News about economic stimulus funding for K-12 education brought a lot of excitement, confusion, and questions for both vendors and school districts. Who gets the money? How much and how is it distributed? Where can it be spent? During an edFocus Friday edWebinar, “Build Your K-12 Sales and Marketing Plans Around the ESSER Funding,” Rita Ferrandino, Founding Partner at Arc Capital Development and Innovation Consultant at Catalyst @ Penn GSE – University of Pennsylvania, explained the purpose of the three rounds of stimulus funding and how they could impact education companies.
Work on developing culturally proficient communities during the previous decade has now led to the creation of a professional learning program designed to increase equity and inclusion during the 2020s, in collaboration with the Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators.
It’s no secret that the pandemic altered K-12 education, including the relationship between vendors and schools. The question is: Are the changes here to stay? During the edWebinar, “Educators Have Spoken… This Is What Industry Partners Need to Hear,” the speakers presented trends and observations from edWeb’s recent edFocus Industry Summit and offered advice for vendors on building and maintaining connections with their customers.
The 2021 Driving K-12 Innovation report released by CoSN selected the most critical Hurdles (challenges), Accelerators (mega-trends), and Tech Enablers (tools) that school districts are facing with personalized learning, innovation, and digital equity. In a recent edWebinar, sponsored by ClassLink and co-hosted by CoSN and AASA, education leaders reflected on the challenges of the past year and the possibilities of the upcoming school year.
What’s that they say about a silver lining? It looks like COVID-19 has one in the education sphere. Despite myriad challenges schools faced during the pandemic, many will come out of it with richer approaches to teaching and learning.
In a diverse school district with more than 20 schools and 23,000 students, providing an equitable opportunity for every student to learn and grow is not an easy task. The plan and process used to generate positive results in the Northshore School District (WA) were discussed during a recent edWebinar, hosted by AASA, The School Superintendents Association and AASA’s Leadership Network.
According to Dr. Tammy Campbell, Superintendent of Federal Way Public Schools (WA), working towards equity requires using the head and the heart. School leaders need to have the skills and understanding to understand and change educational systems, she said, but they must also have a passion for their community and the equity mission.
COVID-19 was tough on schools, calling for swift shifts in teaching and learning practices to support virtual learning environments and a host of new pedagogical demands. The changes altered the educational landscape, inspiring educators to embrace new instructional methods and carry them over to their classrooms once they returned to normalcy.
Being a teacher during a pandemic may seem challenging enough without taking on potentially divisive political and social issues, but for three teachers who were recently named the Teacher of the Year in their states, working on equity issues with their students is a crucial part of the job and well worth the effort.
The disruptions and changes during the past year have made a return to the industrial education model of the 19th and 20th centuries problematic for school districts committed to preparing diverse students for 21st century careers. Instead, a more innovative and agile approach is needed to help today’s wide range of students recover from the pandemic and achieve more equitable outcomes.