Administrative/Business Tools


Newly Released Interim Guides Designed to Help Urban Districts Assess Progress of ARP Investments

The Council of Great City Schools has released a set of guides tailored to each function of school leadership to help urban school districts evaluate their American Rescue Plan investments and implementations one year in, the nonprofit said in a news release.

Illuminate Education Booted from Student Privacy Pledge, Referred for Potential FTC and State AG Action

The Future of Privacy Forum on Monday announced it has removed Illuminate Education from the nonprofit’s list of Student Privacy Pledge signatories — the first time a company has been de-listed from the voluntary data protection pledge — and said it sent its decision and supporting facts to federal and state authorities for potential legal action against the ed tech company.

Amid Shortage, Mississippi Initiative Offers Free Praxis Prep Resources for Aspiring Teachers

Education policy nonprofit Mississippi First on Monday announced it has partnered with Study.com to launch Study.com’s Keys to the Classroom initiative statewide, providing cost-free resources to help aspiring teachers pass their Praxis exams and earn teaching certificates, according to a news release.

Five Ways To Prioritize Teachers' Well-Being and Help Overcome the Staffing Crisis

A tech executive shares experience from dealing with staffing shortages in the tech sector: 5 ways schools can support educator well-being and help solve the teacher shortage problem.

ED Hosting Webinars This Week for Full-Service Community Schools Grant Applicants

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education will host several webinars this week to provide guidance to local and state education agencies and community-based organizations interested in applying for the Full-Service Community Schools grant program, which will award up to $68 million to approximately 40 applicants later this year.

Promise Neighborhoods Program Accepting Applications for $18M in Grant Funds

The U.S. Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education is now accepting applications for the Promise Neighborhoods program, which will award up to $18 million to four or five winning applicants later this year. The deadline to apply for the grants is Sept. 27, 2022.

How a Poor District in NY Leveled the Playing Field with Better Communications [and Lightened the Load for School Staff]

A district administrator explains how their new school-home communications platform gives them not just two-way communications with families, but also the ability to meet parents where they are — and how implementing the platform has solved numerous challenges for the district staff and teachers, for parents, and for students.

Nonprofit Groups Say ED Must Address Inequitable Harms of Student Online Activity Monitoring

In an open letter this week to U.S. Department of Education Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon, 15 education, technology, and civil rights nonprofits called for the department to put schools and online activity monitoring providers on notice that such monitoring must not result in discrimination or violation of students’ civil rights and liberties.

Hear Ransomware Victims Describe the Response & Recovery Lessons Learned at Virtual Event for IT Practitioners

School cybersecurity nonprofit K12 Security Information Exchange is holding a free professional development webinar, “The Long Tail of K–12 Cyber Incident Response and Recovery,” for education sector IT practitioners on Aug. 16, featuring an extended case study of Northshore School District’s response and recovery work following a crippling ransomware attack targeting the Washington district in 2019.

How To Start Using Google Add-Ons: Step By Step

To start using Google add-ons, district admins will need to set up add-ons and can then enable access for educators; admins need to have the Google Workspace for Education Plus edition or Teaching & Learning Upgrade assigned to each educator that they want to have access to add-ons, Google wrote on its blog announcing the launch. Here are step-by-step instructions for getting started with Google add-ons.

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