Apple announcing Birmingham education initiative tomorrow, likely Everyone Can Code adoption

9to5mac | February 26, 2020

Tim Cook is scheduled to make an appearance in Birmingham, Alabama, tomorrow, according to local media reports. TechAlabama and the city’s mayor Randall Woodfin will hold a news conference with the Apple CEO. While each party has been tight-lipped about exactly what will be announced in education tomorrow, we suspect Birmingham public schools may be adopting Apple’s Everyone Can Code curriculum. TechAlabama is a group focused on increasing the “number of people in Alabama with an interest in STEM based careers and the skills to pursue those careers.” Mayor Randall Woodfin has history with working to adopt Apple’s student-friendly programming lessons in public education. Birmingham Real-Time News reported in 2018 that Woodfin visited Chicago to explore a potential Apple partnership around the curriculum.

Spotlight

New research finds that career schools want to power student success with better placement services, faster interventions, and more 1-on-1 instructor time. But not everyone is sure how to get there.

Spotlight

New research finds that career schools want to power student success with better placement services, faster interventions, and more 1-on-1 instructor time. But not everyone is sure how to get there.

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ONLINE EDUCATION

Title: edX Launches Cloud Solutions Architecture Certification with AWS

edX | February 15, 2023

On February 14, 2023, edX, an online learning platform, announced its extension with Amazon Web Services AWS to launch its first Professional Certification program in Cloud Solutions Architecture on the edX platform. This program provides the knowledge and skills needed for a successful career in cloud architecture and prepares learners for the Associate exam of AWS Certified Solutions Architect. edX has been working with AWS since 2017, providing more than 30 AWS courses on its platform to about 300,000 learners worldwide, based on various topics ranging from DevOps to Building Modern Python Applications on AWS. They are accessible to all professionals worldwide to upgrade their skills and learn new professional skills for the cloud-based services on AWS. With this newly launched program on edX, learners can enhance their critical professional skills in the trending and growing field of cloud computing. President of Partnerships at edX, Andrew Hermalyn, said, "Cloud computing is an enduring and critical skill set that tech professionals across industries can use to secure and build meaningful careers." He added, "The new Professional Certificate program in Cloud Solutions Architecture on edX will give 48 million learners around the globe the opportunity to pursue a valuable, employer-recognized credential that can drive real career impact in an accessible and affordable format." (Source – Cision PR Newswire) Vice President of Training and Certification at AWS, Maureen Lonergan, said, "The scarcity of individuals with cloud skills is a major concern for our AWS Partners and customers, and hiring the necessary talent continues to pose a real challenge to the industry." She added, "Through our cloud training and education programs, we are preparing diverse learners for in-demand cloud roles around the world. With edX, we are reinventing how talent is cultivated, trained, and retained and building a pipeline of cloud talent for the future." (Source – Cision PR Newswire) About edX edX, an e-learning solutions provider, has been helping learners worldwide to enhance their skills and potential since 2012. Harvard and MIT universities came together to establish this platform. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is a 2U company supporting about 48 million learners with their educational goals. It connects universities and companies for free and open courses, boot camps, professional certificates, credit-based micro-credentials, and graduate and undergraduate degrees. It offers purpose-driven online programs in various fields like healthcare, science, technology, social work, education, and sustainability.

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EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY

Stride, Inc. Addresses Pandemic-Era Learning Loss with New Platform

Stride, Inc. | January 19, 2023

On January 18, 2023, Stride, Inc., a world leader in education for more than 20 years, introduced Stride Tutoring, a cutting-edge platform created to help students with academics by offering one-on-one tutoring. The company aims to use the platform to reduce the impact of learning loss caused by the pandemic. Stride Tutoring is the sole online tutoring platform that mandates every tutor to be an active, state-certified teacher. This gives students access to hundreds of teachers regardless of the school they attend or their location. Jennifer Moore, General Manager of Stride Tutoring, said, "The learning progress that was lost for so many students during the pandemic can only be made up with more support now." She further added, "As a trusted partner to millions of families and thousands of school districts, Stride is ready to introduce more students to the power of personalized learning, at a time when they need it most." (Source – Business Wire) Stride's tutors are dedicated to fostering opportunities for academic success, no matter where the students are located. With this platform, families can choose from a large pool of teachers for live, personalized sessions and students and tutors can connect from anywhere with an internet connection. In addition, students can book repeated sessions with their favorite tutors on the platform, allowing them to build a lasting relationship that empowers their success. Stride Tutoring's interactive communication features are built on more than twenty years of experience in online education delivery and are designed for the safety and success of students. Trained tutors offer lessons in their areas of expertise to give a personalized learning experience to students, helping them advance their academic journey. Built-in feedback channels on Stride Tutoring allow students, tutors, and parents to connect, and parents can also contact tutors directly through the platform's secure messaging features and post-session feedback channels. The platform provides scalable solutions for high-dosage tutoring for schools and districts, including capabilities such as scheduling small-group sessions during the school day and access to comprehensive student- and school-level reports. About Stride, Inc. Virginia-based Stride, Inc., is a leading e-learning provider that supports learners of every age with passionate teachers and individualized learning experiences. In a field where many people have been left behind, Stride drives significant and essential change. The company offers more efficient ways to learn, emphasizing the development of the abilities and confidence that students need to advance in life. This is made possible by the insight and input of parents, students, teachers, boards of education, administrators, and policymakers.

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EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY

PowerSchool Updates Solutions to Personalize Learning and Boost Operations

PowerSchool | January 31, 2023

On January 30, 2023, PowerSchool, a provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education, released updates for its PowerSchool Unified InsightsTM and PowerSchool Unified Classroom® solutions. The updates include LearningNav and ContentNav, new data-driven personalized learning products, and a new resource library inside Unified Insights MTSS, providing educators with verified, research-backed tools and strategies. The company also announced time-saving software Clouds, designed to give educators a more connected approach to engaging, planning, and monitoring the unique needs of their students. The National Assessment of Educational Progress's latest "National Report Card" results show the impact of learning disruptions that students have experienced. It illustrates declines in math and reading for fourth and eighth graders in the United States, with math scores experiencing the greatest drop since NAEP testing began in 1990. Each student is at a different stage in their learning journey, indicating that educators require tools and resources to address individual student needs, personalize learning, and optimize their operations. The updates, expected to roll out in the first half of 2023, provide the following: LearningNav, an intelligent platform using machine learning and AI to provide personalized learning paths that adjust to the student's needs. An educator can view a student's starting point, select learning goals, and then review a constantly adapting personalized pathway recommendation for that student. Once the pathway is assigned, students can cover it at their own pace. ContentNav, an update to Unified Classroom, is a one-stop shop for high-quality, pre-approved content that simplifies access to resources such as district-created materials, curated partnership content, and open education resources, which will support teacher instruction. Resource Library, released by PowerSchool Unified Insights MTSS to help educators address students' individual needs. This library will provide educators with vetted, research-backed strategies and tools. The company's new Clouds, that are persona-specific options that have been integrated and built to enhance how educators serve their students by bringing all necessary tools into one centralized location. The six Cloud types offered are Student Information Cloud, Personalized Learning Cloud, Educator Recruitment Cloud, Educator Effectiveness Cloud, Student Success Cloud, and Workforce Development Cloud. About PowerSchool Based in Folsom, California, PowerSchool provides cloud-based K-12 education software. Its mission is to supply the education ecosystem with unified technology that enables educators and students to fulfill their potential in unique ways. Schools and districts can manage state reporting and related compliance, finance, human resources, special education, talent, registration, funding, learning, instruction, assessments, grading, attendance, and analytics in one unified platform. The company serves around 45 million students worldwide, with 12,000+ customers, and sells solutions in over 90 countries.

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