In all the excitement of stimulus funds coming down to the local level and the requirements of addressing lost learning time, many new ideas are being floated on how to help students once full-time in-person instruction begins again. An idea being discussed by districts across the country is the idea of extended learning time.
May is National Mental Health Awareness Month. Each year Mental Health America, National Alliance on Mental Illness, and other mental health organizations across the country organize events, webinars, and more to improve access to mental health resources and support.
Everyone committed to the education industry wants the same thing—success for schools. But that success requires that systems work together, exchange information, and are easy to access. ClassLink’s approach to vendor partnerships creates an environment where plug-and-play and interchanging apps aren’t just possible—they’re seamless.
April is National Volunteer Month, a month dedicated to honoring and encouraging our communities’ volunteers. April became National Volunteer Month as part of President George W. Bush’s Points of Light Campaign in 1991. It is the perfect time to recognize the impact that volunteer service can have on local and national challenges, building stronger communities, and transforming the world!
In the age of digital learning (both in and out of the classroom), educators, students, and staff need the technologies they use to work together so learning can stay on track. That’s precisely why ClassLink’s Partner Program exists—and why we’ve taken a transparent and inclusive approach to work with EdTech vendors.
Last year we shared data highlighting the remote learning experiences of ClassLink schools in the spring of 2020. The data painted a picture of schools making quick transitions to remote learning with relatively stable use compared to pre-pandemic numbers. With the fall semester complete, we revisited ClassLink Analytics data to see how student engagement with digital resources had evolved.
When I talk with teachers, I like to share tips and tricks for using ClassLink to save them time and make their day a little easier. Here I’m going to share those nuggets with you. Number one is my favorite for staying organized. Teachers tell me that number two is a gamechanger for saving time during busy school days, and number four is just plain fun.
Many classroom best practices can still work in remote and hybrid settings—with a little technology tweaking. Here I’ll show you how to translate six research-proven classroom best practices into remote and hybrid learning settings.
In an era of remote learning, school leaders need access to analytics that paint a clear picture of student engagement with digital learning resources. Without that data, it’s difficult to know whether students are engaged and learning or struggling and in need of support.
In March 2020, when schools shut down during the pandemic, students’ experiences with remote learning varied, and some media portrayals labeled it a failure. In this blog series, we will share real school experiences, along with guidance for how you can apply their success to make remote learning more effective.
A decade ago, the Kansas Online Learning Program emerged in the ether above the wheat fields in central Kansas. Our mission was to provide rural students with the same learning opportunities as their peers living in more affluent zip codes. In its ten year existence, the program more than quadrupled in size and resulted in heartwarming success stories.
Demands on school internet bandwidth change when schools switch to remote learning models. Schools often calibrate their bandwidth for large download speeds to satisfy in-school usage. However, when students and teachers are remote, the upload speed may matter more.
For decades, Learning Management Systems (LMS’s) have helped transform colleges and universities from exclusively face-to-face learning environments to blended and online learning experiences. A similar transformation is occurring in K12,especially as they adopt various LMS’s during COVID-19 related school closures.
The proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,” has more relevance in 2020 than ever before. The 2020 village, in all its modern splendor, is raising children in a connected and digital world that requires more than food, clothing, and shelter. It requires a new and necessary utility—access to the Internet.
ClassLink, in partnership with CoSN and SETDA, recently released version two of the back to school plan rubric. Evaluation is one of the core elements included in the tool. In this post, we dive deeper into the factors districts should weigh when monitoring and evaluating the success of their plans for the upcoming school year.
As you stare down a complicated new school year ready to roll out your updated learning continuity plans, it’s important to remember your work is far from over. Your learning continuity plan needs to be iterative to be effective. As you learn from your success, mistakes, and, most importantly, the feedback of families, teachers, and students, your plan should evolve and change.
Like a well-rehearsed fire drill, everyone needs to know what to do when the remote learning alarm sounds. For the switch to work, you need a clear process where everyone knows which steps to take and when to take them.
At ClassLink, we developed a rubric for back to school planning, in partnership with CoSN and SETDA. Assessment and data are one of the core elements included in the tool. In this post, we dive deeper into the factors districts should weigh when planning to collect and use data during the upcoming school year.
Families are frontline workers when it comes to learning at home. They need your support, clear communication, and understanding if they are going to find ways to make learning from home happen within their household.
At ClassLink, we developed a rubric for back to school planning, in partnership with CoSN and SETDA. Instructional Delivery Methods is one of the core elements included in the tool. In this post, we dive deeper into the factors districts should weigh when planning for instructional delivery scenarios during the upcoming school year.
As you look toward an uncertain new school year, one thing is clear; it’s critical to equip students and teachers with the skills, knowledge, and processes they need to succeed with online learning. Without this step, all your other plans fall flat.
At ClassLink, we developed a rubric for back to school planning, in partnership with CoSN and SETDA. Attendance is one of the core elements included in the tool. In this post, we dive deeper into the factors districts should consider when crafting attendance policies and procedures for the upcoming school year.
With digital learning and productivity tools at the heart of many learning continuity plans, districts are faced with keeping a colossal amount of student and staff data secure – both inside and outside of school walls. If that data is compromised or exploited, there could be serious impacts on student and staff privacy and safety.
While each school year brings with it a set of plans and goals, this upcoming year will require intense preparation. The present situation demands new paradigms for instruction and school operations. At ClassLink, we developed a rubric for back to school planning, in partnership with CoSN and SETDA. It includes core elements to consider as you plan for students to return to school for the 2020-21 school year.
The technology districts need to support learning continuity goes well beyond devices, content, and internet access. Anytime, anywhere learning requires a solid foundation of technology infrastructure that supports learning both directly and indirectly.
Planning for learning continuity requires a shift in how we think about funding. As a district-wide issue, there must be a district-wide commitment to establish learning continuity – especially when it comes to funding those efforts.
Whether you call it the digital divide, the homework gap, or something else, we’ve never been able to provide all students in our education system with equitable access to online educational materials and opportunities. As a result, our most vulnerable students get left behind and suffer the most in educational losses. Sadly, the problem is exacerbated by the current health crisis.
Usually May brings with it exciting times for schools. In some areas of the country, it means end-of-year celebrations, graduations, proms, and a beginning to the summer season. In other parts, preparations for all these things would be starting. Unfortunately, these are not typical times. Now May brings an early end to the school year for many and a muddling through the final leg of remote learning for others.
Whether it’s a pandemic, a fire, inclement weather, or some other unforeseen circumstance, learning must continue. As district leaders, it’s our responsibility to set up our students, and teachers, for success. Our experiences – and countless conversations – have shown us that the following nine pillars are the core considerations for a learning continuity plan that is effective, inclusive, and enduring.
Your school district is using ClassLink to help make the transition to remote learning as smooth as possible for you and your child. With ClassLink LaunchPad, your child uses just one username and password to access all their digital resources.
Moving your entire district to remote and online learning at a moment’s notice is no easy feat. At ClassLink, we want to support you through this transition. In this post, you’ll find an easy-to-follow guide outlining critical steps you should take to prepare your teachers, staff, and students for using ClassLink to learn at home.
Is your district struggling to plan digital learning days in case of school closures? In this blog post, former Mountain Brook Schools (AL) CTO, Donna Williamson, shares best practices for deploying Digital Learning Days from scratch.
As we aim to empower students and teachers with instant access to their digital learning resources and productivity tools, we are given the incredible opportunity to work with passionate partners to help us support you in raising student achievement and progress.
Rural school districts have always faced certain challenges from long student and/or teacher commutes to school and extracurricular activities to a lack of diversity in courses (particularly AP, foreign language and non-core classes). Leaping into the digital waters presents both opportunities (distance learning, for example) and challenges.
SmartTrack can reduce that loss by 75%, helping schools save thousands of dollars each year by transforming the way assets are tracked and inventory is managed. This is the most affordable, easy to use and customizable inventory solution on the market, and thanks to a partnership with ClassLink, it’s more accessible than ever before.
Web Accessibility is part of the spectrum of delivering equal educational opportunities to all students. With more and more of our communication and school work being accessed online, the issue of website accessibility has come to the forefront of the accessibility discussion.
As we aim to empower students and teachers with instant access to their digital learning resources and productivity tools, we are given the incredible opportunity to work with passionate partners to help us support you in raising student achievement and progress.
As we aim to empower students and teachers with instant access to their digital learning resources and productivity tools, we are given the incredible opportunity to work with passionate partners to help us support you in raising student achievement and progress. We are keen to introduce you to our wonderful partners through our regular Partner Spotlight series.
In the School District of Pickens County, our goal is to be “Digital on Day One” so our students and teachers have access on the very first day of school to the devices and content they need. We have been working toward this goal for five years now and have made some key decisions around software, professional development, and network infrastructure to help us reach this goal.
In 2013, under the direction of a new Superintendent, Mr. Tom Wilson, Anderson School District Five had one middle school take a giant leap to provide a Chromebook for each student to use in the classroom for “e-Instruction.” Teachers and students were responsible and eager to “shake up” and “challenge up” to indeed change traditional instruction, so in October 2013, the District supported students to take home the devices.
Sometimes education CIOs have to prioritize very technical problems that non-technical peers might think are a lesser priority, principally because they are not well understood. But when a teacher can’t access her accounts, or a student isn’t finding his work inside a learning application, those problems become all too real, and the priority becomes very clear.
During the past year, I have interacted with many school districts, as well as held numerous meetings with publishers and technology leadership groups such as Microsoft, SEDTA, COSN, IMS Global, EdFi, and ISTE. I must say that I am encouraged by the direction the industry seems to be headed.
ClassLink is committed to providing secure access, privacy, and interoperability in our products while empowering customers, educators, and families to achieve an enhanced level of engagement in their students’ education. With a shared mission to leverage data to create better outcomes for students, save time for teachers, and increase efficiencies for schools, several organizations have come together to create Project Unicorn, an uncommon alliance dedicated to furthering interoperability within the K-12 education space.
In 1988, a friend and mentor, Dr. William Bozeman, Professor Emeritus from the University of Central Florida penned an article for THE Journal that concluded two things that are still valid 30 years later: implementation processes must be taken more seriously by administrators than in the past. Resources without appropriate faculty development will be of little value.
