IT Survey Shows Managing Third-Party Risks Remains a Growing and Unmet Challenge

A recent survey of IT professionals by critical access management provider SecureLink found that managing and monitoring third-party vendors with access to public schools’ networks and data remains a top challenge for education IT practitioners.

Incident IQ Releases Integration With Identity Automation's RapidIdentity SSO

K–12 workflow management provider Incident IQ has released an API-based integration for Identity Automation's RapidIdentity SSO solution used by hundreds of districts nationwide, according to a news release.

An Administrator's Guide to Optimizing School Business Processes Using the Cloud

An expert viewpoint piece lays out the benefits of using the cloud to manage school processes and office business, and a roadmap to optimizing school business processes for K–12 school administrators.

How One District Used Tech to Address Sinking Reading Scores & Overhaul Its Literacy PD

A literacy and intervention director at a California district with a serious literacy issue — only 16% of its 22,000 students in TK–12 were reading at or above grade level districtwide — explains how they used technology to overhaul the district's literacy professional development program and address access and equity problems.

Tyler Technologies Partners with Infinite Campus for Student Information Solutions

ERP technology provider Tyler Technologies today announced that through a new partnership with Infinite Campus, schools using Tyler’s student information solution will be transitioned to Infinite Campus’ SIS platform, and Infinite Campus clients will have access to Tyler’s ERP and student transportation solutions, according to a news release.

Discovery Education Launches Minecraft: Education Edition Channel

Discovery Education recently unveiled a new Minecraft: Education Edition channel within its learning platform, which means that the wildly popular educational game is now supported within DE’s platform with instructional resources for using M:EE in the classroom, the companies said.

How an Educator’s Persistence Led to a Student Leadership Initiative & the Most Popular Minecraft Edu Game of All Time

When Felisa Ford and her instructional tech colleagues in Atlanta had trouble getting the district's teachers on board with using Minecraft: Education Edition, she created a student ambassador program to empower young Minecraft experts to coach other students and teachers, and it was so successful that Microsoft started a learning path for educators to sponsor their own local student ambassador programs. Then came Good Trouble.

FEV Tutor Acquired by Alpine Investors, Positioning FEV for 'Next Phase of Growth'

K–12 online tutoring platform FEV Tutor has been acquired by San Francisco-based private equity firm Alpine Investors, providing the resources for FEV Tutor to continue growing its product and its reach, according to a news release. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Gap Between Students' Aptitudes and Their Career Interests Focus of New Report

U.S. students’ aptitudes far outweigh their interest in career clusters where significant job growth is forecast, revealing an exposure gap that will continue impacting the workforce as a skills gap unless schools can better help students find their “why” and then draw connections to related career options, according to a new study from student aptitude and career guidance platform YouScience.

Not Into Video Games? Here's How to Let Students Lead on Teaching with Minecraft: Education Edition

The Minecraft Student Ambassador Sponsor Program helps educators create a Minecraft Student Ambassador Program at their school or district, and helps prepare those young Minecraft experts to coach and assist students and teachers who are new to the game, so more classrooms can benefit from the game’s 700-plus “worlds” or lesson-based games.

Schmedlen, Mullin, Blackman, Clerkley, Vijiasingam, Terry, Crawford, & Hansen Take New Ed Tech Leadership Roles

People on the Move ed tech newsmakers include Gus Schmedlen at Texthelp; Jennifer Mullin at DreamBox Learning; Donna Blackman at Stride; Cheretta Clerkley at ISTE; Shiren Vijiasingam at Instructure; Shannon Terry and Kate Crawford at Safari Montage; and William Hansen at Building Hope.

RedCritter Launches CritterCoin, First K-12 Rewards System to Leverage NFTs

Digital achievements-and-rewards system RedCritter has launched a new platform called CritterCoin where schools can build their own free system to implement Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports with points, rewards in the form of digital coins and non-fungible tokens, and a school-specific rewards store.

Teachers Favor Mastery Learning Methods in Pandemic Recovery Efforts, Survey Shows

As the nation’s public schools grapple with helping students overcome learning losses exacerbated by pandemic closures, a long-simmering movement toward competency-based education — sometimes called “mastery learning” — appears to be gaining ground among teachers, according to a new survey by Khan Academy and market research firm YouGov.

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