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.

Simplified K-12 cybersecurity streamlines student data access

Remember when moving from one end of a state to another often meant changing phone numbers because the new residence would be in a different area code? And, after cell phones were born, remember when relocating across the country meant ditching a cell phone company, along with the number, because the new area of the country didn’t include the same coverage?

Chances are, if you are as old as I am, these scenarios do sound familiar. For most cell phone users, however, changing cell numbers just because you relocate is a foreign concept. A cell phone number becomes part of who we are, part of our contact identity, and, if we don’t want to, we never have to change cell numbers again. 

Now, let’s apply this scenario to today’s school environment and student data. Huh? I know you’re thinking this analogy might be a stretch, but stay with me, and I promise this will all make sense.…Read More

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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

Understanding historical trends and patterns in student data

Educators, students, and families weathered historic interruptions in learning over the past few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Student achievement, predicted to slide in the ongoing chaos, revealed its fragile nature in the NAEP’s recently released Long-Term Trend results from 2020–2022. The report showed the first-ever decline in mathematics and the most significant drop in reading achievement since the 1980s.

Effective student data analysis

As educators address this new landscape, accurate interventions to accelerate student learning are in demand. In order to know what type of intervention a student needs, high-quality data remain an essential element for educators. Teacher review and understanding of students’ data will guide instructional decisions and create positive outcomes for all students.…Read More

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EVALYON’s DataCapture Ed™ for Teachers and Educators is Now Available

Evalyon’s DataCapture Ed App allows educators to capture student data to help comply with Federally mandated RTI (Response to Intervention) requirements. Data is easily digitally captured by educators on iPads, and can be tracked, evaluated, shared, and safely stored to create detailed reports for teachers, administrators, and for parent/teacher conferences.

It’s available now at $43.99, for a limited time.

The App allows teachers to have more quality interactive time with each student, to monitor, in real time, daily progress toward goals, to capture audio/video/images of student work products, and to evaluate them for any issues that might need immediate intervention. This data capture is ENTIRELY PAPERLESS!! Data is categorized, charted, permanently stored. This data can be used in reports to help educators quickly determine RTI progress toward goals, interventions and placements, and to properly place students in appropriate RTI Tiers.…Read More

Understanding cyber liability insurance

[Editor’s Note: This article was first published on the TCEA TechNotes blog.]

Have you read the latest newsflash? School district data breaches are on the rise, and your school district’s student information system (SIS) data could be a prime target for hackers. The SIS contains records of minors, representing an unexploited, potential victim. Identity thieves are sharpening their digital knives for the feast. Let’s explore this topic from a cyber liability insurance perspective.

Framing the discussion

Keep these questions in mind as we step through this relevant topic.…Read More

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How safe is my student data?

Ed tech companies are not immune to hackers and vulnerabilities. But schools can protect themselves

data-safetyA few years ago I was attending a meeting at my county office, where a vendor who runs a popular education site was making a presentation. If I’m being honest, I’ll admit I wasn’t paying close attention. It was a product our district was already using, and I was our top level administrator for my district’s domain on the site. Stifling a yawn or two, I started to do what any bored student would do—see if I could break stuff.

Eventually, I happened upon an exploit by chance. I was working both in my district’s instance (the domain and accounts registered for our schools) as well as the one the county office set up for this presentation. Sometimes when I signed out of one, it signed me out of the other as well.

I signed into my district as the top-level admin, and then redirected to the county site by simply changing the URL. In doing so I gained top level privileges to the county’s instance, too, which should have been reserved exclusively for the vendor reps making the presentation. I raised my hand and asked, “Do you know someone can gain higher privileges than they should have?”…Read More

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5 key steps to safeguarding student data

Understanding data can improve student performance and lead to greater productivity for administrators and teachers; here’s how to protect this information

safeguard-dataToday, more than 90 percent of school districts electronically store data on everything from student demographics and course enrollment, to attendance and test scores on statewide assessments.

As uses of student data continue to expand, districts must be prepared to protect this information and ensure it’s only used for its intended purpose: to help students succeed. Here are five things school districts can do to safeguard their student data.

1. Understand the difference between data privacy and security.…Read More

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