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.

New initiative targets 10,000 underserved students for in-demand cloud computing careers

The National Education Equity Lab (Ed Equity Lab) has launched a new initiative with Amazon Web Services (AWS) designed to prepare more than 10,000 students in underserved high schools across the nation for careers in cloud computing by 2025.

As part of Amazon’s ongoing commitment to help 29 million people worldwide increase their technical skills by 2025, the new collaboration, launching this fall, will enable students in low-income school districts to access AWS cloud computing educational content and resources offered by Arizona State University (ASU) at no cost to students.

“Students from underserved school districts and communities face challenges that prevent them from pursuing and succeeding in some of the country’s fastest-growing technical careers,” said Wil Zemp, Director of Education to Workforce at AWS. “It will take intentional, proactive effort by employers, education leaders, and the tech industry to remove those barriers and build more equitable pathways to economic mobility.”…Read More

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Why districts need to think creatively–inside the box

Scott Bailey, Superintendent for Desert Sands Unified School District (CA), didn’t let the pandemic get in the way of his team’s plans. Instead, he used the disruptions as an opportunity to accelerate.

In this episode of Getting There: Innovations in Education, Scott breaks down his work to innovate within the confines of a public institution. The district primarily serves five communities in the central Coachella Valley: Bermuda Dunes, Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta, and Palm Desert. Students from other areas of the desert also take advantage of the quality education provided by our schools.

More than 27,000 students attend 34 schools in the district including traditional high schools, alternative high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, and 16 preschools, including a federally funded Head Start program. Two elementary schools currently offer full dual immersion in English/Spanish to kindergarteners and first graders.…Read More

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Making a post-pandemic promise

Vicksburg Warren School District (VWSD) Superintendent Chad Shealy is irrepressible. Whether you are talking about COVID response, CTE strategies, or curriculum content, Chad not only makes you feel happy you asked, but even happier with his answers.

VWSD serves all of Warren County, Mississippi, and has an enrollment of approximately 7,200 students in grades Pre-K through 12. VWSD consists of three high schools (grades 9-12), three middle schools (grades 7-8), 10 elementary schools, and an alternative program.

In this conversation with eSchool News, he provides insights for any district administrator looking to thrive next fall.…Read More

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EVERFI Tackles Inequality in Nation’s Healthcare System with Introduction of First Healthcare Literacy Course for Students

New program addresses barriers that lead to social disparities; students learn to make important health and financial decisions 

EVERFI Inc., the leading Impact-as-a-Service TM education innovator, announced the development of the nation’s first healthcare literacy course designed for high school students. This new digital program will empower students across the country with the knowledge to navigate a complex healthcare system, advocate for medical care, and make good financial decisions to manage their healthcare needs.  The program will be available to all high schools nationwide at no cost during the fall 2021 academic term. EVERFI will work with its strategic partners to focus on reaching students in underserved, high-risk communities in an effort to drive ecosystems of change.

Although a lack of healthcare literacy disproportionately affects lower socioeconomic and minority groups, it is a widespread concern across the country regardless of age, education level, income, or race. More than 88 percent of adults in the U.S. have a low level of health literacy, lacking the skills necessary to fully manage their healthcare and prevent disease and nearly 46 million Americans say they would struggle to afford quality healthcare. Other studies suggest adolescents have a low level of healthcare literacy and struggle with reading health-related words and describing symptoms, particularly as they begin to take ownership of their health and medical needs.  

“Systemic inequality in our healthcare system has taken a heavy toll on disadvantaged communities,” said Tom Davidson, CEO and founder of EVERFI. “This is not just a health problem. This is a financial problem. We can no longer sit back and hope that individuals learn how to effectively use our healthcare system. The negative impact on individuals and their families can be devastating financially and may put someone’s health – or life – at risk. This critical knowledge needs to exist in every high school in America.”…Read More

Aperture Education Acquires Ascend to Expand its Social and Emotional Learning Offering for High Schools

Aperture’s research-backed DESSA assessment integrates with Ascend’s goal-setting software to create a powerful, engaging new SEL tool for high school students

Charlotte N.C. (May 4, 2021) — Aperture Education, the leading provider of researched-backed social and emotional learning (SEL) assessments for K-12 schools, has acquired Charlotte-based Ascend, creator of goal-based student engagement software. The acquisition allows Aperture to expand its SEL offerings for high school by providing districts and out-of-school-time programs with a mobile-friendly software platform to engage students in their own social and emotional learning. The new platform provides students with access to Aperture’s DESSA-Student Self-report, which students use to assess their own SEL skills, as well as access to real-time results and goal-based SEL strategies. The acquisition also marks a period of significant growth for Aperture which now serves nearly 1 million students and 42,000 educators in nearly 500 school districts.

“Social and emotional learning is a fast-growing segment of the education industry, and the pandemic has created even more urgency around the need for reliable, data-driven SEL programs that engage students, especially in high school. Anyone who has or teaches a high school student knows there are unique challenges in helping students improve their SEL skills – from block scheduling to a lack of dedicated time for teachers and students to focus on SEL, as well as a lack of time to train teachers how to incorporate SEL strategies into their daily instruction,” said Jessica Adamson, CEO of Aperture Education. “Ascend’s gamified, goal-setting platform provides the student-engagement piece to help schools get the data they need, and makes it easier to integrate SEL into the school day. Now, with Ascend, we are able to provide an even more well-rounded SEL assessment solution to support students and teachers at the high school level.”…Read More

PTC Wizard Integrates with Zoom

Only Parent-Teacher Conference Scheduler with Zoom Video Conferencing

Boca Raton, FL―April 16, 2021―PTC Wizard, developer of the PTC wizard platform, an online parent-teacher conference scheduler, announces full integration with Zoom video conferencing.

Now, it is possible for faculty at middle schools, junior highs, and high schools to enjoy the user experience of personalization and parental engagement. Schools offer benefits of face-to-face communication and the freedom to schedule their parent-teacher conferences without investing valuable time to organize individual Zoom meeting links for every meeting.…Read More

Austin Independent School District Selects IXL to Support Classroom Instruction and Distance Learning

 IXL Learning, the K-12 personalized learning platform used by 11 million students, today announced a three-year agreement with Austin Independent School District to bring its adaptive software to approximately 70,000 students. The deal provides 83 elementary schools and 17 high schools with access to IXL’s award-winning program to supplement instruction in math and English language arts.

Austin ISD is the fifth-largest school district in Texas and serves a diverse student body. The district turned to IXL because of its ability to align perfectly to Austin ISD’s textbooks and curriculum, plus IXL’s broad range of skills that individualize instruction and empower every student. Austin ISD will also take advantage of IXL’s at-home learning capabilities, which give students the flexibility to learn and educators the tools to instruct from a distance.

“By integrating IXL districtwide, Austin ISD opens the door to a new level of personalized learning during a unique moment in education,” said Paul Mishkin, CEO of IXL Learning. “We look forward to working closely with the district and its teachers to assist them in delivering the highest quality education—whether it happens at home, in a classroom setting or a combination of the two.”…Read More

High School Students Dive into Media Production

For the last few decades, U.S. school curriculum has centered on college preparation, but in recent years, parents, teachers and administrators have begun advocating for the inclusion of more professional skills-based training. Their vision is quickly becoming reality as more high schools invest in the technology and instructional staff to support more career-minded education, ranging from 3D animation to masonry, robotics and more. According to Texas-based AV Systems Integrator Digital Resources, one such field that’s drawn interest from the education community is news production and live event AV.

Year on year, the company continues to see new clients requesting sophisticated on-campus studio builds that incorporate real-world media production equipment from companies like AJA Video Systems. Schools then harness the facility and equipment to train students on how to deliver daily news casts from start to finish, with students serving as the production crew, news anchor team, director/technical director and floor director. In addition to learning the tools and roles of the trade, they’re taught how to write story scripts; achieve the right voice quality, diction and timing; performance and pacing techniques; and more.

Prosper Rock Hill High School in Frisco, TX is one of the many high schools embracing this methodology, and with help from Digital Resources, recently built a cutting-edge TV studio that its students use to produce and broadcast a live daily news show campus-wide. Similarly, Northwest Independent School District (ISD) in Fort Worth, TX, is using its Creative Media Production Academy, built by Digital Resources, to train students in 3D animation, live event production, broadcast, and more. Some students from the program have gained such valuable experience that they’ve gone on to land positions assisting proAV management for collegiate athletics and professional sports productions post-graduation. With educational outfits like Prosper Rock and Northwest ISD continuing to demonstrate the value that early media production training can provide, Digital Resources expects more districts and campuses to follow in their footsteps.…Read More

LaunchCode Pilot Program Trains St. Louis Teachers in Job-Focused Coding Curriculum

This week, workforce development nonprofit LaunchCode , announced their new LCHS Pilot Program has successfully deployed in 6 different St. Louis area schools. The program encompasses the creation, deployment and evaluation of a new computer science curriculum for Missouri high school juniors and seniors based on the new curriculum/training standards set forth through Missouri House Bill 3 (HB3).

LCHS Pilot Program is backed by a gift of over $200,000 from Bayer Fund, a philanthropic arm of Bayer, with additional support from AT&T.

As of now, 6 teachers from 6 St. Louis area high schools – Vashon, Gateway STEM, Confluence Academy, KIPP, Affton and Rosati-Kain – are participating in the pilot. Over the summer, the teachers participated in training conducted by LaunchCode’s staff in the curriculum, which includes tech skills that mirror what is needed by area companies. At the start of the school year, those teachers began delivering LaunchCode’s curriculum in their 11th and 12th grade classrooms.…Read More

How can high schools better prepare students for college and career success?

Today, many parents in the United States are worried — worried about their children’s physical health if schools open, worried about their mental health in case they don’t, and worried about the quality of their education in either case. While the worry about health is driven by COVID-19, the concern about how well schools are preparing children to succeed predates the pandemic.

One of the main roles high school plays, aside from providing a general understanding of core subjects, is to create a thirst for learning to accompany young people into their early adulthood and beyond. For many, this means continuing on to higher education. However, the cost of attending college has increased eight times faster than average salaries, making many question whether pursuing a college degree is worth it.

Related content: Inspiring students through college and career–and beyond…Read More

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