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Oh, the temptation to play an April Fools joke on you all was there, but I’ll refrain. Just use this as your warning to be on your toes this coming Sunday, and to be the wiser and not the fool! I hope I can remember my own warning.
Thank you for continuing to send over your news and updates. Here’s what’s been happening in education news and also some personal updates…
The National School Boards Association (NSBA) announced the six companies selected for its annual Technology Innovation Showcase.
“NSBA has worked at the intersection of education technology policy and practice for more than three decades to bring entrepreneurs, school board members, and district leaders together to discuss innovative solutions that can support public education,” said Thomas J. Gentzel, NSBA Executive Director & CEO.
Submissions were solicited from numerous start-up companies providing innovative approaches to challenges across the K-12 curriculum, administrative operations, and communication channels. Reviewers included educators from NSBA’s “20 to Watch,” a recognition program that honors emerging education technology leaders.
The 2018 Technology Innovation Showcase includes the following companies:
FilterED by GreyED Solutions: This framework-aligned, data analysis tool enables districts to diagnose the current state of technology, teaching, and learning across their organization. School leaders obtain the evidence, data, and context needed to prioritize, implement, measure, and monitor ongoing technology initiatives.
Renaissance Acquires myON to Expand Digital Literacy Solutions – Renaissance and myON come together to deliver a shared vision of literacy growth for all students.
Renaissance®, a leader in pre-K–12 learning analytics, today announced the acquisition of myON®, a leading provider of digital literacy solutions, from Francisco Partners. myON’s expansive digital content library and literacy tools, paired with Renaissance’s complementary reading practice and assessment offerings, enables Renaissance to deliver a comprehensive, innovative suite of reading solutions to educators and students worldwide. myON provides students with unlimited, simultaneous access to a personalized library of more than 13,000 digital books at home or in the classroom. myON also provides daily news articles written for students with myON News™, including French and Spanish content. Check out the entire news story >>
LocateMySchool Streamlines the School Boundary Communication Process – The web-based software-as-a-service uses GIS technology to simplify the sharing of important school boundaries, directions, bus stops, and contact information.
LocateMySchool™, a web-based, interactive, software-as-a-service developed by Planware, a division of Educational Data Systems, now provides 24/7 access to important school boundary information, directions from an entered address, and contact info in one application. Read the full release >>
Permission Click Adds Capital and Readies for International Expansion – The company will use the new investment to expand across North America and into several new markets.
Permission Click, the global leader in K–12 school form automation, has closed a multimillion-dollar capital raise, led by an international strategic investor. The new investment will allow Permission Click to significantly expand its school-facing organization across North America, while turning an eye to new markets overseas. The company is working to make more than a dozen new hires in sales, marketing, and product development.
Permission Click is best known for its School Edition, which delivers digital permission slips, forms, and payment collection for K–12 schools. It recently launched a premium, full-featured District Edition, which has quickly gained traction across the U.S. and Canada. Permission Click is already used by thousands of schools in more than 30 countries and 108 languages. Read the full release >>
Capstone’s PebbleGo Celebrates Women’s History Month
Capstone’s award-winning PebbleGo™ database is kicking off Women’s History Month with a fun resource for young researchers to discover amazing women. Students in grades K-2 are encouraged to visit the PebbleGo Women’s History website and answer a short, four-question quiz about their interests. The results will reveal a great woman from history who shared similar interests and may be someone the student might enjoy learning more about in PebbleGo. Read the entire news story. >>
Bloomz Announces Free Premium App Offer for Teachers and Schools – For the rest of the school year, the company is offering complimentary subscriptions for the Premium version of its award-winning school-to-parent communication app.
Bloomz announced that it will be providing a free year of its Teacher Premium subscription to educators across the country, with the opportunity to get a free subscription for their school as well. The promotion allows teachers and schools to test out the Bloomz Premium subscription, which offers exclusive tools to communicate and coordinate with their parent community, such as unlimited storage for teachers and administrators, as well as premium features like engagement reports, premium calendar, and premium functionality for all parents and teachers in their community. In order to qualify for a Teacher Premium subscription, any teacher can create a Bloomz account (if they don’t have one already) and refer their school principal or administrator by following the instructions below to schedule an appointment with a Bloomz representative. If the administrator decides to give Bloomz for Schools a try, the entire school gets the premium experience for the remainder of the school year (through July 31st, 2018) at no cost.
To view the full article click here.