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.

Learn how to modernize your K-12 financial operations

Over the past several years, K-12 school districts experienced the limitations of legacy systems. With the recent government funding available for pandemic recovery, a window of opportunity opens for K-12 schools to modernize and bring resilience to their spend management systems.

Automating your school district’s spend management solution should be a top priority. Market uncertainty has shown that faculty and staff spending data is often dispersed and hard to track, meaning you are missing complete spend visibility. This lack of reliable, consistent data is leaving school districts vulnerable to risks.

Join an eSchool News panel of experts as they discuss understanding and managing your school expenditures with a single platform that captures employee spend, when and how it happens, and how investing in a digital spend management solution can help enable school districts to increase efficiency, transparency, compliance, and control.…Read More

District leaders outline top 3 COVID relief funding priorities

School districts continue to prioritize expanding summer learning and enrichment offerings, adding specialist staff such as mental health personnel and reading specialists, and investing in high-quality instructional materials and curriculum, according to a survey administered by AASA, The School Superintendents Association.

The School District Spending of American Rescue Plan report is part of a multi-series survey focused on how district leaders across the country are utilizing American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and, in particular, address student learning recovery.

This survey also sought information about what issues districts are experiencing in spending ARP funding and how they would change their spending decisions if they had more time to drawdown federal COVID-relief funds.…Read More

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It’s time to permanently increase education funding–ESSER spending proves it

In the last two years, an unprecedented increase in funding has flooded into schools around the country courtesy of the Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) package. While ESSER’s primary intent was to help mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on schools and students, it may also be illuminating a much bigger truth.

What if the lesson we are supposed to learn from ESSER isn’t about the power of one-time relief or struggles to spend it, but instead about the necessity of an increased, recurring investment in our schools that educate those who have been historically underserved?

The first two rounds of federal ESSER funds are posing challenges for the 6,988 school leaders who must allocate the dollars, a recent report from the Association of School Business Officials finds. The reasons aren’t as simple as one might think. These challenges are directly connected to the chronic underfunding of our schools across the country — especially those in underserved communities — which is an issue with implications far beyond ESSER funding, according to a July 2022 report from the Economic Policy Institute. …Read More

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5 ways to use ESSER funds to create cleaner environments

Funding is often schools’ biggest obstacle when it comes to enhancing the learning environment beyond the basics.

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund is providing a significant influx of resources for schools across the nation. However, an interesting problem revealed itself as schools find themselves struggling to decide how to spend the largely unexpected funds. In fact, according analysis of the federal ESSER data by the National Conference of State Legislatures, only 19.1 percent of the program’s funding has been used as of Feb. 28, 2022.

The relief package, which provided nearly $190.5 billion to the ESSER Fund through three separate stimulus bills, is incredibly helpful and impactful in addressing the impact that COVID-19 has on schools across the U.S. For many schools, which are historically underfunded and lacked resources, this money gives them the opportunity to make facility updates that have been needed for years.…Read More

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Why E-rate is critical for school technology access

Every year, schools and libraries have access to billions of dollars of funding through the FCC’s E-rate program. Unfortunately, many don’t take advantage, oftentimes because of confusion over who is eligible and what services are available. In this post I’ll break down the importance of E-rate, how it works, and the types of technologies it makes available that are crucial to education.

The importance of E-rate

For students in the 21st century, it’s almost impossible to overemphasize the importance of the internet and digital learning technologies. There is a growing dependence on these resources across the U.S., and they are often seen as critical for connecting students and teachers and preparing students for lifelong learning and jobs.…Read More

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TutorMe Partners with Columbia Public Schools, Providing Students with Tailored Instruction for Academic Advancement

LOS ANGELES (PRWEB) — TutorMe, an online tutoring solution creating access and opportunity for all students, announces a partnership with  Columbia Public Schools in Columbia, MO, supporting students during the 2022–2023 school year with learning recovery and academic advancement.

Made possible through ESSER funding and a Request for Proposal (RFP) from the district, Columbia Public Schools sought tutoring services to provide supplemental academic support to students. Columbia Public Schools chose TutorMe through a selection process among more than 20 applicants.

“As a district, our goal is to provide our students with resources that will help them grow confident as learners and further their academic careers,” said De’Vion Moore, the Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education of Columbia Public Schools. “We selected TutorMe with the intent of making personalized tutoring support sustainable and scalable.”…Read More

FEV Tutor Students Achieve Higher Growth Scores in ELA and Math on NWEA MAP Growth, STAR, and i-Ready Assessments

BOSTON, Mass. – Aug. 18, 2022 – Fifty-six percent of U.S. public schools are using high-dosage tutoring to support learning recovery, thanks to funding from the American Rescue Plan. But is it working? New research from FEV Tutor shows that live 1:1 tutoring with a subject matter expert can help students progress and close achievement gaps.

During the 2021-22 school year, students who participated in recommended dosages of tutoring with FEV Tutor, a comprehensive, research-based, virtual tutoring solution for K-12 schools, achieved higher growth relative to non-participants in English language arts (ELA) and math on the NWEA MAP Growth, Renaissance STAR 360, and i-Ready assessments.

The growth and impact analysis, which was conducted by independent researchers from JoinIn Ventures, examined fall 2021 and spring 2022 assessment results for nearly 40,000 students from more than 20 states. The data showed that students who participated in 21 or more online tutoring sessions with FEV Tutor showed greater improvements in ELA and math relative to their peers. The results also showed that the students who were the furthest behind benefitted the most.…Read More

ClassTag Awards $10,000 Community Engagement Grant

August 2, 2022 – NEW YORK: As schools and families prepare for back-to-school, ClassTag is announcing the winning district of its Community Engagement Grant, who received $10,000 in funding.

Since launching The Community Engagement Grant in June 2022, ClassTag has received 65 passionate, compelling submissions on how school districts across the country have emerged out of the pandemic to build trust and strong relationships with their community. As part of the application, leaders were asked to share the creative ways they have engaged their community and the impact this additional funding can have. Initiatives shared as part of the applications offer diverse and creative perspectives on how to tackle the most pressing issues facing school communities across the country, however the opportunities remain consistent and span across
the following five areas:

  • Equity and Accessibility
  • Social Emotional Learning and Mental Health
  • Family Education Programs
  • Partnerships with Local Organizations and Businesses
  • A Unified Communication System

After much deliberation, the ClassTag team has selected the winner – Lexington City Schools, a suburban district in North Carolina serving over three thousand students.…Read More