Date & Time: Tuesday, October 15th at 2 pm ET

As the foundation for early learning, elementary education provides an opportunity to support students with the curriculum, skills, and community they need for future success in school and life. With online learning and new technology, helping them start on the right foot is easier than ever.

In this 20-minute 91心頭 Ed Talk, an instructional leader with more than 16 years of experience in online education will share the ins and outs of what works for elementary students in the online classroom.

School and district leaders will learn three practical tips to launch and grow an online elementary program, including:

• How to combat misinformation related to online elementary education
• Ways to develop a strong virtual community with teachers, students, and parents
• Practical strategies to ensure elementary teachers feel confident to teach online

Speaker

Jason Schultz, Senior Director of Instruction, FlexPoint

Sponsored by

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Date & Time: Wednesday, October 9th at 2 pm ET

Join us for an insightful webinar exploring how the powerful role of virtual learning options is expanding educational choices and opportunities at two districts. Discover how two superintendents are using virtual options to fill teacher vacancies, expand course catalogs, and retain and recapture students, leading to increased funding for districts.

We’ll delve into how these districts offer students and families more flexibility and personalized learning experiences, making education more accessible and adaptable to individual needs.

Key takeaways include strategies for leveraging virtual options to:

• Solve teacher shortages
• Enhance district offerings
• Improve student retention
• Provide diverse, high-quality educational options that meet the needs of today���s learners

Speakers

Debbie Brockett, Ed.D., Superintendent, McMinnville School District (Ore.)

Dr. Peter Sanchioni, Superintendent, Tiverton Public Schools (R.I.)

珂看糸艶姻温岳看姻:油Maribeth Tulenko, District Partnerships Solutions Specialist, Pearson Virtual Schools油

Sponsored by

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And the older the child, the more difficult the concepts become. Expecting parents to remember everything they were taught in middle and high school���much of which they may not have studied since high school���is a significant ask.

I can attest to this myself. I vividly remember the days of sitting at my dining room table with a frustrated 10-year-old because I didn���t know how to do lattice multiplication, and that���s what he had to do. While parents are pretty good with homework in grades one through three, fourth grade and beyond can present complexities that require an expert outside the household.

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It gets even more advanced with subjects like algebra, geometry, calculus and biology. Families want to help their kids and don’t know how to do it. The good news is that advancements in technology offer new opportunities to leverage scalable online tutoring. When the New Hampshire Department of Education rolled out to all schools, we were thrilled to get on board.

Here are five reasons why we made the move:

1. COVID learning loss is real. During the COVID lockdowns, parents were expected to transform into teachers, tutors and homework helpers overnight. When students returned to the classroom, some were grappling with learning loss and struggling to catch up.

By 2021, the average K12 American student was five months behind in math and four months behind in reading, . We knew we needed to do something to help our students get back on track with their learning.

2. Online tutoring levels the playing field. Bedford Public Schools serves some families who can afford to pay $70 or $75 an hour to hire private tutors for their kids. But not all families have the resources to help bridge educational gaps for their kids.

Thanks to our new tutoring platform, everyone can benefit from tutoring at no cost to their families. The equitable availability of support has helped level the playing field.

3.油Online tutoring guides students through the thinking process. Instead of just providing answers, experts on the platform ask questions to guide students through the problem-solving process. Educators also receive early intervention alerts about students struggling with content mastery or prerequisite knowledge so that schools can provide just-in-time support.

If a student is working on an algebra problem and struggling with multiplication facts, an alert about this learning gap is helpful and enables teachers to feed that information back to the teachers. I find that to be a powerful tool to help students advance in their learning.

4. If you build it, they will come. As a starting point, we initially rolled out our new online tutoring platform to our leadership team. We wanted that team to understand the platform���s purpose and value first.

Next, we rolled it out to all of the parents, many of whom got their first look via a dedicated website where families can get their tutoring-related questions answered. Today, the platform is integrated with Google Classroom, so our students can get instant access to it with a single sign-on.

5. Tutors��� expertise and instructional approach matter. I was instantly impressed with the rigor of the vetting process our tutor partner used. I also appreciated the tutors��� use of Socratic questioning and the ongoing quality control they engage in. I felt very confident that I would let my own kids interact with the tutors based on the encouraging learner experience.

Getting everyone on board

Participation in our new online tutoring option has been impressive so far. Our students have had more than 1,000 sessions in the last six months���from personalized tutoring to drop-off review services and use of self-paced test prep from The Princeton Review and other resources. We are excited about what the future holds.

In a world where the cost of education goes up every year, and where finding and keeping good teachers can be challenging and expensive, our online tutoring partner gives us yet one more way to reduce overall operating costs while expanding educational opportunities.

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Educators had to reinvent learning environments and apply restrictions on group work, collaboration and checking out books. Sadly, the Nation���s Reading Report Card, published by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, reports that “the percentage of 13-year-olds who reported reading for fun has declined,” with 31% saying they “never or hardly ever” read for fun.

Students in a hybrid or virtual setting had limited access to developing and strengthening the writing process and responding to literature questions. Educators were left with no other option but to conduct lessons over Zoom, leading to the de-personalization of class time. Students had to shift to typing out their responses digitally without prior keyboarding training.

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Many students became lost in this shuffle, particularly neurodivergent students who experienced exacerbated difficulties having to learn virtually, and all students missed out on in-classroom collaboration with their peers and teachers. Additionally, that time spent out of the classroom during COVID allowed for the misdiagnosis of learning disorders.

Research by NWEA suggests that students are not yet on track to catch up to where they should be, had the pandemic not happened. As we continue to witness the far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education, one critical question emerges for parents: “What can we do to help our children overcome learning loss?”

Educators have demonstrated creativity and determination to offset COVID���s effect on students, but even so, students across the country are still struggling. This makes it all the more essential for parents to play an important, active role in their child’s academic journey.

Navigating learning loss from home

Navigating learning loss as a parent can feel overwhelming, and at times, there is a sense of hopelessness. To support students, particularly struggling readers, parents should educate themselves on how they can act in their child���s best interest.

Individualized tutoring is one way to provide additional support to a struggling reader; however, we have to recognize that this is not an option for the majority of families. Costs associated with tutoring can be high and access can be limited. Fortunately, there are many other ways to help.

Connecting with and maintaining relationships with teachers is a great way for parents to understand their student���s course load and the first step to reinforcing lessons at home. It���s also important to know how to fill the gaps when it comes to times when a student may not be in the classroom, whether that be for summer vacation or other life events.

At , we share various ways parents can incorporate learning at home. A few examples include:

• Help students access reading and writing in fun, practical ways with activities that involve written instructions like baking, building, or science projects.
• Students can write or type about their interests in the form of journaling or by practicing writing emails or letters to friends or loved ones.
• Support the student by making a reading checklist of titles provided by teachers and mark each book off as it is read.
• Integrate descriptive vocabulary words into conversations, experiences, and games.
• Help children develop social skills with play dates or programs.

Most importantly, during their conversations with teachers, parents can ask questions to ensure their child gets the adequate resources they need at school. The following is a list of questions parents can and should ask as it relates to reading:

• Does your state have legislation regarding the science of reading training? What are the professional development plans for teachers to complete training?
• After the course is completed, how is the district level using that knowledge to change practices in the classroom?
• Do teachers have support in teaching reading with literacy coaches?
• What assessment is my child taking, and what literacy measures are being addressed?
• When should I expect to receive my child���s results?
• How do I read the results, and how can I support my student at home?
• What school supports are in place for students who don���t score at benchmark on these assessments?
• Is there any parent-focused literacy awareness training to encourage at-home learning opportunities at the district or school level?
• What are the district’s literacy goals? School goals?
• Does the superintendent have literacy goals in their contract?

To ensure every child can read by third grade, all educators must be trained in the science of reading ��� an evidence-based approach to teaching the understanding of sounds, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. According to , a professor of sociology at Hunter College, third grade marks a critical transition or ���pivot point��� for students. Those who have not developed strong reading skills begin to fall behind, and the gap often only widens from there.

Learning loss cannot be treated in isolation from other home and community concerns. This collective experience has changed us as human beings and has dramatically altered the way we teach and learn. And many of these changes���both good and bad���will likely impact K���12 education for years to come.

Parents play an important role

According to a report conducted by the National Human Services Assembly, parental involvement in education can be a powerful variable in a student���s academic performance, having the potential to increase achievement in reading, grades, and test scores, among many other benefits.

States continue to evolve in terms of legislation to support students who struggle as a result of learning loss. But when nearly 60% of teacher preparation programs spend less than two hours of instructional time teaching candidates to support struggling readers, and 81% of programs do not require a practice opportunity focused on this group of students, parents need to stay engaged and involved to help their child/children navigate the effects of learning loss.

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The global K12 education market, led by the North American region, is set to through 2031���from $103.5 billion in 2021���with artificial intelligence providing yet more opportunities for new revenue, according to this spring’s Research Dive report. But decreases in government funding could be a drag on growth, say the analysts who also broke the K12 market into several subsegments:

• Type: Public and private
• Region: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA (Latin America, Middle East and Africa)
• Application: High school, middle school, pre-primary school and primary school
• Spend analysis: Hardware and software
• Deployment mode: Cloud and on-premise

While the private K12 sector was slightly bigger in 2021, the global public schools market will grow faster through 2031 as administrators work to further personalize instruction, particularly via online programs staffed by certified teachers. “However, the public school system has significant obstacles, such as a lack of proper infrastructure, insufficient budget, a staff deficit, and limited facilities,” the report warns.

The North American market is predicted to be the most lucrative, due to “massive spending” on edtech while high school will be the most dominant sub-segment by 2031. Growth in the latter will again be driven by technology spending aimed at increasing the quality of instruction.

Software will be more profitable than hardware by 2031 as schools rely more heavily than ever on applications that manage student information, help teachers prepare instruction, facilitate student collaboration, and simplify administrative operations. Finally, when it comes to deployment, cloud computing will show the strongest growth as schools look to minimize data storage costs and boost access and mobility.

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The homework helpline could have been more efficient but teachers on a phoneline could not be expected to provide support in all subject areas, yet that is exactly what was expected of them. They were answering questions about everything from third-grade math to AP physics and all points in between.

After spending a year using an online tutoring system that was phased out fairly quickly, we switched over to using live 1:1 personalized online tutoring program, which I learned about at the National Association of Federal Education Program 91心頭istrators conference. I went to their table, talked to them, and told them what we were looking for���namely on-demand tutoring and homework help.

We initially started with homework help. In 2021, we expanded our use of the tutoring program to include small group work (three students to one tutor), with teachers scheduling sessions for the students during the school day. From there, our use of online tutoring grew rapidly. The platform also proved invaluable during the pandemic when students needed more than just a single pass in a Zoom class to absorb and retain the course material.

4 reasons online tutoring works for us

Here are four reasons we have used this approach and how it has helped our district, teachers, and students succeed:

1. Promote equity across the district. We must understand that not everyone has access to a support structure���a parent, tutor, or other individuals���after school hours. That is where our online tutoring program steps in and provides the necessary support to drive student gains at any time of the day, at no additional cost to the families. As a parent myself, I know that private tutoring costs around $25 to $30 per hour. From an equity standpoint, I wanted something our students would not have to pay for and could use regardless of family income.

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2. Cater to the needs of specific schools. Our district’s academic success coach, the dedicated rep from our tutoring partner, has met with the individual schools and developed various tutoring plans for them. For example, some schools use online tutoring during math class every week and have a set of skills they work on with those students that are aligned with our curriculum.

3. Provide specialized support for specific subgroups. We just rolled out a tutoring program for incoming students for whom Spanish is their first language. The “newcomer program” is designed for students who are matriculating into the district’s system. There are currently eight students in this tutoring program, which incorporates online math tutoring for 90 minutes every Tuesday morning. The program is going very well.

4. Give teachers support. Teachers have a lot on their plates right now for various reasons, so anything we can do to support them is valuable. It is a lot to ask teachers to stay after school to tutor students, no matter how much compensation you offer them.

Students still need that support when they are working on homework at night or to close math gaps. Live, online tutoring can add tremendous value that’s so important to student achievement. Moreover, most teachers love the program because any support they can have in their classrooms is always welcome.

Making things happen

This school year, our usage of the tutoring platform has increased by 75%���totaling more than 300 students engaged in over 500 sessions weekly. Both teachers and students appreciate the in-school and after-hours support that the platform provides.

Having a reliable, effective online tutoring partner in place helps us cater to a wide range of student needs and capabilities during the day and after school. For example, many of our high school students have jobs and start their homework at 9 or 10 p.m. Having a trained tutor to offer personalized, on-demand learning support at that time of night is a bonus.

We have individualized the platform for each school, which in turn allows teachers to create individualized tutoring plans and share that with parents. So, if a teacher wants to make sure a student gets math support every Tuesday and Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m., based on information from parents, we can make that happen. Because in the end, we want to help students to get the academic help they need, at home or school, at any time of the day.

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The biggest driver of the online tutoring market will be students���particularly in high school���who are seeking to build skills to pass STEM exams and qualify for the ever-expanding job opportunities in STEM fields, which are growing faster than other industries.

Another factor is students’ reliance on mobile devices that support more personalized learning. Students are not only absorbing content on tablets, smartphones and smartwatches but they are also using the devices to view lectures and receive alerts and updates, among other educational activities. Vendors are accordingly prioritizing the development of mobile content that gives students easy access to e-learning materials, Technavio reports.

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A third source of online tutoring market expansion is the steady growth of gamification in online tutoring and assessments, the firm adds.

The fastest-growing segment of the market is “structured tutoring,” which comprises classes or sessions that are planned and scheduled for a certain number of hours, with a guaranteed tutor. Vendors are enticing students and families with free trial periods before subscribing to services that can cost as much as $50 per week or $40 to $120 per month.

The overall global education technology market for hardware and software was valued at $123.4 billion in 2022 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 13.6% from 2023 to 2030, .

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These staffing shortages could jeopardize the quality of education students receive at a time when students are still recovering from learning losses due to the pandemic. If students don���t have a qualified teacher, they���re likely to fall even further behind in their learning.

There are many factors contributing to this problem. For instance, educators are feeling overwhelmed by the stress of the pandemic and the demands it has placed on them professionally. Nearly three-quarters of teachers say they���re experiencing job-related stress, 59% say they���re burned out and up to a third might leave their job by the end of the year.

But job-related stress only tells part of the story. Teachers have been for decades, and many also feel grossly underappreciated. As state lawmakers place limits on what teachers can and can���t say in their classrooms, teachers have bristled at what they view as interference in their jobs.

Resolving teacher shortages ultimately will require more than just quick-fix solutions. States and school systems will need to adopt large-scale changes that address improved working conditions for teachers, better pay and respect, and a stronger focus on employee wellness. However, K-12 leaders also need immediate solutions to make sure students are receiving a high-quality education. A proven online education provider can help fill short-term teaching vacancies and ensure continuity of instruction.

Online instruction offers experience

A provider of supplemental online instruction can offer certified, experienced, and highly trained teachers at a moment���s notice, to teach students in a wide variety of academic disciplines.

The advantage of this approach is that students benefit from having a qualified course instructor, instead of a substitute teacher who might lack the necessary subject matter and pedagogical expertise to engage students in learning deeply about the content.

Some K12 leaders might be hesitant to call on a supplemental online learning provider to help address the teacher shortage crisis after the shift to remote learning in spring 2020 produced mixed results. Yet, emergency remote learning���which is what schools experienced early on during the pandemic���shouldn���t be confused with using best instructional practices and delivered by certified teachers trained through an experienced online education provider.

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High-quality online learning puts students at the center of the learning process. Students learn and apply key skills through authentic, hands-on projects. Courses are built within a learning management system such as Brightspace by D2L, and take full advantage of proven online tools for learning. Teachers direct students to curated readings, lessons, and interactive activities, and focus their time on building student engagement and providing one-on-one and group feedback and support. When delivered well, online instruction has been proven to be highly effective.

Other solutions shortchange our students

An Education Week report highlights that states and school systems are trying to fill teacher vacancies this year. They include dropping requirements for bachelor���s degrees, easing certification requirements, and hiring professionals from other fields. Online education can also help, by centralizing teaching resources and distributing those resources to the schools that need them.

Research has established that teachers are the most important school-related factor in a student���s success. As the nonprofit RAND Corporation observes, teachers are estimated to have up to of any other school-related factor on student achievement���including services, facilities, and even school leadership.

Having an effective teacher matters. Students shouldn���t be penalized because their schools are having a hard time finding and retaining qualified teaching staff. They deserve high-quality instruction that will deepen their content knowledge and advance their skills.

Ensuring that each student has an experienced and certified teacher for every subject is a question of equity. Teachers that provide online course delivery find that they have the best of both worlds: engagement with the students they enjoy, and the flexibility of remote work on their own schedule. Online teaching is a way to utilize valuable, experienced teachers who have retired from classroom teaching, but still want to be connected to education. A proven supplemental online learning provider can help solve the teaching resource challenge and keep learning moving forward.

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In fact, teacher appreciation improved during the emotionally, politically and academically tumultuous COVID years. More than half of students (52%) said they now have due to their experiences during the pandemic, according to the latest survey by ACT, the standardized testing company.

Another 42% reported developing a greater appreciation for their education as a whole. “What is striking is seeing from students firsthand how educators in schools across this country continued to do their best to provide a high-quality education despite the many unprecedented challenges of the 2020-21 school year,” ACT CEO Janet Godwin said. “These students saw how we already have the most dedicated teachers in the world.”

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A majority of students also gained confidence in using digital and online tools, and more than six in 10 said the pandemic forced them to become more independent and self-reliant.

���Although most students experienced challenges and obstacles in different aspects of learning,” said Joyce Z. Schnieders, an ACT research scientist. ���When students looked back at their experiences during the first year of the pandemic … students learned to rely more on themselves and try to fulfill their responsibilities in learning after the pandemic started.���

ACT’s survey, however, also shows that students are aware of how the pandemic disrupted their lives both in and out of school. An overwhelming majority said that they have missed out on some grade-level knowledge and skills over the last few years. Many also said they became less motivated to learn, were less involved in extracurricular activities, and struggled to maintain relationships with friends.

Students who would have been first-generation college-goers were the most impacted, experiencing greater rates of financial hardships, food and housing insecurity, and mental health disorders, ACT also found. The organization recommends that administrators work more closely with these students to help them find scholarship and career development opportunities while also offering access to mental health care.

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“Only teachers���only human beings���know the students, and what works and what doesn’t work,” says , the director for online learning at , the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education’s center for education innovation. “Artificial intelligence and ChatGPT are going to be tools to empower teachers to meet students��� needs more efficiently and effectively.”

The AI getting the most attention right now is, of course, ChatGPT, which, because it can read, understand in context, and respond in human-like ways, is intensifying fears of plagiarism, cheating, and misinformation. Chandy points out that educators of the past had the same concerns about the use of the internet and Google in classrooms.

“Education is the process of getting there,” Chandy says.”For teachers whose focus is on the learning process and supporting their students to learn and improve, for them it���s less of a concern that students will plug something into ChatGPT and turn it in for a grade.”

AI’s ability to write essays and complete other tasks should inspire teachers to further shift their focus away from rote instruction and move toward multi-disciplinary, project-based learning assignments that help students develop higher-level skills. Students will be even more engaged (and less likely to use technology to cheat) when projects allow them to find solutions to issues they find meaningful and in ways that improve their communities, Shandy explains.

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AI should also elevate teachers’ ability to differentiate and personalize instruction by crunching data and recommending assignments targeted to each student’s ability. “I do not see a future in which any kind of technology replaces the teachers,” Chandy says. “I think these technologies have the capacity to be great teachers’ assistants.”

Ideas for using school AI

Chandy has five guidelines for how teachers can bring AI into their classrooms:

1. Use ChatGPT as a starting point. ChatGPT-generated essays can sometimes be superficial, boring, and redundant. Teachers could have their classes generate ChatGPT essays and then guide students in improving the texts with deeper analysis.
2. Ask ChatGPT to generate articles on topics at each student’s reading level. Teachers can ask ChatGPT to “translate” news articles into a second- or sixth-grade reading level to provide the same content for students at varied reading levels.
3. Ask ChatGPT to suggest activities. AI can generate entire lesson plans if teachers provide the standards and grade level. Teachers can also have the AI produce lessons with games or other activities built into them.
4. Focus on the process instead of the final product. Using tools like Google docs that track the development and evolution of students’ work can ensure they are not copying and pasting from ChatGPT.
5. Provide project-based learning scenarios. Projects focused on local and authentic contexts will discourage students from reporting to油 ChatGPT. They might use AI to inform their work���just like they use the web now���but well-developed projects require them to think through ideas and extrapolate to their own contexts.

“Schools can now move away from an instructional pedagogy to a constructionist pedagogy where teachers and students are making things together,” Chandy adds. “I’m very excited about the possibilities of what this technology can do.”

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