Superintendent Yolanda Valdez takes messaging seriously. Not emoji-filled texts or IMs, but messages that convey a goal for 4,000-plus students at Cutler-Orosi Joint USD in rural California: That they will attend college. Superintendent Yolanda Valdez takes messaging seriously. Not emoji-filled texts or IMs, but messages that convey a goal for 4,000-plus students at Cutler-Orosi Joint […]
Why is there such an emphasis on personalized learning today for K12? Educators want to work with students the way they learn best, and we know that one-on-one or small-group instruction is effective. But for the sake of efficiency, schools often employ the "factory" model to teach large numbers of students in a classroom, assuming […]
Just a few years ago, CIOs—if they were involved in data analytics at all—would run a report, export it into an Excel document and create a chart or a graph to share with teachers and district leaders once a week, or at the end of each semester. Now it's all about creating systems that aggregate […]
In many school districts today, hiring practices for administrative leaders often consist of "replacement filling" waiting for a position to open up before searching for candidates, according to a 2014 report on K12 education titled "Best Practices in Succession Planning" created by Hanover Research, a market research and survey analysis company based in Washington, D.C. […]
Cloud usage is on the rise. In 2014, schools delivered only 42 percent of their IT solutions fully or partially via cloud. In just two years, that number jumped to 67 percent and in three years, K-12 IT pros expect that number to reach 74 percent, according to CDW-G's K-12 Cloud Possibilities infographic. Those numbers […]
Craig Jones discovered the difficulty of providing personalized learning to a large class when he taught science at a Los Angeles USD middle school. With 10 lab stations set up across the classroom—each with its own objectives—monitoring each students' learning was virtually impossible. Jones sought to solve the problem. After leaving the district, he helped […]
Using tablets, apps and YouTube videos, students at Greenwood Elementary School in the Wayzata Public Schools in Minnesota have added new virtual elements to paintings and other artwork, so their masterpieces include videos that not only get them engaged, but also help them better understand ideas behind the art itself. It's a technology called augmented […]
Simplification and integration are the main focus for student information systems (SIS). SIS users are looking for a single sign-on that gives them access to all information they are seeking and also provides a connection to other enterprise software, such as Microsoft or Google products. Users also want to be able to use SIS on […]
Harrisonburg City Public Schools in Virginia incorporates a technical- and engineering-based STEM curriculum starting with kindergarten and continuing right through high school. The nation needs more STEM-focused youths, as only 16 percent of American high school seniors are proficient in math and interested in a STEM career, according to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). […]
As one of today's most promising models for instruction, blended learning is growing rapidly across the country. But what really is blended learning, and how can educators use it to improve student outcomes? In a blended learning environment, students learn through a combination of online instruction—with some element of student control over time, place, path […]
