The acquisition of SchoolNow will strengthen SchoolStatus’ current offerings by adding website support to the unified K-12 platform that enables districts and schools to engage more families and improve attendance with data-driven solutions
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PBLWorks is Accepting Nominations for its 2024 PBL Champions and John Larmer Lifelong Learning Awards
Awards, announced at the 2024 PBL World Conference, will recognize individuals, schools, and districts for their work to support Project Based Learning
Novato, CA (February 8, 2024) – The Buck Institute for Education (dba PBLWorks), a national provider of professional development for high-quality Project Based Learning (PBL), is accepting nominations for its 2024 awards program – the PBL Champions Awards and the John Larmer “JL” Lifelong Learning Awards.
The awards, which are free to enter, recognize teachers, schools, districts and individuals for their commitment to advancing Project Based Learning for all students, especially Black and Brown students.
The deadline to nominate is March 6, 2024 for both awards. The honorees will be announced and recognized on Tuesday, June 25, 2024 at PBLWorks’ PBL World conference, the premier event for Project Based Learning. The conference takes place June 24-27, 2024 at American Canyon High School in the Napa Valley School District in California.
“High quality Project Based Learning can have a powerful impact on student engagement and success, and we created these awards because we wanted to honor those who are championing PBL every day in their classrooms, schools and districts,” said Bob Lenz, CEO of PBLWorks. “If you are in a community where great PBL is happening we encourage you to submit your nominations.”
About the Awards
The 2024 PBL Champions Awards recognize an individual, a school, and a district for quality, lasting PBL work that has shown evidence of a positive impact on students. For more information and to submit a nomination, visit https://www.pblworks.org/pbl-world-pbl-champions-awards.
The John Larmer “JL” Lifelong Learning Awards are presented to three educators who are impacting and expanding PBL at their schools. The award is named after PBLWorks’ former director of publications and editor-in-chief, John “JL” Larmer, and recognizes his significant contributions to PBLWorks and the field of education over three decades, advancing high quality PBL for all students. For more information and to apply for the award, visit https://www.pblworks.org/pbl-world-jl-lifelong-learner-award.
All honorees for both awards receive complimentary registration to attend PBL World and a conference workshop of their choice.
PBL World is a multi-day professional development conference for teachers, instructional coaches, and school and district leaders who are ready to begin or advance their Project Based Learning practice and connect with a community of their peers. For information and to register for PBL World 2024, visit https://www.pblworks.org/pbl-world.
About PBLWorks
The Buck Institute for Education/PBLWorks believes that all students, especially Black and Brown students, should have access to high quality Project Based Learning to deepen their learning and achieve success in college, career, and life. Its focus is on building the capacity of teachers to design and facilitate quality Project Based Learning, and on supporting school and system leaders in creating the conditions for these teachers to succeed with all students.
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Panasonic and Olympic Champion Katie Ledecky Team Up to Show Students and Educators Exciting STEM Innovations Across Japan
Extension of Panasonic’s STEM Forward program with Discovery Education introduces new Virtual Field Trip for students to explore STEM innovation
Charlotte, NC (Thursday, February 8, 2024) – Panasonic Corporation of North America and Olympian Katie Ledecky, the most decorated female swimmer in history, jointly announced a second virtual field trip from STEM Forward, an educational program created with worldwide edtech leader Discovery Education. Premiering February 15, 2024 at 1 PM ET and available on-demand, Panasonic’s new Innovators for Impact Virtual Field Trip (VFT) is designed to help educators inspire student innovation in science, technology, engineering, and math (“STEM”) and allow them to virtually travel to Japan with Katie Ledecky.
A 3-time Olympian, 21-time World Champion, and 10-time Olympic medal-winning swimmer, Katie is a proud STEM advocate. The Innovators for Impact VFT will follow Katie alongside a student to meet and interact with Panasonic STEM specialists who are exploring innovative ways of living and working today, and in the future.
“Any opportunity I have in life to inspire educators and students to live more sustainably, I’m going to take it,” said Katie Ledecky. “It was exciting to explore Panasonic’s innovations in its global headquarters in Japan and then be able to share that experience to help engage educators and students. From solar power to smart mobility, furthering STEM education and providing equal access to students can help today’s youth realize their impact.”
The Innovators for Impact Virtual Field Trip will explore how Panasonic combines innovation with impact, providing students with the knowledge to connect what they learn in school to the real-world. Educators and students who take part in the program will be able to take a virtual journey and learn about sustainable smart towns, various types of energy systems, and smart mobility.
An accompanying educator guide provides teachers with materials and classroom activities for before, during, and after the virtual field trip. In addition, a Family Activity and Digital Lesson Bundle takes the learning even further by providing engaging resources exploring insights from the Innovators for Impact Virtual Field Trip. Learn more and watch the Innovators for Impact Virtual Field Trip here.
“Panasonic was founded to have a positive impact on society. For over 100 years, we’ve lived by this mission, building products designed to enhance the human experience. The STEM Forward program is an excellent example of this effort and how people are integral to our success – including the students who will be the professionals of tomorrow,” said Megan Myungwon Lee, Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of Panasonic Corporation of North America. “We are proud to continue to work alongside Katie Ledecky to show today’s educators and learners how they can have a positive impact on the world through STEM.”
In 2022, Katie joined Panasonic to launch the STEM Forward program with Discovery Education and hosted the Winning with STEM Virtual Field Trip which gave educators and students a tour of five of Panasonic’s Innovation Centers across North America. STEM Forward connects educators and students to the game-changing power of technology with standards-aligned resources for any learning environment at no cost. Building on Katie’s ongoing work with Panasonic as a STEM leader and member of Team Panasonic, STEM Forward provides educators, students, and families with dynamic digital resources that explore how technology improves lives and makes the world a better place. In addition, STEM Forward includes special Virtual Field Trips appropriate for wherever learning takes place.
“STEM innovation is the not-so-secret secret behind a better world. We are thrilled to connect today’s students to inspirational leaders, like Panasonic and STEM advocate Katie Ledecky, as they discover where STEM fits in their world and their plans for their futures,” said Amy Nakamoto, General Manager of Corporate Partnerships at Discovery Education.
You can learn more about STEM Forward at stemforward.discoveryeducation.com, or within Discovery Education Experience, the award-winning K-12 learning platform.
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About Panasonic Corporation of North America
Newark, NJ-based Panasonic Corporation of North America is a leading provider of Consumer Lifestyle technologies, as well as innovative Smart Mobility, Sustainable Energy, Immersive Experiences, and Integrated Supply Chain solutions. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Holdings Corporation. One of Interbrand’s Top 100 Best Global Brands of 2023, Panasonic is a leading technology partner and integrator to businesses, government agencies and consumers across the region. Learn more about Panasonic’s ideas and innovations at na.panasonic.com/us.
About Discovery Education
Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Through its award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, innovative classroom tools, and corporate partnerships, Discovery Education helps educators deliver equitable learning experiences engaging all students and supporting higher academic achievement on a global scale. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 100 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and trusted organizations to empower teachers with leading edtech solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.
Contacts
Betsy Sagges
Panasonic Corporation of North America
Betsy.Sagges@us.panasonic.com
Grace Maliska
Discovery Education
gmaliska@discoveryed.com
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How Takeda and Discovery Education Are Bringing Better Health to All Students
At Discovery Education, we are committed to connecting student learning to the real world. In addition to our suite of award-winning digital learning solutions, we also partner with industry-leading organizations to create free, standards-aligned resources designed to educate and empower the next generation.
One education initiative we’re particularly excited about is our Better Health in Action: From Classroom to Community program with Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Better Health in Action provides students, educators, and families in grades 6-8 with a suite of engaging digital resources that help students explore health equity, better understand health literacy, and improve the health and well-being of everyone in their communities.
You may be asking yourself: what is health equity and what does it have to do with education? According to a definition by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health equity is when everyone has a fair opportunity to attain their highest level of health. One predictor of health outcomes is education. Yet we know from a study by Tulane University that people with less education may face serious health disadvantages. This is why Takeda and Discovery Education are partnering to support the education of all students.
Let’s turn to Linn Parrish, Head of Health Equity Alliances and Partnerships for Takeda’s Center for Health Equity and Patient Affairs, to share more about the Better Health in Action education program and the true power of partnerships.
What is the connection between health equity and education?
The root causes of health inequities — the differences in health status seen between groups of people and countries — are intertwined. Your education, neighborhood, and social and cultural environment impact your understanding and opportunity to engage in healthy behaviors. These factors have the potential to be barriers to receiving quality care and could limit access to appropriate resources to live your healthiest life.
Studies show that, generally, clinical care accounts for about 20% of a person’s health. The other 80% of our health is determined by other factors and influences that make up our personal ecosystems, including education. Research demonstrates that education has the potential to provide people with more tools to live a satisfying life and contribute to their communities.
Understanding the impact health inequities can have on individuals and communities, Takeda and Discovery Education partnered to create Better Health in Action — an education initiative focused on helping today’s students learn about the issue of health inequity, so they are better equipped to understand the areas for potential action in their communities.
Can you tell us about Better Health in Action?
Building a healthier future includes students. Designed to engage students in the topics of health equity globally and their connections to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), Better Health in Action aims to empower students to understand the principles of health equity and to identify health inequities in their communities through interactive, research-based learning experiences.
Better Health in Action introduces students to certain global healthcare challenges through the work and lens of dedicated professionals at Takeda. Through a new video topic series and self-paced module, students can explore how the social determinants of health can impact everyday life and consider potential ways to reduce health disparities in their own communities. It also introduces them to career opportunities and role models in life sciences. Through Better Health in Action, our goal is for students to be equipped, knowledgeable, and inspired to advance health equity.
Why is it important to educate students about health equity?
The future generation can help our collective goal to create a more equitable future for their world — starting with how they approach today. It’s no secret that health inequities beginning in childhood often follow people throughout their lives. Furthermore, research shows that if a child receives an education, it’s more likely they’ll be able to access quality healthcare, get a job, and live in a stable environment — all factors that can affect well-being.
Understanding and seeing how education impacts the health of communities can help put us on the right path toward better health care for all. Through health equity education and our program, we hope to inspire students to create change in their communities. Students are the future changemakers and can help make better possible health outcomes a reality for everyone.
Why did Takeda team up with Discovery Education?
At Takeda, we are committed to helping create equitable health care for all and aim to help achieve better health for people and a brighter future for the world. Since our company’s founding more than 240 years ago, we’ve asked ourselves what more can we do for our patients? We remain focused on this question and believe it’s one we’ll continue to not only ask, but respond to, for the next 240+ years.
Discovery Education — a worldwide leader in edtech — is an ideal partner to inspire this next generation, providing high-quality learning experiences engaging all students and supporting higher academic achievement on a global scale.
How can students and educators get involved?
Better Health in Action can help foster a health equity mindset for both students and educators to improve their communities. Addressing health inequity isn’t just one person’s responsibility – it will take all of us, at every level, to achieve. Visit the Better Health in Action website for tools and resources to learn how you can become a health equity champion.
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SchoolStatus Launches New K-12 Student Success Platform, Empowering Schools and Families
Unified platform features SchoolStatus Connect and SchoolStatus Attend to power more collaboration and engagement between families and educators
RIDGELAND, Miss., Feb. 6, 2024 /— SchoolStatus, a leader in K-12 data-driven solutions that empower student success, announced the launch of its new K-12 student success platform. The user-friendly, fully integrated platform features SchoolStatus Connect for personalized communications and SchoolStatus Attend for reducing chronic absenteeism. Both solutions empower families, administrators, and educators with data and insights to drive positive student outcomes.
Research consistently shows that when families and educators collaborate, students do significantly better in school. The new SchoolStatus platform is designed to enhance collaboration and family engagement through a centralized communications hub that makes it easier for districts to reach every family with relevant messaging to support better learning and attendance outcomes. The platform offers educators instant insight into the information they need for data-driven decision-making and removes barriers to access, such as technology and language.
The SchoolStatus platform launched with solutions focused on school-home communications and attendance. Additional solutions will be introduced later this year. The platform includes:
- SchoolStatus Attend: A data-driven attendance management solution that empowers educators with automatic attendance interventions and positive reinforcement that improve daily attendance and streamline administrative tasks to combat chronic absenteeism. The solution helps eliminate the need for tedious administrative processes through automated outreach using mailed letters and postcards as well as digital messages. Leveraging over 20 years of attendance management experience, SchoolStatus Attend can reduce attendance management workload by up to 75% while fostering a culture where students want to attend school.
- SchoolStatus Connect: An easy-to-use, integrated communications hub that empowers educators, schools, and districts to establish more meaningful connections with each student’s family via auto-translated SMS text messages, email, newsletters, phone, video, and more. Educators can also access a holistic view of a student’s academic performance and contact history, including call recordings, to track progress in reaching and engaging families, all in the same place.
“Districts, educators, and families share the common goal of wanting students to thrive and the first step is having actionable data-driven insights to further propel student success and school-home connections. The combination of data and communication is a powerful catalyst for driving family engagement and, importantly, freeing up valuable time for educators,” said Russ Davis, SchoolStatus Founder and CEO. “We know that educators and families want better, easier ways to connect and engage with each other as they partner to help students get back on track academically and work to address absenteeism. Our new integrated communication and attendance solutions are designed to meet the needs of schools and educators, while keeping students’ families engaged, informed, and connected, and decreasing educators’ workload.”
Recently crossing four billion successful family-educator interactions, and with millions of users across all product lines throughout the U.S., SchoolStatus has helped tens of thousands of schools across the country increase the quality and frequency of school-family communications and combat chronic absenteeism. Its student-centered approach has driven meaningful results for thousands of districts across the United States.
“At San Marcos CISD, we seek out the best technology to support student achievement and promote positive school-home collaboration,” said Andrew Fernandez, Chief of Communications and Technology for San Marcos CISD. “Having access to a platform that offers a central, easy-to-use communications hub will make it easier for our educators and families to build strong partnerships to support students. The SchoolStatus student success platform will allow us to continue to enhance family communication and engagement by making connecting with our schools easier and more meaningful for families.”
News of the launch of the new SchoolStatus student success platform follows a year of strong company momentum, customer growth and validation, and prominent industry recognition. SchoolStatus was recently selected for a 2024 District Administration Top EdTech Product Award, a 2023 Supes’ Choice Award, and as a finalist for the ACE-ED 2023 Excellence in Equity Awards.
For more information on SchoolStatus Connect and SchoolStatus Attend, visit www.schoolstatus.com.
About SchoolStatus
SchoolStatus provides a comprehensive suite of communication and attendance solutions that enhance educator-to-family connectedness and support student success. Instant insight into student information and district attendance trends gives educators and administrators full visibility into all levels of the education ecosystem. Data-informed, multi-touch communications include calling, texting, video, and print materials centered around proactive intervention that improves student outcomes and family engagement. With millions of successful school-home interactions, SchoolStatus is improving student achievement by facilitating meaningful engagement between educators, districts, and families across the U.S. For more information, visit schoolstatus.com.
Media Contact:
Sydney Stressman
Zer0 to 5ive for SchoolStatus
sstressman@0to5.com
609.238.6663
SOURCE SchoolStatus
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Avantis Education Highlights New 360Cities Content and VR Scenes for Black History Month at TCEA 2024
Chicago (February 2, 2024) — Avantis Education, creators of ClassVR, will highlight its new partnership with 360Cities, unveil its immersive scenes for Black History Month, and introduce its new CEO, Huw Williams, at the TCEA Convention & Exposition in Austin, Texas. The TCEA conference takes place February 3-7, 2024 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. Avantis is in booth #533.
ClassVR will also be featured in two presentations – one led by Avantis and one led by Texas Region One Education Service Center.
- Avantis Education’s Vice President of Educational Services Chris Klein will present “Welcome to the Eduverse: ClassVR Has Been Waiting For You” discussing the possibilities and potential of the metaverse for education. The session takes place Monday, February 5 from 1p.m-2p.m. Central Time in Room 13AB
- Texas Region One Education Service Center STEM Specialist Sylvia Escobar will present “Create Immersive Animated Storybooks with a STEM Spin” sharing lesson ideas and tips on how to use technology including ClassVR to create digital storybooks. The session takes place Sunday, February 4 from 9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m. in Room 19B.
“Our mission is to provide teachers with access to easy-to-use, immersive content that engages students and supports instruction,” said Avantis Education Chief Executive Officer Huw Williams. “Our new partnership with 360Cities and new Black History Month Lessons – plus recently expanded content for math and language arts – give teachers access to hundreds of thousands of 360-degree photos, immersive scenes, and state standards-aligned lessons to help them take lessons to the next level.”
Avantis is the leading provider of VR and AR content and hardware for K-12 schools. Its ClassVR all-in-one VR/AR headset is designed specifically for K-12 classrooms. It includes the Eduverse content platform with access to Avantis’ award-winning library of immersive VR and AR content and standards-aligned lessons for schools.
Partnership with 360Cities
Teachers now can use ClassVR’s content hub Eduverse to access 360Cities’ massive database of 360-degree images to supplement their lessons. They can access hundreds of thousands of curated, VR-ready, panoramic photos providing stunning views of majestic canyons, lunar craters, busy city streets, ancient ruins, and more.
New Black History Month Lessons
Avantis has created new immersive VR scenes to support instruction during Black History Month. The scenes, available in the Eduverse platform, are free for anyone to access during the month of February without requiring an Eduverse subscription. Each scene includes teacher resources with background about the topic and suggested activities for students. Scenes include:
- Rosa Parks: Virtually board the bus that Rosa Parks boarded on December 1, 1955: https://edvr.se/TfR-Sdy-DTk/modern-world-rosa-parks
- Civil Rights Movement: Virtually explore the scene on the National Mall when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech about equality for Black Americans: https://edvr.se/TfR-Sdy-DTk/civil-rights-movement
- Slavery in America – Plantations: Virtually visit a plantation to observe the contrast in living conditions between enslaved people and the plantation owners: https://edvr.se/TfR-Sdy-DTk/slavery-america-plantation
New Leadership Team
Huw Williams, former managing director, has been named Avantis’ new CEO. Williams has been in the education technology industry for more than 20 years, and spent the last nine of those heading up global sales and marketing for Avantis. He helped pioneer many of the company’s market-leading innovations, including Eduverse.
Williams is one of several strategic appointments to the executive team to support the company’s continued expansion in global markets. Other appointments include Chief Revenue Officer Alistair Hayward, Chief Marketing Officer Gillian Rhodes, Chief Finance Officer David Walters and Chief Technology Officer Bruce Grove.
To learn more, visit www.classvr.com or visit Avantis at TCEA booth #533.
About Avantis
Avantis Education, the creators of ClassVR, provides simple classroom technology used by more than a million students in over 90 countries.
The world’s first virtual reality technology designed just for education provides everything a school needs to seamlessly implement VR technology in any classroom, all at an affordable price. To learn more visit www.avantiseducation.com and www.classvr.com.
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