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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.

6 ways to embrace the messiness of math education

Math is not easy to teach or learn. So, teachers use a variety of strategies to boost their students’ numeracy skills as they progress through math education.

But some of those approaches could be unproductive, contended Dr. Juli Dixon, Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of Central Florida, in a recent edWebinar sponsored by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Mathematics. She described standard practices that can derail rather than support mathematical reasoning, and offered alternative methods that would benefit students far more.

Embracing the messiness of math education…Read More

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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt seeks to reassure schools amid bankruptcy filing

HMH insists its restructuring plan will strengthen the company financially.

Education publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) is seeking to reassure schools that it’s business as usual after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy May 28 to wipe out $3.1 billion in debt.

HMH, which publishes software and textbooks used by some 57 million students throughout all 50 U.S. states and 120 countries, said it has reached an agreement with more than 70 percent of its lenders and bondholders on the terms of a financial restructuring plan to convert the company’s outstanding debt into equity. More than 20 HMH affiliates, including Broderbund LLC and Classroom Connect Inc., also entered bankruptcy.

HMH said its plan would eliminate the company’s debt and reduce current annual cash interest costs by approximately $250 million, providing the company with “greater liquidity and financial flexibility as it pursues growth opportunities.”…Read More

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How to engage parents online more effectively

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has teamed up with North Carolina’s Guilford County Schools to make its digital content and interactive learning tools accessible at home as well as at school.

Parenting is the toughest and most important role most adults will ever have. Yet, far too many feel ill equipped to handle the job. Others are simply too busy making ends meet, or so overwhelmed by life that parenting simply takes a back seat to more pressing concerns.

As someone raised in a “survival of the fittest” family, with few rules, multiple crises, and modest expectations, I can relate to other parents who feel inept when confronted by the litany of things educators expect parents to know and do.

It’s as if teachers and other suspiciously together parents have a secret codebook that tells them how to handle every situation and explains educational mysteries. Surely all parents are not born knowing why it’s important to read to infants, even though they are clearly not interested in books—or that teenagers who seem to hate your very presence really covet more time with caring, competent adults.…Read More

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Georgia’s largest district launches all-digital learning platform

Gwinnett County hopes to make learning "more real and relevant to a student population that has never known a world without technology," said the district.

Georgia’s Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) has taken a huge step forward in its move to an all-digital education for its students: The district has partnered with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) to implement a single sign-on platform for delivering curriculum, assessment, analytics, professional development, parent information, and more.

The platform, called Pinpoint, is an “integrated education suite” that can be tailored to meet a school or district’s unique needs and goals. GCPS officials say it will allow the district to go textbook-free, saving money and allowing for more personalized student learning.

HMH says that while other providers offer “discrete tools” for assessment, analytics, or tracking and reporting on student information, Pinpoint is a “truly cohesive, integrated solution designed from the ground up to connect all critical components of our education ecosystem.”…Read More

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New Jersey district plans iPad-only algebra course

The HMH Fuse app provides students with step-by-step animated instruction and access to over 400 video tutorials.

New Jersey’s Edison Township School District will be the first in the state to implement an entirely iPad-based Algebra 1 curriculum.

The program will pilot the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) Fuse: Algebra 1 application with 60 students this fall, said Richard O’Malley, Edison Township School District’s superintendent.

O’Malley has only been the district’s superintendent for about four months, but he said the addition of iPads in the classroom helps him get closer to his personal targets.…Read More

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Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Global Education Challenge to award $250,000 for ideas to fix schools

Everyone has an opinion about what’s wrong with the education system, reports the Huffington Post. Now, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is calling on you to provide the solutions, reports the Huffington Post. From now until July 15, 2011, HMH is asking people to submit ideas that will have a positive impact on schools…

Click here for the full story

…Read More

Publishing giant makes $400M commitment to ed tech

HMH says it's putting out a call to action to the industry to speed up digital learning in the classroom.
HMH says it's putting out a call to action to speed up digital learning in the classroom.

Educational publishing giant Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) is making a $400 million investment to back up the company’s increasing emphasis on putting more technology into classrooms. The reason, HMH says, is because it no longer accepts the status quo in public education.

“We are living in challenging times—but the challenge of fixing public education is one challenge we simply have to meet,” said company CEO Barry O’Callaghan in an interview with eSchool News. “We need to bear down on what works in the classroom and provide schools and teachers with the tools and resources they need to be effective. Then we need to assess progress, measure results, and do what works best for each child.”

The investment, announced Sept. 13, includes $100 million in incubator money for education technology that supports student achievement. Through this new Innovation Fund, HMH will provide capital and product expertise to budding educational entrepreneurs.…Read More

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