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.

BookNook Appoints Seasoned Education Industry Leader Brad Baumgartner as Chief Executive Officer

SAN FRANCISCO (PRWEB) — BookNook, a leading provider of effective high-impact literacy and tutoring solutions for schools and students, today announced the appointment of  Brad Baumgartner as Chief Executive Officer. Baumgartner will draw from his more than two decades of experience as a leader in the education industry to drive a new chapter of strategic growth for BookNook. Former CEO and BookNook founder Michael Lombardo will transition to Chairman of the Board of Directors.

“I am honored to be afforded the opportunity to lead this amazing organization and will continue prioritizing the mission while living our values and strategically growing the company,” Baumgartner said. “Tutoring should be available to every learner in need of additional support, and BookNook is uniquely positioned to deliver on the vast potential of remote tutoring.”

Before joining BookNook, Baumgartner served in various leadership roles in the education industry. He has been integral to the growth of successful education companies, such as Learnosity, Questar Assessment and ConnectEDU. Baumgartner’s background in domestic and international markets, combined with his focus on revenue growth and scalable business operations, will enable BookNook to expand its reach, increase its market penetration and achieve greater scale. Baumgartner will lead the company in its next chapter dedicated to its mission of ensuring equitable access to rigorous and engaging instruction through technology innovation.…Read More

FEV Tutor Names Two New Executive Leadership Team Members

WOBURN, Mass. – FEV Tutor, the market-leading provider of the most comprehensive virtual tutoring solution in K-12, recently announced the addition of two executives to its senior leadership team. The company has named Abhinav Ramani as chief operating officer and Aaron Osmond as chief growth officer.

Before joining FEV Tutor, Ramani oversaw regional operations for the health care provider DaVita (DVA) Kidney Care. In west Los Angeles, he led a team of managers in implementing change management and process innovation measures across 10 clinics, improving their overall outcomes until they ranked among the top 25% of clinics across the enterprise. Next, Ramani worked as a DVA group regional operations director in the state of Washington, leading three regional directors in overseeing 36 clinics in Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle. There, he increased net revenue by over $1 million. Ramani holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Osmond has approximately 30 years of experience in K-12 education. Most recently, he held several business development leadership positions at Amazon Web Services. He first served as the western regional lead for the company’s Education to Workforce Team program and then led the program’s U.S. business development and program management team. After that, Osmond was promoted to global lead for the AWS Training and Certification team.…Read More

5 ways virtual tutoring reinforces our after-school program

We’ve been working to reinforce and reinvigorate our after-school program with the goal of reaching more students who need it. Staffing shortages and not enough hours in the day have made it difficult for us to achieve this goal, but when we started using the FEV Tutor live, 1:1 virtual tutoring platform we realized that we had discovered the missing piece of our puzzle.

At the time, we were really ramping up our summer program and trying to create as much programming as possible for it beforehand. One of the sites integrated the virtual tutoring into its program for four weeks and we received good feedback from the staff, teachers, and students.

We took those results and ran with them, rolling the online tutoring platform out across all 21 of our school sites with a goal of reaching about 2,500 students in grades 3-8. We offer the tutoring in 45-minute, dedicated blocks of time and alternate between math and reading.…Read More

TutorMe Partners With West Virginia School District to Provide One-on-One, Individualized Tutoring Support

LOS ANGELES (PRWEB) — TutorMe, an online tutoring solution creating access and opportunity for all students, today announced a partnership with  Roane County Schools in Roane County, West Virginia. This partnership provides all K–12 students in the district with one-on-one, individualized tutoring support this school year.

High-impact tutoring is one of the most-studied and  effective educational interventions. Through the partnership with TutorMe, students can now work one-on-one with high-quality tutors, 24/7, when it works best for them—whether that’s before school, after school, or even on weekends. TutorMe enables meaningful connections students need to learn and thrive, creating better learning outcomes for the entire school community.

“We are excited to partner with TutorMe and provide our students an additional avenue for growth,” said Richard Duncan, Superintendent at Roane County Schools. “Our goal is to provide equal opportunities for our students to grow as learners. The around-the-clock access to high-impact tutoring through TutorMe ensures each one of our students receives the personalized support they need to build their confidence and knowledge in reading, math, and other subjects—no matter their personal schedules or transportation situations.”…Read More

FEV Tutor Students Achieve Higher Growth Scores in ELA and Math on NWEA MAP Growth, STAR, and i-Ready Assessments

BOSTON, Mass. – Aug. 18, 2022 – Fifty-six percent of U.S. public schools are using high-dosage tutoring to support learning recovery, thanks to funding from the American Rescue Plan. But is it working? New research from FEV Tutor shows that live 1:1 tutoring with a subject matter expert can help students progress and close achievement gaps.

During the 2021-22 school year, students who participated in recommended dosages of tutoring with FEV Tutor, a comprehensive, research-based, virtual tutoring solution for K-12 schools, achieved higher growth relative to non-participants in English language arts (ELA) and math on the NWEA MAP Growth, Renaissance STAR 360, and i-Ready assessments.

The growth and impact analysis, which was conducted by independent researchers from JoinIn Ventures, examined fall 2021 and spring 2022 assessment results for nearly 40,000 students from more than 20 states. The data showed that students who participated in 21 or more online tutoring sessions with FEV Tutor showed greater improvements in ELA and math relative to their peers. The results also showed that the students who were the furthest behind benefitted the most.…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

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IXL Learning Agrees to Acquire Wyzant Tutoring Marketplace

IXL Learning, the K-12 personalized learning platform used by 11 million students, today announced it has agreed to acquire Wyzant, the nation’s largest marketplace for online tutoring. The addition of the Chicago-based company will expand IXL’s capacity to address the needs of all students with personalized, one-on-one mentoring. 

Founded in 2005, Wyzant offers an expansive digital network of more than 65,000 tutors from a broad spectrum of academic and professional fields. Wyzant seamlessly connects students to the perfect tutor for online or in-person lessons geared toward their unique needs. Wyzant tutors serve learners of all ages and backgrounds, offering in-depth guidance on topics including English, language arts, physics, calculus, coding, LSAT test prep, music and more. 

“Wyzant expertly brings together students and world-class instructors. We’re excited to welcome Wyzant’s talented team to IXL and build a strong partnership rooted in a love of learning,” said Paul Mishkin, CEO of IXL.  …Read More

Virtual Tutoring and Mentoring

Grow Your World (GYW) has transitioned its services from in-person to virtual in the midst of social distancing measures required by COVID-19. This virtual transition enables GYW to provide tutoring and mentoring services to middle school students, as well as tutoring to elementary schoolers, throughout the U.S.

Youths participating in GYW can choose any combination of weekly tutoring sessions in standard academic subjects, while also exploring non-traditional programs such as goal management skills, mindfulness and stress reduction skills, community service, arts and crafts, and identity caucuses. All programs are pay-what-you-can and design-your-own-schedule.

GYW has recruited twenty students from UNC Chapel Hill to serve as tutors and mentors for these youths in the areas of their expertise. Services are provided in both English and Spanish. Enrollment is now open.…Read More