4 things innovative districts do to improve graduation rates

Forward-thinking practices focus on college and career readiness

graduation-ratesAs the skills expected of today’s graduates change rapidly, school districts have to overhaul their thinking on what it means to be “college and career ready.” Conventional wisdom around when and where students learn, what knowledge they need to be successful, and who they are as learners is all rapidly changing, especially as technology becomes more prevalent in classrooms.

This is all top of mind for members of the Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools, a coalition of around 57  forward-thinking districts and leaders across the country, who are committed to improving the opportunity to learn for all of their students through technology and research. We rounded up some best practices League members use to ensure students stay in school, get their degrees, and are prepared for success in their post-secondary endeavors.

Learning can happen anytime, anywhere…Read More

In teacher shortage, schools recruit professionals to teach

teacher-shortageA shortage of trained teachers in Oregon is leaving school districts short-handed, so replacements without educational backgrounds are being recruited from other professions to fill the gap.

This school year at Umatilla School District, two science teachers are embarking on a new career after years of real-world experience in the subject. Dan Durfey at the middle school and Amy Jewett at the high school are two of 50 in the state who have received three-year alternative route licenses to teach while they complete master’s degree programs in education.

Jewett worked in Arlington as a chemist for Chemical Waste Management of the Northwest for eight years. She said her first two weeks managing a classroom have been difficult, but she believes she will learn the skills necessary to teach.…Read More

SchoolDude introduces management platforms, mobile app

MaintenanceEssentials Pro and EventEssentials Pro are intended to help streamline school facilities operations

management-platformsSchoolDude, a provider of operations management solutions, has launched two Collaborative Operations Management platforms, MaintenanceEssentials Pro and EventEssentials Pro.

For the first time, SchoolDude’s solutions are available in two comprehensive platforms, helping educational institutions collaborate with their peers, boost efficiency and increase responsiveness, communication and transparency.

MaintenanceEssentials Pro, a Facilities Management platform, and EventEssentials Pro, a Facilities Event and Community Use Management platform, will enable institutions to communicate, collaborate and complete operational work more efficiently.…Read More

Poll: Americans oppose linking teacher evaluations with student performance

Latest Gallup Poll reveals that many public school parents are not in favor of using student performance in teacher evaluations

teacher-evaluationsMany Americans, especially public-school parents, give low marks to rating a teacher based partly on how students perform on standardized tests, according to a survey.

The Gallup Poll released Sunday found 55 percent opposed linking teacher evaluations to their students’ test scores. Among those with children in public schools opposition was stronger, at 63 percent.

Standardized tests are necessary, but there’s an overreliance on them, said Joshua Starr, CEO of Phi Delta Kappa International, an association for educators, and a former schools superintendent. PDK, which supports teachers and educational research, paid for the poll conducted by Gallup.…Read More

It’s almost fall. Do you know where your textbooks are?

Tired of lost books and antiquated faxes, two districts opt for 21st century asset management

textbooks-assetsTwo years ago Consolidated Unit School District 300 in Algonquin, Ill., was facing a pretty daunting challenge across its 26 schools. When it came to recording the inventory of assets like textbooks, some of the district’s numbers were incorrect. “We’d start a new school year thinking that we had the appropriate supplies for our students, only to find out that our inventory system didn’t reflect what we actually had on hand,” said Susan Harkin, chief operating officer for the 26-school, 21,000-student district.

A student who wasn’t matched up with an algebra book, for example, would often have to wait a week or two for it to be ordered and delivered to the classroom. And for some of the outdated books that are no longer being published, the district could spend months trying to hunt down the textbooks. “Students would start the school year without a textbook to refer to for homework,” said Harkin. “It wasn’t a good situation for a district that’s focused on student success.”

Harkin says the schools’ curriculum and instructional personnel were particularly concerned about the gaps that existed between the inventory system and the actual inventory. At the time, D300 was most concerned about textbooks, although it also wanted to improve the tracking of district-owned assets such as tablet computers and musical instruments.…Read More

District automates account management, registration process

UMRA allows for automated account management including the process of managing Google Apps accounts

account-managementTools4ever, a provider of identity and access management (IdM/IAM) solutions, announced today that Culver City Unified School District in Calif. has implemented User Management Resource Administrator (UMRA) and Password Synchronization Manager (PSM).

Prior to implementing these Tools4ever products, the district’s IT leadership was charged with manually creating and managing student, staff and parent accounts for the thousands who needed to access its systems, which was time consuming and extremely inefficient process.

Tools4ever’s UMRA now allows Culver City USD to automate its entire account management process so that no manual action is required. When a new student begins at the district, his or her information is simply entered into the student information system and UMRA automatically creates an Active Directory account and a Google Apps account and places them in the appropriate groups, and any other parameters that Culver City USD has set.…Read More

Informal survey suggests disconnect between teachers and data

Vendor’s poll hints at gaps in identifying and acting upon problems using data

data-gapsAt this year’s ISTE conference Lexia Learning polled more than 200 educators in an informal survey, which suggests teachers are not using collected data to pinpoint skill deficiencies in a timely manner.

According to the survey, only 35 percent of respondents felt that teachers at their schools had a high or very high level of comfort connecting data to instruction.

The survey also found that fewer than half (48 percent) of respondents felt that their current screener assessments provide clear categorizations of which students were on track and which needed more attention. This compounds the problem where a majority of learners are not receiving the support they need, and indicates that some of their teachers may not even be aware that there is a problem to solve.…Read More

Alma SIS integrates with Google Classroom

SIS leverages Google Classroom integration to deliver classroom tools for less

alma-googleAlma Technologies and Google Classroom announced the integration between the free classroom toolset for teachers and a Student Information System (SIS).

The integration enables Alma customers to set up a Google Classroom for every one of their teachers with a single click.

Alma used all of the functionality afforded by the Classroom API. For customers that manage their Google Classrooms through Alma, the roster is automatically synchronized with the SIS in real time. As students enroll and un-enroll from classes, those changes are instantly reflected in Google Classroom.…Read More

How do you get tech-resistant teachers to embrace change?

The secret may be in organization-wide changes and lots of support

change-teachersMany millions of dollars have been wasted over the years by the well-intentioned, but ad hoc, introduction of technology into education. Eager tech savvy teachers or administrators may jump in feet first, but a significant portion of their colleagues are left struggling along or resisting the change.

The results of well-planned, long-term implementations, however, can produce momentum. When even reluctant adopters are given support, training, and time, positive changes can occur.

The diffusion of innovation…Read More

BrightBytes releases leadership module at ISTE 2015

Module improves school leadership practices and behaviors that research links to student achievement

leadership-clarityBrightBytes, an educational research and analysis organization, has added a leadership module to its Clarity platform. Created in partnership with McREL International, a nonprofit education research and development organization, the Leadership module empowers educational organizations to grow and develop exceptional leaders and track the progress of their improvement initiatives.

“Knowing the status of your most important initiatives is critical for every school leader,” said Rob Mancabelli, CEO and co-founder of BrightBytes. “The Leadership Module communicates the impact of your work to all your stakeholders in seconds.”

The Leadership module is based on McREL’s research about the leadership practices that have the largest impact on student outcomes. The module provides personalized, actionable analysis for organizational teams in the areas of purposeful community, managing change, and leadership focus…Read More

14 do’s and don’ts of successful tech integration

An elementary school computer specialist offers technology integration tips for administrators and teachers

technology-integrationEmbarking on a technology integration plan or beginning a technology pilot can be daunting. However, mapping out a clear path, being flexible, and communicating the stakeholders can help that plan be successful.

During an edWeb webinar on June 25, Jeff Downing, an elementary school computer specialist at Millard Elementary School in California’s Fremont Unified School District, offered technology integration tips for administrators and teachers based on his experiences in his own school.

In 2012, Downing developed basic goals for his school, including providing every classroom with a high-quality projector, finding ways to give every student access to some type of technology each day, and increasing internet access.…Read More

New tool tracks state educator prep programs

Dashboard uses SAS software to track teacher, school leader impact; tool monitors quality and quantity of public school educators

unc-educatorThe University of North Carolina system’s new Educator Quality Dashboard provides public access to the university’s research and trend data on the performance of North Carolina’s public school educators.

Built with SAS data visualization software, the interactive online tool enables citizens to analyze and display data on the UNC system’s efforts to prepare more and higher-quality teachers and school leaders for the state’s public schools.

Creating an Educator Quality Dashboard for educational institutions, policymakers and the public was a key recommendation of the UNC Board of Governors Subcommittee on Teacher and School Leader Quality. The result is a way to monitor, track and assess the performance of the UNC system and its 15 nationally accredited teacher education programs. The dashboard uses SAS Visual Analytics to display multiple years of data collected for the university’s educator quality research efforts.…Read More