ONLINE EDUCATION
PRnewswire | May 03, 2023
Teachstone, a leader in the field of classroom observation and professional development, is proud to announce a new partnership with Teach For America (TFA) to enhance coaching supports and educator-child interactions. TFA will be using Teachstone's Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS®) tool to prepare coaching staff to reliably and accurately observe and collect data across diverse classroom settings. As part of this partnership, 120 coaches will be trained, who collectively support 4,000 teachers who work in high-need schools.
Teachstone's mission is to help every child reach their full potential by measuring and improving the interactions that matter most, with the vision of ensuring that everyone experiences life-changing teaching.
For over 30 years, TFA has worked to recruit and develop teachers and leaders across the country. TFA is committed to pursuing their goal that by 2030, twice as many children in communities where they work will reach key educational milestones indicating that they are on a path to economic mobility and a future filled with possibility.
By using CLASS, TFA will have a new, research based tool to help them as they work to improve outcomes for children and communities. CLASS allows educators to focus on, measure and improve the classroom interactions that have been proven to support children developing in literacy, math, and social-emotional learning. The tool works across diverse settings and populations and helps teachers be more intentional in how they interact with students, enabling them to build stronger relationships and respond appropriately to each student, closing gaps in learning outcomes.
TFA will use CLASS data as steering metrics to: (1) Support corps members in their instructional development and provide customized supports based on rigorous data, identify corps members who are struggling and need intensive supports or interventions, (2) drive continuous improvement of program, policy, and/or practices, and (3) inform strategic decisions at the local and national levels.
And, finally, as a result of this partnership, TFA will have year-over-year data from thousands of classrooms enrolling historically marginalized students across the country. This is an unprecedented amount of data that will be used to improve practice and inform the broader field.
"We are excited to expand our impact by partnering with Teach For America," said Bridget Hamre, CEO of Teachstone. "Our organizations share a commitment to ensuring that each and every child has a meaningful and equitable education. We are excited to learn alongside TFA as we seek to understand how to create meaningful change in children's daily classroom experiences at a very large scale."
"Teach For America's partnership with Teachstone puts us on a path to train our teachers to use rigorous data to improve the quality of interactions students are having in classrooms. " said Noemi Wierwille, Teach For America's Chief Learning Officer. "By making meaning of the data, identifying areas for improvement, and building the skills to continuously evolve their practice, our teachers can maximize student learning and development. With thousands of classrooms in our network using CLASS, we can contribute important insights to the field and ensure more educators can foster dynamic and inclusive learning environments, especially early in their careers."
About Teachstone
Teachstone is a leader in the field of education from birth to 12th grade. Its CLASS tool measures and improves interactions between teachers and students, with the vision of ensuring that everyone experiences life-changing teaching.
About Teach For America
Teach For America is a national nonprofit organization that recruits and develops a diverse network of leaders committed to expanding educational opportunity. Its goal is that one day, all children in the United States will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.
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TALENT DEVELOPMENT
Globenewswire | May 15, 2023
Specialized Education Services, Inc. (SESI) today announced the acquisition of NewHope Academy (NHA), a special education school in Arlington Heights, Illinois, that serves those living with autism, emotional disabilities, specific learning disabilities, or other health impairments. The addition of NHA is part of SESI’s strategic growth plan, focusing on expanding its premier education services nationally to K-12 students who require extra academic and behavioral support.
A critical element of that growth strategy, beyond working with local schools and districts to ensure all students that need special education services get the right level of quality supports, is to also identify independent providers that align with SESI’s mission and bring them into the SESI system of schools.
NewHope Academy has a long-standing reputation for providing quality education and support to students with diverse learning needs, complementing SESI’s scope of work serving learners with special needs. The acquisition will allow SESI to leverage its extensive resources and expertise to enhance both the education and support services offered at NHA, while ensuring the continued success of its student body.
“NewHope’s reputation as a provider for children with exceptionalities is exemplary and we are thrilled to have the school as part of the SESI family,” said Dawn Thomas, president of SESI. “This acquisition aligns with our goal of reaching more students who require specialized academic, emotional, and behavioral support. We look forward to working with the dedicated NewHope Academy staff to continue its outstanding legacy in special education.”
For more than 20 years, NewHope Academy has provided students ages 11-21 with both a challenging academic and therapeutic environment. Under SESI leadership, school staff will continue educating young people living with autism and those living with emotional challenges to excel in life through communication, exploration, opportunity, acceptance, accountability, and ambition.
"This is an exciting opportunity for NewHope Academy, as well as for parents and students. With SESI’s backing, we will continue our tradition of excellence in supporting students," stated Brandy Larrance, NHA executive director. "The passion SESI has for empowering learners and supporting students is evident. NHA is proud to be part of the SESI team."
The NHA addition marks SESI’s 15th program in Illinois. It is one of nearly 100 SESI day schools nationwide.
About Specialized Education Services, Inc.
Specialized Education Services, Inc. (SESI), a division of FullBloom, is a premier provider of education services for K-12 students who require additional educational and behavioral supports to overcome challenges that impede success in a traditional school setting. SESI partners with school districts to run classrooms, on-site, within district boundaries and standalone schools that meet the academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs of special education students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Emotional Disabilities, Learning Disabilities, and other challenges. Partnering with over 600 school districts nationwide, SESI serves more than 7,000 students in day schools and in-district classrooms. SESI is accredited by Cognia.
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CORPORATE EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Globenewswire | April 18, 2023
ClassIn, a world leader in hybrid, blended, and remote learning solutions, today announced the launch of its globally recognized platform in the United States. The ClassIn platform has been purpose-built for education and based on nearly a decade of research, development, and in-market experience. Through its software and hardware solutions, ClassIn provides the digital infrastructure for the hybrid future of education by building classrooms in both the virtual and physical worlds. ClassIn is the only end-to-end education platform with a full suite of innovative tools and features, all designed with hybrid-first pedagogy at its core. It supports active learning, student flexibility, and various teaching and learning methods.
While schools have worked to embrace technology for decades, innovation has been slow and fragmented, and most new technologies have been designed to solve a singular problem. Today, the average US teacher uses 148 different EdTech products and the average US school district uses over 1,400 EdTech solutions. The pandemic exacerbated this issue, as most schools implemented “emergency remote teaching” instead of pedagogically aligned instruction, cobbling together many disparate technologies that were not built or designed for education.
“Remote and hybrid teaching brought long-touted but previously out-of-reach, student-centric instruction to life, making room for self-guided learning, flexible schedules, and additional time to explore volunteer, hobby, and work opportunities,” said Sara Gu, Co-Founder, and COO at ClassIn. “We’re at an inflection point. The classroom of the future will be networked, digitized, and intelligent, which means our learning solutions must be built on a solid foundation: based on hybrid-first pedagogy and backed by learning science. With over 50 million students using our solution in 160+ countries, our hardware and software solutions reduce districts' need for the patchwork of over 1,400 different technologies by combining many of those capabilities seamlessly.”
ClassIn’s comprehensive suite of tools helps educators and administrators address multiple challenges by:
• Helping School Districts Address Teacher Shortages: According to the National Education Association, there is a shortage of roughly 300,000 teachers and staff across the U.S. The teacher shortage is particularly pronounced in rural school districts, where the need for special education teachers and STEM teachers is high. ClassIn allows schools to expand the reach of instruction from more experienced faculties to locations where those resources are scarce.
• Encouraging Equitable Learning by Leveling the Playing Field for Virtual and In-Person Learning Modalities: From two-way interactive blackboards to breakout rooms, class polling, real-time interaction, and personalized learning, ClassIn encourages student engagement and interaction and allows teachers to design a classroom that goes beyond successful lectures, incorporating other modalities of instruction and teamwork.
• Offering Strategic Hardware Solutions: ClassIn X transforms traditional classrooms into outcome-driven hybrid learning spaces through an IoT hardware package that digitizes the physical classroom. It offers a 110’’ smart board that comes with ClassIn software, an AI-enabled multi-directional microphone that clearly captures the sound in an 800-square-foot classroom, and a stationary face-tracking camera, which makes it easy for remote students to see the teacher’s face and gestures.
• Providing Fast, Seamless Technology: Built to handle virtual, hybrid, and blended learning, ClassIn’s technology allows up to 2,000 students to interact in a single classroom, with millions more learners able to view and listen to the livestream in real-time.
• Streamlining School & District Administrative Tools: The administration dashboard streamlines school management, enabling batch lesson planning for the entire semester and generating data-rich reports that reflect student participation during and after class. The wide variety of functionality allows schools to handle hybrid and blended learning on their terms in a way that works best for their school district and classrooms. Administrators can also easily review and analyze teacher and student performance through over 40 metrics, including attendance, classroom activity, and test and homework data.
ClassIn makes it easy to teach, learn, and build learning communities with minimal friction, freeing up teachers to do their best work, and students to do their best learning—all in an active, supportive, and flexible environment.
About ClassIn
A world leader in learning environment solutions, ClassIn has pioneered the digital and physical infrastructure for the hybrid future of education. Purpose-built for education based on nearly a decade of research, development, and in-market experience, ClassIn is the only end-to-end education platform with a full suite of tools designed with hybrid-first pedagogy at its core. ClassIn serves over 50 million students across 160+ countries. ClassIn has partnered with more than 80,000+ educational institutions including Oxford University Press, Sony Education, EF, The British Council, Pearson, and Udacity. The Series D company has raised more than $500 million and is backed by Hillhouse and Tencent, among others.
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