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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.

Listen EVERYWHERE in High School Theater Brings Clear Audio to Those with Hearing Loss

BLUFFDALE, UTAH –  Listen Technologies, the leading provider of advanced wireless listening solutions for 24 years, announced that John Rennie High School, a secondary school in Quebec, Canada, has selected Listen EVERYWHERE for use in its theater to support assistive listening.  

John Rennie High School decided to upgrade the audio in its Louise Chalmers Theatre during a recent renovation. It also sought to install assistive technology to accommodate students and guests with hearing loss.  

Assistive listening systems retailer Oreille Bionique recommended Listen EVERYWHERE, an audio over Wi-Fi assistive listening system, and provided a demo unit for the high school to test in the theater. Listen EVERYWHERE streams live or recorded venue audio over wireless networks to smartphones. Users can listen via headphones connected to their smartphone, or by streaming sound from their smartphone directly to their hearing aids or cochlear implants. After a successful 30-day trial, John Rennie High School began the procurement process. …Read More

New Storybooks and Companion Stuffed Animals Support Children’s Mental Wellness

Los Angeles — Silver Lining Stuffies launched its inaugural line of storybooks and companion stuffed animals crafted to provide children with the tools to cope with mental health conditions. The first three books, Slow Down, Alfie!, Andie & the Worries, and Frankie & Gloob, address attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, and depression. Each stuffed animal stars in its own story as a lovable, relatable character who learns to cope with a unique set of difficulties, helping to normalize the experience of mental health challenges.

Silver Lining Stuffies was born out of the darkness of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when CEO and founder Sara Moore recognized the massive toll it was taking on the mental health of many, particularly children. As someone who has lived with depression and anxiety from a young age, Moore empathized and was propelled into action. As a child, she was fortunate enough to have a supportive family that provided the resources and tools to cope with depression and anxiety, which she continues to use.

Unfortunately, her story is not the norm. 1 in 6 U.S. children aged 2–8 are diagnosed with a mental or behavioral disorder every year, and only 20% of them ever receive treatment. Silver Lining Stuffies aims to improve that by offering parents, educators, and children strategies to deal with these conditions, and by donating part of their proceeds to relevant organizations.…Read More

Hey teachers–what is your ‘why?’

More than half of the teachers in the US are seriously considering leaving the profession earlier than planned. A number of factors have led to this, including Covid-19 learning interruptions, lack of resources and support for teachers, and more.

Right now, teachers are also experiencing burnout at an all-time high. This has shown to impact our students’ learning and future success. In fact, both teacher burnout and constant turnover have serious negative consequences for students. Teachers who are highly dissatisfied with their job and have intentions of leaving can impact their effectiveness and disrupt students’ academic progress.

While the burden to improve teacher conditions lies with school districts, communities, and legislators, both teachers and students benefit when teachers intentionally reflect on and connect with the current that moves them to be a teacher. Every teacher has a reason that drives them to teach–whether it is connecting with learners, sharing content you feel passionate about, believing that every learner deserves a high-quality education, or something else. Every teacher has a “why,” and school districts, departments, and teachers can intentionally build in opportunities for teachers to reflect on their why and connect with colleagues who may share that “why.”…Read More

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Gale Business: Insights Enhances User Experience with New All-in-One Platform to Support Global Business Research

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. – Gale, part of a Cengage Group, today announced the migration of its Business Insight platforms – Gale Business Insights: Essentials and Gale Business Insights: Global – to a single new and improved all-in-one platform, Gale Business: Insights. With enhanced navigation and collaboration tools, business professionals, entrepreneurs, students and researchers can spend less time searching and more time turning their findings into practical applications. Developed based on user feedback, this new platform supports usability and accessibility with a single database that encompasses the global nature of business.

“Business researchers need instant access to reliable, comprehensive data and the tools to analyze and interpret the information on a single platform,” said Seth Cayley, vice president of global academic product at Gale. “Gale Business: Insights’ new interface was designed with extensive input from students, librarians and business professors throughout the process to ensure easy access to the desired information. The updates we have made to this platform make it an invaluable source for compiling business intelligence.”

Gale Business: Insights combines Gale reference content with respected business sources and full-text periodicals to help researchers gain a broader understanding of the global nature of today’s business world. In addition, users can access daily updates, more than 450,000 detailed company profiles, and in-depth country and industry overviews. …Read More

Riverside Insights Continues to Lead Innovation in Assessments for English Learners

ITASCA, Ill. – Riverside Insights®, a leading developer of research-based assessments and analytics, today announced the launch of the Battelle Developmental Inventory, Third Edition (BDI-3) in Spanish. This early childhood solution continues Riverside’s strong tradition of developing leading assessments to support deeper understanding of English learners (EL), who are often over- or under-identified for special learning accommodations.

“We are on a mission to elevate the potential of every learner by helping evaluators and educators understand each student’s aptitude, skills and strengths,” said Dr. Sarah Holman, a former EL teacher and bilingual evaluator who now serves as a director for Riverside Insights. “Given the unique and often overlooked challenges of English learners, Riverside Insights has focused on providing multi-dimensional, research-backed insights that help evaluators and educators differentiate between language/exposure learning barriers and academic/cognitive learning barriers to help meet students’ personalized needs.”

Through its product development and design process, Riverside Insights aims to ensure that assessments are accessible to diverse learners, especially those for whom English is not their native language. Riverside Insights offers a comprehensive suite of solutions that have powerful tools to help support English learners in their native language.…Read More

Lessons learned using edtech during COVID

In this episode of Innovations in Education, hosted by Kevin Hogan:

  • New research offers major insights into post-pandemic learning
  • In post-COVID schools, let’s redouble efforts to support students
  • Meet the 2022 K-12 Hero Awards winners!

Related:
Future strategies for today’s schools
How to ease three district pain points

…Read More

Curriculum Associates Launches Magnetic Reading™ Foundations for K–2, Expanding the Magnetic Reading Program to Support Grade-Level Success for K–5 Students

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass.—Curriculum Associates recently expanded Magnetic Reading K–5 with the launch of Magnetic Reading Foundations for Grades K–2. This new program, along with the recently released Magnetic Reading for Grades 3–5, form an intuitive, systematic approach to instruction with rich, engaging texts that draw students to the center of learning.

Magnetic Reading is built specifically and intentionally for the ages and stages of all students to ensure they get the right support succeeding as a grade-level reader: a focus on the building blocks of reading for the youngest learners and an emphasis on comprehension and gaining insight into the world for older students.

Magnetic Reading Foundations provides teachers with the resources needed to deliver explicit, systematic foundational skills instruction. Rooted in the Science of Reading, the program uses research-based routines and engaging decodable texts to support students’ reading development.…Read More

Teachers’ helper: Edtech as TA’s

In this episode of Innovations in Education, hosted by Kevin Hogan:

Related:
Running the numbers: New data on the state-of-play in education
All about the IT department: Proven strategies for success

…Read More

Growing Number of Texas School Districts Partner with ParentSquare to Unify School-Home Communications

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. SEPT. 22, 2022 — ParentSquare, continuing its momentum in partnering with Texas schools, announces over a dozen additional independent school districts (ISD) have adopted the platform to streamline communications and empower administrators and teachers to engage every student’s family. To further support Texas districts, ParentSquare is now a platinum corporate partner in the Texas Fast Growth School Coalition.

Recent ISDs to adopt the ParentSquare school-home engagement platform for K-12 include:

  • Barbers Hill ISD
  • Brenham ISD
  • Del Valle ISD
  • Huffman ISD
  • Hutto ISD
  • Midway ISD
  • New Braunfels ISD
  • Northwest ISD
  • Odem-Edroy ISD
  • Pampa ISD
  • Roma ISD
  • Stafford MSD
  • Stratford ISD
  • Transformation Waco in Waco ISD
  • United ISD
  • Waxahachie ISD

These districts join a long list of over 60 districts in the state that have already been utilizing the benefits of ParentSquare. Through these partnerships, over a quarter million Texas families are being positively impacted by the platform features in some of the fastest growing areas in the country.…Read More