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.

Savvas Learning Company Acquires Rubicon Publishing, Canada’s Leading Digital Learning Provider for Math

PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY — March 3, 2022 — Savvas Learning Company, a leading provider of next-generation learning solutions across all K-12 grade levels and disciplines, announced today its acquisition of Rubicon Publishing, Inc., the developer of Canada’s most widely used all-digital math program.

Headquartered near Toronto, Rubicon is the provider of MathUP, an inquiry-based math program for students in grades K-8 that has become the best-selling online math product in Canada.

“With its hugely popular online math program, MathUP, Rubicon has evolved into a cutting-edge digital learning company that has transformed math education in Canada,” said Bethlam Forsa, CEO of Savvas Learning Company. “I look forward to building upon Rubicon’s successes and becoming the solutions provider of choice for educators on both sides of the border.”…Read More

Football Star Jonathan Jones Inspires Kids to Code and Get Active with Unruly Splats

This December, students are pushing their desks out of the way for the Get Active Coding Challenge during Hour of Code and Computer Science Education Week. Unruly Studios is partnering with Patriots football star and two-time Super Bowl champion Jonathan Jones to make computer science in K-8 education more approachable, fun, and physically active.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Jonathan Jones for a national competition combining coding with active play that will reach hundreds of classrooms across the country,” said Bryanne Leeming, CEO and Founder of Unruly Studios. “By teaching kids to code through games they might play at recess, we’re breaking down stereotypes around computer science education and bringing joy into the classroom when it’s needed most.”

For the Get Active Coding Challenge, students can build and play Jonathan’s “Playbook” of games including Race In Place, Relay Races, and the Cornerback Challenge. Students will create the games with Unruly Splats, programmable floor buttons that students code to light up, make sounds, and collect points when stomped on.…Read More

10 SEL activities for K-8 students

Did you know that social and emotional learning (SEL) skills can easily be taught to students in grades K-8 right alongside core academic instruction in classrooms or afterschool programs?

From reading, writing, and arithmetic, SEL can be woven into nearly any subject. In fact, SEL often makes teaching core instruction easier because when students have strong social and emotional competence, they are more engaged, motivated, and ready to learn.

It’s easy to teach SEL in your core instruction! Here are 10 activities and lesson ideas–organized by subject area and grade level–to get you started.…Read More

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Sourcewell’s Technology Division Kicks off 2021-22 School Year with Launch of SpringMath and Proliftic

ST. PAUL, MINN. (SEPTEMBER 24, 2021)—

In an effort to extend the benefits of its evidence-based solutions to more schools and districts,  Sourcewell’s technology division is revamping the brand identity for its flagship products:  SpringMath (FKA Spring Math), a K-8 math intervention solution and Proliftic (FKA edSpring), a student data integration platform. Both offerings have a new website and will retain the same functionality and support via the Sourcewell Technology Advantage, ensuring educators and students are set up for success this back-to-school season.

“Inspired by the success of our district partners, we are investing in SpringMath and Proliftic–including refreshed branding and new, product-specific websites,” said Jamie Loken, Sourcewell Technology Managing Director. “We believe in the efficacy of these evidence-based solutions–and are actively working to extend the benefits to more students and educators.”…Read More

The Council of State Science Supervisors and Flinn Scientific Collaborate to Support Safe Practices in Science Classrooms

Batavia, Illinois, June 23, 2021 — The Council of State Science Supervisors (CSSS) and Flinn Scientific, a flagship provider of science lab materials and safety and STEM solutions for the K-16 education market, collaborated to support science safety by updating three safety manuals – Elementary Science Safety K-8; Elementary STEM & Tool Safety K-8; and High School Science Safety. These resourcesare available online and as free digital downloads.

“Lab safety is of paramount importance. Whether students are making sense of phenomena or designing solutions in a classroom, laboratory, or in the community, educators need to be proactive in ensuring everyone’s safety,” said Michael Heinz, President of CSSS. “With the input and expertise of Flinn Scientific and its safety professionals, updated safety manuals offer insights that instructional leaders and educators can use to be proactive in thinking about, and planning for, safe investigations and solving design challenges.”

The manuals provide easily accessible, concise safety guidance on topics such as safe operating procedures, accident prevention, chemical waste management, and personal protective equipment.…Read More

Leading K-8 Educational Company Introduces Middle School Science Solution

BrainPOP Science helps teachers inspire the next generation of scientific thinkers
while navigating fundamental shifts in teaching and learning science, technology,
and engineering.


NEW YORK – May 12, 2021 – BrainPOP, the online educational solution that makes rigorous
learning experiences accessible and engaging for all students, today announced BrainPOP
Science – a new solution designed to help 6-8th grade science teachers navigate recent shifts in
science, engineering, and technology standards, assessments, and learning environments.
Through scaffolded investigations, embedded assessments, and actionable diagnostics,
BrainPOP Science facilitates “three-dimensional” learning and builds student mastery in science.


Recent research from Gallup and the RAND Corporation shows that BrainPOP is already one of
the most widely used digital learning tools that elementary and middle school educators turn to
for teaching students science. In the last year alone, more than 3.1 million students have
completed at least one science activity on BrainPOP’s platform.…Read More

South Carolina Department of Education Selects DreamBox Learning® to Support COVID-19 Academic Recovery

DreamBox Learning®, the K-8 digital math company that pioneered Intelligent Adaptive Learning™ technology, announced today that the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) has selected DreamBox Learning Math to support teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigate student learning loss. The SCDE will offer DreamBox Learning Math through June 2022 to 21 districts reaching more than 32,000 students in the most underserved communities in the state.

“We conducted an extensive evaluation of math solutions that could help our districts as we transition from emergency instruction towards ‘academic recovery,’ and DreamBox stood out as the only solution that is both proven to increase student achievement and able to provide actionable learning insights for our teachers,” said Dr. David Mathis, Deputy Superintendent at the SCDE. “DreamBox provides a prescriptive approach to help educators determine where students are in their learning, where they need to be, and a clear path to close that gap.”

Effective for in-person, hybrid, or remote learning and available in both English and Spanish, DreamBox uniquely personalizes the learning experience for each student through an engaging and motivating environment that adapts in real-time within and between math lessons based on how students are solving problems. DreamBox also offers educators interactive professional development courses to learn best practices for using DreamBox to teach online or in the classroom in ways that meet students exactly where they are.…Read More

Math Expert Dr. Francis (Skip) Fennell Endorses Hand2Mind’S Hands-On Standards

Today hand2mind, an award-winning educational resource company, has announced a new partnership with the former president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Francis “Skip” Fennell, an esteemed educator who has dedicated his professional life to mathematics and has greatly influenced what and how math is taught in today’s classroom. Fennell, a current professor of education at McDaniel College, has provided his endorsement of hand2mind’s Hands-On Standards product line, which helps K-8 educators and parents teach math with manipulatives to build problem-solving skills. To help kick off the partnership, hand2mind and Fennell invite educators and administrators to a free, informative webinar on Tuesday, February 16, focused on the benefits of implementing authentic tasks, representations, and a daily problem-solving routine with the goal of helping strengthen students’ understanding of math concepts.

“hand2mind’s Hands-On Standards is an amazing collection of resources that will not just supplement, but more so fully enrich mathematics teaching and learning in any classroom, with seemingly endless paths for students to be truly engaged in the mathematics they are learning,” said Skip Fennell. “The use of manipulatives and related representations to both develop and extend conceptual understandings through scaffolded lessons will increase learning opportunities and deepen student understanding, which is the ultimate end goal for us as educators.”

Hands-On Standards…Read More

Newark Public Schools Expands Use of Lexia Core5 and PowerUp to All of its Elementary Schools

Newark Public Schools (NPS) has approved expanding implementation of Lexia Learning’s Lexia® Core5® Reading (Core5) and Lexia® PowerUp Literacy® (PowerUp) throughout its K-5 and K-8 schools. This decision comes after the district’s trial subscription successfully helped teachers both within their classrooms before the pandemic and with remote learning that began in March. In all, the strong ESSA rated literacy solutions will now be serving almost 20,000 students in 41 schools. The district has also decided to support their educators through this critical time by ensuring strong, ongoing implementations of Core5 and PowerUp via yearlong Success Partnerships with Lexia.

“We were using Core5 in just six of our elementary schools prior to the pandemic,” said Dr. Mary Ann Reilly, assistant superintendent for Teaching and Learning. “When COVID-19 hit and our schools transitioned to remote learning, we were able to quickly expand Core5 to all our elementary schools. The program was flexible enough to enable us to provide continuity of instruction to students remotely, targeting literacy gaps and even accelerating learning. We’ve been impressed with the programs and how helpful Lexia has been with the transition. We’re confident that our students will continue to make gains with good teaching and Lexia.”

The district’s purchase also includes Lexia Academy, the company’s eLearning platform offering on-demand professional learning courses. The academy gives the district’s educators access to “anytime, anywhere” support that helps them develop best practices for meaningful instruction when using Lexia products. Newark educators have embraced courses on topics like Structured Literacy, remote teaching strategies, and effective reading instruction for students with dyslexia.…Read More

Carolina Biological Launches Remote Learning Add-Ons to Award Winning K-8 Science Curriculum Kits with Teacher Planning Features

Leading school science supplier Carolina Biological launched three new sets of K-8 digital resources for remote teaching this fall: Smithsonian Science for the Classroom™@HOME, Smithsonian Science and Technology Concepts™ Middle School@HOME, and Building Blocks of Science™ 3D@HOME. Carolina updated its award-winning K-8 science programs to support essential remote instruction in elementary and middle schools this fall. All programs are available now and were designed to provide high-quality, Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) science instruction. Carolina enhanced Smithsonian curriculum and Building Blocks of Science 3D products with simplified digital teacher-planning features for robust remote science instruction, as well as a variety of live and online on-demand professional development called Get Ready! Professional Learning. Whether educators are teaching students from their classrooms or at home, they can maintain a high-quality science program, engage students online in three-dimensional learning, and continue to support English language arts and math.

Teachers can access these new digital components and share digital resources in English and Spanish with students online from home or anywhere they have Internet access. The new add-ons for remote learning cover all Smithsonian curriculum and Building Blocks of Science™ 3D programs, to complement the classroom teacher’s instruction. These new features are free and live in their accounts on Carolina Science Online®, the online portal where teachers can access digital components of all programs for schools that already own Smithsonian Science for the Classroom, Smithsonian Science Technology Concepts Middle School (STCMS) or Building Blocks of Science 3D. The new digital @HOME and Get Ready! professional development features are included automatically for new customers at no additional charge. The programs include access to a wealth of digital resources, including instructional videos, demonstrations and simulations.

Carolina created a lesson plan for every lesson in the @HOME programs, which includes a one-page summary with five steps to help teachers use it for a remote learning environment, as many will be doing when school begins this fall. Each summary includes a list of the included digital resources they need to share with students for the lesson. Each of the steps can be done in just five or 10 minutes. If teachers are not able to have live class time or video conferences, they can also create their own content through @HOME by recording videos of themselves talking to introduce and personalize the lessons. Being able to see their own teachers will help students to feel better connected with them.…Read More