Specialized Education Services, Inc. Unveils 2023 Staff and Teacher of the Year Winners

PHILADELPHIA (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Specialized Education Services, Inc. (SESI), a division of FullBloom, a premier provider of education services for K-12 students who require additional educational and positive behavioral supports to overcome challenges that impede success in a traditional school setting, today announced Kristi Hoffman as its 2023 Teacher of the Year (TOY) and Ashanti Brooks as its 2023 Staff of the Year (STOY). The designations were officially made last week as SESI celebrated Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week.

SESI’s second annual STOY designation honors teachers who exemplify high-quality, evidence-based instruction and the importance of equitable education for all SESI students. New for 2023, full-time employees including social workers, behavior specialists and paraprofessionals, were eligible for nomination. The STOY program recognizes exemplary staff who demonstrate unparalleled dedication to supporting all students.

“SESI is delighted to celebrate Kristi and Ashanti, regional and campus level winners, and all nominees on the heels of this important week devoted to honoring the exceptional professionals in education,” said Dawn Thomas, president of SESI. “Our compassionate staff and teachers work tirelessly to unlock the potential of every student, a mission that has become increasingly crucial as the number of students receiving special education has grown over the past decade. Their passion for fostering student growth is evident in every classroom, therapy session and special activity.”…Read More

6 keys to effective tutoring

Key points:

  • For tutoring to work, students have to show up
  • Finding a curriculum designed for tutoring is important to program success

As educators continue to work to accelerate learning for students following the pandemic, many are turning to tutoring to provide support. Tutoring is one of the most effective math interventions available for students, but the quality of tutoring varies widely.

Here are six keys to ensuring your students are receiving the best tutoring available.…Read More

Windsor Public Schools Transform Culture, Build Coherence Through High-Quality SEL Program

Charlotte N.C. – Aperture Education, the leading provider of research-based social and emotional learning (SEL) assessments for K-12 schools, and the Urban Assembly, an education nonprofit that advances the social and economic mobility of communities by improving public education, announced strong evidence of both positive student-to-student and student-to-teacher relationship building with Windsor (Connecticut) Public School’s thriving SEL program.

Over the last couple of years, Windsor has made remarkable strides in its implementation of SEL, as demonstrated by the compelling data trends. With keen attention to the SEL needs of its students, Windsor has shown an impressive uptick in the proportion of students exhibiting typical to strong SEL abilities. In just one academic year, Windsor witnessed a significant increase, with 84% of students now demonstrating positive SEL skills, up from the previous year’s 79%. Notably, 28% of students exhibit strength in SEL competencies, up from the initial 16%, a testimony to the effectiveness of the SEL interventions.

“I am immensely proud of the work being done by our teachers, SEL Specialists and support staff who are committed  to nurturing the social-emotional well-being of our students,” said Dr. Terrell Hill, Windsor Public Schools Superintendent. “Their dedication and commitment have played a pivotal role in achieving this growth in our students’ social-emotional learning competencies. Their passion for nurturing the holistic development of our students and their unwavering commitment to ensuring the success and well-being of our students is truly inspiring.”…Read More

A smarter way to think about college

This month, hundreds of thousands of graduating high school seniors are weighing their college options. For many, it’s an intensely stressful time as they are rejected or waitlisted by schools they aspired to attend and decide where they will spend the next four years of their lives. Unfortunately, most will base those decisions on criteria that don’t actually determine the quality of their education and ignore the criteria that do.

Choosing a college to attend is not like choosing a product to purchase, though students often approach the decision with a consumer’s mindset. There is no Consumer Reports to rely on, leaving students and their parents unduly influenced by a school’s reputation, the glitziness of the admissions materials, the amenities in the student housing, the impressiveness of the recreational facilities, and the quality of the campus tour. None of these bears any relation to the quality of the instruction you will receive as a student.

Even sampling a class or two while visiting a school tells you virtually nothing meaningful.  As any teacher knows, there are good days and bad days in every course.  What you experience is not generalizable to the course as a whole, much less to the entire school.…Read More

Brainly Announces Beta Access to New AI Features, Developed with OpenAI’s GPT-4 for Personalized Learning

NEW YORK – Brainly, the leading global learning platform for all school subjects and grades, announces its new AI functions allowing Learners to “Simplify” or “Expand” answers. Guided by a friendly mascot named Ginny, students can benefit from the AI which operates on Brainly’s moderated Knowledge Base of over 250 million answers, ensuring the quality and accuracy of academic help. 

The beta version with “Simplify” and “Expand” functionality furthers a more dynamic, personalized learning experience for students. The “Simplify” function uses AI to modify answers to be shorter, straightforward and focused on the main facts. The “Expand” function lets Learners access more in-depth AI-generated explanations for an existing answer. 

Brainly is rolling out the beta version to selected users, who can experiment with the AI functions in the real world and provide feedback, with the full version and more functionalities expected soon. All users with iOS devices can request access to the beta here.…Read More

Arkansas Department of Education Names Curriculum Associates’ Magnetic Reading™ Foundations an Approved English Language Arts Foundational Skills Program for Grades K–2

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass.—The Arkansas Department of Education’s Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) recently named Curriculum Associates’ Magnetic Reading Foundations to its list of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) for foundational skills in English language arts. Now, districts across the state can use the instructional program, which is rooted in the Science of Reading, to help teachers in Grades K–2 deliver explicit instructional routines and a systematic scope and sequence that helps students become confident readers.

“Arkansas DESE’s review of instructional materials provides teachers with access to the highest-quality resources available and underscores the state’s commitment to the overarching success of its teachers and students alike,” said Elizabeth Bassford, associate vice president of content and implementation at Curriculum Associates. “Being named to the Arkansas DESE list of HQIM reinforces the power of Magnetic Reading Foundations in helping students develop the skills they need to excel in reading. Schools and districts in Arkansas can now confidently use our program—alongside our online i-Ready® program—to meet all their Grades K–2 reading assessment, instruction, and curriculum needs.”

The Arkansas DESE review of instructional materials is conducted in partnership with EdReports, an independent nonprofit that conducts evidence-based reviews of instructional materials. The Arkansas DESE requires that all K–2 Literacy Curriculum Programs first advance through EdReports’ review process and then meet Arkansas-specific criteria.…Read More

Could nearly half of cybersecurity leaders leave their roles by 2025?

By 2025, nearly half of cybersecurity leaders will change jobs, 25 percent for different roles entirely due to multiple work-related stressors, according to new predictions by Gartner, Inc. 

“Cybersecurity professionals are facing unsustainable levels of stress,” said Deepti Gopal, Director Analyst, Gartner. “CISOs are on the defense, with the only possible outcomes that they don’t get hacked or they do. The psychological impact of this directly affects decision quality and the performance of cybersecurity leaders and their teams.”

Given these dynamics as well as the massive market opportunities for cybersecurity professionals, talent churn poses a significant threat for security teams. Gartner research shows that compliance-centric cybersecurity programs, low executive support and subpar industry-level maturity are all indicators of an organization that does not view security risk management as critical to business success. …Read More

Pay isn’t the only reason for the teacher shortage–it’s time to rethink the classroom

As dust from the pandemic settles, students across America are facing another disruption to quality education. This crisis, however, shouldn’t be a surprise. It is two centuries in the making.

The most recent legislation introduced in Congress, which would see a minimum salary base of $60,000 for public school teachers, is certainly a welcome step in the right direction. However, it still misdiagnoses the problem; burnout will still occur, regardless of the paycheck. That’s why we need to fundamentally reimagine the role of a teacher in the modern classroom.

The teacher job description crafted in the 1800s by the Common School Movement led by Horace Mann served a one-adult-room-full-of-kids model with the goal of civilizing American children. Hopefully, in the year 2023, we can aspire beyond assimilation as the goal of education and aim for creating learning spaces that value diversity and support every student in reaching their full, authentic potential.…Read More

New Meridian Names Eileen Shihadeh as Chief Operating Officer

AUSTIN — New Meridian, a nonprofit assessment company committed to advancing quality education for all students, today announced that Eileen Shihadeh has joined the executive team as chief operating officer.

Shihadeh has two decades of experience in strategic planning and execution, product management, branding, sales, and marketing in various senior leadership roles at major companies that include Texas Instruments, Raptor Technologies, and Compass Learning.

“Eileen brings enormous capability to the New Meridian team,” said Arthur VanderVeen, founder and CEO of New Meridian. “Her breadth and depth of experience in organizational management, strategy, and enterprise value creation will add tremendous energy and expertise as we continue to grow.”…Read More