Promote Community Engagement

This festive season is a perfect opportunity to strengthen ties with the local community. Lead initiatives that involve staff, students, and community members in meaningful projects. These activities can be deeply rewarding and help build stronger relationships between the school and its community.

Show Appreciation for Educators

A little appreciation can make a big difference. Make it a priority to show gratitude for the dedication and efforts of your educators. Whether it’s through personalized notes, small tokens of appreciation, or public acknowledgments in staff meetings, these gestures can significantly boost morale and reinforce their value in the school community.

Encourage Work-Life Balance

The holiday season is synonymous with rest, rejuvenation, and spending time with family and friends. Encourage your staff to fully enjoy their winter break without worrying about work. Actively encourage your staff to disconnect from work during the winter break. A well-rested educator returns to school more energized and ready to engage with students, enhancing the overall learning experience.

Foster a Culture of Learning and Innovation

The new year is a perfect time for professional growth. Motivate your principals and teachers to participate in workshops, online courses, or collaborative projects. Providing a platform for educators to share their insights with peers will not only enhance professional growth but also build a supportive and collaborative community.

Incorporating these strategies can impact not just educators, but your entire community. Reaffirm your commitment to creating a school where the joy of learning is celebrated and where your educators feel valued, supported, and inspired.

How do you educate with joy? Follow us and share your tips on social media.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Must be U.S. resident. At least 18 years old. 11/28/23 – 12/15/23.

Void where prohibited. See official rules for details.

The post Educate with Joy: Empowering District Leaders with Supportive Holiday Strategies first appeared on Age of Learning.

1. If you could have dinner with any three guests, who would it be and why?

Having spent a significant part of my career in educational leadership, if I had the opportunity to host a dinner with any three guests, my choices would be deeply rooted in my passion for education.

Firstly, I would invite Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona who I had the privilege of working with over my last few years at AASA. His commitment to supporting educators and the children they serve is both inspiring and essential. Our conversations were always meaningful; he listened intently to my concerns and was honest about his capacity to address them. His insights into educational policy would be invaluable at such a dinner.

Next, Bill Milliken, the founder of the not-for-profit Communities in Schools (CIS), would be at my table. Bill is more than just a colleague; he’s a soul brother who for over 50 years, has had a profound impact on the lives of thousands of children, helping them succeed beyond expectations through CIS programs in their schools. His stories and experiences would add a depth of understanding about the power of community involvement in education.

Finally, I would be thrilled to have MacKenzie Scott join us. Her perspective on philanthropy in education would offer a unique and powerful viewpoint on how individual contributions can create significant societal changes.

This dinner would not just be a gathering of minds but a confluence of experiences, visions, and commitments to the future of education.

2. What was your proudest achievement as a Superintendent?

I firmly believe in the importance of providing equal opportunities to every student, regardless of their background or circumstances. During my tenure as a Superintendent, I am proud of my commitment to implementing programs that promoted equity and access to quality education in all the districts I served.

To accomplish this, I championed the establishment of bilingual education programs and Early Childhood Education initiatives. Recognizing the growing diversity in our communities, I saw the need to ensure that students who spoke languages other than English had the resources and support to succeed academically. Understanding that a strong foundation in the early years is crucial for a child’s future success, I worked diligently to expand access to quality preschool programs. This laid the groundwork for academic excellence and social development, setting our students on a path to success.

During my tenure on Long Island, I implemented full-day kindergarten programs and advocated for district-operated childcare services. These moves were transformative as they allowed students to receive a more comprehensive and enriching educational experience from a young age. It provided working parents with essential support and ensured that our children were well-prepared for their educational journey.

These initiatives not only transformed the educational landscape in our districts but also empowered students from all backgrounds to excel and thrive.

3. What were some of the biggest challenges that you had to overcome as a superintendent?

One of the biggest challenges I faced as a superintendent was the pursuit of equity in education. My approach to equity differed from the traditional understanding, which meant that every child received the same resources and opportunities. Instead, I believed in a more nuanced definition of equity, where every child received what they individually needed to succeed academically and personally.

To achieve this vision, I implemented policies that provided schools with low-achieving students with additional funding and resources. This was a significant departure from the one-size-fits-all approach and aimed to address the unique needs of each student.

However, this approach faced considerable backlash initially. Some stakeholders questioned the allocation of additional resources to specific schools, and there were concerns about fairness. Nevertheless, I remained committed to the belief that equity meant every child getting what they needed to succeed.

Over time, the results of these efforts became evident. Students in schools that received additional support began to succeed and make significant academic progress. Teachers became more interested in teaching at these schools, and the communities surrounding these schools also saw improvements.

The concept of “all boats floating” became a reality, as the success of these schools positively impacted the entire district.

4. When looking at the scale of the challenges in education, specifically in literacy and math proficiency, what are the types of solutions that district leaders should explore? 

When addressing the scale of challenges in education, particularly in improving literacy and math proficiency, district leaders should explore a range of solutions with a strong emphasis on early childhood intervention including:

Early Childhood Education Programs: It is critical to intervene as early as possible in a child’s education journey. There is ample research that supports the notion that if you can positively impact a child’s education before, they reach the 2nd grade, you’ve won a significant battle. Children who do not receive adequate support during these early years often lag in math and reading skills, making it crucial to target intervention efforts during preschool and kindergarten.

Increased Investment in Younger Children: District leaders should allocate more resources and funding toward programs and initiatives that cater to their youngest learners. This includes expanding access to high-quality preschool programs, improving early literacy and numeracy instruction, and providing comprehensive support services for children in their formative years.

By prioritizing the educational needs of younger children and investing resources wisely, district leaders can pave the way for improved outcomes and success for all students in the long run.

5. When you’re talking to recently appointed superintendents who are just beginning that chapter of their careers, what’s one piece of advice that you offer? 

There is one crucial piece of advice I always offer to new superintendents: Recognize and embrace the tremendous power you hold in shaping the future of education and use that power to be a champion for children.

As a superintendent, you are in a unique position to make a profound difference in the lives of the students in your district. It’s imperative to be courageous and unwavering in your commitment to doing what’s right for the kids, even when faced with opposition or challenges. In the role of the Chief Academic Officer, you have the opportunity to bring in programs and initiatives that are sorely needed to enhance the educational experience of your students.

Be courageous, build support, convince people, and actively advocate for the programs and changes that will truly benefit the children in your district.

(Interview edited for length and clarity)

The post Meet the Experts: Q&A with Dan Domenech, Former Executive Director, AASA first appeared on Age of Learning.

The post An Educator’s Perspective: Carmen Alvarez, Early Childhood Director, Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District (HCISD) first appeared on Age of Learning.

Age of Learning began its relationship with Digital Promise in 2020 with the launch of My Math Academy, our adaptive, personalized digital program designed to help PreK through second grade students master foundational math concepts and skills. The program is based in research and education best practices. Together with Digital Promise we worked to obtain their product certifications for Research-Based Design and Learner Variability. These endorsed My Math Academy as an effective solution that is based in research about how children learn and supports the unique needs of learners, and they serve as a guide to educators and administrators looking for reliable edtech to bring into their classrooms and schools.

As we enter this new chapter with Digital Promise, we will be working with the League of Innovative Schools to develop an early learning cohort to collaborate on an action research agenda centered around PreK through third grade teaching and learning. Additionally, Age of Learning will offer select League districts the opportunity to pilot My Math Academy and My Reading Academy programs.

To kick off our new partnership, the Age of Learning School Solutions team will attend the League of Innovative Schools Fall Convening October 20-22 in Washington D.C. This event brings together district and education leaders and features a packed agenda of nation-level policy and action meetings, notable guest speakers, and networking opportunities all intended to chart innovative new paths for League schools.

On November 10, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m., we will be hosting a virtual Lunch and Learn event. In partnership with League members, this Lunch and Learn will present Age of Learning School Solutions and bring to life our approach to early learning, personalization, equity, and mastery. This webinar will be a kickoff to our Early Learning Cohort and action research projects throughout the school year.

We thank Digital Promise for our growing partnership and are honored to be supporting the League’s impactful work.

The post Age of Learning Partners with Digital Promise’s League of Innovative Schools first appeared on Age of Learning.

We were honored for our School Continuity Initiative, a program we created in March 2020 when schools were forced to close, impacting the academic lives and growth of millions of children. True to our mission to help children everywhere build a strong foundation for academic success and a lifelong love of learning, we created this program to offer preschool through middle school students free home access to our leading digital education programs—ABCmouse, Adventure Academy, and ReadingIQ. More than 80,000 schools, school districts, and teachers contacted us within days of announcing the School Continuity Initiative, allowing us to reach more than 1.2 million children. The children who participated in the program not only continued learning while sheltered at home, but they also experienced academic gains.

We recently shared the findings of an independently funded study that analyzed how children engaged with ABCmouse during the summer of 2020. The study found that:

• Children using ABCmouse for at least 45 minutes per week across three days, and completing 15 Learning Activities, were able to increase learning and minimize the learning loss that often takes place during the summer.
• ABCmouse is especially beneficial to those who start the summer with lower skills: with regular program usage, those students were able to catch up to their higher-skilled peers by the summer’s end, closing the gap by up to 87 percent.

Here is what we heard from a few of the many parents and teachers who reached out during this time:

“My daughter loves ABCmouse!  She has become more confident and quicker with her ability to add and subtract…I’m so proud of how I’ve seen growth even since schools closed!” – Parent of ABCmouse user

“This program has really helped our children grow at a time when social distancing was enforced.” – PreK Teacher, Pennsylvania 

“Last year I had the privilege of being the Kindergarten Virtual Teacher. I was able to provide ABCmouse for families and happy to say that for my students who used the apps and consistently attended school or watched recorded sessions they were reading at or above grade level by the end of the year.” – PreK Teacher, Texas

Thank you again to the City of Glendale for this award. It is an honor to be recognized by our community for our work in helping children everywhere build a strong foundation for academic success and a lifelong love of learning.

The post Age of Learning Recognized by City of Glendale for Our School Continuity Initiative first appeared on Age of Learning.

In early June, we announced our new Schools Solutions, which we developed to provide schools and districts with standards-based early education programs proven to help teachers differentiate instruction and accelerate learning while helping students achieve mastery. We also announced the launch of our innovative My Math Academy, the School Division’s first product, which our curriculum and production teams spent six years of development, iteration, and testing. My Math Academy is a research-proven, personalized, adaptive math program for pre-k through second grade. Multiple randomized control trials have shown that students using My Math Academy for as little as 45 minutes a week over a twelve-week period experience significant learning gains, and the children have increased engagement, interest, and confidence in learning math.

In mid-July, we shared that two Age of Learning teams behind the successful launch and ongoing development of My Math Academy published chapters in the academic journal Adaptive Instructional Systems. Design and Evaluation and were to present their work at the HCI International 2021 Conference.

In late July, the head of our Schools Division and a senior researcher on our Learning Science team were featured presenters at the #NYCSchoolsTech Summit 2021, where they shared the truly amazing results we had already seen while rolling out My Math Academy in school district pilot programs nationwide prior to its public launch. Their presentation: Results Count, My Math Academy Delivers! A PreK-2 Game-based Approach that Tripled Math Gains for Early Learners, focused primarily on the truly amazing results achieved in our pilot program in the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District (HCISD) in Texas.

This pilot program was also the focus of a Government Technology magazine website article: My Math Academy Improving Early Childhood Math Skills. The article reported that after offering our My Math Academy: Classroom Edition product to more than 900 largely economically disadvantaged pre-K students in the district, math skills more than doubled for 4-year-old pre-K students and tripled for 3-year-olds. The average pre-K student aged 4 is now at mid-kindergarten level, while the average pre-K student aged 3 is approaching kindergarten-level math skills. You can watch a HCISD school district board meeting discussing the unprecedented impact of My Math Academy on children’s skills and achievement (start at 8:50 for a quicker watch).

This past week, My Math Academy received another honor, winning the Awards of Excellence from Tech & Learning, which named our adaptive early math program one of 2021’s Best Tools for Back to School. Tech & Learning’s Awards of Excellence have long recognized innovation in the edtech industry, and its latest iteration, The Best Tools for Back to School, celebrates the most impressive products and solutions that support the work of teachers, students, and parents as they prepare for the new 2021-22 school year. Tech & Learning’s panel of advisors evaluated My Math Academy on ease of use, value, versatility, and (most importantly) the product’s ability to solve a problem.

Tech & Learning Group Publisher Christine Weiser framed it this way: “As we head into another uncertain year in education, technology will continue to be one of the key drivers for innovation. Our judges chose the winning products recognized here for their versatility, compatibility, value, and ability to help schools solve challenges and support continuous instruction. Congratulations to all of our winners.”

In addition to this latest award, My Math Academy has already achieved an impressive list of certifications: Stemworks Design Principles and Rubrics for Effective STEM Programs, Digital Promise Certification for Research-Based Design, Digital Promise Certification for Research-Based Design and Learner Variability, and the kidSAFE Seal Program’s COPPA Certified seal of approval.

Click here to learn more about My Math Academy, or schedule a product demo.

The post My Math Academy: Classroom Edition Wins Tech & Learning Award of Excellence, Named One of 2021’s Best Tools for Back to School first appeared on Age of Learning.

But it’s our latest pilot program that’s been generating an exceptional amount of excitement and interest. More than 900 largely economically disadvantaged pre-K students in the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District in Texas, started using My Math Academy in the fall. As recently reported on the Government Technology magazine website, “math skills more than doubled for 4-year-old pre-K students and tripled for 3-year-olds. The average pre-K student aged 4 is now at mid-kindergarten level, while the average pre-K student aged 3 is approaching kindergarten-level math skills.”

According to Carmen Alvarez, Director, HCISD Early Childhood, for the school district, My Math Academy, which includes a robust teacher dashboard, is giving teachers unparalleled insights into the learning needs of each individual student: “It’s kind of like being a great doctor,” she said. “A great doctor is going to look at the data before they go see a patient, and that’s exactly what the teachers are doing.” She also noted that the program allows students to learn at their own pace and “gives teachers more flexibility to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach to instruction.”

Read the full article on GovTech.com…

The post GovTech.com Spotlights Amazing Success of My Math Academy in Texas School District first appeared on Age of Learning.

Tomorrow, from 3:15 p.m.–3:45 p.m. (EST) , the head of our Schools Division and senior researcher on our Learning Science team will introduce Age of Learning’s newest classroom solution—My Math Academy—to Tech Summit attendees and share the truly amazing results we have seen while rolling out this new product in school district pilot programs. We hope you’ll join their presentation: Results Count, My Math Academy Delivers! A PreK-2 Game-based Approach that Tripled Math Gains for Early Learners.

Age of Learning spent six years applying the latest research and learning science to develop My Math Academy, which is a highly-individualized learning solution designed to bring equity and efficacy into every classroom. From the creators of ABCmouse, My Math Academy guides PreK through grade 2 learners through a highly-personalized learning adventure featuring engaging and just-right challenges that empower children, encourage persistence, and lead to a love of math.

During our session at #NYCSchools Tech Summit, participants will see detailed pilot results showing how My Math Academy tripled learning gains for PreK and Kindergarten students during the 20-21 school year despite the pandemic, hybrid learning conditions, and other community challenges.

Additionally, there will be an active virtual exhibit hall where participants can explore new education technology, including My Math Academy, and network with other Summit attendees. Our virtual booth will give you access to documents outlining My Math Academy’s alignment to academic achievement and funding guidelines, efficacy research, a My Math Academy Program Overview, and two instructive videos: My Math Academy Teacher Overview and Harlingen School District Spotlight.

We hope you can join us as we continue to inspire and connect through new learning techniques and resources!

The post Age of Learning Schools Division Presenting at NYCSchoolsTech Summit 2021 first appeared on Age of Learning.

We are thrilled to announce the launch of My Math Academy, a personalized, adaptive math program for pre-k through second grade. This is the first product offering from Age of Learning’s new Schools Division, which provides schools and districts with standards-based early education programs proven to help teachers differentiate instruction and accelerate learning while helping students achieve mastery.

An independent study of over 1,000 teachers and administrators shows that educators are focused on critical priorities that emerged from school closures in March of 2020, including addressing learning gaps and learner variability among students in the areas of math and reading. Furthermore, the same study found that schools and districts are in need of resources that individualize instruction alongside an experience that is engaging for students to use.

Multiple randomized control trials have shown that students using My Math Academy for as little as 45 minutes a week over a twelve-week period experience significant learning gains, and the children have increased engagement, interest, and confidence in learning math. In fact, the skill levels of students using My Math Academy in the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District (HCISD) in Texas have more than doubled since implementation of the program during the 2020-2021 school year.

“Our student body in Harlingen is largely economically disadvantaged and our administrators and teachers care deeply about providing each child the high-quality education they deserve. Our district was focused on addressing math deficiencies with our early learners. When we discovered My Math Academy, we were confident that it would be a powerful tool for both our students and teachers,” said Carmen Alvarez, Director, HCISD Early Childhood. “We have seen tremendous results across our classrooms with students fully engaged in math and developing a love of learning, and our teachers have been able to utilize the rich data from this program to differentiate instruction for each child and to track learning growth. Despite the pandemic, our students have been positively impacted, whether they have been learning remotely, in the classroom, or both.”

Powered by learning science and adaptive technology, the program continuously monitors students’ knowledge through embedded assessments, customized direct instruction, and formative feedback. This combination creates individualized learning paths toward mastery of foundational math skills. My Math Academy has earned both the Research-Based Design and Learner Variability product certifications from Digital Promise and is STEMworks certified by WestEd.

My Math Academy provides educators with real-time insights on student progress, accomplishments, and points of struggle, as well as actionable instruction recommendations and guidance on student groupings. These features enable teachers to spend more time teaching and less time assessing.

“Our curriculum and product teams spent six years developing My Math Academy, a truly unique program backed by research and learning science that has been proven to reduce the learning gap,” said Paul Candland, CEO of Age of Learning. “When millions of students began learning at home more than a year ago, we made it a priority to make our flagship products ABCmouse and Adventure Academy available to families in need of high-quality educational resources. We are now extending that effort by getting My Math Academy into the hands of students around the country as quickly as possible to help mitigate the impact of school closures.”

Age of Learning’s new Schools Division, headed by General Manager Sam Bonfante, is responsible for helping administrators and teachers implement My Math Academy in their districts and classrooms. Bonfante joins Age of Learning with 20 years of senior sales management experience within leading media and education publishing companies, most recently at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

For more information on My Math Academy, visit www.ageoflearning.com/schools/mymathacademy.

The post Age of Learning Enters Schools Business — Launches Personalized, Adaptive Early Learning Math Program, My Math Academy first appeared on Age of Learning.

According to the Nation’s Report Card, more than 6 out of 10 U.S. 4th graders are not reading at grade level. For low-income students at high-poverty schools, that number is worse: 8 in 10 are not proficient.

To understand some of the causes of this reading gap and identify solutions to help close it, Age of Learning recently conducted nationwide surveys of more than 1,000 parents and 1,000 teachers of children ages 2 to 12. Participants reported on children’s access to books and reading habits, and described what they see as the major obstacles to developing confident and successful readers. The data reveals three important factors contributing to the reading gap.

Read the full study to learn about these findings…

The post National Children’s Reading Habits Study: Understanding the Reading Gap and How to Help Close It first appeared on Age of Learning.