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.

Frog Street Pre-K Curriculum Linked to Improved School Readiness

DALLAS (PRWEB) — Frog Street, an early childhood education company designed around the latest science in early brain development, has announced the results of a study conducted by the  Johns Hopkins School of Education evaluating the efficacy of the Frog Street Pre-K curriculum with students in Texas. The study found that using  Frog Street Pre-K curriculum was associated with positive gains in critical early learning domains and increased kindergarten readiness. Frog Street provides a bilingual pre-K curriculum organized into five subjects, five skill-content areas and supports for social-emotional development.

“Ensuring that children are prepared for kindergarten is crucial for their future academic success,” emphasized Jessica Bobo, Head of Product at Frog Street Press and a former Texas early childhood educator and leader. “The data speaks for itself: our students are developing a love for learning and building a strong academic foundation that will serve them well for years to come.”

The study analyzed approximately 78,000 Pre-K students from 316 school districts in Texas who were instructed using Frog Street Pre-K curriculum as their primary curriculum during the 2021-2022 academic year, compared to students who used a different Pre-K curriculum. The researchers assessed the performance of both sets of students in areas like reading, writing, language, health, and mathematics domains using the CIRCLE assessment from fall 2021 to spring 2022. Key findings include:…Read More

6 ways to connect with ELL parents

There’s no secret formula for parent engagement. And when English isn’t their first language, the obstacles seem more daunting. Connecting with ELL parents can help educators better support students—and there are some strategies to help.

According to Rick Castaneda, a training specialist at Rosetta Stone, the key is to develop a multi-step approach that gives parents several different opportunities to connect with the school and their children’s teachers while also making sure that the parent, no matter their language, feels like a key part of the decision-making process.

In his edWebinar, “Involve Parents for Greater English Learner Success,” Castaneda discussed six key areas of parental involvement, based on the work of Johns Hopkins professor Joyce L. Epstein, PhD, and how each one helps build a stronger relationship.…Read More

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In the marketplace: Measuring student progress, new digital solutions, personalized learning, and more

Tech-savvy educators know they must stay on top of the myriad changes and trends in education to learn how teaching and learning can best benefit from technology’s near-constant change.

Check below for the latest marketplace news to keep you up-to-date on product developments, teaching and learning initiatives, and new trends in education.

A new web-based tool will offer far greater ease and clarity for state and district leaders seeking to set learning goals and measure progress under the sweeping Every Student Succeeds Act. The tool, called the Student Growth Simulator, was developed by Chiefs for Change, researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Education, and Tembo, an education technology firm. Read more.
Canvas by Instructure launched a new, first-of-its kind mobile app that allows parents or designated guardians to monitor their children’s education and progress at a glance. The Canvas Parent app is available to all iOS and Android users to help parents of K–12 students stay informed on their children’s assignments, grades and overall schooling. Read more.
Skyward has launched Qmlativ Education Management System, the next evolution of the company’s SIS and ERP technology. The SQL-based platform features a revolutionary user experience, preemptive support measures, and a focus on the growth and development of every user. The platform’s simplified interface and commonsense navigation are designed to ensure a successful and enjoyable experience for even the least tech-savvy users. Read more.
A new K-12 digital solution from Britannica Digital Learning, called LaunchPacks: Social Studies, is designed for classroom use and to make lesson planning more efficient. The solution helps teachers engage students with ready-to-use content that covers the entire curriculum. LaunchPacks includes more than 1,600 current, trustworthy and highly relevant content sets, from American Folk Heroes to World War II, offering a full range of articles, images, videos and primary sources presented in an engaging interface and optimized for any size device. Read more.
OnCourse Systems for Education, a provider of cloud-based technology for schools, has announced a partnership with Hopewell Valley Regional School District. Over an 18-month period, the district transitioned 400 staff members onto the new, all-encompassing platform with the aid of OnCourse Project Management and Support. After implementation, educators, administrators, and students reported numerous improvements to their daily experience. Read more.
The Houston Independent School District is installing adaptive security motion detection from NAPCO Security Technologies in all its schools. NAPCO’s adaptive motion detection equipment automatically selects the appropriate mode in order to optimize intruder catch and reduce false alarms, according to the company. HISD, the seventh largest K-12 school district in the United States, has secured a bond that would fund considerable spending on upgrading its security needs. Read more.
Education Elements, which builds and supports school systems that meet the needs of every learner, will partner with Fairbanks North Star Borough School District to design and implement personalized learning across all its elementary and secondary schools over the next three years. The district has set five strategic goals, including personalized learning, effective communication, parent and community engagement, organizational support, and technology integration. Read more.…Read More

How Johns Hopkins has become a leader in social media use for admissions

Johns Hopkins has a competitive program for social media-savvy students.

Dean Tsouvalas, editor-in-chief of StudentAdvisor.com, recently interviewed Daniel Creasy, associate director of undergraduate admissions at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Johns Hopkins was ranked No. 1 on the Top 100 Social Media Colleges rankings released in fall 2011 and is recognized as a trailblazer in social media use among colleges.

This is the latest Q&A from StudentAdvisor, which has teamed up with eCampus News to share the latest social media strategies and trends in higher education in this monthly feature.…Read More

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Supporters of eBooks say they make readers less isolated, more social

Volumes have been written about technology’s ability to connect people. But burying one’s nose in a book has always been somewhat isolating, reports the Seattle Times—so what about a device that occupies the evolving intersection between? “Strangers constantly ask about it,” Michael Hughes, a communications associate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said of his iPad, which he uses to read a mix of novels and non-fiction. “It’s almost like having a new baby.” An iPad owner for four months, Hughes said people were much more likely to approach him now than when he toted a book. With the price of e- readers coming down, sales of the flyweight devices are rising. Last month, Amazon reported that so far this year, Kindle sales had tripled over last year’s. When Amazon cut Kindle’s price in June to $189 from $259, over the next month Amazon sold 180 eBooks for every 100 hardcovers. Social mores surrounding the act of reading alone in public might be changing along with the increased popularity of eBooks. Suddenly, the lone, unapproachable reader at the corner table seems less alone. Given that some eReaders can display books while connecting online, there’s a chance the erstwhile bookworm is already plugged into a conversation somewhere, said Paul Levinson, professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University…

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