie Learning CEO Barry Malkin. “Innovation is at the heart of everything we do—from our products to our culture to our people. Not only do we embrace change, we create it. Our commitment to research, more than any other edtech company, and to producing world-class content and technology puts us in a unique position to really make a meaningful impact on education.”…Read More

Carnegie Learning Helps TX Districts Use TEA Funds with Hands-on Program

PITTSBURGH, PA – Carnegie Learning, a leader in artificial intelligence for K-12 education and formative assessment, announced a NEW, transformational program to support districts across Texas to optimize the most recent round of Texas Education Agency (TEA) funds to fast-track student success in their schools.

As an approved Strong Foundations Grant provider, Carnegie Learning will collaborate with the primary point of contact and math and/or literacy committee to meet every grant requirement.  

“We understand that teachers and districts are stretched for time and resources, and that’s where our team comes in to help bridge the gap,” said Carnegie Learning CEO Barry Malkin. “Unlike any other education company or curriculum provider, we partner with each district to create individualized plans that meet their unique needs – large or small. Because we know every student deserves that level of support.”…Read More

Carnegie Learning Middle School Math Solution Receives Perfect Scores from EdReports.org

PITTSBURGH, PA – Carnegie Learning, a leader in artificial intelligence for K-12 education and formative assessment, today announced that its blended core Middle School Math Solution received perfect scores in a new report published by EdReports.org. The High School Math Solution also received all-green scores, with just one point shy of perfect. 

EdReports.org is an independent nonprofit that evaluates instructional materials for quality and standards alignment. It is a gold-standard leader in helping teachers and administrators identify the highest-quality instructional materials. The Carnegie Learning Middle and High School Math Solutions met EdReports’ expectations in all three gateways: 

  • Focus & Coherence—Are the instructional materials focused on the right content at each grade level, and is it presented in a coherent way? 
  • Rigor & Mathematical Practices—Do the materials have the right mix of conceptual understanding, procedural skills, and applications to address the standards to their full depth? Do they help teachers build productive habits of mind in their students? 
  • Usability—Do the materials have the right support in place for teachers to use them effectively? 

The EdReports.org review process is rigorous, and many other curriculum solutions do not pass the first and second gateways and are therefore not evaluated for the third. Schools and districts can therefore choose the Carnegie Learning Math Solution with confidence, knowing it has met the highest quality standards in addition to proving effective through third-party efficacy research. (Learn more at http://www.carnegielearning.com/research.) …Read More

Why digital formative assessment is critical in today’s classrooms

The accelerated digitization of today’s classroom impacts every aspect of instruction–from attendance to summative assessment and everything in between. As educators have shifted to the hybrid environment, they have had to make significant changes in the way they approach formative assessment.

Formative assessment is a wide-encompassing term that allows teachers to monitor student progress. In person, this can mean a variety of things like thumbs up/thumbs down, class review games, exit tickets, science activities, and more. As classrooms moved to an online or digital format, the approach to formative assessment had to be considerably changed to meet the needs of a digital landscape.

Digital Formative Assessment Programs…Read More

Why we need formative assessment

Formative assessment, while not a new concept by any means, has been receiving a lot of attention recently due to discussions regarding student learning loss and the need for more digitized solutions for remote learners.

There’s been discussion in recent years about what formative assessment truly is. According to the Council of Chief State School Officers, formative assessment is the “planned, ongoing process used by all students and teachers during learning and teaching to elicit and use evidence of student learning to improve student understanding of intended disciplinary learning outcomes and support students to become self-directed learners.”

Ultimately, in the classroom, a teacher’s instructional action that is framed by a learning objective, skill, concept, or standard that invites students to demonstrate progress or mastery toward that established goal is considered formative assessment. This invites the notion that countless teacher and student interactions can be designated as an assessment tool. But what actually makes formative assessment one of the most important tools in an educator’s instructional practice?…Read More

Carnegie Learning Appoints Lenovo Executive as New Chief Marketing Officer

PITTSBURGH–( BUSINESS WIRE)–Carnegie Learning, a leader in artificial intelligence for K-12 education and formative assessment, today announced Quinn O’Brien as Chief Marketing Officer. The addition of O’Brien to its executive leadership positions Carnegie Learning to continue driving its mission of shaping the future of learning by delivering groundbreaking solutions to education’s toughest challenges.

Prior to joining Carnegie Learning, O’Brien transformed the Lenovo brand from a device leader to a global solutions leader as VP of Global Marketing at the $70B parent company of ThinkPad, Motorola, YOGA, Legion, and a range of other brands. O’Brien also brings a wealth of experience from spending 12 years as a leader at Ogilvy & Mather, the storied advertising, marketing, and public relations agency, as well as starting up Craft Worldwide, a design and production agency that today is a thriving business with 1,000+ employees in 120 markets. O’Brien has been recognized as a Top 100 Marketer Award Winner by the OnCon Icon Awards for three consecutive years.

In his new role, O’Brien will apply his extensive experience in global technology marketing to the K-12 education space, bringing a fresh perspective and leading-edge ideas to Carnegie Learning. With a proven track record in innovation and expansion on a global scale, O’Brien is poised to expand the reach and impact of Carnegie Learning’s K-12 math, literacy, world languages, computer science, and professional learning offerings on educators and students at an urgent moment in education.…Read More

3 key considerations for the future of assessments

The cancellation of summative assessments in the spring of 2020, coupled with the variability of the spring 2021 testing season, has significantly impacted the K–12 assessment landscape.

Though students continue to feel pressure around high-stakes tests, their perceived value has decreased dramatically, according to a recent study that surveyed K-12 educators and parents in the United States. In terms of measuring student success, respondents perceive standardized test scores as the least important among 14 factors, at only 29 percent.

When it comes to formative assessment or assessment for learning, however, things look different. To check students’ understanding, 76 percent of educators delivered formative assessments during remote learning. Though formative assessments have proven instrumental in addressing learning gaps related to school closures, the need for accountability testing has not gone away.…Read More