Worried About Summer Slide? Pick up an Educational App

Baltimore, MD – (KidsEducationNews.com) – We hear it every year – our children lose approximately a month of learning during the summer making it difficult for them to jump into new content in the fall.  So what is a parent to do?  With the accessibility and portability of mobile devices, and some pretty robust learning apps, parents can keep their children learning all summer long.

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Learning First Alliance Honors Linda Darling-Hammond with its 2013 Education Visionary Award

Dr. Darling-Hammond heralded for leadership in teacher quality, educational equity and school reform

Washington, D.C. – May 9, 2013 – The Learning First Alliance (LFA), a partnership of 16 leading education associations with more than 10 million members dedicated to improving student learning in America's public schools, has named Linda Darling-Hammond as its 2013 Education Visionary Award winner. The Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University and an accomplished author, Darling-Hammond’s research, teaching and ongoing policy work make her an industry leader in the areas of teacher quality and educational equity and reform.

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New Grant Helps AEP Lay the Foundation for Personalized Learning and Next Generation Education Search

The Association of Educational Publishers will help the learning resource community implement a new metadata standard that improves online search

WILMINGTON, DE, May 7, 2013 – The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) has been awarded a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to continue its efforts as co-leader of the Learning Resource Metadata Initiative (LRMI). The LRMI has produced a new metadata standard for describing educational content that has since been adopted by Schema.org, a joint effort of Bing, Google, Yahoo!, and Yandex to establish a standard method of tagging webpages across the Internet. The new LRMI standard is a key component in the movement toward personalized learning. LRMI tagging allows content publishers to assign valuable, education-specific metadata to their resources, which makes it easier for search and delivery platforms to serve up results that meet the specific needs of teachers and learners.

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Smart Toys and Games adds Light to its Award-Winning SmartMax Magnetic Construction Line

New sets include LED pieces, pull-back vehicles, and add on components

SAN FRANCISCO – May 7, 2013 – Smart Toys and Games, Inc., a leading producer of award-winning single-player logic games and the award-winning SmartMax® magnetic construction system, has introduced 13 new SmartMax sets that will provide children hours of playtime as they create structures that light up, vehicles that move on their own and all sorts of new items to help create construction masterpieces. 

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i-Ready® Diagnostic & Instruction Now Includes High School Diagnostic and Progress Monitoring

SIIA CODiE Award-winning online diagnostic and instruction program identifies root causes behind students’ challenges and gives teachers tools to differentiate instruction

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass., May 7, 2013 – This August, i-Ready® Diagnostic & Instruction will include monthly Progress Monitoring assessments for grades K–8 and will expand diagnostic assessments through grade 12. These additions will increase the functionality of i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction, an award-winning online program that helps educators identify students’ strengths and weaknesses and tailors instruction accordingly.

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PublicSchoolWORKS Helps Schools Prepare and Defend Their Students with New Crisis Response Program

The comprehensive program trains school staff on how to effectively prepare for crisis situations

Cincinnati, OH – May 6, 2013 – To meet the essential need for greater school safety, PublicSchoolWORKS,  the signature safety solution for schools, is offering the new Crisis Response Program, a fully automated system to manage the training, safety tasks, interagency support and resources needed for a complete solution to crisis preparation, as well as customization to ensure that schools and local agencies are prepared to act in the event of a crisis. 

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Teachscape Recognized as Finalist in Three Prestigious 2013 Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) Awards

Comprehensive Teachscape Effectiveness Platform for K-12 educators only technology chosen in ‘best-of-the-best’ Golden Lamp PD category

SAN FRANCISCO, May 6, 2013 – Teachscape, the leader in delivering Web-based professional learning content, innovative classroom observation and evaluation technologies, and expert services to improve teaching practice, was named a finalist in three professional development categories in the 2013 Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) Awards. The Teachscape Effectiveness Platform was named a finalist in the Golden Lamp Awards, the category deemed as the best-of-the-best in educational publishing.  In addition, Teachscape Learn and Teachscape Reflect were named finalists in the Distinguished Achievement Awards (DAAs).

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Vernier’s LabQuest 2 App Named Finalist in 2013 CODiE Awards

Real-time graphing and analysis app for STEM education recognized in Best Educational Use of a Mobile Device category

BEAVERTON, Oregon, May 1, 2013 – Vernier Software & Technology’s LabQuest 2 App was recently named a finalist in the 2013 Software & Information Industry Association’s (SIIA) CODiE Awards. The app was recognized in the Best Educational Use of a Mobile Device category, which honors the best curriculum or administrative application that is delivered via mobile devices, including smartphones or tablets, for either Pre-12 or postsecondary markets.

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PresenceLearning Wins 2013 BESSIE Award

Online speech therapy service takes Best Multi-Level Special Education category 

SAN FRANCISCO, May 1, 2013 – PresenceLearning, the leader in online speech therapy services for K-12 students, was recently awarded a 2013 Best Educational Software Award (BESSIE Award) from The ComputED Gazette. The 19th annual award program named PresenceLearning as the winner of the best Multi-Level Special Education category.

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Free Webinar Offers District Leaders Transformational Strategies for Special Education Management

PresenceLearning’s May 9th webinar helps school administrators re-envision special education management in their district

SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2013 – To share the latest recommended practices that can transform special education programs and service delivery in public school settings, PresenceLearning, the leader in online speech therapy services for K-12 students, is hosting a free webinar on Thursday, May 9th at 1 pm ET (10 am PT). To register for the webinar “Leadership Challenges for Superintendents: Transforming Special Education in a Challenging Fiscal Environment,” visit http://pages.presencelearning.com/spedahead11.

Read more: Free Webinar Offers District Leaders Transformational Strategies for Special Education Management