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.

Is blockchain the key to college success?

A student’s credentials and accomplishments, stored on and secured by blockchain technology, can set students up for college acceptance and college success, said Joshua Samuel, the CEO of Coins for College.

During a session at FETC 2023, Samuel explored how blockchain can be used in real world to solve problems like knowledge gaps, student motivation, attendance, teacher compensation.

Blockchain technology holds the promise to change much of what’s plaguing education today, he asserted. Blockchain relies on methods of cryptography, which secures data from unauthorized access and keeps students’ information safe.…Read More

National Alliance of Black School Educators Names Audrey Muhammad as Inaugural Recipient of the 2021 NABSE $10,000 Scholarship Award

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass., December 13, 2021—The National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE) recently named Audrey Muhammad, college success instructor at Durham Technical Community College in Durham, NC, as the recipient of the 2021 NABSE $10,000 Scholarship Award, which is sponsored by Curriculum Associates. This inaugural award, The Dr. Charles Mitchell, Jr. Leadership Scholarship, will help support Muhammad as she pursues an advanced degree in educational leadership at Wilmington University.

“We offer our congratulations to Ms. Muhammad on being the recipient of the inaugural award and wish her continued success in her educational endeavors,” said Dr. Fadhilika Atiba-Weza, executive director of NABSE. “NABSE is proud to present this scholarship in honor of Dr. Charles Mitchell, Jr., a founding member of our organization, whose recognition of the importance of leadership contributed to the formation of NABSE. In addition, we thank Curriculum Associates for its support and look forward to our continued partnership.”

Muhammad has been an educator for the past 28 years. Prior to her current role, she worked for Toledo Public Schools in Ohio and San Bernardino Unified School District and West Contra Costa Unified School District in California. During this time, she served as a high school English teacher, mentor teacher, and facilitator of various education workshops. She is also the author of numerous books, including How to Set Worthy Goals and Rhymes of the Times: Black Nursery Rhymes, and is the publisher of the inspirational Virtue Today Magazine.…Read More

A college readiness tool that every district should use

The National Student Clearinghouse’s StudentTracker is an invaluable service that can help districts better prepare their students for college success.

college-readinessThe National Student Clearinghouse is a nonprofit organization founded in 1993 by the higher-education community to track students who received loans to help pay for college tuition. Graduate schools provide enrollment information, while the NSC verifies to lenders that students are taking the necessary course work.

Since expanding its services, the NSC currently holds records for more than 137 million students and 3,500 institutions of higher education, covering 98 percent of the current enrollment in both public and private colleges and universities. Today, the NSC continues to provide enrollment, diploma verification, and transcript services to students, lenders, and employers.

I first became aware of the NSC several years ago when Rick Torres, its chief executive officer, approached me about StudentTracker for High Schools, a new service his organization was offering. Through this service, the NSC provides U.S. high schools with the most accurate data regarding their graduates who have enrolled in college.…Read More

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New research: School choice has positive impact on college achievement gap

As U.S. politicians continue to debate the merits of allowing parents to choose their children’s schools, research financed by the Department of Education has found that school choice programs significantly improve the future educational prospects of children who might otherwise attend lower quality schools, reports the Daily Caller. On Monday the National Bureau of Economic Research released a working paper written by Harvard, Dartmouth and Brown University researchers, providing “the first evidence of the impact of school choice on the college achievement gap.”

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Report shows high school graduates enter college unprepared

A new report details methods to solve the disparity between high school exit exams and college entrance requirements.

High school students should be exposed to college-level courses early on, and they should learn in technology-rich classrooms that redesign the learning process to emphasize problem-solving, critical thinking, and other higher-order skills, in order to help close the achievement gap between high school and college, according to a new report that highlights high school graduates’ lack of preparedness for the rigors of a college education.

Entitled “Closing the Gap between High School and College,” the report comes from the Blackboard Institute, an independent research organization within the ed-tech company Blackboard Inc. While it’s obvious that Blackboard has a financial stake in advocating for more use of technology in the classroom, the report was based on interviews with education experts from K-12 schools, community colleges, research institutions, and nonprofit organizations.…Read More

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