new school year Archives

Do your teachers think PD is a dirty word?

This past year, teachers were introduced to a lot of new technology to help facilitate distance learning. And, because of this, professional development (PD) time often morphed into technical training–how to use Zoom, how to best utilize a new learning app or software program, how to troubleshoot student device issues.

With so much on teachers’ plates, this so-called PD became draining. Teachers simply couldn’t spend any more valued time learning yet another new program. And they weren’t getting the important support they needed to make tactical pedagogical shifts for their evolving learning spaces.

Heading into a new school year, we have a chance to hit the reset button to restore true PD time into teachers’ schedules.…Read More

3 technologies needed for remote learning

As everyone spends the summer preparing for a new school year, many are preparing for virtual options to stick around post pandemic. In a recent survey conducted by Instructure, two-thirds of the educators surveyed believe remote learning will impact classroom practices in the future. But what will this future look like, exactly?

A recent survey of districts estimated 56 percent of schools will offer a remote learning option in the fall. One of the biggest lessons this past school year taught us was that educators teaching students online and in-person at the same time is typically not a successful teaching model. Moving forward, many districts offering a virtual option are planning to have virtual teachers solely with virtual students, while teachers back in their regular classrooms will only teach in-person students.

In this same survey, 89 percent of teachers said they taught online for the very first time during the pandemic. So as districts ask teachers to volunteer to switch to remote teaching, there are technology considerations to get in place this summer to help make teaching virtually this coming school year a success. …Read More

8 COVID learning practices this district is keeping

As educators across the U.S. enter their classrooms for a new school year–one that is still a bit uncertain given concerns over new COVID variants and how to safely bring students back to school–many are bringing new strategies, tools, and practices with them.

While COVID presented educators with myriad challenges, it also prompted many to discover new ways to teach, to lead, and to inspire. In fact, many educators are starting this new school year with so-called “COVID learning practices”–tools, mindsets, and strategies they never used or knew about until COVID forced their hands.

One important–arguably the most important–lesson? Learning cannot return to how it was pre-COVID.…Read More

How school librarians are getting creative in a pandemic

New questions from school librarians…

Will ultra violet disinfectant devices damage books?
How long should I quarantine a book before circulating it again?
How can I use technology to coordinate curbside pick-up for students who want to check out print books?

Meet the same old challenges……Read More

Assessing at Home i-Ready Diagnostic Kit Helps Educators Administer Diagnostics

After the extended period of distance learning this past spring, it is more important than ever that educators know students’ strengths and areas for growth as they enter the new school year. Beginning the year with an assessment like the i-Ready Diagnostic is critical to this effort. While assessing at home is challenging regardless of the test or provider, many schools successfully tested remotely this past spring. To support school reopening plans that may require educators to administer the i-Ready Diagnostic remotely, Curriculum Associates has created the Assessing at Home i-Ready Diagnostic Kit. The online kit includes a collection of turnkey tools for district leaders, school leaders, teachers, and families.

“As schools resume either in person or virtually, it’s critical that teachers know what each child knows and what they need to learn after months of lost learning,” said Rob Waldron, CEO of Curriculum Associates. “To support students beginning the year at home, teachers need tools and guidance to help families proctor the i-Ready Diagnostic so they can get the most accurate data to support their students.”

Drawing from lessons learned and tips from schools that successfully administered the i-Ready Diagnostic at home in the spring, the kit gives teachers resources to get their classes ready to assess at home. Teachers can access a checklist and calendar tool for planning key assessing at home activities. Additional resources include tips on proctoring assessments remotely, tools for communicating with families, and resources to motivate and celebrate students. District and school leaders have access to similar resources, specific to their own roles.…Read More

New McGraw Hill Assessment Solution Helps Teachers Support Students Who Have Fallen Behind Following COVID-19 Disruptions

As teachers prepare for classes to resume this fall, McGraw Hill today announced the launch of McGraw Hill Rise, a new reading and math supplement with embedded assessment and personalization to help educators identify and address individual learning gaps for each student. The new solution is intended to help ease the transition back to the new school year, regardless of teaching format, and ensure that every student is prepared to succeed this year and beyond.

“The extent to which COVID-19 has impacted student achievement, though uncertain, is likely significant. Teachers now, more than ever, need a consistent, convenient and customizable toolset to help document time on task and individual student progress through key learning objectives – all to help close those gaps,” said Sean Ryan, President of McGraw Hill’s School Group. “The use of data to make informed and personalized decisions is critical in determining where students are during and after a period of school disruption. Rise adapts and targets to each student’s needs helping educators create a comprehensive, individualized plan.”…Read More

PBS Offers At-Home Learning Broadcast and Digital Resources

As the nation prepares for the beginning of a new school year unlike any other, PBS and member stations are helping support educators, parents and caregivers with a variety of free high-quality, accessible educational media resources. Available to more than 97% of the country through over-the-air television access, the PBS KIDS 24/7 channel(for young learners ages 2-8) and the WORLD channel At-Home Learning Service (for learners grades 6-12) will feature broadcast programming linked to at-home learning resources that can be used by educators to supplement distance learning plans, or by parents to provide added enrichment and support for children’s educational needs.

Research shows that more than 24 million Americans still lack access to fast and reliable broadband internet.* PBS has the ability to reach a majority of these households with free, over-the-air station broadcast and a deep trove of digital resources (PBS LearningMedia, pbskids.org, PBS KIDS for Parents, and more) designed to support both in-school and at-home learning for students, which was critical at the end of the 2019-2020 school year. When COVID-19 shut down schools across much of the country, PBS LearningMedia, an online destination that offers free access to thousands of classroom resources, saw its users quadruple to nearly 4 million per month. Additionally, young children’s engagement with PBS KIDS content increased notably, with reach growing by 15% among kids 2-8 on-air, streaming by nearly 30% and game play by 40%.**

Leading these charges locally, PBS stations across the country forged partnerships with their school districts to address specific, state standards-aligned educational needs in each community, including filming and broadcasting local teachers’ classroom lessons.…Read More

Companies Partner to Provide Oral Reading Fluency Tool

Partnership offers automated assessment of students’ oral reading fluency — for testing at school or at home

Savvas Learning Company, a next-generation learning solutions provider for K-12 education, announced it is partnering with Analytic Measures Inc. (AMI), an educational technology company, to provide a fully automated assessment tool that uses artificial intelligence and voice technology to measure K-5 students’ reading abilities. The new tool will empower teachers with time-saving features that quickly, easily, and accurately assess a learner’s oral reading fluency skills while also helping educators address the combined COVID-19 slide along with summer learning loss.

For the start of the new school year, Savvas is pairing myView Literacy©, its leading core K-5 literacy program, and Reading Spot, a digital library, with AMI’s Moby.Read™. Moby.Read uses advanced speech recognition and scoring technologies to automate the oral reading assessment experience and increase testing accuracy, in and out of the classroom. All reading audio is captured and recorded for teacher playback, a feature essential for blended (remote and in-person online) learning. Moby.Read is easily accessible on any digital device or computer that supports Google Chrome as well as by single sign-on through Savvas Realize™, the edtech industry’s most versatile learning management system.…Read More

ONLINE SURVEY

A new school year means new edtech needs, and if you’re planning for fall purchases, you might welcome some guidance after an unusual 2020-2021 school year. This FREE RFP Toolkit helps you examine your school’s unique needs, pick the right edtech tools, and create a formal RFP. You’ll answer a few key questions to refine your goals and formulate a proposal template. Simply take the very quick survey below, and the toolkit is yours.

8 ways to ensure tech readiness this school year

Before each new school year starts, educators have been busy preparing, organizing, and welcoming students back to school–and that means ensuring tech tools and digital resources are ready to go.

District administrators, principals, and teachers are prepping for full classrooms and full schedules. Now is a great time to double-check school priorities, tech tools, and instructional strategies for the coming school year.