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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.

Grand Valley State University and Littera Education Partner to Provide High-Impact Tutoring to Every K-12 Student in Michigan

New York – June 2, 2022 – A new partnership between the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) NextEd Co-Lab and Littera Education means that every K-12 school district in Michigan now can provide its students with research-based, proven-effective tutoring for students who need it the most. 

The partnership joins the K-12 Connect tutoring initiative of GVSU, a premiere educator of teachers, with the Littera Academic Support Platform—technology that makes it easy for districts to design, implement and track the performance of high-impact tutoring programs. The result is tutoring on a large scale that is customizable to every student.

“This partnership will reshape academic support for Michigan students,” said Littera Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Justin Serrano. “GVSU is already a leader in providing academic support to K-12 schools. Adopting the Littera Academic Support Platform will enable K-12 Connect to reach even more students and make it easier for Michigan schools to deliver high-impact tutoring.”…Read More

ShopWithScrip Rebrands as RaiseRight, Announces Lou Agnese as Chief Executive Officer

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan (May 12, 2022)—ShopWithScrip, the largest gift card fundraising platform in the United States, has rebranded as  RaiseRight and announced that Lou Agnese, an executive with extensive experience in consumer-facing digital marketplaces, has been appointed as chief executive officer to drive a new era of growth.

“Our new brand and website more strongly reflect our mission to offer non-profits and community-based organizations the easiest, most effective way to meet their fundraising goals,” said Lou Agnese, Chief Executive Officer, RaiseRight.  “I am honored to have joined the passionate, purpose-driven team at RaiseRight during this exciting time and look forward to working with them to develop new, innovative tools to magnify our impact in local communities.” 

The RaiseRight name was created to underscore that the company’s solution is the right way to fundraise.  RaiseRight’s year-round fundraising platform is easy and more convenient than selling goods or recruiting volunteers. Nonprofits and other community-based organizations earn money simply by purchasing gift cards for their favorite brands at face value and getting a rebate back from those purchases.  The new website offers a seamless, more consistent user experience across the platform for shopping all brands, including a mobile wallet for ease of redemption and a dashboard to manage fundraising proceeds.…Read More

One way to address student mental health? Bring the clinic to school

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

Many Michigan school administrators say they’ve often served as stand-in public health officials during the pandemic. So it’s no surprise that districts across the state are eager to get some backup from a program that opens clinics in school buildings.

School-based health centers make it convenient for students to leave class and walk down the hall for therapy, a medical checkup, or a dental appointment. While the first centers in Michigan opened decades ago, policymakers have renewed interest in them in the wake of COVID and the ongoing student mental health crisis.…Read More

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Introducing a new State and District Data Validation Tool for SKYWARD® Users

KALAMAZOO, Michigan – APRIL 6, 2022 – Level Data, Inc. announces a new suite of data validation tools for districts using the Skyward brand Student Information System (SIS). Level Data is a privately-held SaaS Company working with over 1,200 school districts and more than 5 million students using their data validation, data integration and reporting products.

Public School Administrators and student data specialists everywhere understand that submitting accurate data to federal and state agencies is absolutely essential for their district to receive all the funding they are entitled to from many government sources. State submission specialists at school districts are under significant pressure to secure all the funding they possibly can to bolster their local budgets.

Also of critical importance, data-driven decision-making has proven to be key in providing the highest quality of education to students. These decisions that can positively affect curriculum and other strategies are only as good as the quality of the underlying data. Simply put, districts that do not actively focus on maintaining the highest quality data face a substantial performance and economic disadvantage.…Read More

Lexia Nationwide Report Finds 80% of Students Using Lexia Core5 Reading Did Not Experience Literacy Learning Loss During Remote and Hybrid Learning in the 2020-21 Academic Year

BOSTON (Sept. 23, 2021) – Lexia® Learning, a Cambium Learning® Group company, today released new research titled “Using Lexia Core5 Reading to Address Learning Loss and Accelerate Learning: Insights from a 2020-21 Nationwide Study.” The study examines the literacy impact of elementary students using Lexia® Core5® Reading (Core5) in fully remote and hybrid instructional environments during the 2020-21 school year.

Lexia researchers tracked the progress of approximately 13,000 students in grades 1-5 across 35 schools in California, Michigan, and North Carolina. To gauge students’ progress, the schools administered the Measures of Academic Progress® (MAP) Growth Reading assessment, which measures grade-level reading achievement and growth, during the 2020-21 academic year.

Key findings from the report showed that most students who used Core5 demonstrated steady learning progress, with the majority meeting their projected growth targets in Reading:…Read More

Whatever it takes: How one underserved district continues to make it through the pandemic

Listening to Alena Zachery-Ross, Superintendent of Ypsilanti Community Schools in Michigan, managing her district through this pandemic almost sounds like a positive story.

In this conversation with eSchool News, Alena recalls her strategies for success. From a new appreciation for student voice to closer interactions with the wider community, her ideas will help any district not only survive, but thrive, in these times.

The following has been edited for clarity.…Read More

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Making access and equity a reality for diverse students

Large school districts in different parts of the United States have now developed systematic ways to increase diverse students’ access to advanced courses, and the districts are also providing other important aspects of equity, including an education that prepares the students for 21st century careers.

During a recent edWebinar, hosted by AASA, The Superintendents Association and AASA’s Leadership Network, Dr. Christine Johns, Superintendent of the Utica Community Schools in Michigan, and Dr. Ann Levett, Superintendent of the Savannah-Chatham Public Schools in Georgia, explained how their districts were achieving better outcomes for their student populations and offered recommendations for other district leaders.

Related content: Did you know online learning can lead to equity?…Read More

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Dean Transportation to treat all vehicles with MicrobeCare™ antimicrobial

For over 50 years, Dean has placed the safety of its passengers above all else, having a long history of advocacy for passenger safety. As students begin returning to school this fall, Dean Transportation has worked diligently to create safety protocols for staff and passengers that aim to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses. To augment regular disinfectant use, Dean has announced an industry-leading commitment to treat the more than 1,600 school buses it operates throughout the State of Michigan with MicrobeCare™. Application of MicrobeCare™ represents one of the first industry deployments of antimicrobial technology in school buses.

“As our education system returns to operation, our number one priority is the health of our passengers, our employees, and the general public. In response to COVID-19, we are enhancing our cleaning procedures and operating practices to suppress the spread of illness,” said Kellie P. Dean, President, and CEO of Dean Transportation. “Since June we have looked at various emerging technologies to increase safety and augment our regular use of a disinfectant. Our commitment to applying MicrobeCare™ on all Dean Transportation owned and operated school buses is about our student’s and staff’s health, safety, and support for our districts when they return to in-person instruction. Dean Transportation transports a high number of special education student passengers, many of whom rely on in-person education and services provided by our public education system. It is our mission to help them get back to school by increasing the health protections on our school buses.”

MicrobeCare™ is an antimicrobial with unique bonding technology that is long-lasting and effective against bacteria, viruses, fungi, algae, and yeast on surfaces. It is registered with the FDA and EPA as a safe and effective antimicrobial that will help reduce cross-contamination of dangerous microorganisms on surfaces to which it is applied. The product is often used in health care facilities and common public spaces. MicrobeCare™ has been shown to eliminate >99.99% of microorganisms on surfaces quickly. By continually combating and neutralizing microbial threats before they have an opportunity to grow and spread, the protection of MicrobeCare™ persists even in between cleanings and disinfection. The antimicrobial is applied by experienced application specialists using state-of-the-art electrostatic sprayers to ensure complete and total coverage of all surfaces.…Read More

The project-based STEM curriculum that’s big on real-world rigor

A STEM curriculum introduces students to real-world engineering

Berrien Springs Public Schools in rural Michigan started off with a modest enough goal: to add an engineering component to their curriculum in order to draw out-of-district students to their schools and to meet anticipated state standards. But perhaps not even they could have foreseen the sea change that came next.

These days, first graders design a shoe for a traveler going to an extreme climate. Second graders investigate numerical relationships and sequence and structure required in computer programs. Fourth graders develop a vehicle restraint system. Middle and high school students build VEX robots and program them using RobotC software. They also use Autodesk Inventor to create 3D models that are then printed on their own 3D printer. And all grades are doing various levels of coding.

The breakthrough came two years ago when Berrien Springs took a cue from its neighbor to the south, Indiana, and the work they were doing with Project Lead the Way (PLTW), a provider of STEM curriculum to 8,000 schools nationwide that takes a problem-based approach to learning focusing on critical thinking, problem-solving and real-world relevance. The curriculum has a strong engineering component, as well as separate units in biomedical science and computer science. A course on cybersecurity will be added in 2017.…Read More