CIOs can play a key role in their district's efforts to increase parent engagement as part of wider initiatives to advance equity. Providing multilingual content on school websites and apps presents these outreach opportunities—as well as costs and challenges. "The overall benefit is to get the conversation started" says Jason Olsen, communications officer for Salt […]
With personalized learning on the rise, more K12 educators are looking for learning management systems that easily identify content based on individual student needs. Platforms can pinpoint specific concepts students don't understand, allowing instructors to help struggling learners more effectively by focusing on the areas that need extra attention. Some systems can even identify gifted […]
Allowing students to explore news articles that spark their curiosity can provide a bigger literacy boost than having them read nonfiction texts about random topics far removed from a youngster's interests. At Lancaster Middle School near Buffalo, New York, students read news articles to help write stories for a classroom magazine and to prepare for […]
Going from rhetoric to reality in the era of outcomes. Elliott Levine is HP’s Director of Education & HP Distinguished Technologist. What are school districts doing right, and what are they doing wrong, when it comes to education technology? School districts want to see change happen and they seem to be willing to put a […]
North Hills School District in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, wanted to better engage students in grades 6-12 across its English Language Arts curriculum through a commitment to education technology. With the move toward more rigorous digital learning, North Hills piloted StudySync, McGraw-Hill Education's digital English Language Arts curriculum for grades 6-12, during the 2015-16 school year […]
Todd Brekhus, President, myON What was the reasoning behind wanting to link current events to reading literacy for K8 students? The main reason is that we saw a gap in the current products on the market that are addressing news. We felt that some of the products that are out there for elementary and middle […]
Look for role models. Districts should find preschools that are already teaching STEM, consider what elements make it a strong program, and think about ways they could modify instruction for their own classrooms, says Phil Hampton, network director of VC STEM, an alliance of organizations working to enhance STEM instruction for students of all ages. […]
A Georgia school system partnered with local manufacturers to create German-style apprentice programs that teach skills through project-based learning. A district on Florida's west coast expanded manufacturing internships with help from small businesses. And in Tennessee, high school students are developing high-tech skills and earning college credit at a Volkswagen automobile factory. School districts are […]
Educators have offered instruction that goes beyond the rote for many years, but the concept of deeper learning has recently grown in scope as higher education and the economy demand a more complex blend of intellectual and social skills. Today's deeper learning proponents urge schools to focus on six competencies: mastering rigorous academic content; thinking […]
Editor's note: CIO Hot Topic is produced in collaboration with CoSN. Districts must provide learning materials that are accessible to all students. Digital accessibility—a challenging undertaking—involves making websites, learning platforms, videos, digital textbooks and portals available to students with physical, visual, speech, auditory, neurological or cognitive disabilities. The consequences of failing to do so can […]
