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.

Indian Prairie Community Unit School District 204 Uses Rise Vision for Digital Signage Across District

Rise Vision, the #1 digital signage software, is excited to announce the release of its newest case study featuring Indian Prairie Community Unit School District 204 (CUSD 204). Indian Prairie CUSD 204, a large school district in Illinois, uses Rise Vision to bolster its school communication strategy and increase student engagement. This case study highlights how Indian Prairie has successfully implemented digital signage to communicate with its student body population.

Efficient communication to reach students effectively and engage them in critical announcements, events, and activities is a challenge in any school – but it’s even more challenging in a large school district with over 34 sites. Digital signage is a tool that makes disseminating information across any sized campus simple. Brian Grinstead, the Director of Technical Support Services, was looking for a cost-effective, user-friendly, and feature-rich solution to meet their evolving needs.

Indian Prairie CUSD 204 is a large, one-to-one school district with over 26,00 students and a significant number of devices to manage. Brian needed to ensure that the digital signage solution the district implemented wouldn’t be a burden on his team. Implementing digital signage through Rise Vision was a solution that didn’t require extensive management from the technology department and could be handled by the individual schools after the initial deployment was completed.…Read More

Movers and Shakers—New Edtech District Leaders Take Position

Phil Hintz has been approved by the D219 Board of Education as the next Chief Technology Officer for the 2023-2024 school year.

Phil has led the charge for his district to develop and implement Student Data Privacy systems in the State of Illinois and recently presented at ISTELive22 on these protocols and processes. Previously, Phil was the Director of Technology for Gurnee SD 56 in Gurnee, Illinois where he had served for 14 years. Phil has also presented workshops for the Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC), LearnFest ATX (formally known as iPadpalooza) festival in Austin, Texas, and at the CUE Conference in California. 

Round Rock ISD (TX) selected Donnie Bruton, Jr. as chief technology officer this month.Bruton has over 23 years of experience supporting technology endpoint devices and infrastructure systems in state, higher education, and K-12 public school environments. He has been Round Rock ISD’s director of technology infrastructure since 2021. And previously, Bruton served in technology leader roles for Georgetown and Pflugerville Independent School Districts. Bruton is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science in chemistry with computer science and engineering coursework. …Read More

CodeHS Launches Comprehensive, Easy-to-Use Computer Science Curriculum for Elementary

Chicago, Illinois – The significance of computer science education in schools is growing exponentially as it empowers children with the essential skills to navigate and excel in the digital world. While the emphasis on computer science curriculum is often placed on middle and high schools, the need for elementary students to acquire the skills necessary for success in a technology-driven world is becoming increasingly crucial.

CodeHS, a leading platform for K-12 computer science education, has launched a curriculum for elementary schools to fit seamlessly into a K-12 computer science pathway. With ready-to-go lessons, CodeHS makes teaching computer science simple even for elementary teachers who have never taught computer science before. Lessons include engaging student-facing videos that guide instruction, discussion questions, interactive activities, and practice.

Designed to fit the needs of any elementary school, CodeHS curriculum offers two K-5 pathways: Computer Science in Context and Computer Science in Focus. The In Context Pathway includes interdisciplinary lessons built to be incorporated into other parts of the school day- including ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies instructional time. The In Focus Pathway is designed for a dedicated computer science or technology class.…Read More

3 reasons creativity is essential for the future of education

Key points:

I like to say I was raised by a combination of nonprofits and the arts. At 15 years old, I moved into Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, a nonprofit group home in Chicago, and attended an independent arts high school in Illinois, a unique model where there was a minimum requirement of three hours of art a day.

I’d leave in the late afternoon and walk to my after-school arts program, The Marwen Foundation in Chicago, where I practiced digital art making – including photography, design, or other creative tracks – until late into the evening.…Read More

The Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (ALAS) Announces Recipients of its 2022-2023 Leadership Awards

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (ALAS) announces the winners of its 2022-2023 Leadership Awards. The awards program honored 17 individuals for their extraordinary education advocacy and leadership. The recipients were announced during a special awards gala following the 19th Annual National ALAS Education Summit held recently in Puerto Rico.

The 2022-2023 honorees are:

ALAS Awards…Read More

Chicago students can take up to 5 mental health days

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.

This story was produced as part of the Medill Media Teens journalism program for Chicago Public School students at Northwestern University. The writer worked under the mentorship of Medill graduate Anandita Bhalerao.

With working 25 hours a week at her minimum wage job at an ice cream shop, juggling a stressful workload with AP and honors classes, and dealing with anxiety, sometimes Jones College Prep sophomore Meghan Cuddy just needs a break. …Read More

Cicero School District 99 Adopts Lexia LETRS Professional Learning Programs

BOSTON (June 29, 2022) – Cicero School District 99 in Illinois has adopted Lexia LETRS® (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) professional learning programs for its teachers and administrators. Offered by Lexia® Learning, a Cambium Learning® Group company, LETRS provides educators with the deep knowledge required to be literacy and language experts in the science of reading.

Developed by Dr. Louisa Moats and leaders in the field of literacy, the LETRS Suite provides practical support with tools that are available 24/7—online and in print. It also offers professional learning sessions led by national LETRS experts. These sessions provide classroom application examples of the learning and refine and extend participants’ understanding of the content.

Cicero SD 99 began rolling out LETRS in the second part of 2021. The district implemented two professional learning programs:…Read More

Catapult Learning Selected By Illinois State Board Of Education To Deliver High-Impact Tutoring For Recognized Nonpublic K-12 Schools

April 21, 2022, CHICAGO – Catapult Learning, a provider of intervention programs for students and professional development solutions for teachers in both public and nonpublic K-12 schools, today announced its selection by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to provide high impact tutoring services for recognized nonpublic schools to assist students who are low-income or were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The move by ISBE will have a profound and positive impact by providing at least 5,000 students at recognized nonpublic schools access to tutoring services, including those schools not eligible for EANS funding. The program is fully funded by ISBE through federal pandemic relief funding, and there is no charge to schools or families.

Through the partnership, K-12 nonpublic schools recognized by the Illinois Board of Education can request tutoring services for math and English language arts (ELA) which will help close the learning gap, bringing students closer to grade-level proficiency, and make up for lost learning time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.…Read More

Parallel Learning Expands Executive Team With New Esteemed Digital Health and Education Talent to Further Scale and Accelerate Growth

NEW YORK, NY (FEBRUARY 4, 2022) – Parallel Learning (Parallel), the digital health platform that provides a new way to test, diagnose, and empower students with learning and thinking differences, announced today two new key hires to its growing executive team, in addition to plans to expand its services into Illinois, Texas and Florida next month. Susan Liu joins as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Robert Stager joins as Director of Partnerships, with both executives bringing extensive knowledge to the digital health and education space. The recent hires will support Parallel’s continued growth plans, fueling its mission to support and advocate for children with learning or thinking differences.

Prior to Parallel, Liu was VP of Clinical Operations at Cerebral Inc., a fast-growing online mental health company, where she led the clinical operations and customer service function through the company’s rapid growth from pre-Series A to a multibillion valuation Series C. As an experienced start-up operator with a background in public health and a passion for building teams from the ground-up, Liu scaled the operations to serve over 200,000 patients in less than two years and grew the clinical network from less than 100 to more than 2,000 nationwide in less than one and a half years. In her role as COO at Parallel, Liu will focus on building the systems and processes for scale and growth, in go-to-market operations as well as clinical and care operations.

“I’m thrilled to join the Parallel team and to dedicate my focus to empowering young students—especially during this dire time of need as the U.S. faces a massive education crisis,” said Susan Liu, Chief Operating Officer at Parallel Learning. “As a proud immigrant and a product of the public school system myself, I am passionate about increasing access to care and opportunity for kids of all ages. I look forward to bringing my expertise to this role to help us continue to grow and achieve our goals, and I could not be more excited to be part of this dynamic team.”…Read More

Flinn Scientific’s New PAVO Platform Provides Comprehensive Instructional Solution to District-Level Science Programs

Batavia, Illinois, December 21, 2021 — To support school district science programs in delivering comprehensive content and customizable labs across science subject areas, Flinn Scientific recently launched the PAVO platform. This all-in-one solution for middle school, high school, and advanced science levels helps educators support digital and hands-on learning, facilitate inquiry-based exploration, and differentiate instruction using labs, embedded safety resources, test prep, formative and summative assessments, and multi-level reporting tools.  

“We wanted to figure out a way to bring all of the rich resources Flinn has under one umbrella to make it easy for educators to offer dynamic, hands-on learning in science classrooms. The PAVO platform brings an unparalleled depth and breadth to science instruction, while focusing on inquiry, investigation, and exploration,” said Michael Lavelle, CEO of Flinn Scientific. “In one platform, PAVO provides all of our digital resources and labs, accessible by grade or subject area, to help educators deeper engage students in hands-on and digital learning.” 

All of PAVO’s content is aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards to ensure students are practicing and mastering key concepts in the major science areas, including chemistry, biology, environmental science, physics, physical science, life science, Earth and space science, and STEM. The content includes more than 7,000 customizable lessons, labs, assessments, and safety courses and certifications, as well as 3,200-plus instructional videos, lab videos, and augmented and virtual reality simulations that bring science to life for students.…Read More