EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
Saga Education | May 10, 2021
Saga Education, the national nonprofit behind one of the country's most studied personalized tutoring services, has announced the introduction of Saga Coach, a free, self-paced educational training portal that covers the basic components of successful tutoring. Saga's expertise as an established implementer of high-dosage, high-impact tutoring programs targeting thousands of students in large U.S. school districts such as Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Broward County, Fla., is at the heart of the training.
According to research, children in the wake of the pandemic learned just 87% of the reading and 67% of the math that their grade-level counterparts learned during more typical years. While more schools prepare for Summer and Fall 2021, state and district leaders are planning to launch elevated tutoring services to ensure students have extra resources to make up for the learning time lost this year. Saga Coach provides school leaders with a one-of-a-kind, self-paced preparation curriculum that will assist them in easily preparing new tutors for this job at scale.
"Leaders at the state and district levels recognize the importance of addressing the major learning disruptions that have occurred during the last year. When tutoring is handled properly, it can do more than just help students catch up; it can also help them thrive "AJ Gutierrez, co-founder of Saga Education, said. "As per University of Chicago research, students will gain two and a half years of math progress in one year by tutoring. Saga Coach takes the lessons we've learned and applies them to every organization, school district, or program that wants to incorporate tutoring."
The virtual platform for Saga Coach is based on Saga's expertise providing over 2 million hours of tutoring. The online curriculum provides 19 self-paced modules on key areas that help tutors excel, such as building relationships with students and structuring an effective tutorial. Saga Coach is accessible on mobile devices and can be reached at any time and from any location.
Learning modules that comprise Saga's basic training are unlocked as tutors progress. Saga's modules concentrate on three critical subjects for successful tutoring: relationship, ratio, and rigor.
The platform has an engaging dashboard where tutors can work through the various units at their own pace, capture reflections, track progress, and engage with the tutoring community.
"The difficulties that school districts face when introducing high-dose tutoring programs stem from the hiring and training of potential tutors, many of whom may not be qualified educators," said Krista Marks, Chief Product Officer at Saga Education. "We expect that by offering Saga Coach as a free, self-paced training platform, organizations can use it to deliver quality pre-service training for their tutors. The interactive course is intended to be engaging and to offer tutors agency over the journey of learning the fundamental skills of becoming a successful tutor."
The University of Chicago Education Lab has studied Saga Education's comprehensive math tutoring model in Chicago Public Schools and New York City since 2013, discovering that it significantly increases learning outcomes for high school students. In two randomized controlled trials, students who got Saga tutoring studied up to two and a half years of math in one academic year – the equivalent to closing up to half of the black-white test score difference in one school year. Saga's tutoring paradigm has cut math course failure rates by 60%, according to the randomized trials.
About Saga Education
Saga Education is an evidence-based, personalized tutoring intervention that aims to provide students who are struggling with math the trust and intellectual strength they need to graduate high school and fulfill their goals. Fast Company added the organization to the distinguished list of the World's Most Innovative Educational Companies in 2020, recognizing it for its evidence-based, scalable tutoring program that targets students in high-need schools.
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CONTINUING EDUCATION
PowerSchool | February 19, 2022
PowerSchool, the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America, today announced that Plan Ceibal, Uruguay's ambitious 1-to-1 instruction program, has expanded its utilization of PowerSchool Unified Classroom® Schoology Learning as its primary learning management system to now serve 800,000 students countrywide. Through Schoology Learning, Plan Ceibal has seen improvements in creating more tailored curriculums, student-teacher collaboration, and facilitating instruction through blended learning environments.
“PowerSchool’s Schoology Learning has played a key part in helping Plan Ceibal's mission to ensure Uruguayan educators and students have access to education technology,” said Mauro Carballo, Manager of Educational Technologies, Plan Ceibal. “PowerSchool’s implementation team has been with us each step of the way for nearly a decade, and their passion toward providing intuitive software solutions for schools around the world is the reason we continue to invest in this reliable education technology platform.”
Since 2014, Plan Ceibal has utilized Schoology Learning to enhance regular instruction and student-teacher engagement, which has proven to be especially impactful throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the initial challenges schools around the world faced when quickly pivoting to online instruction in 2020, Plan Ceibal was prepared for the rapid shift thanks to Schoology Learning, which resulted in over 93% of students and 94% of teachers in Uruguay utilizing the platform that year. Since then, more than 800,000 students and 45,000 teachers within the Plan Ceibal program are now regular Schoology Learning users.
“Plan Ceibal’s utilization of Schoology Learning is a true example of the expanded capabilities school systems can benefit from by implementing this type of software into regular instruction. We’re proud to be long-time supporters of Plan Ceibal and their mission toward providing more technology access to Uruguayan students and educators. Plan Ceibal’s mission is a strong testament to the positive impact education can bring to communities around the world; we can’t wait to see what they do next.”
Maulik Datanwala, PowerSchool Chief Operating Officer
Founded in 2007, Plan Ceibal is a Uruguayan initiative dedicated toward creating more equitable solutions for students by supporting Uruguayan educational policies with technology. Since its implementation, the program has evolved to ensure every child who enters the public education system in any part of the country has access to a computer for personal use with free internet connection at school. Additionally, Plan Ceibal has grown to provide an expanded array of educational programs and resources for both Uruguayan educators and students, including training courses to enhance methods of teaching and learning.
About PowerSchool
PowerSchool is the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America. Its mission is to power the education ecosystem with unified technology that helps educators and students realize their full potential, in their way. PowerSchool connects students, teachers, administrators, and parents, with the shared goal of improving student outcomes. From the office to the classroom to the home, it helps schools and districts efficiently manage state reporting and related compliance, special education, finance, human resources, talent, registration, attendance, funding, learning, instruction, grading, assessments and analytics in one unified platform. PowerSchool supports over 45 million students globally and more than 13,000 customers, including over 90 of the top 100 districts by student enrollment in the United States, and sells solutions in over 90 countries.
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ENA | March 25, 2020
CatchOn, an expansive data analytics tool, has released its new guide, Establishing a Robust Student Data Privacy Culture―Action Ideas for School Districts, which is designed to provide school districts with a concise overview of federal student data privacy laws along with five action ideas they can implement in their own systems. Written in collaboration with Reg Leichty, Founding Partner of Foresight Law + Policy, and the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), this guide presents practical ideas district leaders can implement to make data privacy a prominent part of the fabric of classrooms, schools, and school districts.
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