Author: By Sean Duke, Washington State School Directors' Association

SEL & Student Well-Being 2025

Screen-free students: How Spokane Public Schools is helping kids engage in real life

In just two short years, the district has seen attendance increase, student wellness improve, and dependence on smartphones diminish

By Sean Duke, Washington State School Directors' Association

Key points: Social media has connected kids like never before, but what they get in likes and shares, they lose in real, meaningful engagement with their peers and classmates. Lunch hours are spent hunched over smartphones, and after-school time means less sports and more Snapchat. The adverse effects of this … Read More

Digital Learning Tools & Resources

Time to dust off the 3D printers

3D printers and immersive technologies can go a long way in helping students link classroom learning to real-world careers

By Time to dust off the 3D printers

Key points: The era of COVID-19 brought about the largest boom in school makerspaces seen to date. Makerspaces have the ability to help students consider career pathways and interests they have never considered. Along with makerspaces, 3D printers also saw a boost, but after a while, what were students using … Read More

Digital Learning Tools & Resources

Sharpening skills for the digital classroom

Many teachers aren't comfortable using technology in instruction, and they feel unprepared to provide students with the digital resources they need to succeed

By Kelly Ewing, UC Scout, University of California

Key points: When I first started teaching online, I served a group of high schoolers who were budding professional tennis players. These students came from all over the world to live in a dormitory-style house where they had a rigid schedule, including conditioning and skills training. With their intense training … Read More

School Libraries & Librarians

Modern students need modern librarians

What it’s like being a librarian in 2022, and how librarians provide students with access to resources they need to succeed

By Amy Hall, Librarian, Weber School District & Lisa Comly, Library Media Specialist, Reading School District

Click Here to Discover Some Innovative Ideas for School Libraries When you think of a school librarian, what comes to mind? Is it shelving, stamping, and shushing? That’s the stereotype you’re probably most familiar with. Librarians are so much more than this, though. We’re the keepers of the information, the … Read More

eSports 2024

4 tips for creating an elementary esports program

An elementary esports program that meets young learners’ needs should include considerations for learning space design and high-quality furnishings

By Dr. Christina Counts, Vice President of Education, MiEN Company

Scholastic esports is rapidly growing, and many schools are starting to incorporate esports programs into their curriculum. The benefits of esports make a compelling case for creating a program: Research shows that students who participate in scholastic esports experience social and emotional benefits, increased academic achievement, and higher graduation rates. … Read More

Online & Blended Learning

5 tips to keep online students motivated

Taking steps to improve online students' motivation in the classroom can yield higher levels of engagement, interest, and success

By Dr. Andy Shean, Chief Learning Officer, Penn Foster

A student’s motivation in school is a key driver of their academic success. Yet, the demanding nature of high school classes, mixed with a teenager’s natural craving for independence and individual identity, can stand in the way of that motivation. COVID-19 took a toll on student motivation, and 80 percent … Read More

Personalized and Differentiated Learning 2023

How AI enhances personalization in education

AI can play a role in making personalization more robust in education, along with transforming the student learning experience

By Roger James Hamilton, Founder and CEO, Genius Group

Learning now is so much more than making notes from a textbook and critiquing other people’s ideas. It is cultivating your own vision of the future and how things can be improved to better our lives and advance the next generation. AI technology is a key driver in this change … Read More

Cybersecurity

10 K-12 cybersecurity must-dos

Cybersecurity should be at the top of many to-do lists--especially with fall 2020 school openings up in the air

By Ryan Coultier

Cybersecurity has always been a high priority for K-12 administrators and staff, but with the rapid push to remote learning brought on by COVID-19, school leadership has had to consider how to educate through the lens of cybersecurity. While school years are closing up for the 2019 – 2020 year, … Read More

SEL and Mental Health

Getting the most out of your SEL platform

An often-neglected aspect of the speech language field, social skills aren’t easy to teach to young students. Here’s how we’re using technology to change that

By Kathryn McCall

Social skills are an area that has been so neglected in the speech language field, and something that I incorporate with all of my students–even those who don’t have a social or emotional goal. Our high-poverty, rural district serves 9,600 students across 13 schools. I work with students in pre-K … Read More

SEL and Mental Health

Combining mindfulness and equity throughout the new school year

More than ever, equity is in the spotlight thanks to COVID-19—here’s how mindfulness plays an important role in equity

By Robert Low

Now that a global pandemic and its multiple impacts on education have coincided with a renewed focus on equity, there’s a lot to be mindful about. And with the new school year about to present even more challenges and uncertainties, staying mindful and staying focused on providing an equitable education … Read More