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.

U.S. Senate and White House Honor ‘National Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Week’ with Bipartisan Resolution, Presidential Letter

CHICAGO – This week, the U.S. Senate introduced a bipartisan resolution designating March 4-8, 2024 as ‘‘National Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Week’’ to recognize the critical role SEL plays in supporting the academic success and overall well-being of students, educators, and families. The resolution was introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and Susan Collins (R-ME). 

President Joe Biden also recognized “National SEL Week” in a letter this week underscoring the importance of SEL to support the academic, social, emotional, and mental well-being of students that were a critical part of the Biden Administration’s two signature legislative achievements—the American Rescue Plan Act and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. 

This second annual “National SEL Week” comes at a critical time for students’ academic recovery and social and emotional development. With COVID-relief funds ending, education leaders are increasingly seeking sound, evidence-based investments in students’ learning and development. …Read More

Friday 5: Online learning’s evolution

Key points:

Online learning has limitless potential for students and teachers, offering the ability to learn from any location and at all times of the day. Let’s take a look at some of the latest online learning trends:

Is online learning really effective?

The short answer: Yes. Flexible, hybrid learning is key to student success. Schools should reimagine the learning processes and leverage in-person and hybrid learning to help students achieve the best possible results. The potential for innovation and student engagement are only scratching the surface when it comes to the advantages of online learning. Having many new, effective tools in educators’ toolboxes, it’s time to cast aside conventional processes and rethink the way we provide services to, and support, our students. Take the first steps toward this innovation.…Read More

Enhancing classroom learning with interactive maps 

Key points:

As most teachers will tell you, in the post-Covid world, technology is an everyday part of education. It has undeniably transformed the way educators engage students and deliver content.

As an educator with 10 years of experience teaching in diverse settings in the United States and abroad, interactive maps have become a staple in my lessons. While primarily a geography resource, interactive maps can be used across various subjects within the social studies domain. Teachers can integrate maps into lessons related to history, cultural studies, and geopolitics. These maps go beyond traditional static maps, allowing students to investigate, evaluate, and engage with spatial information.  …Read More

The exposure gap is blocking students’ ability to envision future careers

Key points:

Students have the aptitudes (or natural talents) for the nation’s most in-demand career fields –including healthcare, manufacturing, technology, and finance– but they are not inclined to pursue those occupations due to a profound lack of exposure, according to The 2024 State of the Future U.S. Workforce Report from tech provider YouScience, which aims to solve the skills gap crisis for students and employers.

The report includes analysis of anonymized data from more than 540,000 YouScience Aptitude & Career Discovery assessments completed by U.S. middle and high school students across all 50 states in 2023.…Read More

SchoolStatus Announces Acquisition of SchoolNow, Enhancing Its Communication Capabilities for K-12 Schools

Ridgeland, Mississippi – SchoolStatus, a leader in K-12 data-driven solutions that empower student success, today announced the acquisition of  SchoolNow, a unified digital publishing platform for K-12 that streamlines how schools engage families and their communities.

SchoolNow combines ADA-compliant websites, mobile apps, social media, text, voice, and email into an all-in-one system created to broaden and deepen the school experience with families. Through this acquisition, SchoolStatus will be able to integrate SchoolNow’s comprehensive communication capabilities into its student success platform designed for K-12 educators and leaders. Users of the SchoolStatus platform will be able to easily create and update their website—the most important owned communication asset for districts. 

“SchoolNow is an excellent addition to our recently launched student success platform, SchoolStatus, as both companies share the common goal of solving schools’ biggest challenges in communication and making it easier for schools to connect and engage with families,” said Russ Davis, CEO and founder of SchoolStatus. “Integrating SchoolNow’s technology will further allow SchoolStatus to offer our district partners the leading solutions for improving student achievement and attendance—delivering another piece of the puzzle.”…Read More

Agency and self-direction: Giving students a voice

Key points:

Social-emotional skills are fundamental for success in school and in life. But how can we ensure that all students learn these valuable lessons so they can have positive relationships with each other, support one another and make good decisions?

Empowering students to take charge of their own social-emotional development through self-directed learning and assessment can pave the way for better relationships, improved well-being and enhanced academic achievements. For this to be effective, students must have  a voice in their social-emotional skill development, enabling them to reflect on their skills, leverage their strengths, recognize opportunities for growth, and identify their support systems. …Read More

Ed Tech Company SuperDville Awards Over $25,000 In Microgrants!

NEW YORK, NY – SuperDville is proud to announce the winners of it’s first  SEL for Students who Learn Differently Microgrant 2023. SuperDville is a mission driven woman and minority owned and operated company which produces a video based social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum designed to empower 7-13-year-olds with learning differences. www.superdville.com 

“The response was incredible. Everyone demonstrated a true need and presented creative ways to support or rethink their approach to social emotional learning.” “We received so many thoughtful entries that we couldn’t select just five awards, “so we ended up providing seven full site licenses!” “This is not a nice to have instruction, SuperDville is an absolute must-have instruction, which targets the one-in-five student with dyslexia or other learning differences. .”SuperDville CEO Peggy Stern said. 

The entries all demonstrated great promise for transforming the teaching and learning community in schools, which have been hit so hard throughout the pandemic. …Read More

How to teach conflict resolution in high school ELA, social studies classes

Key points:

I agree with you, Mr. Arthur Miller, “the woods are burning” indeed.  America’s current political climate seems like a blazing forest fire of disagreement.  We are unable to see each other through the smoke of our confirmation biases, and unable to hear each other over the crackling whirling flames in our self-created echo chambers.  As educators, we should all work together to help lead our country through this self-destructive conflagration. Teaching various methods for conflict resolution to our students might be one prescription public schools could employ for this monumental challenge. 

Aside from the obvious classroom management benefits of teaching conflict resolution to students, children would also develop better interpersonal relationships outside of the classroom.  Perhaps, eventually, our democracy could improve too?…Read More

How 5 educators approach SEL

Key points:

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is an integral part of today’s schools. Through SEL, students learn how to manage and regulate their emotions, identify and work through tough feelings, and serves as a foundation that supports students’ personal and academic achievements.

There are many resources to guide SEL implementations in districts and schools (CASEL is a great place to start). Here’s a look at how five educators are approaching SEL integration in their districts, schools, and classrooms.…Read More

How data empowers our district to align teaching with student needs

Key points:

Everyone had that favorite teacher; the one who inspired your confidence to succeed or fostered love of a certain subject. For me it was Ms. Pierre, my high school English teacher who embodied social-emotional mastery before there was such a thing. Her balanced approach of rigor and care created a nurturing environment where I felt supported. She tapped into my untapped potential, fostering a profound sense of self-belief and cultivating my passion for learning.

I often think about how our students’ futures would be different if more teachers were able to have such a connection with individual students, like I had with Ms. Pierre. Now I can make this a reality as district administrator for social emotional learning (SEL) for the Windsor Public Schools. Windsor puts a premium on SEL, hiring dedicated resources to support students and teachers, and transforming the educational experience with data.…Read More

The secret to good teaching? Teamwork

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.

Twelve years ago, when I left a career as a lawyer to become a history teacher, my vision of what a “good teacher” looked like was shaped in part by movies, such as “Stand and Deliver” and “To Sir, With Love,” which depict teachers who overcome institutional dysfunction to connect with students and inspire them to achieve their potential.

Watching “To Sir, With Love” was even a course requirement in my teacher residency program. It was with great trepidation — knowing that I could not live up to this model but wanting to do my best — that I took my job teaching social studies at a small public high school in the Bronx.…Read More

CASEL Announces 2023 Social and Emotional Learning Leaders of the Year (SELLY) Awards

CHICAGO – CASEL announced the recipients of the 2023 SELLY Awards, honoring outstanding achievements of seven “Social and Emotional Learning Leaders of the Year” in the categories of research, practice, and public policy. The annual awards recognize individuals whose body of work and commitment to social and emotional learning (SEL) have advanced the field and paved the way for others.

“The social and emotional learning movement is built by people who have spent their time, energy, and passion working together to create optimal outcomes for students. These awards pay tribute to pioneering SEL leaders and honor today’s education innovators dedicated to enhancing the lives of youth across the nation,” said CASEL President and CEO, Dr. Aaliyah A. Samuel. 

This year, CASEL recognizes seven individuals: …Read More