FEATURE: Are Curriculum Specialists in Edtech Denial? By Kerry Gallagher Effective teaching practice incorporates the tools and skills that students are already using and will need to learn for the future.
BACK OFFICE BUSINESS: North Carolina School Districts Adopt IM Certified Professional Learning By TL Editors A growing number of districts are turning to Illustrative Mathematics (IM) Certified Professional Learning.
BACK OFFICE BUSINESS: AmeriCorps Volunteers Improve Reading Outcomes in Des Moines (IA) Public Schools By TL Editors
NEWS & TRENDS: Potential FERPA Violations with District Edtech Vendors By TL Editors LeRoy Rooker, FERPA expert who was director of the DOE Family Policy Compliance Office for 21 years, warns districts that they’re responsible for what their vendors do with data.
NEWS & TRENDS: FBI Warns Educators and Parents about Edtech’s Cybersecurity Risks By TL Editors This month the FBI released a public service announcement warning educators and parents about the cybersecurity risks for students
FEATURE: Leadership Roundtable: Digital Equity By Annie Galvin Teich The focus of the roundtable was to share strategies for addressing digital equity in their districts as they seek to close the equity gap for gender, economics, and diverse student communities.
BACK OFFICE BUSINESS: Pilot Program Offers Free Robotics Teaching Resources By TL Editors Sony is offering a pilot program through which educators will be provided multiple KOOV kits, free of cost, along with one hour of training with the KOOV team and four weeks to experience KOOV firsthand.
BACK OFFICE BUSINESS: edWeb and CoSN Partner to Support Superintendents and District Leaders By TL Editors edWeb is hosting an online community and engaging webinars to help superintendents connect and collaborate and get the maximum value from the CoSN Empowered Superintendents initiative.
NEWS & TRENDS: Sign of the Times By TL Editors The Houston Chronicle reports that Fort Bend (TX) ISD officials are evaluating new campus security measures, including cutting-edge facial recognition and tracking software
NEWS & TRENDS: K–12 Districts Prepare Their Infrastructures for the Internet of Things By TL Editors Because of the strain on school district networks caused by a surge in devices, IT teams are considering network upgrades as they move towards adopting the Internet of Things (IoT).
FEATURE: Building a Brighter Future—More than a Motto By Sascha Zuger Graduation rates have spiked 21.8% and students are thriving under innovative initiatives that include blended learning, tech-rich classrooms, and exposure to hope and opportunities for lifelong success.
NEWS & TRENDS: Equipping Students with News Literacy Skills to Recognize “Fake News” By TL Editors With their News Literacy Summer Academy, Schneider and his colleagues want to work with K–12 teachers to create ongoing partnerships with schools and districts interested in building news literacy courses—not just integrating lessons into language and social study classes.
BACK OFFICE BUSINESS: Broward County Public Schools Elects Science A-Z As District-Wide Supplement to K-5 Science Curriculum By TL Editors Science A-Z provides resources to teach core science ideas and practices, multilevel books to differentiate reading instruction, and hands-on experiments and projects.
BACK OFFICE BUSINESS: Vernier Software & Technology to Host 38 Free Professional Development Workshops this Fall By TL Editors Educators will learn skills and best practices for data-collection in physics, chemistry, biology, and environmental/Earth science, as well as K–8 science education to help meet the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
BACK OFFICE BUSINESS: Wonder Workshop Introduces New Applied Robotics Curriculum for Middle Schools that Gives Students Voice and Choice in STEM Learning By TL Editors
BACK OFFICE BUSINESS: Syracuse City ‘Blown Away’ by ContentKeeper’s Revolutionary Filtering Capability and Exceptional Support By TL Editors
BACK OFFICE BUSINESS: Starry Nights – and Schooldays: NEC Projectors and LED Display Create Immersive Learning Environment for School Planetarium By TL Editors The school decided to create a traditional theater aspect in large format in Southampton, using a custom configuration of modern projectors to show rectangular, seemingly flat media in the planetarium as well as dome projection.
FEATURE: Data Privacy and Security: A Continuing Challenge By TL Editors Hacked school networks held hostage for ransom demands have become far too common, although not widely discussed. Dealing with a hacked system and the public fall out is not something districts want to publicize.
