INDIANAPOLIS — Certell, the creator behind the Poptential™ family of free social studies course packages, announced a significant update to its digital curriculum and platform designed to help students better understand the principles that have shaped American history while giving teachers tools to better manage their classroom and improve learning.
Poptential course packages have been updated to incorporate “American Principles” designed to foster a greater understanding of American civic life and sharpen critical thinking skills among students. Additionally, Certell introduced a powerful new dashboard for teachers called Engauge™, which helps instructors understand student engagement with Poptential e-books in real time.
The integration of American Principles into Poptential social studies courses is a significant milestone. These principles are fundamental ideas that have shaped U.S. history, culture, and identity, serving as the bedrock of American civic life. The goal is to ensure that students not only grasp these principles but also understand why they were deemed essential by the nation’s founders.…Read More
FALL RIVER – Fall River Public Schools announced an innovative new partnership with Ignite Reading to deliver virtual, one-to-one literacy tutoring for 300 first grade students in six schools this fall. Nationally, Ignite Reading’s students have recorded an average of over two weeks of reading progress per week, with no achievement gap for students of color, students with IEPs, multilingual learners, or students receiving free or reduced-price lunches.
Ignite Reading officials joined Fall River leaders and students at Mary L. Fonseca Elementary today to showcase the nationally recognized program. The demonstration was followed by a Q&A session. Ignite Reading is now serving students in 60 schools across the commonwealth.
“We’re thrilled to announce a new innovative collaboration with Ignite Reading. Given how participating students have bolstered their foundational reading skills in Massachusetts and nationally with Ignite Reading, we are optimistic that this program will supercharge literacy progress in Fall River,” said Stephanie Kennedy, Director of English Language Arts K-12 of Fall River Public Schools.…Read More
WASHINGTON – Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona today appointed Baldwin Union Free School District Superintendent Shari Camhi to serve on the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the country’s only ongoing, nationally representative assessment of student achievement.
The Governing Board is a nonpartisan body established by Congress in 1988 to oversee and set policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as The Nation’s Report Card. NAEP provides objective information on student performance in various subjects and reports on student achievement across the nation, in states, and in select large urban districts.
The 26-member Governing Board is responsible for deciding which subjects NAEP assesses, determining assessment content, setting achievement levels that describe student performance, and pursuing new ways to make NAEP results useful and meaningful to the public. …Read More
SYDNEY –Canva, the world’s only all-in-one visual communication platform, today announced the launch of a suite of K-12 education products as part of its Canva for Education platform, making it the first company to introduce AI-powered educational tools at scale.
The new suite of offerings – which includes a range of AI tools, interactive lessons, and curriculum-supporting content – takes Canva from a classroom design tool to an end-to-end education platform capable of producing and teaching complete lessons with ease. The launch coincides with the company surpassing more than 50 million education users worldwide, a figure that has more than doubled in the last 12 months.
“Today marks the most significant leap forward in our journey with education to date. These new products evolve Canva from a classroom design tool to a comprehensive learning platform for students and educators,” said Cameron Adams, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Canva. “We’re incredibly excited to see how these tools help millions of teachers to supercharge their creativity, save time, and engage their students by embracing the best of what this new technology has to offer.”
Introducing Classroom Magic: A suite of groundbreaking AI learning tools The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence unlocks a myriad of opportunities for teachers and students to supercharge their creativity, save time on mundane work, and unlock new ways of thinking in an increasingly digital world. However, Canva’s AI study revealed that most teachers (93%) don’t know where to start with these tools. That’s why today, Canva is introducing Classroom Magic – a suite of new artificial intelligence tools designed for the classroom with privacy, trust, and safety at the forefront.
These new tools empower teachers to effortlessly manage lesson planning, content editing, document reformatting, image and text editing, multilingual support, and accessibility. For students, the tools unlock new ways of starting first drafts, testing ideas, reformatting content, editing images, and bringing creativity to life in a visual world. Teachers now have free access to the full suite of Canva’s Magic Studio products, with a subset now available for students at the discretion of their school district. The new products include:…Read More
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — October historically has been a month of notable volatility in the stock market, with historic crashes like the 1929 Great Depression and Black Monday in 1987. These events have given rise to a sense of “Octoberphobia” among some investors. Lessons on these events and others are included in Common Sense Economics from Poptential™, a comprehensive and free high school digital curriculum. Click to tweet.
“It’s never too early for teachers to engage students in discussions about the history of the stock market, its impact on economic growth or decline, and how it can potentially empower students to invest in their own futures,” said Julie Smitherman, a former social studies teacher and director of content at Certell, Inc., the nonprofit behind Poptential.
Poptential course packages boost student engagement by using a variety of pop culture media to illustrate concepts, including those taken from sitcoms, movies, animations, cartoons, late-night shows, and other sources. Lessons on the history of the stock market and how to invest in stocks are covered in the new 2023 Poptential Common Sense Economics e-book, including:…Read More
Waltham, MA–KinderLab Robotics, a leader in educational STEAM robotics for grades pre-K–5, has launched Thinking with KIBO: Introducing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Early Grades, a free curriculum designed to help students understand how AI tools work and think critically about how these tools can improve lives in their communities.
Designed for students in grades 1–3, each of the lessons allow students to explore fundamental ideas about AI through activities with the hands-on and screen-free KIBO robot. Thinking with KIBO engages with computer science concepts in K–5, alongside evolving content standards in artificial intelligence. The curriculum is ideal for a 5–6 week unit in computer science or technology/media classes, as well as afterschool programs, enrichment centers, libraries, makerspaces, and more.
“We can make advanced and abstract ideas like AI accessible to young kids when we stick with what works in early childhood: hands-on experience with physical manipulatives and playful opportunities for self-directed knowledge construction,” said Jason Innes, director of curriculum, training, and product management at KinderLab Robotics. “KIBO provides a research-proven method to explore computer science, engineering, and now AI concepts in early childhood STEM education.” …Read More
Fairfield City Schools is a suburban district with approximately 10,000 students. About 40 percent of our students qualify for free and reduced lunch, and we have large populations of Spanish- and Nepali-speaking students.
With so many students coming from a range of backgrounds, school district communications can be challenging for us. To complicate matters further, the communication system that we previously used made it appear as if our messages had been sent when they had not. It caused an onslaught of complaints from families that took me and other staff away from doing our jobs. Here’s how we make sure that we are able to deliver the correct messages to the people who need to hear them while regaining time to focus on other tasks.…Read More
NEW YORK — To help educators and school media specialists promote community-building and creativity as students come back to school, StickTogether Products is launching its Back-to-School Pixel Portrait Project. This free activity allows students to create self-portraits using StickTogether’s free Pixel Art Platform and then display them in their classrooms, around their school, or at home.
“The Back-to-School Pixel Portrait Project provides a great, tech-enabled way for students of any age to showcase their individuality and uniqueness,” said Sylvia Stein, president of StickTogether Products. “Whether using it as a fun way for students to introduce themselves to their class or as a lead-in to a new lesson or unit, this activity will get students engaged and thinking creatively to kick off the school year. Plus, showcasing all the portraits together makes for a stunning display in any classroom or school hallway.”
To complete their portraits, students simply access the StickTogether Pixel Art Platform, create their portrait using their choice of 17 different colors on a 320-box grid, and then save their creation directly to their teacher’s or librarian’s dashboard. From there, the artwork can be printed or shared electronically. In addition to the artwork, a coded worksheet is also saved so students can ‘sticker’ their portraits. Educators can purchase Pixel Art Class Packs which include a color key and matching colored stickers.…Read More
Charlotte, NC — Arkansas’ LISA Academy public charter school district today announced the renewal of its partnership with worldwide edtech leader Discovery Education. Thanks to this continued collaboration, students across the LISA Academy district will continue using Discovery Education’s engaging digital and print services to explore their curiosity about all subjects. Discovery Education is the global edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports instruction wherever it takes place.
Little Scholars of Arkansas (LISA) Academy is a tuition-free public charter school with a comprehensive STEM-focused college preparatory program. Established in 2004, all 11 schools across the state are accredited by the Arkansas Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The district serves over 4,300 students in its mission to provide an academically rigorous college preparatory program that prepares students to succeed in education and in the workplace of their choice.
LISA Academy’s administration selected Discovery Education’s services because of their ease of use and proven record of quickly engaging students in K-12 subjects. Following their successful debut in LISA Academy classrooms, the charter district renewed the following Discovery Education services for the 2023-2024 school year: …Read More
This is part two in a two-part series. Part one focused on four major challenges facing the teaching profession. Sign up for Chalkbeat’s free weekly newsletter to get these stories and more delivered straight to your inbox.
America’s schools face a number of warning signs about the teaching profession: higher turnover, lower morale, declining interest in the profession among college students, persistent shortages in certain subjects. These problems could have big consequences for students.…Read More
