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.

Long Island, NY School District Addresses Youth Mental Health Crisis With Opening of New Wellness Center

Baldwin, NY – Youth mental health is a crisis nationwide. Many are struggling to manage the stress and complications of everyday life. Studies show that students who are healthy both physically and mentally are more likely to excel in all aspects of academic achievement, including academic performance, education behavior, and cognitive skills and attitudes.

As a part of an ongoing initiative to enhance the health and wellness resources available to its students and families, the Baldwin Union Free School District (UFSD) is proud to launch the Baldwin Schools Wellness Center and to be among the first school districts in the nation to establish such a resource directly on campus at no cost to families.

In partnership with PM Pediatric Care and located at the Baldwin Middle School, the Baldwin Schools Wellness Center provides immediate access to behavioral health care and resources dedicated to mental wellness for students from elementary through high school, with convenient and flexible hours during and after school. This innovative, collaborative approach to connected care is key to supporting students’ whole health needs while optimizing their learning experiences.…Read More

How edtech is transforming bilingual education in the U.S.

Key points:

Millions of students within the United States public school system are non-native English speakers. As this figure continues to grow year over year, true bilingual education is becoming more vital to equitably support student success.

How do we ensure students achieve proficiency with the English language while receiving a rich and comprehensive education? One that affirms and celebrates their identities and helps them learn about and understand others?…Read More

AI-Enabled Personal Professional Learning MicroGrant Announced Targets Teachers and Coaches (K-6)

North Carolina based QoreInsights announced today the launch of a MicroGrant program where they will award three schools with free site wide licenses for unlimited use of their AI-enabled personalized professional learning platform, The Classroom Education Plan© (CEP). The granted award will begin in fall 2024 and extend until the end of the 2025 school year. It includes support for on-boarding and professional learning to ensure the success of the initiative. The total approximate value of the three awards is over $30,000.

The Classroom Education Plan© (CEP) supports teachers and coaches helping them to improve their core instructional practice. CEP uses a job-embedded professional learning approach, coach-support that utilizes AI to guide
every teacher to targeted evidence-based instructional strategies, tracks impact, and enables real-time insights into student progress and well-being. “Millions of educators across the nation echo the same need: to provide teachers with high-quality professional learning that translates to measurable improvement in student achievement, engagement, and well-being,” said Dr. Toni Shub, Founder and CEO of QoreInsights. “We developed CEP to create equity for both teacher and student learning. CEP uses learning engineering and a decision support system to equitably guide every teacher to the most impactful evidence-based instructional methods for their specific classroom to address whole-child student needs, including feelings of safety and internalizing behaviors.”

Three elementary schools will be selected to become QorePremium Partners and will receive CEP licenses for all general education K-6 teachers at the awarded sites (administrators and coaches are free). Schools will be able to award teachers up
to 36 job-embedded continuing education credits!…Read More

The National Center on Intensive Intervention Adds Classworks® Evidence-Based Reading Intervention to Academic Interventions Tools Chart

Classworks®, an award-winning special education and tiered intervention platform, is validated by the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII) as an evidence-based reading intervention. The best-in-class program is listed on the  Academic Intervention Tools Chart and joins Classworks Universal Screener and Progress Monitoring in the company’s highly rated, NCII-validated offerings.

“We are excited to see Classworks Reading Intervention added to our portfolio of NCII-validated resources. For 20 years, districts across the country have used Classworks individualized interventions as an essential component of their DBI processes with  tremendous results,” says Melissa Sinunu, Classworks president and chief operating officer. “The recent focus on literacy across the country makes it more important than ever for districts to have access to evidence-based, impactful reading resources. We are proud that Classworks meets NCII’s rigorous technical standards for inclusion.”

NCII is a nationally recognized organization whose mission is to “support the implementation of intensive intervention for students with severe and persistent learning and social, emotional, or behavioral needs using data-based individualization (DBI).” For the Academic Intervention Tool review, NCII’s Technical Review Committee examined study quality and design, psychometric reliability of study measures, and outcome measures, among other qualifications. Classworks Reading Intervention received convincing and partially convincing evidence in the categories of Study Design, Participants, and Broader Measures.…Read More

Reflecting on the Parkland tragedy, its lasting impacts, and work still to be done

Written by Jen Easterly, Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

Last month marks six years since 17 students and faculty senselessly lost their lives and 17 others were injured when a mass murderer entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and started shooting. Since that horrific day, 124 more Americans have been killed and 331 injured on campuses across the country in 189 separate school shootings—almost 3 shootings a month since Parkland. This is simply unacceptable, and it must stop.

Last month, I joined Education Secretary Cardona to not only remember, but also to walk in the shoes of those who lost their lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School building 1200. I had the privilege of talking with the parents of Alex Schachter, Gina Montalto, Luke Hoyer, Jaime Guttenberg, and Alyssa Alhadeff, beautiful students with the brightest of futures ahead of them, and Debbi Hixon, the wife of Athletic Director Chris Hixon, who gave his life rushing into the building to save hundreds of students that day.…Read More

Missouri Makes the Most of Student Data

Last week, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), in partnership with SAS, launched the Missouri Data Visualization Tool (MO DVT), a web-based application that offers easy-to-use reports and analysis on academic performance, including achievement and growth data aggregated by subject, year, and grade. MO DVT was created in response to stakeholder questions about interpreting and using Missouri Growth Model data.

I was able to get into the weeds with Missouri Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven & Dr. John White, VP of SAS Education Visualization and Analytics Solutions (EVAAS) to discuss the genesis and strategic goals of the MO DVT, the integration with Missouri’s broader educational strategies, and how quality data is improving decision-making in Missouri schools.

According to both Margie and John, the tool allows educators to access longitudinal data on student performance, track progress over time, and identify areas for improvement. It provides insights at both individual student and group levels, enabling teachers to tailor instruction to meet diverse student needs. Additionally, it supports decision-making at the policy level by analyzing academic impacts, such as the effectiveness of a four-day school week.…Read More

ParentSquare Named to the 2024 GSV 150: The Top Growth Companies in Digital Learning & Workforce Skills

Santa Barbara, CA —  ParentSquare, the award-winning unified school-home engagement platform for K12 education, has been named to the 2024 edition of the GSV 150: GSV’s annual list of the top 150 private companies transforming digital learning and workforce skills.

The GSV 150 are VC- and PE-backed private companies experiencing top-line growth with minimum double-digit millions in revenue. The 2040 cohort collectively reaches ~3B people and generates ~$23B in revenue. GSV made the selections by evaluating over 2,000 private companies across five key factors — revenue scale, revenue growth, user reach, geographic diversification, and margin profile, to determine the top 150 companies globally.

“We are gratified to have been counted among the world’s most transformational growth companies in digital learning and workforce upskilling,” ParentSquare President and Founder Anupama Vaid said. “This recognition is a testament to our mission of developing industry-leading technologies that bridge school-home communication gaps. From groundbreaking AI integrations to new seamless communication tools, we remain focused on helping schools foster family engagement now and well into the future.”…Read More

5 things you need to know about the science of reading

Key points:

While high-quality literacy instruction has remained a cornerstone of education leaders’ priorities, this year, the science of reading has dominated classrooms and discussions around instructional strategies.

In short, according to the National Center on Improving Literacy, the science of reading is “research, over time, from multiple fields of study using methods that confirm and disconfirm theories on how children best learn to read.”…Read More

The journey to digital sustainability: A CIO’s perspective

Key points:

I recently had the privilege of co-presenting a session on digital sustainability with UDT at FETC this past January. Meeting with other education technology and instructional leaders affirmed how multi-faceted and critical digital sustainability is for school districts right now.

My unique path to serving as Chief Information Officer for Orange County Public Schools has enabled me to experience our district’s digital transformation from multiple perspectives. I began at OCPS as a first-grade teacher before joining the district’s teaching and learning team, where I helped plan our five-year 1:1 device rollout for 280k students. In August 2023, I transitioned from teaching and learning to IT.…Read More

First-in-the-Nation Artificial Intelligence Framework for District Leaders

The ILO Group this week announced the release of its Framework for Implementing Artificial Intelligence in K-12 Education–a first-of-its-kind AI framework for school district and state education leaders–providing them with the tools, resources, and research-basis to thoughtfully embrace this game-changing technology.

The Framework for Implementing Artificial Intelligence in K-12 Education provides district and state leaders with a roadmap for understanding AI’s potential benefits, addressing associated challenges, and making well-informed decisions about implementation.

“AI is reshaping education as we know it. This isn’t about the future, it’s about the now” said Dr. Julia Rafal-Baer, ILO Group CEO. “Until now, district and state leaders have been without the comprehensive guidance they need to navigate AI’s complexities and have up until this point found piecemeal solutions and ad hoc tools. No more. Our Framework changes that. It provides strategic direction, real-world use cases, and department-specific applications. It’s also been stress-tested with input from a national working group of state and district superintendents. Our goal is to empower leaders with the knowledge they need to make informed, impactful decisions that will shape the future of learning.”…Read More

K-12 schools aren’t ready for AI’s risks or benefits

Key points:

Almost all school superintendents (97 percent) say that schools have an obligation to teach students how to use AI effectively and responsibly. Still, only 37 percent have a plan for incorporating AI instruction in the classroom, according to the 2024 Voice of the Superintendent Survey released by education company EAB at the School Superintendent Association (AASA) National Conference on Education.

Eighty-four percent say teachers in their districts are concerned about students using generative AI to cheat and take shortcuts.…Read More