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.

National Alliance of Black School Educators Names Patricia Smith of St Charles Parish Public Schools the 2022 NABSE $10,000 Scholarship Award Recipient

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass.—The National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE) recently named Patricia Smith, director of federal programs for St. Charles Parish Public Schools in Louisiana, as the recipient of the 2022 NABSE $10,000 Scholarship Award sponsored by Curriculum Associates. The award’s Dr. Charles Mitchell, Jr. Leadership Scholarship will support Smith as she pursues a doctorate degree in educational leadership from Southeastern Louisiana University.

“We are thrilled that our signature partner Curriculum Associates is again sponsoring this wonderful opportunity for a deserving educator,” said Dr. Nardos King, president of NABSE. “Education is our core mission, and Patricia Smith will use this opportunity to add to the pool of needed leaders in our field.”  

Smith has demonstrated strong leadership skills throughout her 27-year career in education, which has included roles as an assistant director of summer and graduate placement programs, teacher, principal, coach, curriculum specialist, and, now, director of federal programs. Collectively, these positions have provided her with unique perspectives which contribute to the sustainable academic success and social-emotional growth of the students and staff she leads.…Read More

Dedication to STEM learning makes this eSN Hero Awards winner a standout leader

One of three eSN K-12 Hero Awards winners and nominated by Bluum, Kim Leblanc was selected for the innovative STEM learning initiatives she champions in her district and for her students.

Conventional wisdom would say that economically disadvantaged schools across the country would need to think twice before making a major investment in technology. However, not all districts in that predicament have a technology director like Kim Leblanc.

Calcasieu Parish School Board is the fifth-largest school district in Louisiana, resting in the southwest part of the state. In total, the district serves 29,500 students across 60 elementary, middle, and high schools. It is a 100 percent CEP district, which means that every student is eligible for free lunch based on the economic poverty data submitted to the federal government.…Read More

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Meet the 2022 K-12 Hero Awards winners!

eSchool Media is pleased to announce the three winners of the eSchool News  K-12 Hero Awards: Dr. Ann Hughes, Director of Student Intervention for Sanger ISD in Texas; Kim Leblanc, Chief Technology Officer for Calcasieu Parish School Board in Louisiana; and Daniel Olivas, Network Analyst at Austin Independent School District in Texas.

Winners were chosen for their commitment to education during and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, their creativity and innovation in helping all students continue learning while ensuring students felt safe, empowered, and engaged.

The K-12 Hero Awards Program, sponsored this year by JAR Systems and SAP Concur, recognizes the dedicated efforts of education professionals across K-12 departments, including IT, curriculum, instruction and administration. …Read More

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Louisiana Department of Education Rates Lexia Reading Core5 as Highest Tier of Efficacy

BOSTON (Feb. 10, 2022) – The personalized literacy solution Lexia® Core5® Reading (Core5) from Lexia® Learning, a Cambium Learning® Group company, has received the highest rating of Tier 1 from the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE). The Tier 1 rating means that the LDOE has designated Core5 as “exemplifying quality.” The LDOE website now lists the evidence-based, educational technology program among the most intensive intervention tools for grades three through five.

“Core5 met all the LDOE’s non-negotiable criteria and received the best possible score on all indicators of superior quality,” said Lexia Learning President, Nick Gaehde. “LDOE is committed to helping educators find interventions that are data-driven, individualized for students, and systematic. It’s wonderful to see Core5 added to such a prestigious list.”

To support local school districts’ decisions on purchasing instructional materials, the LDOE evaluates products on program design, instructional design, usability and support, and other criteria for high quality. A committee of Louisiana educators reviews the materials.…Read More

Curriculum Associates’ Complete i-Ready® Classroom Mathematics Program for K–8 Now Rated as Tier 1 by the Louisiana Department of Education

NORTH BILLERICA, MA, November 8, 2021—Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready Classroom Mathematics program for Grades 6–8 recently received a Tier 1 rating by the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE). With the prior Tier 1 rating of i-Ready Classroom Mathematics for Grades K–5, the complete program for Grades K–8 has now received the highest rating from the Department. Louisiana educators can use i-Ready Classroom Mathematics, which “exemplifies quality” and “meets all non-negotiable criteria and scored the best possible on all indicators of superior quality” according to the LDOE, to deliver discourse-based instruction that empowers students to think mathematically and discuss mathematical ideas.

“A Tier 1 rating from the LDOE is the real benchmark when it comes to choosing comprehensive and quality instructional programs to meet the needs of students,” said Rob Waldron, CEO of Curriculum Associates. “Whether addressing unfinished learning, accelerating student outcomes, or supporting in-person or distance instruction and tutoring, i-Ready Classroom Mathematics provides a research-based solution that is a valuable resource for all K–8 math educators in the state.”

The LDOE’s comprehensive, educator-led online reviews of instructional materials are designed to help support school districts across the state in making their own local, high-quality purchasing decisions. The tiered reviews describe the instructional materials’ degree of alignment with state content standards that enables each local school system to determine if the use of the materials is appropriate to meet the educational needs of their students. Ratings are based on elements such as the focus, coherence, rigor, alignment, and quality of the materials.…Read More

New Mexico Adopts Rave Panic Button to Improve School Safety

Rave Mobile Safety (Rave), the critical communication and collaboration platform customers count on when it matters most, announced New Mexico as the latest state to deploy its Rave Panic Button in all K-12 schools across the state, joining Oklahoma, Delaware and Louisiana in statewide deployments. The growth in Rave Panic Button deployments comes as new features are added to the platform to further enhance the tool’s ability to get help where it’s needed most during an emergency, as well as strengthen internal critical communications.

As schools navigate safety threats both old and new, they need fast, smart, reliable technology that can create a direct connection with 9-1-1, first responders and on-site personnel to activate an immediate response to any type of emergency—from day-to-day medical incidents to crisis situations. Rave Panic Button will now fill that need in New Mexico, covering nearly 350,000 students across all K-12 public schools, creating a fully interoperable school safety platform statewide.

The app has already been implemented in nearly 50 states and is used in over 10,000 schools across the U.S., including those in Washington, D.C., and Florida, where 25% of the student population statewide is protected by Rave Panic Button.…Read More

Curriculum Associates’ Ready® Classroom Mathematics Receives Highest Rating

Curriculum Associates’ Ready Classroom Mathematics program for Grades K–5 recently received a Tier 1 rating by the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE). This highest rating from the LDOE, which was given after a comprehensive, educator-led review process, signifies the instructional program “exemplifies quality” and “meets all non-negotiable criteria and scored the best possible on all indicators of superior quality.”

The LDOE leads online reviews of instructional materials to support school districts across the state in making their own local, high-quality purchasing decisions. The tiered reviews describe the instructional materials’ degree of alignment with state content standards, which enables each local school system to determine if the use of the materials is appropriate to meet the educational needs of their students. Ratings are based on elements such as the focus, coherence, rigor, alignment, and quality of the materials.

“This highest rating from the Department signifies the power of Ready Classroom Mathematics in helping students gain conceptual understanding, develop a high degree of procedural skill and fluency, and apply the knowledge learned in and out of the classroom,” said Rob Waldron, CEO of Curriculum Associates. “Regardless of where the teaching and learning is taking place, we look forward to supporting educators throughout the state of Louisiana this year and beyond as they help students make gains in math.”…Read More

St. Tammany School Board committee adopts resolution seeking end of Common Core in Louisiana

A St. Tammany Parish School Board committee overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling on Gov. Bobby Jindal, state Education Superintendent John White and BESE to abandon the Common Core standards and testing, Nola.com reports. The resolution adopted by the board’s Human Resources and Education Committee goes to the full School Board next week. But because the committee is comprised of the full board, it’s likely the resolution will be formally adopted and sent to Jindal, White, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the 144 members of the state Legislature. The resolution asks the state to remove “the St. Tammany Parish public school system and the other school districts in Louisiana” from the implementation of the Common Core standards and testing by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, known as PARCC…

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What high schools are teaching teens about the war on terror

What kids learn in school tends to change with the times, and some curricular regulations that are either antiquated or simply embedded in beliefs have raised eyebrows across the country as of late, the Huffington Post reports. Yet regulation aside, in a layer of education that reaches students firsthand, is the textbook: the student’s omniscient manual in any given subject. Because these books dictate student knowledge and can shape perspective, their contents are sometimes the source of controversy. In Louisiana, for example, one commonly used textbook teaches students “the accumulated wisdom of the past from a biblical worldview.” And while September 11 is a recent memory that many still live with, the attacks are a distant reference to schoolchildren today. As the event and its subsequent war have become “recent history,” The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf took to examine how high schoolers are learning about 9/11 and the years following…

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