Positive public relations experiences are critical to our survival as public entities and, unfortunately for many school leaders, we face an uphill climb. According to a June 2016 Gallup poll, only 30 percent of Americans feel "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in public schools, down from an equally disheartening 36 percent […]
The latest K12 school designs in classrooms favor versatile and adaptive spaces to support blended and project-based learning, as well as other progressive education techniques. Despite the financial challenges districts face, an estimated $41 billion was spent in 2016 on K12 construction and renovation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Renovation projects outnumber new building […]
KANSAS CITY, Kansas—Superintendent Cynthia Lane learned the cello a few years ago, but not to fulfill some lifelong dream of soloing with the local symphony. The leader of Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools, who played clarinet in high school, now performs alongside fourth- and fifth-graders in their annual spring strings concert. Fifth-graders also spend months […]
One of the worst "professional learning" experiences from my teaching days involved a clown nose. The entire teaching staff—700 of us—were gathered in the town's civic auditorium to hear a speaker. Talk about "sit and get." At a pivotal moment, the speaker had us reach under our seats and pull out the envelopes that had […]
Jennifer Spring, superintendent of Cohoes City School District near Albany, New York, received a phone call from a local senior center in fall 2016 inquiring if any of her high school students could help senior citizens learn technology. Since January 2017, junior and senior honors student have spent about an hour each Tuesday afternoon helping […]
Years ago, educators at Fremont Middle School in Illinois provided students with engaging projects. Students sat on floors and gathered in hallways, vestibules and staircases, says Joan Shanahan, Fremont School District's technology integration specialist. But not until the 2015-16 school year did teachers have designated areas where students could work on assignments comfortably or have […]
Bonsall High School in San Diego County, California, is one of approximately 150 New Tech model schools in the country, where innovations in experiential learning foster college and career success. Moving beyond technologies that merely mimic traditional educational strategies, Bonsall uses an all-in-one computer—Sprout by HP—to fundamentally change the classroom experience. The result is highly […]
Herb Miller, Director of Education, OverDrive Education How do you build a digital reading platform that is easy for both students and teachers to use? There are four main pillars to effective digital content implementation. One, you have to be easily able to get the top content that any student or teacher may be looking […]
Schools thrive on free and open exchanges of information, but as soon as a principal reviews attendance records or examines student grades held on a district server, that openness must end. Schools thrive on free and open exchanges of information, but as soon as a principal reviews attendance records or examines student grades held on a […]
Solar power can provide a ray of sunshine for districts looking to control energy expenses. A sustainable and clean power source, solar involves very few moving parts and requires little maintenance. It also creates learning opportunities for students and reduces carbon footprints. Nearly 4,000 K12 schools have been fitted with solar installations as of 2014, […]
