Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Preparing for ransomware attacks begins with education

Key points:

  • Ransomware attacks can be devastating to a school or district, with costly ransoms and leaked sensitive information
  • The most effective security is layered; humans are only part of the equation

The biggest threat to K-12 schools’ cybersecurity is, ironically, education. It’s an expensive deficit. But there are funds and tools to help.

Ransomware – where hackers encrypt and lock victims’ data and try to sell the decryption key back to the victim for a ransom – delays education and hurts already-stretched budgets: A GAO report says a ransomware attack can cause K-12 students learning loss up to three weeks and cost from $50,000 to $1 million in expenses.…Read More

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Counslr Partners with Greece Central School District to Increase Mental Health Support Services

ROCHESTER, NY (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Counslr, the text-based mental health support platform, announced today that it has entered into a partnership with Athena High School of the Greece Central School District. This initiative will enable high school students and faculty to access Counslr’s 24/7/365 text-based mental health support platform, any time, anywhere.

“We’re thrilled to be able to offer our students more accessible mental health support options through Counslr” said Christine Baker, Director of Student Services and School Improvement at Greece Central School District in Rochester, NY. “While we already had a robust set of wellness resources for our students, Counslr is serving as a new channel for us to reach the traditionally unreachable students who are not comfortable visiting the counseling center or engaging in traditional therapy.”

Counslr launched the service with the High School on May 1st, providing 1,100 students and more than 150 faculty members with round-the-clock, unlimited access to live, on-demand, text-based sessions with licensed professionals, any time, anywhere. The partnership between Counslr and Athena High School aims to increase access to quality support services, empowering students and faculty to address issues as they arise, ultimately mitigating larger crisis situations from manifesting.…Read More

COVID learning loss likely to linger without intensive work

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for a free weekly newsletter to keep up with how public education is changing.

Just as COVID hit some communities much harder than others, schools across the U.S. suffered disparate academic losses in the wake of the pandemic.

But new research points to a surprising finding: Students within the same district seemed to experience similar academic setbacks, regardless of their background. In the average district, white and more affluent students lost about the same amount of ground in reading and math as Black and Hispanic students and students from low-income families.…Read More

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Dexter Community Schools in Michigan Uses Rise Vision to Encourage Student Creativity and Increase Student Engagement

Dexter, Michigan — Dexter Community School, a mid-size school district located in Dexter, Michigan, has implemented Rise Vision’s digital signage solution to encourage student expression and creativity.

Rise Vision, the #1 digital signage solution for K12 schools, has helped schools across the country enhance communication and foster a positive school culture.

With a high school population of approximately 1,200 students and a total district enrollment of over 3,500 students, Dexter Community School is committed to supporting the new generation of digital natives. The district has found a creative way to provide students with a platform to showcase their work and ideas through the use of digital displays.…Read More

Paycom Donated Nearly $300,000 To Local Public School Districts

OKLAHOMA CITY – Paycom Software Inc. (NYSE:PAYC), a leading provider of HR software, celebrates the end of the 2023 school year by awarding grants to four local public school foundations. These two-year commitments will provide Edmond, Millwood, Oklahoma City and Putnam City with funds needed to support ongoing and new educational programming specific to each district.

“Partnering with the public schools in the area is an important way Paycom supports our communities,” said Tiffany Gamblin, director of human resources business services at Paycom. “We know the power these programs can have on children and young adults. We’re grateful to play a part in helping tomorrow’s leaders shine.”

Each school district has a unique plan for the donations they received from Paycom.…Read More

3 ways to ensure kindergarten readiness for all children

Ensuring that children are developmentally ready for school on day one of kindergarten is critical. The better prepared children are for kindergarten, the more successful they are likely to be in their school experience.

Kindergarten readiness involves more than just a child’s age and academic abilities. It also encompasses social-emotional competencies, including whether children can follow directions, regulate their own emotions, and get along well with others.

As a former principal for a large urban school district who has opened an early childhood center with more than 400 children, I have extensive experience in preparing children for kindergarten and working with parents to do the same. Here are three key steps that school systems can take to ensure that all children have the solid foundation they need to start kindergarten ready to learn with their peers.…Read More

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Illinois’ Geneva School District 304 Renews Longterm Partnership with Discovery Education Supporting Science Education

Charlotte, NC — Illinois’ Geneva School District 304 (Geneva CUSD 304) today announced it has renewed its multi-year partnership with Discovery Education supporting science education in grades K-5 through the year 2026. This continued collaboration ensures K-5 students and teachers districtwide will continue enjoying access to Discovery Education’s award-winning Mystery Science service, which is helping drive deeper engagement in science instruction. Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports instruction wherever it takes place. 

Each day, Geneva CUSD 304’s teachers, administrators, and staff seek to educate the nearly 5,500 students they serve within an environment that encourages the desire to learn and meets the unique academic, personal, physical, and social needs of each child. In 2016, district educators selected Mystery Science to support hands-on elementary science instruction and foster within each student a love of science. Today, Mystery Science continues to fulfill that mission as it helps district students develop into complex, creative thinkers. 

Mystery Science, which joined the family of Discovery Education services in 2020 and is a winner of SIIA’s Best Science Instructional Solution CODiE Award for Grades PK-8, provides K-5 educators simple-to-use, open-and-go, hands-on lessons that inspire students to love science. Each lesson begins by posing a question commonly asked by young students. Students then explore these questions through interactive videos featuring real-world visuals fostering a sense of wonder and actively supporting student engagement in the accompanying discussion prompts.  …Read More

Let’s perfect existing tech solutions before rushing into AI

ChatGPT is barely six months old, but AI is already a buzzword in K-12 education.

It grabbed the attention of decision makers immediately, earning a ban from NYC schools in January of 2023, with other large districts following. Others are embracing the technology, with voices like Sal Khan encouraging educators to teach with AI.

As school leaders rush to take sides, it’s important to remember AI is unproven and unvetted, especially for school and district-level solutions. Instead, it’s critical for leaders to realize that most schools can greatly improve how they manage critical daily functions using existing, effective, and easy-to-implement technology.…Read More

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