Hyperconnected Schools Expand Learning Opportunities
At the district and the school level, it’s critical to ensure faculty and staff possess the digital literacy needed to effectively use technology device investments effectively, according to an article in EdTech. “One of the biggest challenges is helping people understand the potential of the technology and integrating it into the daily workflow in a way that…
Student Ownership & Control Accelerate Learning
Students want to feel ownership and control of their learning, according to the American Institutes for Research. Among the findings: Students who believe their knowledge increases over time produce better IQ test results. A growth mindset is important to master content. Mastery of content is preferred to studying for a test score or course grade. …
Technology Takes Learning Outside of School Walls
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, slightly less than half (49 percent) of schools implemented one-to-one technology device programs, according to a 2019 survey by OverDrive Education and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, as reported in EdTech. But the use of technology has quickly grown. By 2022, about 90 percent of middle and high schools…
Alaska Schools Innovate to Beat the Weather
Alaska’s Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District recognized the positive impact of technology and remote learning on students’ learning prior to the pandemic, according to an article in EdTech. The district is larger than Scotland and has 19,000 students. It faces a variety of disruptions particular to Alaska’s climate and culture. Harsh weather frequently prevents students from traveling long…
Reading Emphasis Helps States Exceed Pre-Pandemic Performance
In 2019, Westcliffe Elementary in Greenville, South Carolina, received troubling news: It was one of 265 schools in the state where more than a third of third graders failed to meet literacy standards, according to an article in The 74 newsletter. Teachers in those schools received two years of training in what’s known as the…
Nature Helps Social Emotional Learning
Observing the natural world in school open spaces shapes students’ skills like patience and self-regulation, according to K-12 Dive. Regular time spent outdoors helps elementary school students develop social-emotional learning (SEL) skills such as patience and self-regulation — and lead to an understanding that learning is a process that doesn’t always bring immediate results, according to the…
Detroit Schools’ Multilayered Effort to Reduce Absenteeism
After missing four days of classes last fall at Gompers Elementary-Middle School, Jay’Sean Hull was called into the cafeteria with 100 other students with similar attendance records, according to a report in Chalkbeat Detroit. The group was introduced to attendance agent Effie Harris, a key figure in the school’s efforts to improve on a dismal statistic….
Teacher Shortage Revives “Zoom-in-a-Room”
Online instruction in school has for years linked students to subjects they otherwise couldn’t take, such as A.P. Calculus or Latin. But districts are increasingly using online technology platforms to teach core subjects – a consequence of the ongoing shortage of teachers, according to a report posted by The 74. More than 40 percent of the…
Want to Fix Bad Behavior? Stop Punishing Students
Bad student behavior “continues to escalate,” said Matt Cretsinger, director of special services for the Marshalltown Community School District, in an article in Education Next. “There are more behavioral needs than we’ve ever seen… it’s a shock to teachers.” The numbers tell the story. “We’re suspending kids like there’s no tomorrow; we’re giving detentions even more…
ChatGPT Is Omnipresent In One District – Here’s What It Looks Like
ChatGPT has found a home in the Wichita district in Kansas, according to an article in Education Week. The district has integrated artificial intelligence technology into almost every aspect of daily life. The 50,000-student district embraced the new technology soon after it was introduced last year. And the district has no plans on stopping. Rob Dickson,…
