Teachers using technology report stronger connections, community with students

Educators who use technology as part of their teaching practice report that they are more aware of their students’ individual needs (61 percent) and more likely to be leveraging technology purposely to tailor learning for their students (61 percent), according to results from a national survey from education nonprofit Gradient Learning.

What’s more, teachers using technology are more than twice as likely to report that they spend more one-on-one time with their students.

Teachers using digital learning tools are more likely than teachers on average nationwide to see a stronger connection between the effective use of technology and positive changes in their instructional practice. …Read More

How to make project-based learning a reality

One of the many reasons I love working for Van Andel Institute for Education is that I get to be a teacher Fairy Godmother. Teaching is an important but difficult job, and sometimes educators can get stuck on a specific need for their classroom. Maybe it’s finding the perfect resource for a lesson or connecting certain content to a project idea.

Whatever the situation calls for, my colleagues and I love to swoop in and help make their dreams a reality. But every Fairy Godmother needs a magic wand to work her wonders, and for my part, there’s no better resource to meet teacher needs than project-based learning.

What is project-based learning, anyway?    …Read More

With Rising Concerns About Dyslexia in Young Learners, Riverside Insights Introduces First-of-its Kind Playbook to Streamline Evaluations

ITASCA, Ill. – Riverside Insights®, a leading developer of research-based assessments and analytics, today debuted a new Assessment Playbook focused on streamlining the evaluation of dyslexia, the most common learning disability, affecting 20% of the population. The new playbook makes assessments more effective and efficient by providing a recommended process for selective testing and a specific test list for querying the most salient features of dyslexia.

“The pandemic disrupted teaching and learning, and has led to a dramatic increase in the number of students who are referred for dyslexia evaluations by their teachers and/or parents. Consequently, evaluators must determine if a student’s reading difficulties are primarily a reflection of this disruption or an indication of a true reading disability,” said dyslexia expert Dr. Nancy Mather, a professor in the  College of Education, Department of Disability and Psychoeducational Studies at the University of Arizona. “To address this issue and the increase in assessment referrals, evaluators need effective and efficient assessment tools to ensure that all students are accurately identified and get the help they need. In this way, children can be provided with systematic interventions prior to experiencing chronic reading difficulties.”

In the 2021-2022 school year, more than 20 states including California, Florida, Texas and Connecticut updated their dyslexia legislation, passing new codes and statutes to support more effective identification and intervention practices to address the increasing dyslexia referrals.…Read More

Educator retention hinges on these 3 things

Confidence in the education profession has dropped for the second year in a row, according to the 2022 Educator Confidence Report from learning technology company HMH. An annual barometer for how educators across the country are feeling about the state of teaching and learning, the report found that 76 percent of educators feel negatively about the state of the teaching profession in the U.S.

The Educator Confidence Index, a measure of overall confidence (out of 100), continues to drop and now sits at 40.0—its lowest in the report’s history—down from 42.7 in 2021 and 49.0 in 2020.

According to HMH’s research, which surveyed more than 1,000 K-12 classroom teachers and 125+ administrators, educator retention hinges on immediate needs more than long-term developments, including improved salary and benefits, support for educator well-being and adequate funding for the classroom. Conducted between May and June in partnership with MarketCast, the report revealed three major themes for achieving success in the future: Connection, Community and Customization.…Read More

RedCritter Launches CritterCoin, the First EdTech Solution to Leverage NFTs

Lewisville, Tex. (July, 2022) RedCritter, the powerhouse K–20 technology innovator, today introduced CritterCoin, a free Houses System with Rewards Store for implementing Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) in schools and classrooms.

Available free of charge for students and teachers, CritterCoin was launched in early 2022 to help teachers tap into the power of positive encouragement for learners of all ages—without interrupting the flow of teaching or creating additional paperwork. CritterCoin’s powerful motivational rewards for students include digital coins and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). A popular new type of digital collectible, NFTs are typically digital artworks of varying rarity, stored permanently on public blockchains such as Avalanche or Ethereum.

“We’re proud to be the first to offer digital collectible coins and NFTs to incentivize positive behavior,” said Mike Beaty, CEO of RedCritter. “Over the past decade, RedCritter has developed 24 edtech patents to serve the needs of our community of educators. Our mission with CritterCoin is to use these exciting new technologies to give those educators a free and easy way to encourage positive classroom behavior and school values.”…Read More

The best ways to approach high-impact tutoring

What do we even mean when we say “high-impact tutoring?” As schools grapple with so many of the effects of unfinished learning, tutoring has emerged as a potential approach for addressing students’ educational needs.

“High-impact tutoring” is defined by the National Student Support Accelerator as a form of teaching 1:1 or in a small group toward a very specific goal. It is a form of tutoring that leads to substantial learning gains for students by supplementing, but not replacing, students’ classroom experiences and it’s intended to respond to individual students’ needs by complementing what they’re learning in the classroom.

High-impact tutoring is not just homework help, nor is it just test prep, so there is key differentiation between it and what most people conceptualize “tutoring” to be. It’s an intentional, multifaceted program that’s geared toward accelerating student learning. High-impact tutoring is not intended to solely focus on remedial skills; it’s about addressing the skills that are necessary for the student to make progress and advance to those instructional next steps.…Read More