New survey results from the State Education Technology Directors Association underscore the importance of collaboration across agencies and school districts as cybersecurity and AI pose the biggest unmet challenges for public education.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 09/18/23
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has launched a voluntary pledge for K–12 education technology software makers to “commit to designing products with greater security built in,” the agency said in a news release.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 09/07/23
"Ed tech whiplash," or the constant addition and removal of tech solutions in schools, is a real issue and has been negatively impacting teachers and students for years. During the 2022–23 school year alone, K–12 school districts accessed, on average, 2,591 different ed tech tools. As a former director of technology in public education, I saw educators struggle to keep up with the always-growing list of ed tech tools being implemented in their schools. And I also saw teachers become heavily invested in solutions that improved efficiency and efficacy in their classrooms, only for the solution to be removed within a short time due to a lack of "ROI." This type of back and forth is not only frustrating for teachers, but it leaves students with a lack of consistency in their learning environment.
K–12 data and communications software provider SchoolStatus has acquired ClassTag, a unified family communication and engagement platform for educators, schools, and districts, according to a news release.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 08/24/23
The Department of Homeland Security has added $374.9 million in grant funding to the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program, which is entering its second year, the agency said in a news release.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 08/24/23
The Biden-Harris administration has unveiled new public sector efforts and private sector commitments to bolstering cyber defenses across the nation’s public schools, including a new Government Coordinating Council within the U.S. Department of Education to facilitate formal collaboration between “every level of government and the education sector.”
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 08/10/23
Four of the top-5 tablet makers saw double-digit declines in shipments in the second quarter of 2023 — including Apple — according to recently released preliminary market data. Meanwhile Chromebooks declined only slightly in the quarter, with the top-2 companies seeing positive gains.
A new report from Motorola Solutions reveals parents’ and teachers’ top concerns and how much they know about and are confident in their schools’ safety planning and emergency response preparation.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 08/08/23
A new in-depth analysis from Internet Safety Labs’ 2022 K–12 EdTech Safety Benchmark Findings reveals alarming data about advertising in apps widely used by schools and finds that state privacy laws and third-party certifications claiming to keep students’ data private are often not making kids any safer.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 08/02/23
K–12 schools and other education organizations in the United States are experiencing a “massive spike” in malware, encrypted threats, and cryptojacking so far this year, even as ransomware attacks have slowed, according to SonicWall’s 2023 Mid-Year Cyber Threat Report.
- By Kristal Kuykendall
- 08/01/23