Greene County Career Center (Ohio) Initiative: A truancy interventionist helps students cope with life challenges such as daycare for their children, homelessness and driving parents to chemotherapy appointments. Result: Truancy court referrals fell from 24 to one in just two years. Meriden Public Schools (Conn.) Initiative: District leaders asked school-based behavioral teams to monitor attendance. […]
Years ago, it was easy for districts to ignore what high average daily-attendance numbers can conceal: kids, sometimes lots of them, who miss weeks of school every year. The 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act has changed that calculus. For the first time, the law requires states to report chronic-absenteeism rates, and more than two-thirds of […]
The alarming rate of school shootings in recent years has led to the creation of emergency notification systems that can send various types of messages to multiple devices, including live videos to law enforcement. Administrators have more control of their messages, including the ability to determine who has received and read them. One system even […]
Crisis Lockdown Alert Status System Sielox Individuals can use this browser-based system to send color-coded email and text alerts to administrators and first responders through networked devices, such as desktops and smartphones. LINK TO MAIN ARTICLE: Emergency notification systems for schools School officials can hold two-way chats with responders, and law enforcement can […]
Smart TVs and whiteboards allow even more students to collaborate. Depending on the model, students can interact with a touch screen in 10 to 32 different places simultaneously. Many of these displays come with screen mirroring capabilities and apps that are loaded with learning activities. Other tools include collaborative software that monitors internet use and […]
In his new book What School Could Be, innovation expert Ted Dintersmith profiles schools that focus on innovation and "real" learning, rather than endlessly drilling on formulas and definitions that don't matter in today's world. Our archaic model of education trains kids for a world that no longer exists, and accelerating advances in technology are eliminating millions of […]
Ware County School District in Georgia has downsized its inventory of assistive technology. Thanks to a slew of technological advances, many of the specialized tools their special education students had used to communicate and learn are now redundant. "We don't need portable keyboards or word processors anymore" says Barbara Sonnier, the district's assistive technology coordinator. […]
The latest technology can fill classrooms with movie theater-quality sound. Among the latest products are audio enhancers for videoconferences and speakers that can mount to various surfaces and generate sound from numerous devices. Students can add some constructive "noise" of their own with throwable microphones and online music platforms. SoundStructure C-Series Polycom This conferencing system […]
Across the US, the number of teen suicides has risen dramatically over the years. Whether it's the stress of high-level courses or the anxiety of divorcing parents, a staggering amount of students are overcrowding school counseling centers, says Psychology Today. In fact, the National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that 1 in 5 teenagers and […]
Math instruction continues to move further into digital territory, but many lessons still depend on hands-on activities and nondigital materials, such as textbooks. Schools choose computer-based and online curricula because they can provide more engaging ways for students to learn—from playing games and watching instructional videos to creating graphs and drawing shapes digitally. These programs […]
