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.

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

6 trends to watch in K-12 schools in 2024

This post originally appeared on the Christensen Institute’s blog and is reposted here with permission.

Key points:

As we move through the beginning of 2024, parent power, rethinking assessments, and career and technical education (CTE) for every student are some of the trends rippling through K-12 education. …Read More

Loudoun County Public Schools Offers New Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Resources for Parents and Students

SALT LAKE CITY – The Cook Center for Human Connection, a nonprofit dedicated to mental health and suicide prevention, has partnered with Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) to provide ParentGuidance.org to LCPS’ schools and families. Members of the LCPS community now have free access to a range of online mental health resources that empower families to help children thrive, including:

  • One-on-one parent coaching individualized for families;
  • Online on-demand lessons taught by licensed therapists; and
  • Live, interactive family mental health series webinars hosted by trained professionals – available in the fall of 2024;

“Talking about mental health and other concerns is the key to understanding,” says Jennifer Evans, M. Ed., LPC, Director of Student Mental Health Services at LCPS. “Through ParentGuidance.org’s parent coaching and webinars, we are aiming to help parents address important mental health and developmental topics to support their children. Parents will gain tools and strategies that will enable them to talk with their children, engage in, and normalize important conversations about mental health.”

The Cook Center’s model focuses on the protective factors for youth mental health and suicide prevention in which schools and parents play a critical role. Though only two years old, ParentGuidance.org has already been adopted by 229 districts and 3,617 schools, offering more than 2.4 million families access to services across 37 states.…Read More

Can 4 equal 5? The impact of 4-day school weeks

Each year, we share our 10 most-read stories. Not surprisingly, many of this year’s Top 10 focused on equity, edtech innovation, immersive learning, and the science of reading. This year’s 7th most-read story focuses on the possibility of four-day school weeks.

Four-day weeks are becoming more common in school districts, particularly in rural areas of the U.S. Many districts are finding students and families like the shorter school weeks. In fact, in a survey of schools with four-day week policies, 85 percent of parents and 95 percent of students said they would choose to remain on the schedule rather than switch back to a five-day week. While these shorter weeks are popular with stakeholders, might there be unintended consequences of four-day school weeks? Are there certain ways to implement the schedule that lead to better outcomes for students?

Most of what is known about these questions has come from research conducted in the last five years. My colleagues and I have studied the four-day week using quantitative and qualitative data from state departments of education, school districts, and the NWEA MAP Growth research database. These projects and other recent research on four-day weeks have shed some light on questions about the implementation and outcomes of four-day school weeks. The research analyzes qualitative and quantitative data to compare students’ experiences and outcomes on four-day and five-day school weeks. We find that there are both benefits and drawbacks to the shorter school week, and these tradeoffs can vary based on the characteristics of the school district and how they implement the four-day week in practice.…Read More

What’s next for literacy learning?

Key points:

Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia now require science-based literacy instruction to be used in public schools. As educators and parents learn more about the science of reading, two recent polls reveal the alignment and the differences between their perspectives. A survey of parents and educators across the country reveals differing perspectives on the matter.

Shared focus on teacher training…Read More

ParentSquare Acquires Remind, Expanding Options for School-Home Engagement 

Santa Barbara, CA — ParentSquare, the award-winning unified school-home engagement platform for K12 education, has acquired  Remind, a popular platform for communication and learning. 

The merger will expand ParentSquare’s current offerings with additional communication tools that reach students and families where they are and support learning wherever it happens. Millions of educators, students, parents and caregivers utilize the Remind platform to connect with the people and resources that help them teach and learn. The Remind platform is used in over 80% of public schools and by 60% of teachers in the United States.

The combined company will be known as ParentSquare, and its core business will continue to be school-home communications. ParentSquare will merge the two companies’ leadership, teams and communications platforms, preserving the best features from both sets of products and giving customers the option of adopting additional features. Remind products will keep their names. …Read More

You’re my hero

Key points:

I’ve always hated being put on the spot to answer some version of this question: “Who is your role model?  Who inspired your career?  Who is your hero?”

In my first act in life, as a television reporter, I had the opportunity to cross paths with celebrities, public figures, and just generally “important” people over the years.  And nearly every time, I was disappointed with by the experience because either the person was not as dynamic as their persona or, in some cases, was simply rude. I have a great relationship with my parents and credit them for many, many aspects of my life; one thing they taught me was hero status is a high bar because we’re all fallible humans.…Read More

Why diversity and STEM education are critical to our future workforce

Key points:

STEM allow us to push the boundaries of innovation, enabling people to step foot on the moon, develop lifesaving health care, and advance clean forms of energy. We also have STEM to thank for how we live, from asking our smartphone’s voice assistant to play our favorite music to connecting with our parents on a video call.

Each year, we dedicate November 8, National STEM Day to encouraging students to explore and pursue their interests in STEM fields of study that propel our world forward.…Read More

Teacher shortages are worrying the majority of K-12 parents

Key points:

As the school year begins, an increasing share of U.S. parents are concerned about their children’s education and experience at school. More than half of parents (56 percent) say they are concerned that teachers are burned out to the point that teacher shortages will adversely affect their child’s education, according to the 2023 Back-to-School Study from Qualtrics.

Additionally, 45 percent expect to transport their children to school more often than in previous years because of bus driver shortages. Amid a national teacher shortage, 65 percent of parents report being concerned about their school’s ability to provide qualified educators.…Read More

How to start solving your school bullying problem

Key points:

Student bullying is a nationwide problem. Parents are outraged and demand that school administrators evaluate their campus security protocols to keep all students alive and safe.

A southern California school district agreed to pay $27 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a 13-year-old boy who died after he was assaulted at school. On Sept. 16, 2019, two 14-year-old boys were videotaped attacking the victim outside classrooms at the school. One boy struck the teenager in the head from behind and he fell, hitting his head against a pillar. The boys then continued punching the boy, who died nine days later from a brain injury.…Read More

Most Parents Think Teachers Are Fully Prepared to Deliver Science of Reading-Aligned Instruction; Educators Are Less Optimistic

BOSTON – A national survey of over 800 U.S. parents[1] commissioned by  Lexia, a part of   Cambium  Learning Group, and conducted online by The Harris Poll, found that just over half (51%) of parents strongly agree that their children’s teachers are properly trained in the science of reading. However, Lexia’s own nationwide survey of educators[2] found that only 27% of educators felt the same. 

“Understanding what parents are likely thinking about their child’s school and its faculty is valuable for school and district administrators,” said Lexia President, Nick Gaehde. “And when it comes to the science of reading, the disconnect between parents’ perception of teachers’ readiness and teachers’ feelings of preparedness is rather extreme. Only when we become aware of a situation, can we then move forward with a solution.” 

The term “science of reading” refers to decades of research in fields such as cognitive science, linguistics, and neuroscience that identify best practices for reading instruction. Structured Literacy is the approach that applies the research of science of reading and includes components such as phonics, building vocabulary and comprehension.…Read More