Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Reflection Sciences Appoints Isaac Van Wesep as Incoming Chief Executive Officer

MINNEAPOLIS (PRWEB) — Reflection Sciences, the executive function company, has appointed  Isaac Van Wesep as Chief Executive Officer, effective June 1. The appointment will drive innovation, growth and the pursuit of the company’s mission to ensure every child gets the executive function support they need to achieve academic, career and personal success.

Van Wesep has a deep understanding of education technology and a passion for improving educational outcomes for all children. His expertise will be instrumental in guiding Reflection Sciences as it continues to lead the growth of cognitive science tools to enhance learning, curriculum and child development.

“After working closely with Isaac over the last two years, it’s clear he has the vision, energy and executive function skills to build on Reflection Sciences’ leadership in executive function,” said Co-Founder and Board Director Stephanie Carlson, Ph.D. “The science is now very clear that executive function skills significantly predict student achievement in core areas such as math, literacy and social-emotional skills. Measuring and improving executive function skills is the way forward to support student success.”…Read More

Labor market problems start with the K-12 system

The U.S. has a two-pronged labor market problem: a labor shortage and a skills gap. If every unemployed individual in the U.S. found a job right now, there would still be 4 million open jobs. Furthermore, a National Federation of Independent Business survey found that 54 percent of business owners struggle to hire qualified workers. As it becomes increasingly evident that schools are not providing students with the requisite skills to succeed in the labor market, the root of the persistent labor shortage and skills gap in the U.S. can be traced back to the K-12 education system.

However, career and technical education (CTE) programs have shown great promise in addressing this issue. The Department of Education (ED) notes that students who focus on CTE courses in high school have higher median annual earnings, graduation rates, and employment rates than non-CTE students. Despite the proven efficacy of CTE programs, inadequate federal investment remains a primary barrier to implementing successful programs nationwide.

It’s essential to adopt new funding methods and policies to mitigate this barrier, expand CTE programs in K-12 schools, and encourage widespread adoption of these programs to bridge the skills gap and foster student success. Like most education programs, CTE programs are primarily funded by state and local resources. Accordingly, increasing the implementation rates will be predicated on encouraging outside funding sources, such as private-sector partnerships and philanthropic organizations, to bridge the gap in federal funding and support the growth of CTE programs.…Read More

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Carousel Cloud Scales with Indianapolis School District for K-12 Communications

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – The Metropolitan School District (MSD) of Washington Township in Indianapolis is midway through a district-wide Carousel Cloud digital signage network deployment that will eventually reach more than 11,500 students and staff in eight elementary schools, three middle schools and one high school plus a career and technical center. The district reports 70 screens are live today with Carousel digital signage content coming from multiple contributors per school, with approximately 150 screens expected upon completion.

The Carousel Cloud deployment coincides with a district-wide remodeling project that includes the school district’s Central Campus, home to North Central High School, Northview Middle School and the J Everett Light Career Center. The district has adopted a “one school at a time” rollout strategy that helps its technology specialists effectively train staff before using the system. 

“We wanted to implement a digital signage network that invites many contributors, and that means the system has to be easy to learn and easy to use,” said Matthew Whitt, Audio Video Specialist – Technology, MSD of Washington Township. “We also wanted software that could be flexible for the needs of different education levels. With Carousel, each grade has a unique channel with its own voice.”…Read More

New, Free Digital Experience Offers All Students Invaluable Career Readiness Opportunities

BOSTON, MA – Kids today do not feel adequately prepared to make informed, confident decisions about what they want to do after high school. Research shows that more than 65 percent of students feel they would have benefited from more career exploration in middle and high school. An additional study states that less than half of Gen Z respondents said they had enough information to decide what pathway was best for them after high school. To improve career readiness outcomes for students, American Student Assistance® (ASA), a national nonprofit that changes the way kids learn about careers and navigate a path to postsecondary education and career success, today announced the expansion of its free suite of digital resources that advance career readiness by launching EvolveMeTM.

The EvolveMe platform gives teens access to and rewards them for completing high-quality, professional career experimentation activities and building transferable skills they can apply to any job. This is done through interactive online videos, quizzes, games, and mini-lessons or quests that help them develop life skills while enabling them to explore careers, build their networks, and actually experiment with jobs. Through the mobile experience, students are rewarded for completing these tasks and earn points to redeem for gift cards to their favorite retail, restaurant, and/or entertainment brands. They can also track their progress and accomplishments through fun and dynamic visuals within the platform. For instance, they can see their personalized tree grow as it sprouts unique flowers and creatures each time they complete an activity.

Co-created with a nationwide panel of middle and high school teen advisors who provided feedback on design, site features and functionality, and user experience (UX) – alongwith quantitative validation based on feedback from more than 4,600 additional young people, EvolveMe helps kids ages 13-18 prepare for their individual career journeys. Since more than 90 percent of teens have access to smartphones and mobile devices, ASA’s suite of digital experiences provides an equitable way to ensure all youth can explore career possibilities that match their interests — as early as middle school –  and test and try in high school. They can access hands-on opportunities, network with career professionals, and build transferable, career-ready skills they’ll need to succeed in the workforce.…Read More

Fewer than half of underserved students believe post-high school education is necessary

As school district leaders continue to worry about students’ college and career readiness, a new survey finds that less than half of students from traditionally underserved populations believe education after high school is necessary.

The new survey conducted by ECMC Group, in partnership with VICE Media Group, surveyed more than 1,000 high school students ages 14-18 from low-income, first-generation and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) backgrounds and found that only 45 percent believe education after high school is necessary, compared to 52 percent of all high schoolers.

In addition, only 8 percent feel fully prepared to make the decision of what to do after high school.…Read More

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Harnessing edtech for deeper science engagement

Throughout my career as a science educator in Colorado, Washington, and now in Florida, I’ve collaborated with many tremendous educators to solve the challenge of engaging students in science. Over time and through trial and error, we’ve learned the importance of engaging students in relevant content that is meaningful to them, engaging them in monitoring their own learning, or engaging them through strategies that make learning accessible.

However, I believe the most important factor in achieving a high level of student engagement in science is providing opportunities for students to participate in active learning experiences. As the K-12 science coordinator in a medium-sized school district in Central Florida, it is a critical part of my team’s work to find and create these opportunities and share them with teachers across the district.

There are five examples of these active learning experiences that stand out as effective strategies to achieve student engagement through relevancy, self-monitoring of learning, and accessible learning for every student:…Read More

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Why aren’t female students sticking with STEM?

Female middle and high school students have a high aptitude fit with, but low interest in, STEM careers, such as technology, manufacturing, and architecture, among others, according to the 2023 Female Student and STEM Career Exposure Gap Report from YouScience.

Based on nationwide data gathered from the test results of more than 225,000 female middle and high school students who completed the Aptitude & Career Discovery assessment from YouScience Brightpath in 2022, the key findings show that female students have:

  • More than 11x the aptitude for Advanced Manufacturing careers than interest
  • 8x more aptitude for Computers & Technology careers than interest
  • Nearly 4x more aptitude for Agriculture & Natural Resources than interest
  • Nearly 3x more aptitude for Architecture & Construction careers than interest

Additionally, the report found that female students have greater interest than aptitude for careers in Human Services, Law and Public Safety, Teaching, and Arts & Media.…Read More

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What the F? Grading strategies for early career teachers

According to a recent study, grading is one of the least stressful activities early career teachers have to complete. Grading is time consuming, however, and more grading-related questions are popping up in the news these days. For instance, are teachers allowed to reduce grades for late work? Are students allowed to retake tests on which they did not do well? It is essential that teachers have a clear and supportive grading system in place to address the scrutiny of today’s students, parents, and other stakeholders.

Setting up a grading system requires more than a calculator. A philosophical foundation is important to how a teacher grades. Having a philosophical basis for grading helps instructors explain grades, their meaning, and their value to students, who may then see the grade as less arbitrary.Two common approaches to further mitigate this arbitrary nature include normative-based grading and criterion- or standards-based grading. To build a strong, meaningful grading policy, instructors must choose the approach that best fits the course design and student learning outcomes.

Instructors who choose a normative approach will grade based upon relative performance. A teacher’s fallback practice may be to grade on a curve; however, curved grading is philosophically flawed in most course level applications. Effective instructional design models and psychometrics generally anticipate that students can master an end-of-course exam with a 70 to 80 percent score. Exams that do not reflect that criteria may have been poorly designed. Otherwise, instructional challenges or lack of student engagement could be to blame. Some college courses simply provide a curved score for students to lower the failure rate or to stratify student performance. This, however, does not evidence how students understood the content. Curved grades only show how students performed in relation to other students instead of reflecting students’ mastery of the materials.…Read More

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