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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.

STEMscopes Math Receives Top Rating from Learning List for Alignment to Common Core State Standards for Grades K-5

HOUSTON – July 14, 2021 – STEMscopes Math from Accelerate Learning has received the highest rating from Learning List for alignment to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Mathematical Practices for grades K-5. Published this month, Learning List’s new, independent review of STEMscopes Math includes a standard-by-standard review of the alignment of material for grades K-2, a review of the product’s instructional quality, and a review of its technology compatibility. In March of 2021, Learning List completed and published its review of STEMscopes Math for grades 3-5.

STEMscopes Math is a core mathematics program for grades K-5. It combines digital, print, and kit components to provide teachers with everything they need to create meaningful math learning experiences for students. The curriculum is available in English and Spanish, and it can be used in the classroom, distance learning, and hybrid learning settings.

STEMscopes Math incorporates the 5E plus Intervention and Acceleration lesson model, the Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA) approach, intentional discourse, and real-world exploration to provide a fresh approach to math instruction. From hands-on, inquiry-based math investigations to career connections to current events stories, it bridges the gap between the classroom and real world, and brings meaning and context to the math concepts and skills students are learning.…Read More

How this Texas district prioritizes SEL

The Covid-19 pandemic may be on everyone’s minds right now, but school districts grappled with another pandemic before the virus changed our world. School violence incidents such as the Parkland School shooting were increasing, and students’ physical and mental well-being were at critical levels.

New Caney Independent School District, northeast of Houston, Texas, understood that social emotional learning (SEL) and the missed opportunities to identify students with deficits played out in school–specifically in school violence.

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) states that SEL programs “provide a foundation for better adjustment and academic performance as reflected in more positive social behaviors and peer relationships, fewer conduct problems, less emotional distress, and improved grades and test scores.”…Read More

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How Our High-Poverty School Reduced Suspensions By 97%

Student behavior can have a positive or negative impact on academic achievement. Even just one student who is misbehaving can affect how much and how well an entire class is learning.

When we arrived at Betty Best Elementary in Houston in the summer of 2014 and dug into the school’s data, we saw there were 627 office referrals during the previous year. The problem was that there was no information behind that number. There were no reasons listed for the referrals. There were no breakdowns of the data by students, demographics, grade levels, departments, or teachers.

We set out to create an environment that would yield better social, emotional, and academic outcomes for students. From 2014 to 2018, we reduced the number of office referrals by 37 percent, in-school suspension days by 52 percent, and out-of-school suspension days by 97 percent. During this time, students’ passing rate on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) increased by 17 percentage points as well.…Read More

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Early coding can greatly benefit students–here’s how one school does it

Coding and computer programming are slowly becoming part of the core curriculum in schools and districts across the U.S.–and some educators say the earlier students start coding, the better.

Research says students are more likely to maintain their interest in coding if they’re exposed to it at an early age, and now, some schools are starting in elementary school.

At The Village School in Houston, TX, instructional technology specialist Ruth O’Brien and middle school teacher Marc Abrate are helping students develop skills that help not only in coding, but in areas such as problem solving, critical thinking, and collaboration.…Read More

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Volunteer pays for hot lunch for kids who can’t afford it

A volunteer at a Houston-area elementary school who noticed some students were getting a smaller lunch of cold cheese sandwiches is digging into his own pocket to cover delinquent meal accounts so every child can get the same full lunch tray, the Associated Press reports. Kenny Thompson is a volunteer tutor and mentor at Valley Oaks Elementary in Houston. He says he asked about the lunch differences after hearing about some Utah students who lost meals because of non-payment…

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Houston-area school district ends $16M iPad plan

A Houston-area school district has abandoned a $16 million initiative to incorporate thousands of iPads into classroom curriculums after a consultant found widespread problems, the Associated Press reports. A review of the program, called iAchieve, found it had unrealistic goals when unveiled last year in the Fort Bend school district southwest of Houston. The Houston Chronicle reports use of the iPads was limited, managers had inadequate skills and a vendor hired to develop the learning platform was a startup with no curriculum experience. Administrators had hoped to improve science scores by providing an interactive curriculum. The initiative was eventually expanded to 14 schools…

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