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.

How an AI tutor more than tripled my school’s literacy rates during the pandemic

In pandemic and post-pandemic era education, teachers, school leaders, and parents have been concerned with getting kids back on grade level and closing the achievement gap. In fact, according to the most recent Educator Confidence Report from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 62 percent of teachers say students falling behind is a top concern this school year.

Across the nation, schools and districts have utilized additional funding to hire tutors who can provide additional support to students before, during, and even after school in efforts to help kids learn skills that they need to become proficient. 

At Brewbaker Primary School (BPS) in Montgomery, AL, we decided to leverage an AI tutor–Amira by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt–to help our students improve their reading achievement. Amira is a 1:1 virtual reading tutor that uses state of the art AI and voice recognition software. Our Amira implementation efforts have yielded astounding and significant learning outcomes.…Read More

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

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.…Read More

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.…Read More

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.…Read More

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.…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.”…Read More