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.

Progress toward academic recovery stalled in 2022-23

Key points:

While students grew academically in the 2022-23 school year, achievement gains fell short of pre-pandemic trends in most grades, with the exception of the youngest students who bucked this trend and made above average achievement gains, according to a new report from nonprofit K-12 assessment and research organization NWEA. 

The report is the latest in NWEA’s efforts to track the impact of pandemic disruptions on academic gains and achievement levels for U.S. students using data from the 2022-23 academic year. This analysis provides the most current evidence to help guide recovery efforts and resource allocations in support of schools. While the pandemic is now deemed over, the impacts on students based on two markers, achievement in reading and mathematics, are still apparent.…Read More

Modern students need modern librarians

When you think of a school librarian, what comes to mind? Is it shelving, stamping, and shushing? That’s the stereotype you’re probably most familiar with.

Librarians are so much more than this, though. We’re the keepers of the information, the resource kids use to explore new lands through the turning of pages – but our role as librarians is one that has historically been misunderstood. Because as times have changed, technology has advanced, and student needs have evolved—so, too, has the role of the librarian.

Who is the modern librarian?…Read More

Lexia Core5 and PowerUp Helped Students and Teachers Succeed with Remote Blended Learning

The 2019-20 school year drew concern for students’ learning when the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to rapidly transition to remote learning. To understand the impact to student learning, Lexia Learning, a Rosetta Stone company (NYSE: RST), surveyed 3,500 educators and found that

during the educational disruption period brought on by school closures during the spring semester, 86% of survey respondents using Lexia® Core5® Reading (Core5) or Lexia® PowerUp Literacy® (PowerUp) with their students felt that the products helped them more efficiently support student needs and learning. Moreover, those students who were able to access Lexia Learning products during the disruption were able to spend more time using the products each week, resulting in increased progress.

“During the stress and uncertainty of COVID, teachers were able to not only provide continuity of instruction, but they were able to support students in making independent progress in these extraordinary times,” said Dr. Liz Brooke, chief learning officer of Rosetta Stone. “Districts need to remain vigilant in choosing blended learning tools that provide some method for monitoring student learning/progress and deliver results in a variety of learning environments. Providing products that are proven to drive progress in closing literacy gaps, and support educators with actionable, real-time data on student progress, whether used in the classroom or at home remains our top priority.”…Read More

U.S. schools struggle with basic human need

It’s not iPads, SMART boards or after school activity programs that the majority of U.S. schools are struggling to provide, it’s something much more basic, and somewhat shocking: Access to water, the Huffington Post reports. Sparked by a new federal requirement that all public schools provide access to free drinking water at lunchtime, administrators are having trouble finding the funds in the midst of widespread budget cuts, MSNBC’s Vitals reported. Almost a year ago, President Barack Obama signed the Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

Click here for the full story

…Read More

President Obama gives back-to-school interview to kids

President Obama is a busy man, but not too busy to give a back-to-school interview to members of Scholastic’s Kids Press Corps, the Washington Post reports. The corps is a team of about 50 kids, ages 10-14, from across the country who report on news, entertainment, and sports from their hometowns. Obama sat down at the White House with kid reporters Jacob Schroeder and Topanga Sena for an exclusive back-to-school interview…

Click here for the full story

…Read More