VOLUME 38 / NUMBER 3
TECHLEARNING.COM
IDEAS AND TOOLS FOR ED TECH LEADERS
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HOW SCHOOLS TURN DATA INTO KNOWLEDGE SEE PAGE 32
To see more Tech & Learning scan the code or visit us online at: www.techlearning. com/oct17
NEW K-12 AUDIO SYSTEMS See page 42 for more.
TIME FOR A NEW CORE CURRICULUM See page 18 for more.
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THE MORE YOU READ, THE MORE YOU’LL KNOW: ELA SOLUTIONS ROUNDUP
By Tara Smith Which reading solution will best support your students and teachers so everyone can be reading on or above grade level by June? Here are some recommendations, best practices, and creative ideas from teachers, librarians, and administrators.
32 QUICK THINKING: HOW SCHOOLS TURN DATA INTO KNOWLEDGE
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By Ellen Ullman Take a look at how these schools analyzed data to work on everything from attendance to social emotional learning.
36 HOW CAN IT AND CURRICULUM WORK BETTER TOGETHER?
An excerpt from the T&L Leader Newsletter; read more at www.tech-learning-leader.com For this roundtable, T&L spoke with some IT leaders and—to keep us truthful—we invited a curriculum leader to share her experiences, too. We hope you’ll learn from their insights.
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PRODUCTS
40 NEW K-12 AUDIO SYSTEMS 42 WHAT’S NEW: NEW TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS
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DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS 4 EDITORS DESK: THE DEAL WITH DATA 6 TRENDING
Scan here to access the digital edition, which includes additional resources.
16 BIG IDEAS: IT’S TIME FOR A NEW CORE CURRICULUM; INCLUDING ALL VOICES IN STEM; WHY DO WE BUY?; HOW TO INTRODUCE GAMIFICATION (OR ANYTHING NEW, REALLY) Tech & Learning (ISSN-1053-6728) (USPS 695-590) is published monthly (except July and December) by NewBay Media, LLC 28 East 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10016 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Tech & Learning, PO Box 8746, Lowell, MA 01853 Periodicals Postage Paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Copyright ©2017 NewBay Media, LLC All Rights Reserved.
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EDITOR’S
note OCTOBER 2017
THE DEAL WITH DATA
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alk about a touchy subject. Mention data and its use in education and be ready for some long conversations: Student privacy! Teaching is an art, not a science! Kids are people, not numbers! The topic can get complicated, too. An essay summarizing the recent EdTech Efficacy Research Symposium puts it as succinctly as possible. The symposium was a gathering of 275 researchers, teachers, entrepreneurs, professors, administrators, and philanthropists, who discussed the role efficacy research should play in guiding the development and implementation of education technologies: “Data can provide strong, real-time signals that advance productivity through, for example, predictive analytics, personalized learning, curriculum curating and delivery, and enabling the direct investigation into educational practices that work in specific contexts. The challenge is how to control and channel the deluge of bytes and information streaming from the estimated $25.4 billion K-16 education technology industry.” (For the full essay, go to http://bit.ly/2xtxr7b). Ellen Ullman does a superb job of breaking down data’s role in schools even further (No DATA CAN PROVIDE Problem!, page 32). Want to find a way to manage STRONG, REALstudent feedback? Read how Spring (TX) TIME SIGNALS ... THE Independent School District does it. How about CHALLENGE IS HOW TO finding ways to boost attendance? Check out the successful strategies employed by Oakland High CONTROL AND CHANNEL School in Oregon. North Branch (MN) Area THE DELUGE OF BYTES Public Schools can even show you how to pass a AND INFORMATION referendum. STREAMING FROM Data in schools doesn’t have to be a THE ESTIMATED $25.4 controversial or complicated subject. How do you BILLION K-16 EDUCATION handle it? Send me a note and we’ll add to you to TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY. the chorus of early adopters!
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Publisher: Allison Knapp aknapp@nbmedia.com; (650) 238-0318; Fax: (650) 238-0263 EDITORIAL Content Director: Kevin Hogan khogan@nbmedia.com Executive Editor, Content: Christine Weiser cweiser@nbmedia.com Senior Art Director: Nicole Cobban ncobban@nbmedia.com Associate Art Director: Walter Makarucha, Jr. Contributing Editors: Ellen Ullman, Judy Salpeter, Gwen Solomon Tech&Learning Leader Editor: Annie Galvin Teich Editorial Interns: Diana Restifo and Dom Saunders ADVISORS Carl Hooker, Andrew Wallace, Marianthe Williams, Steve Baule, Leo Brehm, Jean Tower, Hank Thiele, Jenith Mishne, Frank Pileiro, Patricia Brown, Phil Hintz, Ken Wallace, Rick Cave, Chris Aviles, Diane Doersh, Mike Jamerson, Rico D’Amore, Todd Dugan, Grace Magley, Andrew Marcinek, John Marcus, Laura Chesson, Jon Castelhano, Karen Fuller ADVERTISING SALES National Sales Director: Katie Sullivan ksullivan@nbmedia.com Account Manager: Joanne Melton jmelton@nbmedia.com MARKETING AND EVENTS Marketing Manager: Stephanie Rubin srubin@nbmedia.com Director of Events: Diana Milbert diana@dmeventspro.com Production Manager: Fred Vega fvega@nbmedia.com AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Corporate Director, Audience Development: Meg Estevez mestevez@nbmedia.com LIST RENTAL MeritDirect: (914) 368-1024; jganis@meritdirect.com REPRINTS AND PERMISSIONS Wright’s Media: newbay@wrightsmedia.com; (877) 652-5295 EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING OFFICES 28 East 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10016 Phone: (212) 378-0400; Fax: (650) 238-0263 For general editorial correspondence: techlearning_editors@nbmedia.com NEWBAY—CORPORATE President & CEO: Steve Palm Chief Financial Officer: Paul Mastronardi Chief Content Officer: Joe Territo EVP, Content and Business Operations: Carmel King Vice President of Production & Manufacturing: Bill Amstutz bamstutz@nbmedia.com Vice President of Digital Media: Robert Aames Vice President of Content & Marketing: Anthony Savona NEWBAY K-12 EDUCATION GROUP Executive Vice President/Group Publisher: Adam Goldstein Publisher: Allison Knapp Editorial Director: Kevin Hogan Online Production Manager: Rob Granger Web Director: Ragan Whiteside SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION One-year $29.95 (US); $39.95 (Canada and Mexico); $69.95 (all other countries). Two years $50 (US); $60 (Canada and Mexico); $90 (all other countries).
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NEWS TRENDING ANDTRENDS THE LATEST NEWS & STATS AFFECTING THE K-12 EDTECH COMMUNITY
top10 WEB STORIES
From techlearning.com
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How Schools Make “Making” Meaningful Just as we’ve learned with strong 1:1 initiatives that it’s not about the device, makerspaces are not about the products. Here are a few examples.
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New Tools for Schools
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Prep School
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Read news about the latest edtech tools for K–12. These educators prepare their students for college and careers by partnering with local businesses.
How to Introduce Gamification
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What’s New in 3D Printing
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20+ Icebreakers for Kids
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What Teachers Say They Need to Use Technology Effectively
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This “app of the day” is a vast collection of science resources that emphasize written reflection.
14 Tools and Resources to Get Students to Create Instructional Videos Students can learn with these videos and create others to demonstrate a variety of concepts.
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Having Trouble Organizing Your Google Drive? Take Charge with These Tips J. Robinson shares his tips for managing documents in Google Drive.
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“Introducing change, like a new idea, routine, or workflow, to anyone can be difficult. Introducing gamification to students is no different.” —Chris Aviles “You may have heard that all people under the age of 30 are digital natives: they can use any technology you put in front of them, more or less as soon as they’re born. It’s nonsense.” —Terry Freedman “My job used to be to give you the information, now my job is to teach you how to find the information.” —Alan November
Shelly Terrell posts this handy slideshow that includes 10 icebreakers geared for children.
This report asked teachers, parents, and administrators what they need to implement meaningful edtech initiatives.
Chris Aviles details how he successfully gamified his classroom.
Free Resource for Teaching the Sciences
Read about the latest releases and uses for 3D printers for K–12.
BLOG BITS
TOP TWEETS David Geurin @DavidGeurin: Nothing’s more powerful than a group of committed educators who believe they can solve any problem together. #sunchat #edchat Jeff Hiser @jeffhiseredu: Eliminate fear of failure & open the door to infinite possibilities. Model #growthmindset, great things will happen! Tom Loud @loudlearning: School leaders, remember that the orchestra makes the music. The conductor doesn’t make a sound! #edchat #education
Innovate learning.
TRANSFORM the future.
The 2018 TCEA Convention & Exposition empowers educators at all levels with exciting new ideas and best practices for engaging students and innovating teaching and learning. By providing you with the latest in learning strategies and educational technology tools, we’ll help you transform learning so your students are equipped to transform our future. This year, TCEA will showcase over a thousand sessions for educators to choose from, so you can discover exciting new ways to implement technology and enhance learning in your school or district.
8,000+
1,000+
5
ATTENDEES
SESSIONS
DAYS
450+ EXHIBITORS
Who Attends: • District and Campus Administrators
• Technology Leadership
• Curriculum and Instructional Leaders
• Ed Tech Supporters
• Classroom Teachers
• Education and Technology Change Agents
• Librarians/Media Specialists
Make your plans today! Register now. February 5–9 | Austin, Texas | convention.tcea.org | #TCEA
TRENDING
5 TECH TRENDS TO WATCH THIS SCHOOL YEAR
CYBERBULLYING ON THE RISE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
In a recent news release, ISTE offered the following top five trends to watch this school year:
More than 25 percent of public middle and high schools deal with cyberbullying events at least once a week. This rate of frequency appears related to school enrollment, as weekly events are reported in: • 27% of schools with 1,000+ students • 13% of schools with enrollment between 500 and 1,000 students • 8% of schools with fewer than 300 students. The location of the school (urban, suburban, rural) did not have a significant impact on cyberbullying incidents, but schools with higher populations of white students tended to experience more cases of cyberbullying.
1. Coding for All Students: Teachers are helping students hone problem-solving skills by infusing coding and computational thinking into courses across the curriculum and encouraging students to become digital content creators. 2. Real-Time Learning Feedback: In an era when we have electronic devices that can measure everything from heart rates to calories burned, education is catching up with realtime learning feedback. 3. VR Is Coming to Town: This school year will likely be the year that virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) make a real impact in the classroom. 4. Media Literacy to Combat Fake News: As more information is consumed online, there is an increased focus on media literacy, particularly around recognizing credible sources and valid interpretations of data. 5. Redefining Digital Citizenship: While online safety is critical, it’s only a small subset of digital citizenship. This school year, ISTE thinks there will be a shift in the conversation around digital citizenship to focus on encouraging students to harness tech tools to do good in the world and incite change.
SOURCE: ED SCOOP
R E A D I ST E ’ S F U L L R E L E A S E H E R E H T T P S : // T I N Y U R L .CO M / Y B R Z Y K K E
DID YOUR SCHOOL PARTICIPATE IN THE GREAT 2017 ECLIPSE?
ISTOCK/THINKSTOCK
T&L READER SURVEY
13%
7%
We were lucky and were not back to school yet.
No
80% Yes
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Learn how color can enhance your school. Color inside the lines with CUBE ™ Cart series from Bretford. Available in a variety of fun, vibrant colors, the affordable, no-frills CUBE series of charging carts brings an element of fun into the classroom. Share your school pride, or use color to organize your carts by hallway, classroom, or grade level.
Learn more at bretford.com/color
TRENDING
GETTING CLOSER TO CLOSING THE EQUITY GAP In 2013, the U.S. made a promise to close the connectivity gap to provide all public school students access to high-speed broadband access in their classrooms. The FCC’s 2014 E-rate modernization was a first step toward this goal.
OUR PROMISE & PROGRESS
6.5 MILLION more students still left to connect
To check in on this goal four years later, EducationSuperHighway released the “2017 State of the States” report, which provides an 2.6 M 39.2 M 74,000 update on the status of Internet connectivity in the nation’s K-12 public schools. While the report indicated that 39.2 million students are now connected, the report finds that there are still 6.5 million students left to connect. students connected
teachers connected
APPS OF THE DAY FROM TECHLEARNING.COM App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education.
schools connected
The report recommended the following steps to help realize this goal: 1. Leveraging price transparency to bring affordable bandwidth to 6 million students. 2. Connecting 100,000 students to service providers that meet national benchmark prices for Internet access. 3. Empowering fewer than 40 school districts representing 400,000 students to increase their broadband investment to levels comparable to those of districts that are sufficiently connected.
Collect, Review, and Grade Assignments with eBackpack Enables students to submit a variety of digital assignments from multiple devices in a range of file formats.
FOR A LINK TO THE COMPLETE REPORT, GO TO WWW.TECHLEARNING.COM/OCT17
SETDA ANNOUNCES 2017 STUDENT VOICES AWARD WINNER Mountain Heights Academy, located in West Jordan, Utah, is the 2017 Student Voices Award winner. SETDA recognized the school for leveraging technology to improve educational experiences dramatically with personalized, student-centered learning. Mountain Heights is the first secondary school in the world to develop its own curriculum as OER content. World-class teachers create courses, invite students to participate in the design process, teach the courses, and release the content to benefit students across the globe.
Augmented Reality Makes Stargazing App Shine A powerful pocket-sized map of the universe, Star Chart is an easy-to-use tool to stimulate kids’ love of stargazing.
SETDA also awarded Mountain Heights Academy the Elsie Brumback Scholarship, which supports sending a delegation of students and staff to present during the Education Forum at the annual SETDA Leadership Summit in October. Three other finalists were selected from a large number of innovative programs across the country, including Wilder (ID) School District #133, Public Schools of Calumet, Laurium, and Keweenaw (MI), and Sheridan County (WY) School District #2. LEARN MORE ABOUT THE STUDENT VOICES AWARD AND PAST WINNERS HERE: WWW.TECHLEARNING.COM/OCT17
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Explore Wide Range of Curated Games, Videos, and More PowerMyLearning makes some of the best educational content on the Web easily accessible for students and teachers.
TRENDING
TEACH STUDENTS THESE 4 SKILLS TO START THE YEAR OFF RIGHT Edtech leader Alan November shared the following tips for setting the tone for powerful, engaging, and self-directed learning in a recent KQED Mindshift report by Katrina Schwartz: 1. Power Researching: Instead of giving students the information, teach them how to find it. 2. Meaningful Contributions: Students are motivated and work hard when they have such opportunities. In Eric Marcos’s class, for example, students make math videos to help their peers, in their class and around the world, understand concepts. 3. Let Students Work on Something They’re Passionate About and present their project at the end of the year. Thrively is a great tool to help students identify passions and start thinking about projects. 4. Show Students How You Learn: Share how you learn (e.g., online learning network, bookmarking site, following a hashtag) and help students figure out ways to build their own methods.
REPORTS EXPLORE NEW CLASSROOM MODELS AND MORE Chromebooks, challenging Internet speeds, gaming, and more are part of the life of a middle-school student today, according to new data from Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up Research Project for Digital Learning. Here are some key takeaways from newly released Speak Up data: * Middle-school students are more likely to use a Chromebook (44%) than their own personal device (25%). They use mobile devices to: do selfdirected Internet research (81%), email teachers with questions (41%), and collaborate with peers (40%). * More than half of teachers (53%) agree the use of technology results in students taking greater ownership of their learning. * The 17% of students who say they don’t have Internet access outside of school use some of the following strategies to complete their homework: 48% go to school early or stay late; 32% do homework in restaurants or cafes; 30% go to the public library. * Among middle-school students: 77% have access to a smartphone, 50% to a tablet, 60% to a Chromebook, and 11% to a laptop. * 71% of parents say it’s important for every student to use mobile devices in school. * 22% of teachers say their students don’t have regular access to devices in school.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE RESEARCH PROJECT AND HOW YOUR SCHOOL OR DISTRICT CAN PARTICIPATE, VISIT HTTP://WWW.TOMORROW.ORG/SPEAKUP/
CLASS TECH TIPS 4 Reasons to Check out Participate Collections Collections is perfect for keeping track of documents, websites, and apps and makes it easy to collaborate, share, and connect.
Spark Page to Publish Google Docs: A Must-Try Combo!
10 Tips for Creating a Class Website with Adobe Spark
Spark Page is a simple tool to publish student writing and turn their work into beautiful Web pages.
Ready to create your own class website? Check out these tips to make your site shine!
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Become a Velocity Innovator Today Join an elite group of educators who accelerate learning in their classrooms with true innovation. Register to start a free 60-day trial of Velocity® by November 30, 2017 and you’ll be entered to win one of three great prizes: • Year of Velocity for up to 25 students and a teacher (value of more than $600) • Chromebook™ • Earbuds for your classroom Winners also will be featured in the Tech & Learning December/January issue.
“Velocity is as close as I can get to having another teacher in my classroom.” —Laura Boothe, Teacher from Seatack Elementary Virginia Beach City Public Schools, VA Beach, VA
This unique adaptive learning program revolutionizes 1-to-1 instruction by serving as an extension of the teacher’s presence in the classroom.
Only Velocity innovators can win, so get started today! Visit: go.voyagersopris.com/velocityinnovator
TRENDING
STATISTICS AND SOLUTIONS ISTOCK/THINKSTOCK
PROTECTING THE K–12 DIGITAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT What’s the current state of network security in schools? According to research from Fortinet: * Education is one of the three areas hit hardest by cyberespionage. * 10% of educational institutions were hit with malware on their networks in 2016. * Cyber-espionage was present in 26% of these breaches. * Four out of 10 teachers say their schools are “behind the curve” when it comes to technology adoption and implementation. Effective network security: * Protects personally identifiable information (PII) * Reduces time and money spent on IT solutions * Limits downtime * Blocks network intrusions Schools and districts can use E-Rate funds for solutions including firewalls, wireless controller systems, caching, switching, and access points.
77% OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS ARE NOT PREPARED FOR IT RISKS The 2017 IT Risks Survey, conducted by Netwrix, provides a deep look into IT security practices, challenges, successes, and plans in educational institutions. The number-one concern of these institutions is securing sensitive data, and most plan to invest in protection against data breaches and fraud. The survey found that, among educational institutions: * 72% don’t have any dedicated employees responsible for cybersecurity * 77% perceive employees to be the biggest threat to system availability and security * 49% have faced security incidents caused by human errors * 37% have experienced security incidents due to malware * Only 23% consider themselves to be well prepared to counter IT risks. Survey respondents named budgetary concerns (74%), lack of time (54%), and insufficient participation of senior management (44%) as the main obstacles to effective cyber-risk management.
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TRENDING
ISTOCK/THINKSTOCK
NATIONWIDE EDUCATIONAL COOPERATIVE TO FOCUS ON CYBERSECURITY, TECHNOLOGY INTEROPERABILITY, AND COLLABORATIVE SOLUTIONS K12 Federation (www.k12federation.org) brings together dozens of technology leaders representing over four million students, providing districts with low-cost services and solutions including federated identity management, cybersecurity, and access to products and services within an interoperational buying cooperative. This community of K–12 operators, built on a model of sustainability and collaboration, seeks to optimize the use of resources and public spending through pooled efforts and a centralized source for acquiring reliable technology. “K12 Federation brokers relationships between operators to help provide best-in-class solutions to assist with operations, curriculum, and instruction, and to help improve student achievement,” says Jim Peterson, Executive Director of K12 Federation. New members, who are welcome, gain access to valuable resources and have opportunities to help shape this growing organization.
FOUR TIPS FOR STAYING SAFE FROM #CYBERATTACKS In a recent blog post from Barracuda Networks, Darius Goodall wrote that schools can take the following measures to help fortify their networks against #cyberattacks:
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Prevent threats from entering your network with a next-generation firewall or email security gateway solution to filter out the bulk of the threats. This solution should scan incoming traffic using signature-matching, advanced heuristics, behavioral analysis, and sandboxing, and it should be able to correlate findings with real-time global threat intelligence.
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Control and segment network access to minimize the spread of threats that do get in. Ensure that students can only spread malware within their own, limited domain. Also ensure that administrators, teachers, and guests have limited, specific access to online resources.
3
Clean house. Your infrastructure likely contains a large number of latent threats— email inboxes are full of malicious attachments and links just waiting to be clicked. Similarly, all applications, whether locally hosted or cloud-based, should be regularly scanned and patched for vulnerabilities.
4
Stay alert. Educational institutions suffer malware attacks in greater proportions than their peers in government, healthcare, energy, retail, and finance. Phishing and ransomware attacks are increasing in number each quarter—and they’re more and more sophisticated and malicious. User awareness and protecting your network perimeter across all threat vectors are crucial for combating the ever-changing threat landscape.
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TRENDING
SCHOOLS AND DISTRICTS ARE READY FOR THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT)
THINKSTOCK/ELENABS
Among K–12 leaders:
* 81% believe IoT improves student engagement * 65% report that IoT saves schools and districts * significant money 85% claim IoT will make schools safer
Benefits to date: 5% say IoT has improved school safety and security * 538% improved energy efficiency * 36% report note increased student engagement * 33% have improved teacher engagement *Top tools andobserved applications: 8% use smart/connected security cameras * 437% * have smart HVAC systems and/or smart thermostats
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have installed wireless door locks or room access systems * 321% use student ID cards with radio frequency ID chips * 26% text-based emergency alerts triggered * by5%IoTcreate sensors 5% have connected school bus technology, * 2including bus tracking Remaining hurdles: see cost as the biggest concern regarding * 5IoT8%implementation believe privacy issues are a barrier * 333% report security issues as a concern * 20% * 5% claim Internet reliability is still an issue
SOURCE: CDW NEWSROOM
CYBER THREAT ASSESSMENT FOR EDUCATION Student Data Privacy is in the forefront of the minds of all school officials. Having conducted more than 300 Cyber Threat Assessments for education institutions alone in 2016, the average institution had nearly five active pieces of malware or botnets in their network. Further, our Q1 2017 Threat Landscape report indicated almost 10% of organizations detected botnet activity associated with ransomware.
Is your organization prepared to respond rapidly to a sophisticated cyber-threat landscape? A Fortinet Cyber Threat Assessment evaluates your network’s current security effectiveness, identifies student and staff online accountability, and tracks application usage and performance at no cost to your organization. A Fortinet expert will deploy a FortiGate appliance to monitor key indicators within your network and 5-7 days later you will be presented with a comprehensive report that speaks to your organization’s internet security posture.
Get the facts about your network security. For more information about the FREE Cyber Threat Assessment, please visit www.fortinet.com/assessment or contact us at education@fortinet.com.
Terms and Conditions: All Fortinet Products provided to you under this promotion are subject to Fortinet’s End User License Agreement (EULA), located at: www.fortinet.com/ doc/legal/EULA.pdf. By using Fortinet Products under this promotion, you acknowledge that you understand the EULA and agree to be bound by the EULA. This offer is currently only available in the US and Canada.
BIG IDEAS
IT’S TIME FOR A NEW CORE CURRICULUM By Carl Hooker
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anguage Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. For decades, these subjects have been the staple of the modern American educational system. While all of these subject areas play a role in the development of our youth, they are based on career needs from the mid-20th century. If we were starting the American school system from scratch today, knowing what skills our students will need, we could choose different subjects that aren’t based on what big-time publishers want us to focus on with our students. Building on some of the great work from FutureReady.org and the ISTE Standards for Students, and keeping in mind the job skills that employers from Fortune 500 companies look for
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when hiring (see chart by Tracy Clark (@tracyclark08), I would propose the development of the following seven courses for every student: ■■Collaborative Outreach—A way for students to serve the communities around them, but also to work in teams, plan projects, and practice empathy. ■■Entrepreneurialism— Thinking “outside-the-box,” but in a class form. Many of the ideas from this class could work hand-in-hand with the other courses listed here. Again, working in teams, students create solutions or products with the goal of developing the entrepreneurial spirit. ■■Communication and Design—Oral and written communications still play a major role in our current system, and by all accounts they will continue to be important. However, what about visual communication? What about making
a visually pleasing presentation to pitch a product or reflect on an outreach opportunity? This course would teach those skills. ■■Creative Expression—Having outlets to express yourself creatively and time for passion projects are huge in the workplaces of Google and Apple. The same should be true for schools. This course could be all about an app you are designing or a sculpture you are trying to complete (either by hand or through 3D printing). ■■Critical Problem-Solving—Much of the curriculum from math and science would fall into this course, although elements would be sprinkled in the other courses (e.g., economics in the entrepreneurial course and science in the environmental mindfulness and collaborative outreach courses) ■■Investigative Thinking—This course takes many of the research skills taught in social studies and applies them with a twist. How can looking back and investigating history help predict future outcomes? Traditional statistics would play a role in this course too. ■■Environmental Mindfulness—We need to allow time for students to be outside and/or active during the traditional school day. We also need to allow time for students to reflect on what they have learned and set goals for the future. If we really want to prepare kids for what’s next, whether that be a high-tech career or work in the service industry, we need to transition our curriculum to incorporate areas that will help them to be more successful in a highly automated future. Carl Hooker (@mrhooker) is the director of innovation and digital learning at Eanes (TX) ISD. Read more at hookedoninnovation.com.
IF WE WERE STARTING THE AMERICAN SCHOOL SYSTEM FROM SCRATCH TODAY, KNOWING WHAT SKILLS OUR STUDENTS WILL NEED, WE COULD CHOOSE DIFFERENT SUBJECTS THAT AREN’T BASED ON WHAT BIG-TIME PUBLISHERS WANT US TO FOCUS ON WITH OUR STUDENTS.
ISTOCK/THINKSTOCK
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INCLUDING ALL VOICES IN STEM By Patricia Brown
I
f I were to ask you to close your eyes and visualize a scientist, what would you see? Most would probably describe someone who looks like Albert Einstein or Isaac Newton. I could then ask you to Google images of “famous scientists,” and similar images would appear in the search results. You would have to scroll down the page to see a woman, and even further down to see a person of color. When I watched the movie Hidden Figures, a true story of the black women who worked for NASA as mathematicians in the 1960s, I felt empowered. For me, this story shed a new light on history and communicated a powerful message about the importance of highlighting and celebrating diverse voices and perspectives. The movie also erased the negative stereotype that black women do not excel in math and science. All across the country, young people watched the movie and saw themselves. Hidden
Figures brought an excitement and huge buzz around STEM. Science and engineering sectors have made some strides in diversifying the workforce, but overall, people of color, and specifically women of color, are still underrepresented in STEM fields. Today, I challenge you to be intentional about engaging underrepresented groups in STEM in your schools and communities, and then to build platforms and opportunities to spotlight their accomplishments and amplify their voices. Not sure where to start? Check out organizations like Black Girls Code (www.blackgirlscode.com), Girls Who Code (girlswhocode.com), or GirlStart (girlstart. org). Through our collective efforts, more students will be exposed to the possibilities of STEM. Patricia J. Brown (@msEdtechie) is a technology specialist for Ladue (MO) School District.
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BIG IDEAS
WHY DO WE BUY? By Sean Crevier
W
hen my son wants something, my first response is “why?” At this point he knows the question is coming, and most of the time he doesn’t even make me ask why. It’s nice that he’s not yet socially influenced enough to use “everyone else has one” as his reason. He usually supports his requests with a solid example (if not multiple examples) of how he’d use the item. It seems, based on my PLN, that a lot of schools are buying technology before asking the “why?” question. I often see articles about “what to do with your school’s [fill in the device].” I hear from people who have had technology purchased for them and then don’t use it because it’s too confusing. I see teachers trying to use
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something simply because they’re told they’re supposed to be using it. As an accounting and finance teacher (and all-around frugal human being), I cringe at this. I can’t help but think about the purchasing decisionmaking process that I teach—that I pound into the heads of my students, that my poor children and wife are subjected to every day—and wonder why these principles are so often ignored by our profession. I don’t think that schools need to treat the purchasing process exactly the same way as households do. R&D, tinkering, testing, and exploring with new devices bring strong value to educational entities. However, it seems that the moderation of this activity has been swallowed up by premature excitement for “it” because “it” is technology and so must be good for our kids. As we closely watch how we spend and use public resources (and rightfully so), it’s crucial that
we maintain a respectable decision-making process when purchasing anything. The last thing we can afford is to buy another iThing or gThing with no dedicated purpose, vision, or plan for using it. We need to figure out where we want to be before we start moving there. We have to envision the end and reverse engineer our buying decisions to ensure they will enhance our journey to that destination. Responsible consumers do this naturally. We buy food because we’re hungry (unless I’m face-to-face with a Snickers bar at the grocery checkout) and we need to be un-hungry. We work backwards (subconsciously) and get to the tool that will make us “un-hungry”—food. Reverse engineering is a great process for that; for decades, educators have been applying reverse engineering to curriculum design, emotional intelligence development, and student success planning. If we commit to leveraging this strength with digital purchasing decisions, we’ll set our teachers and instructional coaches up for clearer and more meaningful implementation experiences. So let’s make sure we maintain our credibility with our taxpayers’ money and give our teachers and students a clearer path towards success. Let’s make sure we’re able to answer the questions my son knows he has to answer before buying. Why are we buying this? How are we going to use it? We can create a building full of “why do we have these?” or one that’s asking “why didn’t we get these sooner?” In which building would you rather teach? More importantly, in which building would you rather have your own child learn? Sean Crevier (@busedcrev) is a business teacher and technology integration coach at Vernon Hills (IL) High School.
I DON’T THINK THAT SCHOOLS NEED TO TREAT THE PURCHASING PROCESS EXACTLY THE SAME WAY AS HOUSEHOLDS DO. HOWEVER, IT SEEMS THAT THE MODERATION OF THIS ACTIVITY HAS BEEN SWALLOWED UP BY PREMATURE EXCITEMENT FOR “IT” BECAUSE “IT” IS TECHNOLOGY AND SO MUST BE GOOD FOR OUR KIDS.
BIG IDEAS
HOW TO INTRODUCE GAMIFICATION (OR ANYTHING NEW, REALLY) By Chris Aviles
I
ntroducing change like a new idea, routine, or workflow to anyone can be difficult. Since I started gamifying my classroom, I’ve learned some best practices for introducing gamification (or anything new, really) to students. If you implement a change like gamification, don’t go back on it. You can tweak it, modify it, improve upon it, and add/ remove parts, but don’t abandon it; persist and pivot is the name of the game. Mollify loss aversion: Loss aversion refers to people’s tendency to prefer avoiding losses to acquiring equivalent gains—losing $100 hurts more if I get to hold it first. Loss aversion can be avoided by starting gamification or new ideas at the start of the year. Students can’t get upset about a change in routine if gamification is part of the routine from the beginning. Onboard new ideas: Onboarding, like loss aversion, is another game mechanic we can use to smoothly implement change. Onboarding is the act of integrating people with new ideas. Let them play: Any time you introduce a new idea or technology to anyone, let them play with it. Structured and unstructured play are Forget collecting cash, keeping checks in a shoebox valuable learning techniques. Share success stories: Whenever possible, or maintaining paper records. Save valuable time highlight success stories in your gamified class. and instantly process payments online, so you can do If someone hit a new level or earned a new achievement, tell the class about it. If a student more important things. Fast and free to get started. No has created something awesome with the new edtech you introduced, let them share it. The expensive registration or licensing fees. more success stories you can show, the more students will be able to imagine themselves being successful. Allow for diverse feedback: Give students a diverse, productive way to voice what they like, what they don’t like, and what they would like to change or add to your class. Differentiate your methods of feedback and you will find the hidden Simple, secure and The Smarter Way to Pay ™. gems of wisdom that your students have for your class. Chris Aviles is the 21st century skills, technology, and innovation coordinator for the Fair Haven (NJ) School District. Read more at www.techedupteacher.com.
SOMETIMES OLD-SCHOOL ISN’T THE BEST SCHOOL.
OCTOBER 2017
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THE MORE YOU READ, THE MORE YOU’LL KNOW: ELA SOLUTIONS ROUNDUP Which reading solution will best support your students and teachers so everyone can be reading on or above grade level by June? Here are some recommendations, best practices, and creative ideas from teachers, librarians, and administrators. By Tara Smith
ThinkCERCA
Renaissance AR 360
Writing on mandatory voting by elementary students at Joseph B. Cavallaro School (in Mandarin and English).
Fourth-grade students at Mason Elementary engage in reading activities on their devices.
Who’s using this tool?
ELA instructor Fatema Mohassib and her science-teacher colleague at IS 281 Joseph B. Cavallaro School in Brooklyn. New York, experienced a eureka moment when they realized they could shift the ELA curriculum to align with science and social studies topics. And when they did, deep connections and critical thinking resulted. Mohassib describes it as “revolutionary.”
Everyone at Mason Elementary, in the Grand Blanc (MI) School District, is justifiably proud that their school is in the top 1% for test scores in the state. And fourth-grade teacher Christina Ostrander loves helping students in this diverse school “actualize their unique genius.” Her young students bring their 1:1 Chromebooks home and back to her classroom, where the opportunities to learn are as flexible and personalized as her “find your niche” seating plan.
What do educators like best about this reading solution?
One of the cornerstones of this curriculum alignment is ThinkCERCA. Choosing texts is time-consuming—and it’s nearly impossible to find texts on the same topic at different levels. Having quality leveled texts on a wide variety of subjects is key, says Mohassib, as is the flexibility that allows students to move at their own pace. And students enjoy using the platform. “If you ever want to know if something is working,” she says, “ask the students.”
Ostrander loves Renaissance AR 360 for the access it provides to varied, complex, and engaging texts that can be annotated and highlighted. “They know what interests kids,” she says. Her students enjoy reading about a boy who made money from whale poop, stink-free armpits, and a teen mountaineer, for example. The texts help kids to dive deep, into knowledge as well as vital character traits, and they spur thinking and spark discussions across content areas. The cross-curricular topics are “a mark of an excellent program,” Ostrander says. And everyone can participate. “Students can be reading the same article at different levels,” she says, “and no one knows.”
What kind of impact has implementation had on students?
After reading an article on mandatory voting last October, many seventh graders formulated strong arguments defending a citizen’s right not to vote. As the election unfolded and students witnessed the impact of that position, many revised their thinking using ThinkCERCA’s structure (claim, evidence, reasoning, counterargument, audience). These real-world connections forged greater understanding and engagement.
Students are so fascinated by the texts they’re reading that they want to dig deeper. They ask to go to the library to find out more, and it’s not unusual to see students on multiple devices at once—reading, researching, watching videos. With a device and Google, Ostrander tells her curious students, “there’s no ceiling—you can go anywhere.”
TOP TIPS FOR CHOOSING AN ADAPTIVE READING SOLUTION Pilot the program before making a commitment.
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Prioritize training materials and ongoing support.
Talk with educators in other schools and districts.
Grow Your Reading Scores Just add StudySyncŽ. When it comes to reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills, StudySync grows 6 -12 students’ literacy. A literature-rich English Language Arts curriculum, StudySync provides the content and instructional flexibility your students need to blossom. Grow your reading scores at mheonline.com/growreading
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ELA SOLUTIONS ROUNDUP Lexia Reading Core5
TenMarks Writing
i-Ready
Somerset Academy Miramar students excited for learning on the first day of school.
Fourth graders at The Brompton School work on Chromebooks with their first-grade buddies for Hour of Code.
Students at Parker-Varney Elementary enjoy reading on their devices.
Who’s using this tool?
The ingredients for success at Somerset Academy Miramar Public Charter School in Broward County, Florida, include lots of collaboration among very dedicated teachers, a family-oriented emphasis, patience, consistency, and good access to resources, including technology.
When Krystin Neuens’ fourth-grade students at The Brompton School, a charter school in Kenosha (WI) USD, were preparing for a state assessment on textdependent analysis, Neuens used a TenMarks prompt. “My goals,” she says, “were to help the students become more independent in the task (also in writing in general) and to get them familiar with this type of writing.”
The 650 students at Parker-Varney Elementary, a highpoverty school in Manchester, New Hampshire, speak 11 different languages. “We rely on personalized learning,” Principal Amy Allen says, “to help address our equity issues.” Parker-Varney is a multi-platform school, and students have 1:1 access to a device.
What do educators like best about this reading solution?
Reading coach Michelle Rojas likes that Lexia is a comprehensive solution with user-friendly, real-time reports, as well as lots of resources including a library of lessons and downloadable activities. “The program is working behind the scenes and making adjustments based on performance,” she says, “but it’s not just an online program. It’s a tool for teachers.” And the gamelike environment motivates and rewards students as they complete each level.
Lessons include resources such as handouts, writing coach tools, and assignments to help students work on skills like word choice, editing, and revising. “Students really enjoyed the program as a whole,” Neuens says. “Their favorite part was the Bursts, which were short writing responses that were similar to responding on a social network. Student writing improved with their use of the program due to all of the practice and support the program offers.”
i-Ready is adaptive, age and developmentally appropriate, and easy to use. It aligns with standards, provides lessons and instant assessment data, and can be accessed from multiple platforms. “Making the transition to personalized, competency-based education with performance assessments is paying off,” says Allen. She notes that personalized learning “levels the playing field by allowing students to participate in lessons at their own level.” Access to learning 24/7, she says, “is critical for students in poverty.”
What kind of impact has implementation had on students?
In just one school year, the percentages of students working at or above grade level increased from 48% to 95%, and those working below grade level decreased from 52% to 5%. Lexia’s Performance Predictors, one of Rojas’s favorite features, prompt crucial early intervention. “It can be a preventative tool,” she says. In January, one student was “1% likely” to meet the benchmark at the end of the year. Alarmed, the school called a conference and made adjustments—and the student passed the first assessment at the end of the year.
“I had one student who was a reluctant writer, typically, but with the program they were able to create a piece of writing that was quite lengthy,” Neuens says. “Using the tools the program has available, the writing was also of higher quality than was typical. In addition, many students would ask me if they could go in and do the Burst writing activities. It is refreshing to see students asking me to be able to write in their free time.”
In addition to “deeper, more authentic learning opportunities and greater student (and parent) engagement,” assessment scores have improved dramatically. In the 2016–17 school year, for example, special education referrals declined by 21% and Grades 2 and 3 ELLs went from 54% proficient in reading to 85%. This kind of growth brings its own challenges. “We now have to have discussions,” Allen says, “about how to meet the needs of students who have mastered the elementary competencies but may not be emotionally ready to move up to the middle school.” For one struggling student who was making no progress despite several different interventions, in-depth assessment data revealed that she was weak in phonics. Through a combination of targeted instruction from her teacher and an adaptive program, she made a year’s growth by the end of the school year.
LIKE ALL STUDENTS, SOMETIMES THEY NEED A LITTLE ENCOURAGEMENT TO KEEP WORKING HARD, SO DURING THE MONTH OF MARCH WE’VE BEEN DOING A MARCH MADNESS READING CHALLENGE USING OUR EDTECH READING PROGRAMS TO ENCOURAGE ALL OUR STUDENTS TO DO THEIR BEST ALL YEAR LONG.” AMY ALLEN, PRINCIPAL, PARKER-VARNEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
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Transform Your Data From Insights To Action WondersÂŽ Data Dashboard automatically tracks progress in key literacy skills, personalizes instruction, and saves you time. Learn more and take the interactive walkthrough at mheonline.com/ActionableData
ELA SOLUTIONS ROUNDUP OverDrive
Voyager Sopris Learning’s LANGUAGE! Live
PebbleGo!
Kate MacMillan, Coordinator of Library Services, Napa Valley USD
CGLA sixth-grade teacher Kandy Williams helps students improve reading and comprehension using Language! Live
Students at Bean Elementary engage in learning on their devices.
Who’s using this tool?
Napa Valley (CA) USD, home of the first New Technology High School and early adopter for numerous edtech programs, fosters a tech-forward environment where interoperability, efficiency, and access are key. Kate MacMillan, Coordinator of Library Services, says that OverDrive’s consortium business model has enabled the district to build collections for elementary, middle, and high schools and maximize their investment in rich resources that are available to as many students as possible.
Chattanooga (TN) Girls Leadership Academy implemented LANGUAGE! Live, a blended model that combines teacher-led instruction with online practice to help struggling students become proficient readers, for students in grades 6–12 last year.
Bean Elementary is a 1:1 school in Lubbock, Texas. Library Media Specialist Janie Curl looks for “simplicity and usefulness” in programs that will provide variety to pique ongoing student interest, audio-based text to increase stamina, and tools to support ELLs as well as native speakers.
What do educators like best about this reading solution?
“We love OverDrive!” MacMillan says. Students have access to content that can be downloaded and read anywhere, and it’s easy to use across different platforms. The district was able to migrate all of their Follett content to OverDrive—and they’re able to search all of those resources. In addition, “ebooks are never lost, broken, or stolen,” MacMillan says. She’s been surprised to discover that students love audiobooks, and OverDrive offers opportunities for students to “read with their ears.”
“LANGUAGE! Live covers all the bases, and you could tell the girls really loved the literature and their learning of grammar and reading,” says seventh-grade teacher Kingsley Bennett.
Curl says teachers are excited about “how these tools help them teach and reach students [who] may be reluctant. It helps the students develop their reading skills more efficiently without the feeling of dread.”
What kind of impact has implementation had on students?
Students always have their devices. And with anytime, anywhere access to ebooks, they can always be reading—and they are, as evidenced by the mountains of pizzas the district had to purchase to reward students for a summer e-reading program. With OverDrive, students can search and read freely and can also underline and take notes which, as one student says, “you can’t do in a borrowed print book.” Through OneCard, Napa Valley students’ ID cards give them further access to materials from the public library consortia. As libraries continue to evolve in this digital age, these students have the world at their fingertips.
In addition to average literacy gains of 2.4 years in just one school year, students also benefitted from seeing clearly how their hard work and perseverance led to achieving their goals. Although many highschool students were initially reticent about being in a reading class, says literacy coach Jean Anne Gardner, “LANGUAGE! Live is very respectful of high-school students with age-appropriate materials,” and students enjoyed remarkable success.
“Towards the end of the 2016 school year, a firstgrade teacher came to me and urged me to continue subscribing to PebbleGo! because her students loved how the format (simplicity) and materials provided got them engaged.” The very fact that students love reading is a sure sign of success.
WE NEED TO BE INFORMATION AGITATORS, LIBRARIANS WITH SPINES WHO PROVIDE SERVICES TO A DIVERSE COMMUNITY.” —KATE MACMILLAN, COORDINATOR OF LIBRARY SERVICES, NAPA VALLEY USD
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W Y A S Y A T E O n a d e e N organize and share RESOURCES h t e s school? s o r c a Introducing Collections by Destiny. ÂŽ
Collections provides a new, collaborative way for librarians, teachers and students to access, organize and share free or purchased resources throughout the district, school and with other users. Librarians Curate resources and share with instructional partners. Teachers Pair content with instructional goals and provide personalized learning for students. Students Learn about credible sources when reviewing and selecting resources for projects.
Collections launched on July 7, 2017, and already
MORE THAN 41,
SCHOOLS
have access.
Optimize your resources with Collections!
See how it works at
follettlearning.com/collections
ELA SOLUTIONS ROUNDUP StudySync
myON
Follett Destiny
A sixth-grade student at Troy Intermediate School works on StudySync.
Students at Whitthorne Middle School prepare on the first day of school.
O’Neill Middle School students strategize in the library after setting up the meeting in their Edmodo group.
Who’s using this tool?
Before implementing StudySync at Troy Intermediate School in Ohio, teachers identified the skills their students were lacking. Then they used this comprehensive, cross-curricular ELA solution to address those gaps.
When Chris Marczak arrived as the new superintendent of Maury County (TN) Public Schools in 2015, he met with staff, parents, and community stakeholders, visited 22 schools in 22 days, and collated feedback submitted on 9,327 Post-its to arrive at seven keys to college and career readiness tied to cumulative grade-level goals. Two years on, this once-failing district is experiencing transformation. And myON is one of the ingredients of its success.
It’s fitting that a gamified reading program emphasizing collaboration, communication, and creative thinking was hatched as a result of networking and brainstorming at Edcamp. O’Neill Middle School librarian Tasha Squires, in the Downers Grove (IL) Grade School District 58, wanted to shake up a winter reading program and broaden it to include writing. The resulting game, “Conquest of the Realm,” increased participation in library programs from 17% to 80%—and it won the 2015 Follett Challenge.
What do educators like best about this reading solution?
Sixth-grade ELA teacher Heather Dalgleish and her colleagues love StudySync’s flexibility and the variety of content that teachers can tailor to fit their needs. “I start my day with a gifted class, my next period is general ELA, and my last is inclusion,” Dalgleish says. “StudySync allows me to differentiate through Lexile levels. Everyone benefits, because I can stretch students or remediate, depending on what my students need.”
In this diverse district, different schools achieve these keys in different ways—from on-grade-level reading in third grade to improving ACT scores. “Our job,” Marczak says, “is to give teachers the tools they need and provide students with more access to materials. So we formed a partnership with myON.” Teachers love that myON gives them instant snapshots of Lexile levels, is deviceagnostic, and gives all students access to over 10,000 titles. As the district moves to implement a 1:1 program, they also appreciate that the program supports reading online, in print, and through audiobooks. “Reading is reading,” Marczak says.
The game has sparked enthusiasm and inspired a culture of reading and writing. It has also helped teachers, administration, and staff to grow and work together. Prior to the launch of this voluntary program, Squires sought buy-in from teachers and built anticipation among students. “I wanted something that would give the students something exciting to engage with each other and the staff in a new way. It ended up being way more successful than I had ever dreamed,” Squires says.
In less than a year, average third-grade Lexile levels increased from 280 to 395. Lower-level readers can listen to books, and ELLs and their parents are learning English more quickly and with more fluency through listening to audiobooks as well. At the high-school level, requests are already coming in for more complex texts. With nearly 550,000 books read throughout the district on myON last year, these students are indeed being prepared for college and career success.
The school’s MAP test scores showed no summer slide, and students are improving their literacy and 21st-century skills while having fun. Students have competed for the throne in the Lands of Oneillia (2015) and sought to survive in the 2016 zombie/infectionthemed game. This year’s theme is dragons. Squires has been most gratified by seeing all students, including those “who tend to be on the fringes,” ELLs, and special ed students, joyfully competing, learning, and succeeding.
What kind of impact has implementation had on students?
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The numbers are impressive: Dalgleish’s general ELA students grew an average of 4.5 in 2016 (compared to 1.5 in 2015 before StudySync was implemented), and her advanced students grew an average of 2.7, compared to 1.7 in 2015. Behind the numbers, though, is the engagement that drives that success. “The kids are very engaged. They love it,” she says. “My students especially love the Blasts [short, social media-like reading and writing assignments on high-interest topics], and they beg me to do them … they don’t realize … they’re actually engaging in critical thinking.”
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Participating students complete challenges that require them to create original work (e.g., book trailers and creative writing pieces) and communicate, in person and using online tools, with students and teachers outside their classrooms. Over 100 students in each of the four teams meet online using Edmodo, and a circulating Google spreadsheet showing each team’s up-to-date points ramps up the competition and encourages strategizing.
For more details on Squires’ creative solution using Follett Destiny, go to tinyurl.com/TLOct17Reading
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ELA SOLUTIONS ROUNDUP TOOLS THEY USE BEAN ELEMENTARY
TOOLS THEY USE SOMERSET ACADEMY MIRAMAR
4 Capstone Interactive
4 Desktops, laptop carts, and tablets
4 Chromebooks
4 IXL
4 Document cameras
4 Just Read, Florida!
4 Fountas & Pinnell Level Reading
4 Lexia Reading Core5
4 Gale’s Kids InfoBits
4 Reading Plus
4 iPads 4 National Geographic Kids 4 OverDrive 4 PebbleGo! 4 SMART Boards 4 TexQuest
4 Reading Rockets O’Neill Middle School students read an important clue for their team.
TOOLS THEY USE O’NEILL MIDDLE SCHOOL 4 Edmodo
TOOLS THEY USE MASON ELEMENTARY
4 Follett Destiny Library Manager
4 ThinkCentral
TOOLS THEY USE TROY INTERMEDIATE 4 Gizmos
4 Google Forms
4 Google Classroom
4 Chromebooks
4 Google Spreadsheets
4 Kahoot!
4 Google Classroom
4 Wordpress
4 Newsela 4 Padlet
4 Google Slides 4 Renaissance AR 360
TOOLS THEY USE PARKER-VARNEY ELEMENTARY
4 Screencastify
4 Chromebooks
4 Storybird
4 EV3 Robots
4 Tinkercad
4 GAFE
4 iPads
4 iPads
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4 FSAssessments.org
4 Science World 4 Socrative 4 StudySync
TOOLS THEY USE MAURY COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
TOOLS THEY USE JOSEPH B. CAVALLARO
4 i-Ready Reading and Math
4 DreamBox Math
4 Khan Academy
4 Edgenuity
4 i-Ready
4 Raz-Plus
4 LeNovo 11E
4 IXL
4 Teach Your Monster to Read
4 myON
4 Newsela
4 WeDo 2.0
4 NextLesson
4 ThinkCERCA
4 XtraMath
4 PowerSchool
TOOLS THEY USE NAPA VALLEY USD
TOOLS THEY USE THE BROMPTON SCHOOL
4 Amazon Inspire
4 Achieve3000
4 Follett Destiny
4 BrainPOP
4 Gale
4 Class Dojo
4 Google Classroom
4 Front Row
4 OneCard
4 GoNoodle
4 OverDrive
4 Prodigy
4 Renaissance Accelerated Reader
4 SmartyAnts
4 StudySync
4 TenMarks Math and Writing
4 World Book
4 Xtra Math
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4 TenMarks Math
Students at Woodard Elementary School (Maury County School District) work on a project on the first day of school.
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6/6/17 2:02 PM
QUICK THINKING How Schools Turn Data Into Knowledge By Ellen Ullman
W
e’ve written many times about how districts can use data to improve their teaching and learning, but that’s not the only thing data can do. Take a look at how these schools analyzed data to work on everything from attendance to social emotional learning (SEL).
ENHANCE CUSTOMER SERVICE CHALLENGE: Spring (TX) Independent School District was looking for a way to manage feedback from students and parents so it could improve response rates, expand communication, and improve customer service. SOLUTION: K12 Insight Families use K12 Insight’s Let’s Talk tool to make comments and ask questions. And with one tool to collect all of their feedback, the district was able to see patterns in the issues for the first time, says Tiffany Dunne-Oldfield, chief communications officer. After the question is answered, the sender evaluates the answer, and that feedback is also scored. “We see this as a way to echo the retail experience and to drive that customer-service orientation in the district,” says Dunne-Oldfield. “It’s a big change.” Spring ISD has used the system for two years. Dunne-Oldfield says the data helps them think about parents as customers and about school choice. For example, the data the district gathered when it set up an online gradebook for parents helped to make the system work more smoothly. Early on, there were issues with parents forgetting passwords and with student accounts being linked. Let’s Talk helped the district quickly realize which administrators needed access to fix these issues. “The data helped us see who should be responsible,” says Dunne-Oldfield. “What made sense to the district didn’t make sense to the parents. Things like that became really clear as we launched the Let’s Talk tool.”
Since they were very close to getting a yes vote, the district decided to do some data surveying. SOLUTION: GuideK12, Thoughtexchange, and Springsted The district took a multi-layered approach to data analysis. They used Springsted, a consultancy, for a random sample survey and a demographic analysis. “We learned that people wanted to see more than one question so they could judge each item independently,” says Patrick Tepoorten, director of communications. Thoughtexchange, a communications tool that lets districts gain insight through questions, helped the district get feedback on its revised referendum questions and marketing materials. “We saw how the materials were received
IMPROVE STUDENT BEHAVIOR
PASS A REFERENDUM CHALLENGE: When North Branch (MN) Area Public Schools went out for a bond referendum in 2015 with one question, it failed by 125 votes.
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and learned how to address the issues more specifically,” says Superintendent Deborah Henton. GuideK12, a geovisual analytics tool, helped North Branch optimize its outreach. On the Saturday before the election, volunteers knocked on doors that GuideK12 data identified. “GuideK12 combined data to deliver a home address, children’s ages, and if the parents voted in last election,” says Tepoorten. “Rather than blanketing entire neighborhoods, we concentrated on parents and supporters to get them to the polls.” On May 23, 2017, the referendum passed. “We passed all three questions with solid majorities,” says Tepoorten. “When we saw the numbers, we knew that we had placed our efforts in the right place.”
North Branch’s Early Childhood and Community Education hosted a petting zoo on election day.
CHALLENGE: Three years ago, when Principal Renee Canales and Elizabeth Merwald, behavior and prevention specialist, started working at Betty Best Elementary in Houston, Texas, office referrals were off the charts. “We had tons of quantitative data for academics but only end-of-year summative data for behavior,” says Merwald. “Office referrals are after the fact. We needed to be proactive.” SOLUTION: Kickboard The school offered professional development for classroom management, instituted new
QUICK THINKING
Teachers analyze Kickboard data in their culture professional learning communities. rules and policies, and began using Kickboard, a schoolwide behavior-management tracking system, that they customized with their rules, behaviors, and procedures. “Administrators receive a text if there’s a certain level of behavior,” says Canales. “We can touch base with a student before it escalates to an office referral.” In addition, the system tracks positive behaviors. When students do something positive, they get “money” in their accounts and can buy pencils, erasers, books, and stuffed animals at the school store. When a student gets a certain number of positive points, administrators are flagged so they can praise the parent for their student’s good behavior. After using Kickboard for one school year, office referrals decreased by 25 percent. But that’s only one small piece of the paradigm shift. “Teachers are empowered to pay better attention to the big picture— positive and negative,” says Karen Smith, district-level behavior and prevention specialist. “It is perfectly aligned with our focus on collective responsibility.”
TIE SYSTEMS TOGETHER CHALLENGE: When Lawrence (KS) Public Schools USD 497 started
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using the Blackboard learning management system (LMS) in 2013, 30 teachers were creating blended courses. By 2016, more than 300 teachers were on board. However, a lot of issues came with that growth. Teachers were frustrated because they had to enter grades twice—in the LMS and in the student information system (SIS). As the number of courses in the LMS increased, it became impossible for one person to handle the schedule changes and transfers. Every summer, someone had to go in and rename every single course to transfer courses cleanly. SOLUTION: Authentica Solutions’ DataSense Terry McEwen, director of assessment, research, and accountability, found out about DataSense, a data integration and management solution that could connect the two systems. “We tried out the gradebook piece, and it was great. Then we discovered additional benefits,” says McEwen. Currently, the district has more than 12,000 courses in Blackboard. DataSense pulls data from the SIS every night and repopulates Blackboard accordingly. “Teachers only have to enter data once and we don’t have to do anything to get students populated into new courses. The fewer human hands that interact with the data, the better,” McEwen says. “It makes teachers’ lives easier so they can concentrate on their jobs.”
BOOST ATTENDANCE CHALLENGE: “We needed something to let us use data to track patterns of absence quickly and easily,” says Christina Walker-Clark, guidance counselor at Oakland High School in Oakland, Oregon.
DEVELOP SEL SKILLS
CHALLENGE: SEL is one of the basic tenets for Carolina Voyager Charter School, a K–5 school in Charleston, South Carolina. “It’s built into our program,” says Harry Walker, school leader. Last year, the school came up with 10 words that fit into the CASEL framework and focused on one word each month. Kristina Lindgren, guidance counselor, led weekly discussions and teachers reinforced the work with common language. However, they wanted to know how well they were doing and if there was room for improvement. SOLUTION: Panorama Education “Panorama customized a survey for students and parents. Students took the Social emotional learning is front and survey three times, and the center at Carolina Voyager Charter School. results allowed us to compare
| WWW.TECHLEARNING.COM
our students against the nation as well as other charters,” says Walker. In addition, the survey data showed student growth throughout the year. Lindgren used the data to give extra lessons on social skills and other skills to small groups. Interestingly, Walker says the data helped them discover that students they thought were grounded had very low self-esteem. “It’s very insightful,” he says. “We saw schoolwide trends and learned that students did not understand that they have the ability to change these things.” This year, Walker plans to use the parent data to help parents understand the importance of SEL. The school is also doing Make a Plan Mondays to help students work on goal setting, and Feedback Fridays for students to share with each other.
Oakland administrators can view attendance data in seconds. SOLUTION: Alma The school began using Alma, a combined SIS and LMS platform that focuses on easy access to data. “When you’re on the home screen, you get a great graphical view of where we are in terms of attendance,” says Walker-Clark. “You can click and see who is leaving or who came in late.” In the past, when students missed large chunks of the day (e.g., the first or last two periods), that detail was not available, but Alma shows how many minutes a student has missed and breaks it down into class time. “As the year goes by, that information is incredibly helpful. Now we can help parents understand the importance and how the minutes add up,” Walker-Clark says.
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ROUNDTABLE: How Can IT & Curriculum Work Better Together? By Ellen Ullman
T
he relationship between the head teachers and geeks has always been as contentious as it is important. For this roundtable, we spoke with some IT leaders and—to keep us truthful—we invited a curriculum leader to share her experiences, too. We hope you’ll learn from their insights. Communication is key to any successful undertaking. How do you handle it between your IT and curriculum departments? Pete Just: As with any kind of “union,” I think you have to be intentional about the communication piece. Our IT and curriculum departments have weekly meetings so that we can be face to face. We’re a Google district, so we also use Google Docs and Google Calendar to share knowledge and collaborate. There are lots of things you don’t need to discuss in person, but you do need to get together to work through challenges, especially with integrations. We do heavy integration of digital resources into the learning management system (LMS); lots of decisions need to be made, and it’s lots of work and minutiae. Judy and I are cabinet peers, and our teams must work closely together to gain and keep our momentum. During these integrations, we want to be sure we’re representing our curricular objectives and instructional goals, so all voices must be at the table so that we stay true to that. Judy Stegemann: I agree that weekly meetings are key because it’s where we stop and say, “What questions do we have?” “What do we need to communicate?” If we wait for a reason to meet, things can go unmet. The meetings help us know what to work on next. Our departments are physically close to one another and it’s not unusual for us to be in each other’s offices
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regularly throughout the day, clearing up issues and keeping the communication open. Sandra Paul: I report to the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. We work closely together in that I’m made aware of new ideas that come up through curriculum—not all, but most. At the same time, if I find something that looks interesting I can share it with them. I’m involved in collaborative meetings every month with our supervisors, building principals, and the assistant superintendent. In addition to directing information tech, I supervise the gifted and talented teachers, which calls for a lot of integration between curriculum and tech. Chris Jenks: My situation is similar to Sandra’s. I report to the assistant superintendent (soon to be deputy superintendent) of teaching and learning. We have an open line of communication that includes one-on-one meetings. I’m also part of the cabinet-level staff that meets with the superintendent regularly. I hear about initiatives and it’s helpful to be in important conversations. Having people who specialize in certain places—such as a coordinator of instructional tech who works with coaches and library/media specialists—helps to make sure we’re resourcing people at the right time to work on LMS integrations, etc. It’s important for us to discuss how we make sure everything is available to everyone. As tech, we want to make sure the road is paved and the cars can drive on it. We’re routinely part of the conversation with curriculum and I’m able to inject a voice into that and to listen. I consider our core mission to be serving the needs of teaching and learning. What happens when communication breaks down? SP: I’ve been doing this work for 22 years, and bad communication used to be a big part of the problem. Someone would bring you some
PARTICIPANTS: Chris Jenks Director of Technology Tuscaloosa (AL) City Schools www.tuscaloosacityschools. com Pete Just Chief Technology Officer Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township (IN) district.wayne.k12.in.us Judy Stegemann Assistant Superintendent for Academics Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township (IN) district.wayne.k12.in.us Sandra Paul Director of Information Technology & Operations Township of Union (NJ) Public Schools www.twpunionschools.org
software that they had to use and you’d say, “This is for Windows 95 and we’ve been Windows XT for three years!” Over the years, that has changed. If you’re going to do 21st-century learning, then curriculum and IT have to work together. PJ: I think the districts on this call are among the ones who are further along and have figured it out. The pressure to figure it out is
ROUNDTABLE often caused by pain. For instance, there may be incompatibilities between what’s adopted and what can work in your ecosystem, so then you have to pay additional money to get something you can use. Pain. It’s part of the process of learning new things. You fail a few times along the way, pick up, make changes, and move forward, get it better. There have been lots of fits and starts and now we’ve started to understand that the union between these two decision-making groups is essential for the sake of students. JS: Whether you’re on the curriculum or the tech side, when the two integrate you’ll find challenges. It’s important to backwards map those challenges and create processes to solve them upfront the next time. What did we need to know six months ago? A year ago? There’s always another avenue. Today we ran into a problem at the high school. We were ordering resources we adopted two years ago and making sure we had the right information so that we could buy textbooks with an online component. In the past, the high school would have just replaced them, but we need the texts with the digital subscription that goes with them. It’s a more complicated system at every turn. You have to address those issues, clean it up, and not kick yourself for making mistakes. We have to constantly be aware of how to address this new way of operating and cooperating. How do you move from silos to a team approach? CJ: Last year, our sixth grade went 1:1 and they’re now bringing them into seventh grade. We’re poised to do grades six and eight in November. We are currently running Chromebooks camps for parents to get them on board. Once it was enough for the tech person to know his or her tech stuff and for curriculum to know curriculum. Now, in order to collaborate and cooperate, they both need to have some functional knowledge about the other. It’s not enough to have a textbook with some digital components; we want to adopt resources that have LTI integration to go into the LMS and make it seamless and single sign-on. If I bring that up to the curriculum folks and they have no idea what I said, we have to walk through all of that. They have to know some of the vocabulary and why it’s important. We can’t wait until we’re adopting textbooks to start talking about that background knowledge. JS: That’s a piece of what we learn in our weekly meetings. It’s important that we continue to deepen our knowledge in the area
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of integration and communicate accurately through the adoption process. PJ: It’s crucial to have a clear understanding between teams. When we look at a digital resource we determine that we can bring it into the district in eight different ways, only two of which are really acceptable. Not everyone plays with LTI, CC, or TCC, our “best way.” The other options are increasingly onerous. Having the understanding that a digital integration must be one of the preferable methods, and finding out how to pre-load it cleanly in our LMS before we provided it to teachers, took us about a year and a half for everyone to understand the first time. As Judy said, it’s a continual conversation. SP: Communication and collaboration between departments involves give and take. I’ve worked on both sides, and I currently do tech integration with teachers. If I put my tech hat on, I’d say, “We’ll block this and this and this.” The curriculum side is saying, “We need this! We need this!” It has to be a give-and-take, finding a way to accommodate curriculum, innovation, creativity, and moving forward with changing pedagogy. It’s important for an IT person to figure out a way to accommodate that. CJ: I consciously decided that if I could make my answer yes, I would, but there are constraints that temper that. In the past, our technology department could make more unilateral decisions. That builds up barriers between curriculum and IT. If students are our focus, we have to find a way to get people the resources they need. Any other advice or tips? SP: Our district is 1:1 for grades 9–12. We’re getting ready to give the new 9th graders their devices next week. We’re also deploying another 1,700 Chromebooks in November or December to cover grades 6–8, and grades 3–5 next year. We’re doing a digital curriculum and blended learning. We’ve all realized curriculum has changed. The pedagogy we used when I taught a bunch of years ago is no longer in existence. JS: We’re looking for the integration of tech where it will amplify student learning, and we lead this work through curriculum. We do that best when my coordinators and coaches lead in the utilization of new tools and resources to forward our mission of students learning the curriculum. When something new is coming from the tech side, our coaches and curriculum coordinators have to be trained in the first phase and also be early adopters so that it’s not seen as an add-on but as a tool that positively impacts
student learning. That’s a critical piece in the partnership. PJ: When we vetted which LMS to move to— and this is the third we’ve used since 1999—we wanted to be sure the curriculum instruction and assessment folks had a vote and were part of it. We wanted to make sure as many people could be engaged as possible. This is something that was missing in previous decisions. We can’t make decisions in a vacuum with any degree of quality or success. JS: We also can’t see tech tools as something the techie person does. They’re something we all understand and embrace. The curriculum department has to lead utilizing resources and tools. CJ: I say in curriculum meetings that we would never tolerate someone saying, “I don’t do that math thing very well.” So we can’t say, “I don’t do tech well.” We have to all learn together how to accomplish the tasks. Curriculum has to buy in, and IT has to buy in, and there must be a leader in adopting new things. JS: In 2005, we built a K–12 curriculum, and it was housed in a software product that was separate from our LMS. Two years ago, as we were looking for a new LMS, I decided that with my team and Pete’s support we could move curriculum out of the separate software and embed it in our new LMS. It involved some heavy lifting for the LMS developers. We needed an LMS that allowed teachers to collaborate within it, build digital experiences in collaborative environments, deliver and analyze common assessments, and more. We wanted the new LMS to be embraced by teachers, and embedding the curriculum teachers depended on was critical in this transition to a new LMS. The curriculum transition came with challenges, but it’s amazing what the LMS allows teachers to do in a collaborative environment.
RESOURCE Check out MSD Wayne’s presentation, “Building Bridges on the Path to Digital Transformation” and see the district’s flowchart for digital content integrations as well as responsibilities for both the IT services and curriculum/instruction departments.
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WHAT’SNEW TECH & LEARNING ROUNDS UP A SUMMARY OF NEW TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS
Acer (www.acer.com) debuts a new performance-minded Chromebook for education and business customers, the Acer Chromebook 11 C771, which is the industry’s first Chromebook to use 6th Generation Intel processors. It delivers faster performance with up to 13 hours of battery life in a portable and durable chassis that is MIL-STD 810G compliant. The Chromebook 11 C771 will provide additional capabilities thanks to planned support for Android apps via the Google Play Store in coming months.
The Marvel Group (marvelfocusdesk.com) introduced its new Focus Activity Table. It allows children to stand or sit comfortably, with a silent lift system that kids can adjust without assistance. It offers a large work surface multiple students can share. Available in 48” or 60” widths, it complies with ADA accessibility standards as well as height adjustability for all students. The Feathertouch pneumatic cylinder lift system easily sets the work surface between 28” and 42” in height.
Independence Science (independencescience.com) launched the Sci-Voice Talking LabQuest 2 to help blind and low-vision students independently complete data-collection investigations during STEM labs. Students can use the Sci-Voice Talking LabQuest 2 to collect data from more than 70 Vernier sensors. In addition to speaking the datacollection results, as well as displaying the results on the screen, the device can vocalize to students more than 20 characteristics of each element on the Periodic Table of Elements.
Epson America (epson.com) announced two new portable document cameras – the Epson DC-07 (left) and the Epson DC-13 – highdefinition document cameras offering both affordability and superior feature sets. Designed to captivate and engage K-12 students, the new document cameras boast superior image quality with 1080p resolution and advanced zoom capabilities to accurately capture full HD images when displaying textbook pages, student work, 3D experiments, and more.
littleBits (littlebits.cc) announced the launch of its Droid Inventor Kit, which enables kids to create their own Droid. Kids can create and power up their own mechanical companion using littleBits electronic Bits—along with the free Droid Inventor app—to send their creation on 16+ special Star Wars missions. As they level up their Droid Inventor skills, kids can also learn how to create their own custom R2 Units and experiences, combining play with real hands-on learning. FOR MORE OF THE LATEST PRODUCT RELEASES, VISIT US ONLINE AT TECHLEARNING.COM.
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hardware
WHAT’S NEW
HP (www.hp.com/go/education/stream11pro) announced the HP Stream 11 Pro G4 Education Edition notebook. New on the rugged, cloud-centric notebook is an improved, rugged chassis that uses co-molded rubber and a unique impact dispersion pattern on the internal chassis to provide protection near the hinges. The new HP notebook can adapt to numerous activities, stay reliably connected to WiFi, stand up to rough handling, and provide battery power to last beyond the school day on a single charge.
Texas Instruments (www.ti.com) announced the TI-Innovator TM Rover, the company’s first robotics solution for middle and high school students that makes learning STEM subjects a moving experience. Rover connects to the TI-Innovator Hub and either a TI-84 Plus CE or TI-Nspire CX graphing calculator that many students already have. Students without any exposure to coding or robotics can get started by writing a basic program to make Rover do things like draw, dance or even crash.
Wireless collaboration features
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WHAT’S NEW
software & online
ACCELERATE LEARNING STEMSCOPES K-12
(acceleratelearning.com) To help teachers and students transition to the new Iowa state standards for science, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, and Central DeWitt Community School Districts have become the first in the state to implement the STEMscopes Iowa comprehensive online science curriculum from Accelerate Learning. STEMscopes provides digital resources, supplemental print materials, and hands-on exploration kits that build student engagement and excitement for learning. Additionally, strong vertical alignment allows teachers to develop student expectations across grade levels with parallel lesson design.
AEROHIVE FASTPATH
(www.aerohive.com) Aerohive Networks announced the industry’s first cloud-managed stacking technology for Aerohive and Broadcom FASTPATHbased switches. Opting to leave the rigid, delay-prone SNMP management approach behind, Aerohive’s Cloud Management for Switching instead utilizes a cloudbased HiveAg ent communicator and embedded HiveAgent software that, when integrated by a manufacturer in its Broadcom FASTPATH-based switches, can enable near-real-time configuration, in-depth visibility, faster reporting, SSHtroubleshooting access, and highly secure management traffic communication via the Aerohive Cloud.
AEROHIVE HIVEMANAGER NG UPDATES (www.aerohive.com) Aerohive’s new HiveManager NG release radically simplifies the ability for
IT personnel to implement policy exceptions at scale. Aerohive has also introduced Hierarchical HiveManager (HHM) to create organizations within a single HiveManager NG instance that allow grouping of devices and policies and role-based access control that limits access to only that organization. Administrators of the HiveManager NG instance can pool licenses across multiple organizations to offer the most flexible management and entitlement capabilities available.
AMAZON TENMARKS WRITING
(www.tenmarks.com/writing) Amazon announced TenMarks Writing, an exciting new online curriculum designed for teachers to help their students become better writers. TenMarks Writing brings to life storytelling and expository writing for students using scaffolding, an instructional technique in which students learn step-by-step how the writing process builds. Additionally, TenMarks Writing also incorporates natural language processing technology to provide students with automatic, personalized feedback and help teachers efficiently deliver differentiated comments as students work through their compositions.
ASSIST LLC AND APEX LEARNING
(www.ASSISTeducation.com) & (www. apexlearning.com) ASSIST LLC announced the full integration of Apex Learning content into ASSIST 4.0, the company’s Integrated
Education Management System for K-12 schools. Apex Learning’s digital content is award-winning and includes core subjects, as well as foreign languages and electives. Schools can access and assign Apex Learning’s middle and high school courses directly on ASSIST. Furthermore, students can also access the courses seamlessly through ASSIST.
BENCHMARK
(www.benchmarkeducation.com) Benchmark Education Company (BEC) introduced Benchmark Writer’s Universe, a self-paced digital writing collaborative workshop. Students answer writing prompts addressing opinion about a text, opinion about a topic, personal narrative, fiction, and informative/ explanatory science and social studies texts. Teachers can create a writing prompt and instantly assign the project to their students. Learning time is extended, as students can log in to the online program outside of school. Available in both English and Spanish.
CATCHON AND GOOGLE
(getcatchon.com) & (edu.google.com/ partners) CatchOn has joined Google for Education’s Partner Program. CatchOn delivers real-time data on all app, software and website activity to help examine the success of technology initiatives. The platform also addresses the abundance of education apps, helping districts and schools invest wisely, inform training, improve usage and spot trends.The partnership streamlines CatchOn’s implementation with Chromebooks, meaning district administrators can more easily understand which apps and services students and teachers are using on their devices.
FOR MORE OF THE LATEST PRODUCT RELEASES, VISIT US ONLINE AT TECHLEARNING.COM.
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software & online CLASSFLOW ACTIVITY FEED (www.classflow.com) ClassFlow has launched a new activity feed on its website. Teachers can now share lessons, activities, and assignments that they have previously delivered or shared through ClassFlow to the class activity feed via their browser. Teachers can also post photos and announcements to the class activity feed, as well as send private messages to parents either from their browser or now directly from the upgraded ClassFlow Moments app.
CLASSHUB CONFIGURATIONS FEATURE (www.classhub.com) ClassHub now enables hyper-focused mobile device management (MDM) not
WHAT’S NEW
instruction and custom assessment items by state standards and easily add them to student learning paths and assessments. Classworks instructional units have been restructured to ensure a tighter alignment to skills and state standards. In addition, teachers have access to over 150 redesigned activities, with 50 new activities being seamlessly added each month.
offered by other MDM solutions. The new Configurations feature allows school IT administrators to quickly set up restrictions, permissions, bookmarks, custom app-notification settings, printers, Wi-Fi settings and more for student devices in individual classes or entire schools. ClassHub also allows administrators to choose when a Configuration is active. A Configuration can be active while school is open, during specific hours or days, or all the time.
CAPSTONE PEBBLEGO NEXT: SOCIAL STUDIES
(www.capstone.com) Capstone announces the launch of its newest database module, PebbleGo Next: Social Studies. PebbleGo Next: Social Studies features 150 articles aligned with national curriculum standards for social studies. The module’s robust content
CLASSWORKS
(curriculumadvantage.com) Classworks released several upgrades to its best-in-class online intervention solution. Teachers can search Classworks’ aligned
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software & online
explores: Culture, Economics, Fields of Study, Geography, Technology and Society, and the United States. The module includes an activity to explore in each subcategory, as well as a video and critical thinking prompts for each article.
ITSLEARNING USER INTERFACE AND ONBOARDING UPDATES
(itslearning.com) Itslearning is updating its user interface and onboarding processes to make it more accessible to K-12 students and teachers. Teachers will be better able to manage their content and resources regardless of whether the material is stored within or outside of the LMS. New features provide “to-do” guidance for students to help support them in their learning. Teachers also have onscreen guidance as they first navigate through the different sections of the LMS.
IXL LEARNING IXL DIAGNOSTIC
(www.ixl.com/diagnostic/) IXL Learning announced the release of an adaptive diagnostic on IXL, the K–12 personalized learning program used by 1 in 9 U.S. students. The IXL Diagnostic achieves four breakthroughs in assessment: it offers information that is always up to date, requires no class time to be set aside for testing, provides clear next steps and makes the experience a delight for students.
KAHOOT!
(www.kahoot.com) Kahoot! launched Kahoot! Studio, a new unit that will offer a library of ready-toplay, curriculum-aligned, and high-quality original Kahoot! game collections. The games will be offered primarily to K-12 teachers and students. Original kahoot games will also be created for the general public. The first collection to be released is the Kahoot! Math collection, which will include popular topics such as Algebra, Fractions, and Geometry. Collections for other subjects will be released in the future.
KAJEET
(kajeet.com) Kajeet announced the expansion of its partnerships to connect students on all four major U.S. 4G LTE wireless networks. Doubling the networks school districts can connect students – from two to four wireless carriers – Kajeet can now serve more students across the nation than any other wireless provider in time for the new school year. Wherever there is coverage on these wireless networks, students can connect to the Internet with Kajeet Education Broadband.
KIDS DISCOVER SINGLE SIGN-ON CAPABILITIES
(www.kidsdiscover.com) Kids Discover announced that its products are now compatible with single sign-on
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through both Google Classroom and Clever. Students will now only require one password to access Kids Discover content—the same password they use for the rest of their classroom programs. Kids Discover’s choice to integrate their curriculum with Google Classroom was influenced by the fact that more than 30 million students, faculty, and staff use their free school collaboration suite, Google Apps for Education.
LEARNING UPGRADE MATH LESSONS
(www.learningupgrade.com) Learning Upgrade has added 360 new math lessons to the Learning Upgrade App. Each standards-aligned Math Upgrade lesson is aimed to serve ELL students in grades K-5. The lessons integrate exciting songs, video, and games that engage students. Each lesson provides practice problems accompanied by immediate intervention and remediation with multimedia supports. Students can repeat lessons until they master them, earning gold certificates upon proficiency. Each full course takes students 20–25 hours to complete.
LEXIA LEARNING IPAD APP
(www.lexialearning.com) In order to increase the flexibility and efficiency with which districts and schools can administer adaptive reading assessment, Lexia Learning has made the Lexia RAPID Assessment literacy program available on iPad with the RAPID app. The K-12
software & online computer-adaptive screener and diagnostic tool is available on the App Store. RAPID measures the academic language skills that play a role in overall reading comprehension, particularly as students transition from learning to read to reading to learn.
MOVE THIS WORLD
(www.movethisworld.com) Move This World equips educators and students with tools to strengthen their social and emotional wellbeing in order to create healthy school climates where effective teaching and learning occur.
Through evidence-based videos and digital tools, Move This World ritualizes a daily practice of identifying, managing and expressing emotions. With 24/7 access to instructional videos, classroom visuals, a resource library and more, Move This World increases accessibility to social and emotional learning.
NEARPOD INTERACTIVE LESSON PLANS
(nearpod.com) & (www.flocabulary.com)
Nearpod announces its partnership with Flocabulary which uses hip-hop songs and videos to increase student engagement and achievement. Together, the companies co-developed and are launching a series of classroom-ready lessons that pack
What the Classroom Can Be. Interactive Fun Collaborative Effective Uncomplicated
WHAT’S NEW
Flocabulary’s signature tunes alongside Nearpod’s existing suite of interactive, fun and educational tools that span everything from virtual reality field trips to critical thinking questions.
PEARSON’S TELL
(www.pearsontell.com) Test of English Language Learning, or TELL, by Pearson is a unique, tablet-based assessment that gives students, teachers, and district administrators the support they need to meet the new
Helping you create the classroom your schools, teachers, and students want. Boxlight products are designed to help students learn more effectively and develop the essential skills they need for success. Students respond to this enhanced way of learning, and teachers find it allows them to do more in the classroom—with less time and hassle. Our technology and software empower both educators and students in all forms of learning, enabling real understanding and enhancing student achievement. Whether it’s whole-class learning, small-group collaboration, formative assessment, or STEM-based learning, Boxlight offers services, software, and hardware that enable teachers to easily and effectively enhance student success. What’s more, our solutions help build essential skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity.
Experience what the classroom can be. Boxlight.com/classroom or text “CanBe” to 51555.
FOR MORE OF THE LATEST PRODUCT RELEASES, VISIT US ONLINE AT TECHLEARNING.COM. WWW.TECHLEARNING.COM
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regulations of ESSA. TELL aligns with World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) English Language Development (ELD) Standards, as well as state standards. TELL helps school districts to screen and place students quickly and accurately by identifying students’ English language proficiency level and informing program placement decisions.
PRINTLAB 3D PRINTING STARTING BUNDLE
(weareprintlab.com) PrintLab International announced the launch of a complete & affordable 3D printing starter bundle for schools. PrintLab has developed a unique and comprehensive bundle of products and resources for schools looking to introduce 3D printing in the classroom. The release
coincides with the launch of the next generation of EinStart series desktop 3D printer. They are fully-enclosed for safety, benefit from automatic bed levelling, wireless network connection and a colour touch screen interface.
QUIZLET DIAGRAMS
(quizlet.com) Quizlet has announced the launch of Diagrams, an interactive study experience ideal for subjects where analyzing graphs, images, and maps are vital to
understanding. To build a new study set, users can upload an image and then enter in corresponding terms and definitions. Students and teachers can also browse a directory of popular diagrams or search the thousands already created by others on Quizlet to find relevant diagrams and get inspired to build their own.
SCHOLARCHIP ABE FULL INTEGRATION (www.scholarchip.com) ScholarChip has fully integrated ABE (Alternative Behavior Educator) into its suite of services. ABE offers practitioners
NEW PRODUCT! Trustworthy, Kid-Friendly Reference for Elementary Grades
Announcing the launch of The World Almanac® for Kids Elementary, a brand-new resource for elementary-school-level children. Highlights include:
• Exclusive, age-appropriate content—articles, videos, games, interactive worksheets, quizzes, puzzles, science projects, maps, flags, illustrations, and more • Excellent resources for student reports and research— extensive, up-to-date articles on a variety of subjects • Valuable Teacher Resources
• Plus, dynamic citations, Share to Google Classroom, Read Aloud, Google Translate, and much more! FOR MORE OF THE LATEST PRODUCT RELEASES, VISIT US ONLINE AT TECHLEARNING.COM.
FREE Trial: www.Infobase.com/TrialAD17 48
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software & online evidence-based behavioral interventions that get results by teaching better behavior through interactive games and videos. ScholarChip-ABE eliminates administrative tasks by automating referrals and interventions that are based on repeated tardiness or truancy. It monitors progress throughout a student’s career while giving administrators and teachers data-driven reports that quickly flag at-risk students, help chronicle progress, and support quantifiable decision-making tasks.
SCHOOLDUDE EDUCATION OPERATIONS HEALTH INDEX (dudesolutions.com) SchoolDude’s bi-annual Education Operations Health Index utilizes nearly two decades of education operations
statistics from SchoolDude client data as they complete and track daily work. Aggregate data includes work orders, IT tickets, event management, energy usage and more, collected from progressive and innovative operations, facilities and IT managers. Data analysis was combined with online survey results from 200 respondents in education operations from a variety of regions, job titles and school sizes.
WEST AND EDUCATION FUNDING PARTNERS
(www.schoolmessenger.com) & (www. edufundingpartners.com) West and Education Funding Partners
WHAT’S NEW
(EFP) announced a partnership that will give West’s SchoolMessenger Presence website customers a turnkey funding solution through EFP adNet. This fall, EFP adNet will integrate with the SchoolMessenger Presence website platform and give its customers the ability to “turnon” adNet and begin running ads from a carefully vetted list of education-friendly brands. Districts and schools determine the placement of the brands’ digital ads on their website pages to drive revenue.
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MA-808 Portable Wireless PA System Versatile Sound Amplification The MA-808 innovatively integrates wireless microphones, speakers, CD / USB player and a Bluetooth interface for wireless music streaming into a sturdy, compact case that offers an entirely portable sound system anywhere it is needed. MIPRO supplies UHF and 2.4 GHz receiver modules options and matching handheld or bodypack transmitters, as well as the exclusive miniature transmitters for musical instruments, such as violin, saxophones, erhu, guitar, cajon, and so on, thus the instrument players could experience convenient wireless amplification via the MA-808 portable wireless PA system.
The Ultimate in Convenience Lightweight with built-in pull-up handle and sturdy wheels for easy transport, the economical rechargeable battery system enables operations indoors or outdoors without AC power and cumbersome cables. Even handheld & bodypack transmitters can be stored within the sleek cabinet.
MORE OF THE LATEST PRODUCT RELEASES, VISIT US ONLINE AT TECHLEARNING.COM. Distributed in USA by StarinFOR Marketing 136 Venturi Drive Chesterton, IN 46304 Phone: 800.846.5606 | sales@starin.biz | www.starin.biz
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ON DEMAND Check out the following resources from our partner sites:
POINT ISABEL (TX) ISD SELECTS ITSLEARNING LMS TO FOCUS ON PERSONALIZED LEARNING After piloting several learning management systems, district leaders in Point Isabel chose itslearning for their pre-kindergarten through 5th grade students to help personalize student learning. “It’s easy for students to navigate, it gives teachers the opportunity for real-time interaction with their students, and it offers parents the chance to log in from home and assist their students,” says superintendent Dr. Lisa Garcia. With the system’s new cloud integration, districts using G Suite by Google or Microsoft’s Office 365 will find it easier to synchronize their preferred cloud service with their itslearning accounts and all of their favorite cloud apps without ever leaving itslearning. New assessment updates include a streamlined grading workflow and a new capacity for annotating student submissions online.
WEBINARS
Fostering Skills for Successful Learning in a Blended Environment Sponsored by: itslearning
Mobile Device Management – Strategies for Success Sponsored by: School Dude
Motivating Struggling Adolescent Readers: Try Relevance and Success
MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (MDE) ANNOUNCES STEADY GAINS IN STATEWIDE EARLY LITERACY ASSESSMENT WITH RENAISSANCE
Sponsored by: Voyager Sopris Learning
Solving the Digital Equity Puzzle Sponsored by: Comcast Business
The MDE announced that the majority of its pre-K and kindergarten students have made significant gains during the past academic year. This is the third year in a row that the state’s young students have made academic gains, with the average statewide score exceeding that of the previous two school years. Nearly 37,000 Mississippi kindergartners took the Star Early Literacy assessment from Renaissance in the fall and spring of the 2016–2017 school year. Statewide, 65 percent of kindergartners scored above the end-of-year target score of 681. The target score signifies “transitional” readers, or students who are beginning to read unfamiliar words and easy-reader material and are on their way to becoming independent readers.
Leading and Learning: Collaborative Leadership for K-12 Education Sponsored by itslearning
Check techlearning.com for updates
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VERNIER SOFTWARE & TECHNOLOGY TO HOST 31 FREE DATA-COLLECTION WORKSHOPS THIS FALL
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This fall, Vernier will host 31 free, hands-on workshops around the country to help science educators integrate data-collection technology into their curriculum. Each four-hour workshop will be led by a training specialist who will work alongside classroom educators as they explore classroom-ready labs that incorporate data-collection technology from Vernier. During the workshops, educators will learn skills and strategies for integrating data-collection technology into their physics, chemistry, biology, and environmental or earth science lessons to help meet the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). After receiving an overview of the technology, educators will have opportunities to explore popular experiments across a wide variety of grade levels and scientific disciplines. Vernier technology-based solutions enhance STEM education, increase learning, build students’ critical thinking skills, and support the science and engineering practices detailed in the NGSS.
Boxlight 47 Bretford Manufacturing
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PUTNAM CITY (OK) SCHOOLS DESIGNS CUSTOM CHARGING STATION SOLUTION WITH LOCKNCHARGE
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To help refresh their digital learning initiatives, leaders at Putnam City Schools collaborated with LocknCharge to design and release the Putnam 16 Charging Station. The district is installing 500 charging stations for the upcoming school year. “Our district is in the process of creating our own digital curriculum, so students will increasingly use mobile devices as their textbooks. We didn’t find any stations that fit our needs for this initiative, so we approached LocknCharge about creating a custom solution,” says Charri Stratton, director of instructional technology at Putnam City Schools. The new charging station stores and secures 16 iPads. The pre-wired stations come with external charging status displays and built-in mechanical combination locks. Four hundred stations are destined for middle schools, and 100 more will be distributed to various classrooms that have 1:1 programs.
itslearning 52 Kramer 43 McGraw Hill Education Mentoring Minds
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Smart Technology Needs Smart Management Powerful, easy-to-use device management tools
Visit goguardian.com/cio or call us at 888-310-0410 to learn more and start a FREE trial today.
@goguardian About GoGuardian Based in Los Angeles, GoGuardian is a leader in Chromebook management solutions for K-12 school districts. GoGuardian products are used by 120,000+ educators in all ďŹ fty states, impacting millions of students and teachers every day as they use the Internet for collaboration and learning. Š 2017 Liminex, Inc. doing business as GoGuardian. All rights reserved. Google, Chrome OS, the Chrome logo and Chromebooks are trademarks of Google, Inc.
At the heart of education is a girl connecting with her hero. Welcome to itslearning, the only K-12 LMS that comes from the very heart of education. itslearning is the only teaching and learning platform designed by educators specifically for the way today’s K-12 students learn and connect. Which means teachers can meet kids where they learn, and personalize lessons to their unique needs. Of course, other key connections must be made. Districts need to be united. Data silos integrated. Curricula aligned with standards. And everything else brought together in unison to raise education to a new high. Because when we elevate education, we elevate us all. Let’s connect at itslearning.com. IT CONNECTS US ALL