It’s crucial for librarians to have the support, tools and resources they need to succeed, as school libraries serve as an important hub for intellectual engagement. There are numerous studies that show a strong connection between school libraries and student success—properly managed spaces not only help students read more, but also help them learn how to use and process information and perform better on achievement tests.

Here are three strategies school librarians can use to meet today’s challenges head-on and promote academic achievement among student learners:

Stay ahead of audits

School library audits are crucial, as they serve to provide accountability, define priorities and ensure resources are being maximized. Unfortunately, the process can be extremely tedious and time-consuming for librarians and media specialists.

Employing a reliable library resource management system enables them to stay well prepared and ahead of the curve. Management software can track and manage physical and digital resources and inventory efficiently, and keep detailed records of library acquisitions, circulation statistics, budget allocations and sources of funding.

Additionally, resource management software can generate detailed reports and analytics, valuable during audits as they provide key insights into budget allocation, circulation statistics, equitable materials, and quickly identify areas that may need attention or enhancement.

Reimagine space

Gone are the days of quietly reading between endless rows of dusty books. School libraries have shifted to interactive spaces, equipped with 3D printers, coding kits, multimedia production equipment, whiteboards, games and other tools that encourage communication and teamwork.

Superintendent turnover : Superintendent turnover: Hiring is not slowing down

Even with a limited budget, school librarians can still create an adaptive area by leveraging creativity, resourcefulness, and community engagement. Simply rearranging seating to form collaborative work areas or using movable bookshelves to create flexible spaces can make a big difference. In our library, we noticed the non-fiction section was rarely used, which constituted half of our library. By combining the fiction and non-fiction areas, we effectively doubled the use of our usable space and created a much livelier environment.

Also, students and teachers constitute a huge (and inexpensive) talent pool, and tapping into them to create interactive learning displays and other material sparks interest and engagement.

By thinking outside the box, school librarians can create dynamic and interactive spaces that enrich the learning experience for students.

Connect with your “customers”

Keeping your finger on the pulse of what teachers and students want ensures that the library’s resources, services, and programs are relevant and aligned with the educational goals and curriculum. It also increases the likelihood that the library will be used and valued. When “customers” feel that the library caters to their interests and requirements, they are more likely to visit frequently, participate in library activities, and use its resources effectively.

The school library isn’t always top of mind, so in our building we continually develop multiple opportunities for unique connections. For instance, we created “Coffee House Monday” where students can sign up to come talk about books, school, or other topics. We also coordinate regular contests for staff to win books, which helps facilitate conversations about what resources they would like to see us expand or introduce.

Well-managed school libraries can boost student achievement and cultivate a collaborative spirit within schools. By staying proactive and adaptable, librarians will continue to play a vital role in supporting student success, fostering a culture of reading and inquiry, ultimately enriching the overall learning environment.

The post Beyond Books: 3 ways school librarians can support student success appeared first on District Administration.

Pandemic relief spending

Two new research studies released this week give us an idea of the effectiveness of ESSER spending by K12 schools. Each study contends that pandemic relief funds kept schools afloat and made some academic gains.

The first study, which was a collaboration between Harvard’s Center for Education Policy Research and Stanford’s Opportunity Project, reveals that every $1,000 of federal relief spent per student during the 2022-23 school year resulted in a 3% increase in math scores compared to a typical school year, or about six school days of learning.

As far as reading scores go, improvements weren’t as significant. The data suggests the same amount of spending only bought the gains equivalent to an extra three school days of learning.

“It led to significant improvements in children’s academic performance… It wasn’t enough money, or enough recovery, to get students all the way back to where they were in 2019, but it did make a significant difference,” Sean Reardon, professor of poverty and inequality in education at Stanford and project leader of the research,  told NPR.

The second study, which comes from the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research, paints a similar picture. For every $1,000 increase in ESSER per pupil funds there were “statistically significant increases” in math scores but negligible impact in ELA.

“To recover losses remaining after 2023, we estimate schools would need to spend $9,000 to $13,000 per pupil,” the authors suggest.

Trump vs. vaccines

In other news, former President Donald Trump is vowing to cut federal education investments. Last week, he told his followers in Wisconsin that he “will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate,” MSNBC reports. He echoed this sentiment again this past weekend.

During a rally at Temple University on Saturday, he vowed to move the Department of Education “to the states,” The Washington Examiner reports.

“We’ll be able to cut [spending on] education in half and get much better education in some of the states,” Trump said. “We’ll have the best education anywhere in the world.”

He also mentioned that the United States spends more “per pupil” than any other country, yet he notes that the U.S. ranks poorly in education. So, “What the hell do you have to lose?” he asked.

Trump: I will cut education in half pic.twitter.com/YtAD0QMH4F

— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) June 22, 2024

New AI tools from Google

The last tidbit of information I’ll throw your way comes from Google. This week, they’ve announced new updates to their AI tools for students. Gemini, for instance, is now available for teens’ school accounts to help them learn “responsibly and confidently in an AI-first future,” the announcement reads.

Gemini will guide students with in-the-moment assistance, practice materials and real-time feedback. Furthermore, Google is adding extra data protection to Gemini, promising not to use data from chats to improve AI models,” the company adds.

“In the coming months, we’re making Gemini available to teen students that meet our minimum age requirements while using their Google Workspace for Education accounts in English in over 100 countries around the world, free of charge for all education institutions.”

More from DA: Fighting false information? 8 ways to better spread the truth

Additionally, Google announced several resources and trainings for students, parents and educators to learn more about generative AI and how to use it responsibly and effectively:

New from DA

As always, here’s what’s new from District Administration this week:

• “Talking Out of School” podcast: Paper CEO Phil Cutler shares insights from Leadership Voices, a series of interviews with superintendents covering artificial intelligence, personalized learning, staffing challenges and the other issues that are top of mind.
• EdTech Top 40: Read our coverage of LearnPlatform by Instructure’s 2024 list of the top 40 edtech tools. This year’s list reflects the importance of uniqueness and interoperability in education.
• Teaching apprenticeships: We know the importance of building a strong teacher pipeline. In this article, I share three innovative teaching apprenticeships that blend K12 with higher education to prepare the next generation of students.

The post TGIF time-saver: How to gauge ESSER’s academic impact appeared first on District Administration.

Date & Time: Thursday, August 15th at 2 pm ET

The education sector stands on the brink of a significant transformation—moving from an era dominated by paper to one powered by digital solutions. This shift promises not only to revolutionize the way we manage documents but also to redefine the operational efficiency within our schools and school systems.  

In this webinar, the CTO of the School District of Manatee County will discuss how his school system transformed its own document management system through an innovative strategic blueprint, a mobile mass scanning fleet, and a close partnership between district leadership and school site staff.  

If the transition from paper to digital document management feels overwhelming and confusing for you and your team, this webinar is not to be missed. 

Presenters

Scott A. Hansen, Chief Technology Officer, School District of Manatee County 

Marshall Simmonds, Vice President, Scribbles Software 

Scott Francis, Technology Evangelist, PFU America, a Ricoh Group company 

Watch Now

Sponsored by

The post Making the Switch: Digital Transformation in K-12 Records Management appeared first on District Administration.

A national keyword search conducted by K12 data tracker Burbio suggests growing momentum behind STEM-related initiatives at school board meetings as we head into summer. In this month’s dataset, Burbio highlights five states/regions where STEM-centered conversations have been most prominent in their discussions. The share of districts that have mentioned STEM (or STEAM) at least once include:

• Florida (46.3%)
• California (43.5%)
• New England (42.7%)
• Southern states [AL, MS, NC, TN and SC] (27.5%)
• Texas (13.3%)

Discussions at school board meetings in these locations have also spent significant amounts of time discussing special education:

• New England (84.6%)
• California (82.7%)
• Southern states (38.6%)
• Texas (36.3%)
• Florida (19.5%)

More from DA: This California leader is using AI to expand his reach—and become multilingual

What about K12 grants?

Shifting away from school board discussions, Burbio gathered data that reflects the scope of state-specific funding for K12 schools. Below, you’ll find a chart summarizing 10 of the most common categories of grants, the total number of grants in each category and the market size for the categories listed.

Note: The data represents grants that were available during the 2023-24 school year and several that have been announced for 2024-25.

The post School boarding meetings: How much time is devoted STEM? appeared first on District Administration.

They’re both examples of the tough choices superintendents and their teams are grappling with as declining numbers, school choice and other factors sap enrollment in many parts of the country. Seattle is moving toward consolidating 70 elementary schools—many of them under-enrolled—into 50 by the 2025-26 school year to provide “stability and consistency.”

“Empty seats can lead to fewer staffing resources, more staffing adjustments in the beginning of the school year and inequitable offerings from school to school,” the district says on its website. “If we maintain the current system, we will need to reduce services. This could mean having more students per teacher, reducing core school staff, scaling back preschool offerings and suspension of new curriculum adoption.”

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The district, which warns it may have to close schools even if the current plan is not approved, is now holding community meetings to get feedback on its proposal. Administrators say the goals of the school closures will include those identified by families, staff and students at previous listening sessions. Residents have told the district they want:

• Multiple teachers per grade level
• Stable support staff
• Inclusive learning for every student
• Social and emotional learning support
• Art, music and PE teachers
• Stable operational budgets
• Safe, healthy and beautiful school grounds
• Space for preschool
• Connections to the community

Leaders at Columbus City Schools have shared with the community nine closure scenarios that would also impact middle and high schools. The district, which is seeking community input online and at a series of ongoing facilities task force meetings, spends more money per facility than the national average. Savings realized from closing buildings could go to enhancing instruction and other activities, Superintendent Angela Chapman explained at a recent school board meeting.

Leaders have proposed consolidating elementary schools and turning at least one high school into a middle school by 2025-26. “We know the learning spaces of yesterday are not preparing our students for the opportunities of tomorrow,” Chapman said. “We intend to maximize our resources to provide more robust academic and extracurricular programming, including the arts and athletics.”

Plano ISD in Texas is also in the planning stages of shutting down schools. The Dallas-area district reports on its website that enrollment has dropped to 47,800 from a peak of 55,700 in 2021. Other pressures include decreasing birth rates and rising home costs that have hit an average of $584,000, surpassing prices in surrounding districts farther from the Dallas metroplex.

School closures canceled

A similar process was underway in Colorado’s Poudre School District north of metropolitan Denver due to an expected enrollment decline of up to 10% and the potential loss of $40 million in funding in the coming years. Leaders were considering the closure of up to half a dozen elementary and middle schools but the school board halted the plan earlier this week, heading off any closures in the 2025-26 school year.

According to The Colorado Sun, the decision came after hundreds of families and community members protested the closures outside this week’s school board meeting.

The post School closures: More big districts are making tough choices appeared first on District Administration.

In a poll conducted by McGraw-Hill in the U.S. and 18 other countries, more than half of educators (57% ) said that issues at home, insufficient family support and other external influences are the “largest obstacles to student success.”

Consequently, misbehavior, mental health struggles and students not being prepared for grade-level work also interfere with learning in the regions covered by the survey: North America, Northern Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.

Superintendent turnover: Dozens of new hires and 6 departures

When asked how to improve student success, the top three answers were: increasing funding for education, raising teacher pay and better training and support for educators.

Teachers are testing AI

Teachers are also looking for ways that AI can enhance their craft though some worry the rapidly advancing technology may harm students. AI’s two biggest benefits, each cited by about two-thirds of the respondents, are saving time on administrative tasks and personalizing learning more precisely for each student. But even more teachers, over 70%, want more guidance on AI and say its impacts are “unknown.”

Overall, about 40% of educators say AI has been beneficial while just 19% believe it has had a negative impact. Teachers’ biggest concerns are cheating and that AI could hinder students’ critical thinking, memory and social skills, the survey found.

The three biggest barriers to edtech implementation cited by teachers are: High costs of purchasing the technology (47%); lack of time to implement and train educators on how to use the technology effectively (38%); and “Data privacy concerns” (34%).

Here’s what else global educators said in the poll:

• 32% use generative AI, such as ChatGPT; 80% have already used it or expect to.
• 48% would trust the accuracy of information students get from generative AI.
• 48% don’t trust the accuracy of generative AI information or trust it only slightly.
• 72% believe their school needs to provide more guidance on the use of emerging technology.

The post Teachers around the world are facing similar hurdles—and AI, too appeared first on District Administration.

Plus, with 72% of parents considering new schools for their children this school year and homeschooling becoming America’s fastest-growing form of education, it’s clear that families are looking for alternative forms of instruction.

Which is why, as the deadline to obligate remaining Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds quickly approaches on Sept. 30, school and district leaders must use remaining funds to add or enhance digital learning solutions to meet students where they’re at in their learning journey.

Title IX turmoil: States line up to defy new K12 LGBTQ protections

To help education leaders decide how to obligate their remaining funds, I’ve put together three ways they can use the remaining funds to create or enhance online and blended learning programs.

1. Integrate digital courses

If school and district leaders directly offer innovative learning options, they can provide families with the flexibility and retain funding. Instead of families seeking out homeschooling, private school or other options, they can stay in their zoned school to meet all their educational needs.

One way to do that is by using the remaining ESSER III funds to incorporate comprehensive and engaging digital courses. To highlight how digital courses impact student learning, I want to talk about Union Public Schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We’ve worked with them for over a decade to enhance their online school—Union Virtual Learning Academy.

When we began working together, their school leadership team wanted to adapt to the digital era so they added elements to match students’ experiences in the real world. They settled on using blended learning, mixing online courses with in-person teaching. By the 2021-22 school year, half of the high school seniors in the district had taken a blended learning class, with a passing rate of 93%.

By introducing digital courses and virtual components, the academy evolved in parallel with the way students were experiencing the digital world around them. This allowed virtual teachers and staff to relate to their students more while giving them valuable learning opportunities that they’ll continue to experience throughout their college or work journey.

2. Provide professional development

Effective teacher professional development can significantly improve student achievement, with studies reporting teachers who receive meaningful professional development can boost their student’s achievement by 21 percentile points. Utilizing remaining ESSER III funds to add more professional development and training opportunities for staff is crucial for fostering teacher confidence and connecting in the online learning environment.

Over the past 20 years, we’ve discovered that students in the online classroom want the same things as those in brick-and-mortar classrooms. Students want to feel connected to their teachers and classmates and when that feeling increases, so does their engagement. I recommend training your teachers on how to implement best practices in online learning so they can create fun and engaging activities.

3. Hire online teachers and counselors

Over the past several years, various research reports have highlighted major hurdles for K12 education, with one of the most prominent being teacher shortages.

While meeting with school and district leaders nationwide, I’ve heard of challenges such as hiring for specialized subjects like world languages or electives and dealing with unexpected teacher absences throughout the school year.

To address immediate staffing needs, I recommend using your remaining ESSER III funds to partner with a supportive virtual school. Their accredited teachers and personalized support can complement the efforts of your current teachers who are already making a valuable impact on student learning and growth.

Outline a plan

To meet the Sept. 30 deadline, educators should begin planning resources required for student, family and teacher success. School and district leaders have various options to use remaining funds to drive digital learning excellence—whether they’re just starting to consider an online or blended school or enhancing existing options.

The key takeaway: digital learning is the future. By using funds on edtech and digital learning solutions school administrators can focus on what truly matters—the success of their students.

The post 3 ways your remaining ESSER funds will drive digital learning appeared first on District Administration.

Date & Time: Wednesday, May 22nd at 2 pm ET

Districts lose money when they use outdated purchasing/procurement practices and systems.

By modernizing procurement, districts can improve efficiency, streamline processes, and maximize their budget.

In this on-demand webinar, you’ll hear from subject-matter experts on topics such as:

• Overcoming the most common procurement challenges.
• How to revitalize processes and improve efficiencies.
• The benefits of a “procure-to-pay” approach — maximizing team efficiency, ensuring compliance, and optimizing buying outcomes

Presenters 

Stephen Cook, Senior Account Executive, Euna Solutions 

April Marzzacco, Senior Sales Manager, Euna Solutions 

Register Now

Sponsored by

The post A One-Stop-Shop: Modern Marketplace for Better Equipped K-12 Procurement appeared first on District Administration.

There is no doubt that post-COVID, states and districts face deepening challenges: catching up on learning loss, chronic absenteeism, mental health challenges, teacher shortages in some regions and more. State and district leaders are also evaluating what specific expenditures are working and what could be more effective in addressing pressing issues. This driving focus on effectiveness is paired with a need to re-imagine the future of education. Simply recreating the systems and procedures that existed before the pandemic will likely be a recipe for stagnation.

One key question about ESSER that I often hear when speaking with school leaders in my state is, “How much ESSER funding remains?” According to the U.S. Department of Education, nationally there is about $53 billion to obligate by September 2024.

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It is tempting to think of these last ESSER funds as one-time expenditures to address limited, one-time needs. A better way to consider these funds would be as a down payment on a tenable strategy that could be sustained by state and local resources, other federal funds or a combination thereof. With creativity and courage, a K12 leader can invest in solutions that provide lasting and significant benefits.

While everyone acknowledges the negative effect of COVID on student academic outcomes, as well as mental health, COVID made these declines worse. But it didn’t cause them. As states and school districts consider how to use their remaining ESSER funds, they have a unique opportunity to address immediate and long-term needs exacerbated by the pandemic.

ESSER can address multiple needs

At the top of the list is addressing learning loss through implementing or expanding evidence-based educational interventions. There are many other, complementary strategies and investments that should be high priority because they address multiple critical needs.

By strategically investing ESSER funds for initiatives focused on student engagement and combating chronic absenteeism, states and school districts can create more supportive and engaging learning environments that encourage regular attendance, participation and success. We know that students learn best when they are engaged with hands-on, project-based learning and hae access to state-of-the-art digital resources that nurture student curiosity and drive learning.

In New Hampshire, we have provided Discovery Education’s K-12 platform to all educators, at no cost, which has sparked curiosity among students and created a passion to study and explore current events. Engaging classrooms that motivate students to attend school regularly is also a priority that all educators can support.

In the Granite State, we have worked to provide flexible learning options by utilizing ESSER funds to provide 24/7, one-on-one tutoring for every student in grades 4-12. We also launched a Leaning Into Literacy Initiative that aims to create literacy champions and advance reading skills among our youth through the Lexia LETRS program.

And, we implemented an attendance recovery program call ENGAGE New Hampshire, which is designed to stabilize and improve student attendance and academic performance. Beyond the classroom, we also spearheaded ReKINDling Curiosity, a program that allows every student to attend summer camp in New Hampshire. We’re thinking outside of the box to use ESSER funds in a way that will help children reset and grow.

Engagement and outcomes

States throughout the nation are using ESSER funds in similar ways that are both unique and encouraging to address missed learning and decreased social engagement. These efforts have been sincere and purposeful, but our work is not yet done. More programs and services are available to support America’s educators and students in new and unique ways.

We have learned that workforce partnerships and collaboration with businesses and post-secondary institutions can go a long way in preparing students for a bright future. Understanding the need to prepare students for successful careers and help meet the needs of the future labor market, New Hampshire used ESSER funds to implement a Work As Learning program that provides secondary students with paid, work-based learning opportunities by matching learner wages.

There are also endless opportunities to enhance technology and digital literacy programs to prepare students for the evolving digital workplace while addressing immediate challenges and laying the groundwork for long-term improvements in critical STEM areas.

By strategically using ESSER funds to support numerous initiatives, states can help ensure that students’ educational experiences are more accessible, engaging and effective, and better prepare them for the demands of the future economy, contributing to individual success and broader economic growth.

Knowing that the needs of each region vary, states and districts need to use these funds strategically while focusing on thoughtful expenditures that address immediate needs and build a more resilient, equitable and effective education system for the future.

What worked in New Hampshire may not work everywhere, but I hope ESSER funds are being used nationwide to augment and improve student engagement and student outcomes. In this final hour, now is the time to step up, amplify our resources and enhance educational opportunities everywhere.

The post How to maximize ESSER funding before it’s gone appeared first on District Administration.

However, the education community, researchers and policymakers agree the data is far from perfect and doesn’t tell the full story about poverty. While the vast majority of states use it to describe the socioeconomic need of school communities, recent research continues to show its shortcomings, and encourages finding alternative ways to examine the barriers and challenges facing students.

I would invite us all to go beyond free and reduced-price lunch data as the sole data point to get our students what they need. As administrators seek funding, develop equitable approaches to supporting students from marginalized backgrounds and prioritize where to direct resources in their districts, they deserve a more complete and realistic picture of the challenges in their school communities.

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Many external factors besides poverty paint this picture. Some indicate where students lack access to material resources. For example, in communities with limited access to broadband internet, students struggle to complete homework or engage in remote learning. Others point to neighborhood conditions that directly affect students’ mental and physical health, and by extension their educational outcomes—such as a community’s level of housing affordability and rates of violent crime.

Still others indicate the basic necessities schools can help to provide—such as looking at the percent of households with children under 18 receiving SNAP benefits in a given community to pinpoint whether students are likely to show up to school hungry.

Better student outcomes

Focusing and incorporating metrics on conditions like these offers a more holistic, actionable picture of the barriers facing a school community. These data points all work together to shape students’ needs and they are freely obtainable and reliable metrics that are relevant down to a local level, while also being available nationally. As such, they offer administrators and policymakers a clearer path to drive improvements in quality of life and better outcomes for students, such as:

• Supporting grant funding: Rather than extrapolating the funding a district may need based simply on the cost of lunch, administrators can tailor their grant solicitation efforts to the areas experiencing the greatest challenges. For example, if a school community has limited broadband access, administrators can direct their outreach toward local internet service providers as potential funders or partners.
• Developing equitable interventions: A more intimate knowledge of the full spectrum of challenges facing specific school communities ensures interventions reach the populations of students for whom they will be most useful.
• Prioritizing resource allocation and management: This enables policymakers to analyze the impact of community and policy-based initiatives.

Amidst these benefits, I must also acknowledge that gathering many different metrics to analyze together would be a tall order for administrators with little time. Fortunately, many free tools exist to remove the burden.

A wealth of information can be found in the Opportunity Index, the Community Well-Being Index and the Community Opportunity Map, as well as the school-community-specific Open Data Index for Schools (ODIS), which my organization recently launched, and which offers the benefit of aggregating data down to the school community level so that administrators can get even more granular insight beyond just their city or county.

Here’s what it all boils down to: Gaining an accurate picture of students’ needs is not just about how we count, it’s about what we count. More holistic, accurate, comprehensive data is available at our fingertips—so it is time for administrators to use it.

When they can make more informed decisions around supporting students in under-invested-in communities, many of whom face different challenges from community to community, access to opportunity will become more equitable and we will see better outcomes.

The post Administrators deserve better than just one poverty metric appeared first on District Administration.