Discovery Education Continues Supporting Educators During the COVID-19 Pandemic with Hundreds of No Cost Daily Activitie

SILVER SPRING, MD (Friday, October 8, 2021)—In an effort to continue its support of educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, Discovery Education—the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place—today announced it is making approximately 500 daily classroom activities available to teachers nationwide at no cost throughout the school year. Available until June of 2022, these free activities are designed to be quickly integrated into instruction no matter where it is taking place.  

Providing inspiration and serving as a launch pad for teacher planning, these free resources are available in the K-2, 3-5, and 6-8 grade bands and serve teachers what they are looking for when they need it most. All activities will be released on a monthly basis, are organized to support weekly instructional goals, and were created based on the most searched terms during each month of the school year.  These engaging daily activities include Daily Fix-Its, Background Builders, Writing Prompts, and more to address specific learning needs. The monthly release of educator-informed activities provide fun, engaging, standards-aligned instructional supports that connect teachers across the country in a shared experience of learning.  To access Discovery Education’s no-cost digital activities and for more information visit the  Daily Activities website

“The opening of the 2021-2022 school year was supposed to be different. This year, parents, teachers, and students were all looking forward to returning to classrooms that looked more like those from the pre-COVID-19 era,” said Scott Kinney, Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Education. “However, the rise of the Delta Variant and various other factors have created a high-level of uncertainty among education stakeholders. Across the country, there remains a lot of questions about how educators will navigate these complicated times, and by making these student activities available, we hope to ease some of the burden educators have been carrying so heroically since March of 2020.” …Read More

4 tips to boost classroom engagement and productivity

The past 18 months tested everyone, and few were more tested than teachers. Many educators adjusted to entirely new teaching requirements during the pandemic, while districts rushed to supply tools and technologies to address the need for remote and hybrid learning environments. Now, as we are making our way into a new school year, still more unknowns await. Educators are tasked with the challenge of building a sense of belonging while boosting learning gains, no matter where their classroom turns out to be.

One advantage educators have in 2021 is that the tools purchased to address teaching during COVID-19 remain on-hand and relevant for the upcoming school year. From laptops and tablets to headsets and digital styluses, new tech options open up possibilities that allow all students, regardless of location, age or learning style, to thrive.

As educators, it’s important we harness the power of these essential tools to boost classroom engagement and productivity. Even simple adjustments can yield a big impact on a child’s learning experience and help students focus on their work, encourage collaboration, and ensure engaging educational experiences are always within reach.…Read More

5 ways to create effective and equitable instructional resources

In 2017, 52 percent of all students enrolled in public schools were racially or ethnically diverse. By 2029, this number is projected to be 57 percent. However, in 2012, only 17 percent of the teachers in the US workforce were racially or ethnically diverse.

The question is, how can educators make sure that teaching and learning is effective and equitable for all learners, regardless of their individual backgrounds? And can instructional resources truly be designed for equity?

While the answer to both questions is “yes,” it involves fundamentally rethinking how we shape curriculum, and the problem is that there’s no single checklist or “one-size-fits-all” approach that will work for every district, school, or classroom.…Read More

4 tips to make virtual learning fun for students

While COVID-19 vaccines are now widely available, the Delta variant of the virus is raging across the country and forcing schools to navigate continued risk. Because of this, the virtual learning experience has lasted.

Educators, fatigued by tech challenges, student disengagement, reduced virtual attendance, and lower test scores, are worried. That said, virtual learning will continue for the foreseeable future because, still, no one knows what that future looks like.

Educators will have to focus on the advantages of the virtual classroom system, ways to improve virtual learning as a whole, and the quality of online education. By learning to engage virtual students in digital classrooms, educators will be able to build relationships with and teach students well–no matter what the world looks like as the rest of 2021 rolls on.…Read More

National Report Reveals Educators Are Concerned About Student Preparedness This Year

BOSTON (October 1, 2021) – Lexia® Learning, a Cambium Learning® Group company, has released its “Educator Perceptions of Teaching and Learning in Fall 2021,” a research brief exploring educators’ expectations for the 2021-2022 academic year.

The report shares findings from a survey of more than 1,000 educators across 48 states as well as from two focus groups examining educators’ beliefs about readiness for the 2021-22 academic year. Lexia researchers analyzed the survey data to discover whether educators believed students would be ready for grade-level instruction and whether educators themselves felt prepared for the tasks ahead of them. The focus groups also answered questions about student and teacher readiness.

Now that the school year is underway, the key findings are that educators are quite concerned about students’ preparedness to work on grade level in the 2021-22 academic year. However, educators are extremely optimistic about their own readiness to support students in the fall semester.…Read More

APM Studios Inks Partnership With Listenwise To Bring Award-Winning Science Podcast Brains On! Into Classrooms

ST. PAUL, Minn., September 30, 2021APM Studios, the podcast production division of American Public Media (APM), today announced that it has partnered with listening comprehension platform Listenwise to bring Brains On!, APM Studios’ award-winning science podcast for kids, into classrooms nationwide as a learning resource for grades 2-5.

Since its launch in 2012, the mission of Brains On! has been to encourage kids’ natural curiosity using science and history, with host Molly Bloom and a rotation of young co-hosts asking and answering questions about the world that surrounds us. Through the partnership with Listenwise, educators are able to access Brains On! audio segments, accompanied by transcripts and other teaching resources.

“I couldn’t imagine a better home for Brains On! than a platform that advances equitable learning and teaches kids to be better listeners,” said Alex Schaffert, Chief Operating Officer of APM Studios. “Our organizations share the same educational mission. It was a natural fit to partner with Listenwise and bring our stories to life for teachers and students.”…Read More

Aperture Education Hires Stacey Preator as its New Vice President of Customer Experience

Charlotte N.C. (Sept. 30, 2021) — Aperture Education, the leading provider of researched-backed social and emotional learning (SEL) assessments for K-12 schools, has hired Stacey Preator as its new Vice President of Customer Experience – a new position created by the company to provide additional support to its customer success team, professional learning team, and strategic accounts team. In her position Preator will focus on leading projects to improve the customer experience and create better customer implementations for the schools, districts, and out-of-school time organizations using Aperture’s products.

“SEL has always been a passion of mine and I’m excited to be able to support the teams at Aperture Education as they lead this important work,” said Preator. “At the end of the day, we must make sure we are having a positive impact on students. To do that we need to ensure that the administrators, teachers, and staff members using our products are confident they are implementing our assessments and strategies with fidelity. Improving the customer experience is vital to making sure we are meeting that end goal of helping students grow and succeed.”

Preator, who lives in Utah, has more than 12 years of experience in the educational software industry, including leading teams and spearheading initiatives to improve customer satisfaction and success. Most recently she served as Vice President of Customer Experience Operations at Imagine Learning where she directed an initiative to revamp the customer onboarding experience for more than 20,000 schools, restructured multiple departments, and improved the customer onboarding satisfaction rate by 60 percent during the back-to-school season. Preator also served as Director of Success Operations and Live Teaching for the company, directing teaching teams and working with the product team to improve students and teachers’ experience with the company’s products.…Read More

Vector Solutions Wins in the Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence Program for its Student Safety & Wellness Courses

Tampa, FL – September 29, 2021 – Tech & Learning, an industry-leading education outlet, has named Vector Solutions’ Student Safety & Wellness Courses a winner in its 2021 Awards of Excellence Back to School. The courses won in the Secondary Education category, which recognizes products used in grades 6-12.

Vector Solutions is the leading provider of training and software solutions to help schools make their operations and communities safer, smarter and better.  Its Student Safety & Wellness courses are powerful, engaging, web-based video lessons authored by subject-matter experts on topics such as Bullying & Cyberbullying, Youth Suicide Awareness, Alcohol, Vaping & Drug Prevention, Sexual Harassment, Digital Citizenship, Stress & Anxiety, Depression, and Healthy Relationships. The courses can be used for primary prevention training or remediation with students who may have disciplinary issues. They include lesson plans and discussion topics to help teachers facilitate conversations about these important topics.

“Our Student Safety & Wellness courses cover essential safety, wellness, and social-emotional learning topics to support students’ wellbeing and build a positive school culture,” said Vector Solutions CEO Marc Scheipe. “There is an incredible need this year for tools that support student mental health and we are honored to have our courses recognized by the Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence program.”…Read More

Curriculum Associates Updates i-Ready® with New Lessons and Assessments to Further Support Dual-Language Classrooms and Spanish-Speaking Students

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass., September 23, 2021—To further support Spanish-speaking students in dual-language or transitional-bilingual programs, Curriculum Associates recently added new lessons and assessments to its award-winning i-Ready program. All of these resources—including authentic Spanish Reading lessons for Grades K–2, new Spanish versions of Mathematics lessons for Grades K–6, and a new Assessment of Spanish Reading for Grades K–6—are all designed for students to see themselves in the learning materials as they work to meet ambitious goals this school year.…Read More