IBM grants $5 million for cybersecurity, enhanced skilling on AI

Key points:

  • With cyberattacks on the rise across schools, IBM Education Security Grants have already benefited more than 350,000 students globally
  • Now in its third year, grants are expanding to offer students and teachers access to cyber and AI skills through IBM SkillsBuild

In response to the growing threat of ransomware attacks against schools around the world, IBM will provide in-kind grants valued at $5 million to help address cybersecurity resiliency in schools.

Since its creation in 2021, the IBM Education Security Grants program has expanded globally, and this year will also include enhanced offerings from IBM SkillsBuild on topics including AI and cybersecurity. …Read More

Swing Education Surpasses One Million Hours of Classroom Substitute Teaching

SAN MATEO, Calif. Substitute teachers sourced via  Swing Education, a tech-enabled staffing marketplace that matches schools with qualified substitute teachers,  have filled more than one million hours of classroom instruction in the 2022-23 school year. 

Though Swing has been helping schools fill classroom vacancies since 2015, this is the first time the company has crossed the one million instructional hour mark in a single school year. 

“We never had an explicit goal to reach a million teaching hours, but knew we were going to get there and it kind of snuck up on us, to be honest,” said Mike Teng, CEO of Swing Education. “Reaching this number is significant and it feels extraordinary, especially as it lands during teacher appreciation week, which is this week. It also validates the real service we’re providing to schools and students since having a stable pool of substitutes is critical for maintaining instructional consistency and quality.”…Read More

Navigate360 Ushers in Growth with Key Additions: Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Product Officer and Vice President of Threat Detection & Prevention Program Development

RICHFIELD, OHIO (PRWEB) — Navigate360, the nation’s leader in K–12 school safety and student wellness solutions, announces the appointment of Julia Goebel as chief marketing officer, Jami Timmons Klotz as chief product officer, and Dr. Joe McKenna as vice president of threat detection and prevention program development. All are passionate, innovative and experienced leaders poised to drive a new wave of meaningful impact in school safety and student wellness for the more than 50 million students in the United States.

“We are pleased to welcome these accomplished executives in SaaS technology and K–12 leadership to the Navigate360 team,” said JP Guilbault, chief executive officer of Navigate360. “Julia, Jami and Joe bring a wealth of valuable knowledge and experience which supports our mission of zero incidents of violence and harm.”

Year to date, the  Expert Insights data from Navigate360 show alerts related to self-harm are up 51 percent year-over-year and alerts related to weapons and harm to others are up 25 percent year-over-year. On average, the Navigate360 report also found more than 4,000 anonymous tips per week come into school tip lines powered by Navigate360 P3 School Tip Line solution, with the most common tips related to self-harm and weapons.…Read More

Brainly Announces Beta Access to New AI Features, Developed with OpenAI’s GPT-4 for Personalized Learning

NEW YORK – Brainly, the leading global learning platform for all school subjects and grades, announces its new AI functions allowing Learners to “Simplify” or “Expand” answers. Guided by a friendly mascot named Ginny, students can benefit from the AI which operates on Brainly’s moderated Knowledge Base of over 250 million answers, ensuring the quality and accuracy of academic help. 

The beta version with “Simplify” and “Expand” functionality furthers a more dynamic, personalized learning experience for students. The “Simplify” function uses AI to modify answers to be shorter, straightforward and focused on the main facts. The “Expand” function lets Learners access more in-depth AI-generated explanations for an existing answer. 

Brainly is rolling out the beta version to selected users, who can experiment with the AI functions in the real world and provide feedback, with the full version and more functionalities expected soon. All users with iOS devices can request access to the beta here.…Read More

Action for Healthy Kids to Implement Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative

CHICAGO — Action for Healthy Kids has signed a cooperative agreement with the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to develop and implement the  Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative. To further enhance USDA’s ongoing support for the school meal programs, the initiative includes an allocation of $47 million for identifying and recognizing school districts that excel in providing healthy meals and for supporting small and rural schools in adopting best practices and innovative approaches.

“Action for Healthy Kids is excited to partner with USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service and school districts to lift up and support innovative school nutrition practices that ensure that our nation’s students have access to nutritious meals,” said Rob Bisceglie, CEO of Action for Healthy Kids. “Through this historic investment in school nutrition, we aim to help school districts across the country overcome challenges and develop creative solutions to provide nutritious foods for the children they serve.”

Action for Healthy Kids will lead the overall implementation and management of the cooperative agreement. In partnership, RMC Health will design, lead and manage the overall training and technical assistance strategy. In addition, Action for Healthy Kids will partner with Chef Ann Foundation to provide in-depth individualized technical assistance to support and guide the school food authorities (SFAs) in implementing key strategies to improve school meal quality, meet the Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award, and mitigate any potential roadblocks to success.…Read More

Addressing the digital divide’s effects on education and the workforce

Our society relies on the internet for education, jobs, and personal needs, yet our country’s digital divide has been an ongoing issue, affecting the 14.5 million Americans who don’t have access to broadband internet. This issue is not just limiting education access, but it’s also contributing to an ongoing workforce crisis. It’s time to recognize that equal access to high-speed internet is essential, and urgent action is needed.

The digital divide refers to the gap between those who have access to modern information and technology that support info-sharing and those who have little to no access. This gap can be attributed to various factors, such as socio-economic status, geographic location, age and race/ethnicity, and has significant implications for education access and workforce development in the United States.

According to a recent Pew Research Center Report, 43 percent of American households nationwide with income under $30,000 don’t have access to reliable internet services at home and 41 percent don’t have any sort of device/computer. Along with that, our country’s digital divide is especially evident in rural areas, where 60 percent of rural Americans view the lack of high-speed internet as a problem. This often stems from the fact that rural areas are less likely to be wired for broadband services, therefore resulting in slower internet speeds.…Read More

IXL Learning Acquires Teachers Pay Teachers, the World’s Largest Platform for Educator-Created Content

SAN MATEO, California and NEW YORK, New York  — IXL Learning, developer of personalized learning products used by millions of people globally, announced that it has acquired TPT (otherwise known as Teachers Pay Teachers), which offers the world’s largest catalog of educator-created content and tools for digital instruction. More than 7 million educators, including 85 percent of PK-12 teachers in the U.S., use the platform to find teacher-created resources that help them support students and benefit from the expertise of fellow educators.

Teachers Pay Teachers is the newest member of the IXL Learning family of world-renowned brands, which include Rosetta Stone, IXL, Vocabulary.com, SpanishDictionary.com, inglés.com, ABCya, Education.com, Wyzant and Emmersion

Tapping into the collective wisdom of educators…Read More

The News Movement Partners With EXPLR Media to Bring News Content into the Classroom

NEW YORK — Social-first media company, The News Movement (TNM) today announced a new partnership with EXPLR Media (EXPLR), an organization which produces and shares educational videos and curriculum for students in the US. The two companies will collaborate on developing educational news content aimed at grade 7-12 children. The partnership will also provide EXPLR and TNM with access to each company’s library of content to share across their audiences. 

With over 1.7 billion views and 1.1 million followers across its network of owned brands, TNM meets Gen Z where they are, providing them with engaging journalism to help them understand and navigate the world around them. As part of the collaboration, TNM will adapt its storytelling techniques to suit a slightly younger audience. TNM will provide EXPLR with both existing and new content to be streamed via EXPLR’s curriculum-aligned service. 

TNM Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief, Kamal Ahmed said: “We know the power digital storytelling has to inspire and engage audiences, and with that power comes the need to ensure younger generations are equipped with the skills and education to identify and seek out fact-based quality journalism and useful content. That’s why the partnership with EXPLR is a significant one for us here at TNM. Through our audience engagement and listening, we have a robust understanding of Gen Z’s media consumption and preferences and we look forward to broadening our focus to Gen Alpha with the help of the team at EXPLR.”…Read More

New Nationwide Data Shows Significant Increase in Alerts on Self-Harm, Harm to Others and the Presence of Weapons on K–12 Campuses

RICHFIELD, OHIO (PRWEB) — Navigate360, the nation’s leader in K–12 student wellness and physical safety solutions, announces significant increases in alerts on self-harm, harm to others and the presence of weapons on K–12 campuses. Across more than 33 million online school and social media alerts, Navigate360’s all-new data show alerts related to self-harm are up 51 percent year-over-year, compared to the 25 percent increase year-over-year in alerts related to weapons and harm to others. Additionally, more than 4,000 anonymous tips per week are coming into school tip lines, with the most common tips related to self-harm and weapons.

These statistics reinforce the larger, underlying issues behind recent national headlines related to bullying, self-harm and violent critical incidents on school campuses. Just last week, there were reports of coordinated swatting and hoax efforts in Vermont and Michigan, as well as a tragic bullying-related suicide in New Jersey.

“Every day brings another use case of what we’re trying to prevent and change,” said JP Guilbault, Chief Executive Officer at Navigate360. “How can we use the data we have to further the collective understanding of what is happening nationwide—where are we seeing concerning behaviors, where are we seeing spikes? Then, how can we use that data to prevent these occurrences—to identify supports and interventions that need to take place?”…Read More

Ancora High School Partners with McGraw Hill to Launch New Online High School for Adults

ARLINGTON, Texas/PRNewswire/ — Workforce solutions provider Ancora has developed a new relationship with McGraw Hill to launch Ancora High School. The flexible, individualized and 100% online learning experience is open to learners aged 18 or older who have completed 9th grade. Students can apply on a rolling basis throughout the year and complete coursework on their own timeframe. Ancora High School is an online high school that offers a Texas high school diploma and is accredited by Cognia™.

In 2020, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the high school dropout rate was 5.3% amongst those between the ages of 16 and 24, meaning approximately two million people in that age range had not completed a diploma and were not enrolled in high school. The economic consequences of not receiving a high school diploma or alternative credential like a GED is significant for the individual and society. For example, according to a separate report by NCES the median annual earnings for full-time workers ages 25 through 34 who had not completed high school were $26,000, compared to $32,000 a year for those whose highest education level was high school completion. Additionally, the average high school dropout costs the economy approximately $272,000 over his or her lifetime in terms of lower tax contributions, higher reliance on Medicaid and Medicare, higher rates of criminal activity, and higher reliance on welfare.

“Keeping in line with our prioritization on preparing students for further education or entering the workforce, Ancora High School helps to lay the groundwork for those who need it most,” said Bill Nance, CEO of Ancora. “With approximately 30 million adults without a high school diploma in the United States, we believe focusing on this important mission will provide communities with the opportunity to develop individuals with knowledge, skills, and upward career potential.  We recognize the positive personal, economic, and community impacts of earning a high school diploma, and we are proud to provide this affordable opportunity for busy adults to earn their diploma with flexibility that fits into their busy lives.”…Read More