0 Educational Technology Trends That Improve Student Engagement

Over the last few years, many trends have emerged in educational technology. For better or worse, one thing is for sure: schools are scurrying to find which tools work best in achieving student engagement and success. Has your school made educational technology changes recently? Did these changes improve a process or increase student engagement? Here are a few educational technology trends emerging in the field of education:

1. Social media used as a teaching tool

Social media has gained increasing popularity as educational technology over the past two years. These days, students know how to use a computer and the internet with ease, and most of them are using social media networks to share their thoughts and ideas. From student-created YouTube videos to professors creating classroom-focused blogs and Facebook pages, both teachers and students benefit from using social media inside the classroom.

2. Game-based learning gaining popularity

Who doesn’t love a good game? Game-based learning (GBL) exists as a learning tool by helping students visualize processes they otherwise could not see, such as the building of a molecule or the construction of a city. GBL is becoming increasingly popular inside the classroom as it can promote higher-order thinking skills, such as collaboration, communication, problem solving, and teamwork.

3. Flipping a classroom and BYOD

With more districts interested in saving money and more teachers interested in saving time, the concepts of flipping the classroom and BYOD (bring your own device) seem to be a good match. Because a key requirement to flipping a classroom is access to technology outside of the school, the joining of the two maximizes the potential of both concepts.

4. Increase in homeschooling

Like charter schools, home schools have enrolled more than 2 million students. The decision by so many parents to remove their children from local schools and teach them at home raises many issues. Scholars say parents are more likely to switch to homeschooling if they see the academic quality of local schools decline or the number of low-income students in those schools increase. Through homeschooling, parents are able to have more control over what their children learn. Although there is little data on homeschooling, it seems to be growing at the same surprising speed and volume as charter schools.

5. Integration of educational technology software companies

More and more, teachers and administrators are trying to streamline processes. From educational technology software companies that offer solutions to Common Core preparation and online courses to online registration, SIS systems, managing student data, and reporting, schools and districts are undergoing widespread adoption of these types of solutions.

0 School Funding – Ways to Maximize for CA Schools

A new poll shows that most Californians approve dramatic changes set to take hold in public education, including the new formula for deciding how much school funding each district gets, called the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF).

Under this new funding system, schools will receive a base grant for students in grades K-12. In addition to the base grant, a supplemental grant of 20% of the base grant will be offered for disadvantaged students: those who are classified as English Learners (EL), Low Incidence (LI) disability, Foster Youth (FY), or eligible to receive a Free or Reduced-Price Meal (FRPM).  Additionally, districts with more than 55% of their students identified as disadvantaged will be granted funds at a rate of 50% the base grant.

Each school funding dollar granted to a school will help improve programs and services in the areas where they are needed most. However, many schools have difficulty capturing the data required to ensure that they receive the greatest amount of funding for each student.  Whether it’s due to parent insecurities, student embarrassment, or lack of proper reporting, districts are “losing out??? on thousands of available state LCFF dollars due to students being misclassified.

So how can schools make certain that they capture accurate data for school funding? Well, using an online system like K-12 Online helps:

1. Optimize data while at the same time safeguards privacy.
2. Parents can identify residency information, language, or disabilities in a way that maintains their dignity, is safe and non-threatening.
3. Parents feel a sense of anonymity because all registration and enrollment information is completed online, and hard copies are not circulated through volunteers, etc.
4. Only administrators who are required to know classification information have access to it, adhering to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) laws.
5. Using an online system increases reporting accuracy and allows for data to be easily sorted, saved, and sent to the district.

Online registration helps maintain the parents and students’ dignity and privacy while ensuring each district receives maximum school funding.

0 Free E-Book: Guide to Help Catholic Schools Find Their Footing in a World of Charters and Financial Burdens

The Catholic Church worldwide is in the midst of a Catholic education boom, experiencing a 20% - 28% growth in enrollment amongst primary and secondary schools. But while there is significant growth worldwide, most are aware of the many challenges eclipsing the vitality of Catholic schools in the U.S.

This e-book presents some new perspectives to assist Catholic education stakeholders in identifying and implementing strategies to help overcome major challenges and recover the sustainability of Catholic schools.

Although Catholic schools fall under a larger umbrella, they tend to operate as smaller entities, leaving much room for self-governing. Dioceses can begin to swing the shift of disconnect by implementing programs that provide centralized autonomy to schools.

When these smaller entities are offered centralized services, they become more accountable, efficient, and effective.

Click here to get the free e-book "Guide to Help Catholic Schools Find Their Footing in a World of Charters and Financial Burdens."

0 School Budget – Free E-Book on Managing Tight Budgets

Are you struggling to manage school budget cuts?  Simply fill out this form, put free e-book in the comments section and we will email you the free e-book “How K-12 Schools Can Improve Efficiency on a Tight Budget.??? 

Schools spend a lot of money on registration, yet this cost is “under the radar??? of administrators. Most schools and districts have a difficult time answering such fundamental questions as: How much paper do we use for registration packets? What is our total cost per student for each packet? How much time does staff spend on registration procedures and data entry?
Despite this lack of clarity, traditional registration processes happen annually while schools are consistently going through cutbacks and looking for ways to save money.
Find out the secrets to Unlocking the Power of Online Registration, how to make a system work for you, what to look for in a system, and tips on improving efficiency while decreasing costs.

 
Visit our website to receive a free e-book: How K-12 Schools can Improve Efficiency on a Tight School Budget.

0 5 Ways Online Registration Supports CA School Funding

In 2013, California adopted a new formula for deciding how much money each school district gets, called the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). Under this new school funding system, schools will receive a base grant for students in grades K-12. In addition to the base grant, a supplemental grant of 20% of the base grant will be offered for disadvantaged students: those who are classified as English Learners (EL), Low Incidence (LI) disability, Foster Youth (FY), or eligible to receive a Free or Reduced-Price Meal (FRPM).  Additionally, districts with more than 55% of their students identified as disadvantaged will be granted school funding at rats of 50% the base grant.

Each dollar granted to school funding will help improve programs and services in the areas where they are needed most. However, many schools have difficulty capturing the data required to ensure that they receive the greatest amount of funding for each student.  Whether it’s due to parent insecurities, student embarrassment, or lack of proper reporting, districts are “losing out??? on thousands of available state LCFF dollars due to students being misclassified.

So how can schools make certain that they capture accurate data for maximum school funding? Well, using an online system like K-12 Online helps:

1. Optimize data while at the same time safeguards privacy.
2. Parents can identify residency information, language, or disabilities in a way that maintains their dignity, is safe and non-threatening.
3. Parents feel a sense of anonymity because all registration and enrollment information is completed online, and hard copies are not circulated through volunteers, etc.
4. Only administrators who are required to know classification information have access to it, adhering to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) laws.
5. Using an online system increases reporting accuracy and allows for data to be easily sorted, saved, and sent to the district.

Online registration helps maintain the parents and students’ dignity and privacy while ensuring that the maximum amount of funding is allocated to a school or district.

0 Why Catholic Schools are Drawn to K-12 Online

A recent poll showed that 1 in 4 parents are considering switching their child(ren) from a traditional large public school environment to a Catholic school. Many parents feel that smaller schools have a clear academic focus and vision for high quality successful learning, while in a public school, children can easily get lost in the large, impersonal system.

With this change in mindset from parents, comes an increase in student applications for small schools.  Unlike the public school system that is required by law to accept all children, Catholic schools typically have an admission and acceptance process. Traditional procedures for handling applications and enrollment can be one of the most burdensome, costly, outdated and environmentally wasteful processes.  For that reason, many schools and districts are turning to online registration.  Online registration has proven to be extremely valuable, saving time and money, especially for Catholic schools.

Many small schools believe that online registration is just too costly, however, K-12 Online is the first company to offer affordable online solutions that cater to small schools.  Although the web-based application is designed for schools large and small, public and private, the product offers a solution for those districts and schools that otherwise would not be able to afford it.

Catholic schools are drawn to K-12 Online, not only for its affordability, but also for its assistance in increasing school donations.  Most Catholic schools rely heavily on fundraising in order to provide their teachers and students with the best learning environment possible. Therefore, a registration system that incorporates fundraising can prove valuable, help make money for the school, and in many cases, even pay for itself. K-12 Online offers several options for donations to be collected through the school web store or by linking a “Donate Now??? button from the school’s website. Schools that have used K-12 Online as a method of collecting donations have seen an increase in overall donations by 30%!

K-12 Online offers a complete online student registration software application that transforms the student application & enrollment process by eliminating expensive paper-based methods. They even offer payment plan options to small schools, making it an AFFORDABLE option to helping schools save money, time and resources!

0 A Healthy Me is Drug Free

Red Ribbon Week, America’s oldest and largest drug prevention campaign, is coming up (Oct. 21-29)! Not only does this campaign teach children K-12 the dangers of drug abuse, but it also honors those who have made sacrifices while fighting against drugs. K-12 Online believes in doing all that we can to help brighten the future of students. What is your school doing this year to celebrate Red Ribbon Week? Here are some ideas that we thought would be fun and beneficial:

• Door decorating contests
• Plan a Red Ribbon Rally for your school where students can take the pledge to live a drug free life.
• Organize an educational program for parents
• Encourage your students to enter one of the contests offered by the Red Ribbon Campaign. These include: Creating the 2014 Campaign theme, and a chance to win an iPad along with $1,000 for your school!
• For high school age, make it the theme of that week’s football game! Have the athletes incorporate red ribbons with their uniforms and take a moment before the game to honor those joining the cause.

For more ideas on how to incorporate Red Ribbon Week into your school visit the Red Ribbon Campaign or http://www.imdrugfree.com/

0 Connect, Collaborate, Conduce: October is Connected Educator Month

One of the most important factors in student learning is the educator.  That being said, how can you, as an educator, maximize the impact that you make on your students? The answer is to get connected! Thanks to the Internet and constant improvements in technology this is becoming easier and easier for educators to do.

In an effort to increase the amount of educators that participate in online social learning and collaboration the Department of Education is supporting its second annual Connected Educator Month (CEM). This can be utilized on an individual level, as well as on school, district, and state levels.

One of the best ways to learn is by collaborating with other professionals who share the same passion as you. CEM offers educators an easy way to connect with other educators from around the nation through holding hundreds of events and creating online discussions.  Last year’s CEM hosted over 450 activities, presented more than 2,200 speakers, and delivered over 90,000 hours of professional development to those who participated.  And this year they plan to gain even more momentum.  So get connected and learn more than you ever would on your own!

Some of this year’s themes include:

• Integrating Social Learning into Formal PD
• Connected Leadership
• Personalized Learning
• Innovating STEM and Literacy
• From Connection to Collaboration
• 21^st Century Classroom Management

Learn more about CEM: http://connectededucators.org/

Get involved: http://connectededucators.org/cem/cem-getting-started/

0 Get Moving During Great Outdoors Month

With school out and summer just around the corner, now’s the time to take advantage of our country’s magnificent landscapes, waterways and historical sites.  The official proclamation for Great Outdoors Month encourages families to enjoy outdoor time and active adventures  (all year round, but especially during the month of June.)

Of course, you don’t have to go far to enjoy the great outdoors. There are plenty of ways your family can take advantage of outdoor adventure right in your own community.

Find a park or trail near you, strap up your laces, and walk, jog or hike for 60 minutes.  Challenge your family to some outdoor fun with a scavenger hunt, relay race, or other fun and interactive games.   Click here to find a state park near you.

Hop on your bike and explore your city in a whole new way.  Cycling boots cardiovascular fitness and can be enjoyed by the entire family. Or make a splash by taking up swimming, paddling, or surfing.  Make sure to follow these water safety guidelines when your family is near water.

Also this month, the American Recreation Coalition offers suggestions on ways to celebrate, and sometimes links to discounts and deals at campgrounds, RV parks, and outdoor supply stores too. And on the last Saturday in June, you can join the Great American Backyard Campout in your own yard or a nearby park.

0 Is Your School Conscious of Its Conscience?

Does your school have a conscience? Is it aware of its own conduct, intentions and character? Everyday decisions can have tremendous and often unseen potential to do good or harm to students, colleagues, the community, society and the planet. Often, the most important decisions and actions seem routine at the time they’re made. But have you ever stepped back to look at the impact of those decisions?

Think about the values, social responsibility and sustainability lessons being taught. A school’s responsibility is to prepare future leaders with tools to successfully confront social and environmental issues, as well as ethical and economic challenges.

Schools that do this well, do so because the lessons provided that lead to one’s conscience are discovered, not taught. These schools deliver an ongoing values development and self-discovery experience that is internalized by students and colleagues alike.

Through a constant process of action learning and unconventional classroom techniques, self-discovered values become more resilient than those that come from a book. Once these values are discovered, it leads to inheritance, and ultimately creates opportunities for an individual to do good.

Take, for example, a simple lesson such as recycling and reducing your carbon footprint. Activities such as online registration, which helps to reduce paper consumption, composting programs, and service to the community, can help a school transform itself into a place that develops socially responsible young adults.

In 2007, Ethical Culture Fieldston (ECF), an independent school located in New York, joined the Green Schools Alliance, a global network whose mission is to empower K-12 schools to lead the movement toward environmental sustainability, and pledged to reduce its carbon footprint by at least 30 percent in five years and achieve carbon neutrality (i.e., a net-zero carbon footprint) by 2020. In April 2013, ECF learned that it had fulfilled the pledge and had reduced its carbon emissions by 31 percent by reducing its paper consumption, electricity, fuel, and solid waste. Other factors that helped lower the school’s carbon emissions included the expansion of composting efforts and retrofitting all cafeteria kitchens with more energy-efficient appliances. According to Sightlines, a facilities management firm, ECF has the lowest carbon emission rate per student and per gross square foot among peer institutions.

Stepping out of routine and starting with a simple act like online registration can help change the culture of a school. Schools that wish to build socially responsible attitudes and skills in students must commit to this task by rethinking school culture, designing programs, and integrating technologies that enable parent involvement and action learning for students. A comprehensive emphasis on developing social responsibility will enable students to make a difference in their schools, families, and communities—and will churn out young people with the skills and empathy that this disrupted world needs.

What are your plans for the next school year? How do you foresee the year in terms of values, social responsibility and sustainability? Each summer is an opportune time to look ahead and develop an implementation plan for developing your school’s conscience.