On the Wire

Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) in South Los Angeles has allocated more than $2 million of Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF) authorized in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to provide financial relief directly to students. CDU, which was founded in 1966 in the wake of the Watts Uprising to address inequities in healthcare, is providing direct aid ranging from $1,250-$3,800 to nearly 800 students, with distribution of the funding beginning this week.

Yamaha Unified Communications today announced ADECIA, a complete and intelligent microphone and line array speaker system designed to remove all barriers to equip conference rooms with superior audio quality, is now Certified for Microsoft Teams. Available immediately, the ceiling microphone & speaker system has passed Microsoft Teams’ tests for medium-sized rooms, meeting the standards for natural, clear audio that defines the Teams experience.

SchoolStatus, a leading provider of K-12 school communications solutions designed to improve student outcomes through data and parent engagement, announced today the acquisition of TeachBoost, a privately-held, education software company that builds tools to support educator observations, evaluations, and coaching.

Today Penji, a mobile-first edtech company supporting more than 55 colleges and 100,000 students, announced the release of Penji Student Support. The platform facilitates campus-wide support by connecting students to advisors, mentors, tutors, coaches and counselors through a single interface, while also delivering actionable insights to administrators.

Equity Everywhere Podcast Series showcases a variety of K-12 practitioners and experts engage in critical, meaningful, comprehensive conversations about equity in education. Together, podcast participants highlight, amplify, and refine best practices and solutions for ensuring education equity everywhere.

Many students don’t have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement® (AP®) classes due to limited availability of AP® course offerings or certified instructors to teach the classes. To help, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MA DESE) partnered with VHS Learning to create the STEM Advanced Placement Access Expansion Opportunity, which enables up to 1,500 students within the state to take free AP® courses during the 2022-2023 academic year.

MIND Research Institute has launched ST Math Immersion, a summer school curriculum as part of the award-winning ST Math family. This five-week program immerses K-5 students in rich math experiences that cover concepts crucial for success on grade-level learning.

PresenceLearning, the leading provider of online therapy solutions for schools and clinicians, has partnered with Hasbro, a global play and entertainment company, to bring some of the most-beloved characters and classic games to the PresenceLearning therapy platform.

In an effort to help districts meet the needs of a diverse student population, Ellevation has launched new online professional development (PD) modules covering an array of relevant and urgent topics focused on teaching multilingual learners. The 13 modules are delivered either synchronously or asynchronously and are adaptable to every grade.