Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.
With the deadline for spending ESSER funding rapidly approaching, K-12 leaders need to decide in the next few months how they’ll leverage their remaining money to get the biggest learning return on their investment. To meet the needs of students who were most affected by the pandemic, leaders will need to invest this money wisely in learning strategies that have been proven to be effective. Here are five key priorities to consider.
…Read MoreWith billions of dollars in ESSER funding that must be spent before September 30, 2024, school districts have a unique opportunity to modernize key business workflows in ways that will reap huge rewards. In fact, districts that have transformed their accounting practices using automation and AI have found they have more time and money to spend on closing widespread achievement gaps and helping all students succeed. Here are six compelling reasons to automate travel, invoicing, and expensing workflows if you haven’t done so already.
…Read MoreAt a Dolton-Riverdale school board meeting in the spring, district leaders and two technology vendors pitched a $3.3 million tech overhaul.
They told the board in the high-poverty district in Chicago’s south suburbs that the project would “future-proof the classroom” and “catapult Dolton into the next generation of learning technology.”
A couple of members balked. They said they felt rushed to approve the deal and questioned why it had not been put out for a bid. But deputy superintendent Sonya Whitaker urged them to back the project that March evening, insisting that the district was staring down a deadline to spend a portion of its federal COVID relief money.…Read More
Key points:
- The COVID-19 pandemic invited a number of hackers trying to take advantage of cybersecurity risks
- One of the biggest barriers to strong cybersecurity practices is money
- See related article: Schools are at a greater risk for cyberattacks than ever before
As COVID-19 swept the nation beginning in 2019, no one knew just how life-altering the pivot to remote work and education would be. Today, we see more and more students and employees alike who are relying on technology to engage with their work and peers than ever before. As with holidays and other unanticipated events, this pivot drew in some of the biggest minds in security who worked to eliminate cybersecurity challenges stemming from this change – but it also drew in hackers.
Shoring up cybersecurity practices in the education industry is quite the feat. User authorization is extremely challenging, as IT professionals must navigate through different levels of access for each user community. This creates even higher risks because networks must be open to employees, students, and others – an issue most businesses don’t need to manage.…Read More
On Monday, April 24th, The Earth Foundation held a fully virtual event, The Earth Prize 2023 Awards Ceremony, to announce the winner and runners-up of its USD 200,000 environmental sustainability competition for teenagers. Over 1,270 student teams registered from over 1,000 schools across 116 countries and territories for the 2023 edition of the competition.
Team Delavo, made up of four young women – Yagmur, Avjin, Damla and Irmak from Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey – was proclaimed the victorious recipient of the USD 100,000 grand prize that comes with The Earth Prize 2023 Winner title. The prize money will be split evenly between the team members and the educational institution with which they registered for the competition, Bahçeşehir Koleji Fen ve Teknoloji Liseleri (Diyarbakir Bahcesehir College for Science and Technology High School).
Inspired by the problem of water scarcity from droughts in the Tigris River basin where they live, the team’s winning idea is the “ECaundry” device, which addresses the fact that 20 gallons (75 liters) of toxic waste water from every load of laundry in the world’s washing machines contaminate the soil and groundwater. Once the ECaundry is hooked up to the machine its integrated hollow ultrafiltration tubes and carbon filter treat and reuse laundry waste water, thus conserving more than 90% of it.…Read More
It’s no secret that the pandemic shift to remote learning resulted in boom times for edtech. Market intelligence firm HolonIQ expects global edtech spend to reach $300 billion in 2022 and up to $404 billion in 2025. The growth is fueling investment, too, as last year venture capital tripled over pre-pandemic levels.
But is all that money well spent on learning products with proven efficacy in the classroom, or are those billions going toward technology for technology’s sake?
With the boom in edtech and so many shiny, new product offerings on the market, it’s essential for educators to select tools they can trust will have a long-term impact on learning. More often than not, these are the tools that have prioritized learning science in their product design, to guide product vision and focus.…Read More
Inflation hit a four-decade high in the United States during September, with the consumer price index up 8.2 percent from a year earlier. While most adults are painfully aware of higher prices for everything from food to fuel, teens may be blissfully ignorant.
There are a few reasons inflation may not feel relevant to teens. If teens aren’t yet working and earning their own money, they’re buying things with their parent’s funds. The cure for inflation is simply to ask mom or dad for more money. Working teens will definitely be feeling the burn of increased prices, but their time horizon tends to be focused on today versus how inflation will impact them decades down the road.
Storytelling can be an effective way for teachers to make topics like inflation relevant to students. Storytelling makes abstract concepts come to life and can help students envision themselves in the story.…Read More
Students across the country take AP exams in hopes of earning high exam scores that help them opt out of college prerequisites and ultimately save money on tuition. Unfortunately, as many as 40 percent of students who take AP exams will earn a 1 or a 2 on those tests, which will not help them test out and earn those coveted college credits.
As a former high school teacher and current content author for AP History and Social Sciences, I’ve learned several key strategies to help your students earn the AP scores they need to assist them in their academic careers—and retain the material that they have learned.
1. Start talking about the test on Day 1.…Read More
2020 and 2021 saw $190 billion in federal relief funds go to schools through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER).
But why aren’t schools spending the money? The answer–or, more accurately, answers–offers a glimpse into the complicated state of post-COVID education.
Districts received funds based on their Title I funding, and ESSER funds must be spent by September 2024. While many districts have planned how they’ll use their funding, they have not actually spent it to date.…Read More
No two learners are equal in their strengths and needs. Learning platforms are changing the student experience – allowing for customized educational goals mapped to individual needs and preparing learners to be their best selves with tailored learning pathways. Watch this session to hear two different paths for success – from the Council Bluffs, Iowa Community Schools pilot around classroom virtual automation solutions, to the work the Michigan Corrections system is doing to reinvent their learning systems.
…Read More