New Education Excellence host Michael Levin-Epstein chats with LeeAnn Kittle, Executive Director of Sustainability for Denver Public Schools. Together, they discuss LeeAnn’s path to her current role, how she is driving innovation in sustainability at DPS, contributors—and barriers—to success in climate action in the district, how other districts can go about forging their own paths toward sustainability success, and much more.

Music by Ruwin from Pixabay

Kris chats with Justin Reilly, CEO of Impero Software, a company that that integrates data about what students are doing on various devices from a several perspectives: what students are actually learning; tools for teachers to monitor that learning; and tools to ensure device safety. The software enables teachers to capture exactly what students are learning in real time as well as how much time students are taking on certain tasks and whether they are making expected progress or need additional help. The bottom line in the classroom is the creation of a powerful tool for teachers as well as student empowerment. Reilly discuss one of Impero’s products that is just being launched, free of charge, in the United States, called Impero back:drop. This tool is a cloud-based solution for schools to manage and record student health information, such as mental health, behavioral, and medical issues, including COVID-19 symptoms. According to Reilly, Impero back:drop eliminates the need for paper-based reporting, providing a safe and secure place to record and store student safety concerns anywhere, and any time. For more information or to schedule a demo, visit www.imperosoftware.com.

Kris chats with James Palcik, Director of Education, Safety, and Compliance at Flinn Scientific, about the challenges facing science educators during this pandemic. Palcik discusses the development of Flinn’s new Professional Learning Series, which include webinars offering guidance on the safe reopening of brick-and-mortar school facilities; OSHA guidance courses; and its Lab Safety 101 and 102 sessions, which have been previously deployed to assist thousands of science teachers. Palcik also discusses the recent launch of its Elementary and Science Stem Education Program, which is designed to increase safety awareness across North America — an initiative that has proven to be exceptionally popular. Not every product is made equally, he notes, explaining that items needed during this pandemic, such as facemasks, gloves, and hand sanitizers, differ in quality, and that you should never discount safety. Flinn is committed to providing educators with only the highest quality products in this space, he notes. This episode is sponsored by Flinn Scientific, www.flinnsci.com.

The CEO of Reach Out and Read, Brian Gallagher, discusses their innovative program which provides books to children by partnering with pediatricians—giving children a new book at each well-child checkup from birth to age five. Reach Out and Read provides life-long benefits: engaging families, supporting parent-child bonding, brain development, and literacy skills. They often focus on low-income communities—leveling the playing field by preparing all children for formal education. Pediatricians who take part in the program have embraced it as an essential component of a child’s healthcare. This episode is sponsored by Vernier, https://www.vernier.com/training; Open Up Resources, https://www.openupresources.org, Flinn Scientific, https://www.flinnsci.com and https://www.reachoutandread.org

You’re definitely going to want to listen to this episode with Mike Lavelle, CEO of Flinn Scientific, clearly a change agent in the education space. “We absolutely believe fully in the role that hands-on learning plays in the educational process,” says Lavelle. Flinn Scientific listens to and solicits continuous feedback from educators to better understand their daily challenges and to create world-class lessons and products that are exciting, engaging, and reinforcing, he explains. Technology, he adds, has always been Flinn Scientifics’ centerpiece and the company uses technology in a variety of ways to more fully engage students. This episode is sponsored by Vernier, vernier.com/training; Open Up Resources, openupresources.org; and Flinn Scientific, https://www.flinnsci.com.

Kristina talks with Jessica Siiwerski, CEO of Open Up Resource (OUR) about the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL); how SEL can be improved and how it affect the curriculum; and the tools and resources that OUR provides administrators and educators to deal with SEL issues.

Jessica’s work in K–12 education was profiled in The Wall Street Journal and Steven Brill’s book, Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America’s Schools. She also participated in the documentary film, The Lottery.

The episode was sponsored by InnovateK12, innovatek12.org/services; Vernier, vernier.com/training; and Open Up Resources,openupresources.org

Heather Sherwood from the Educational Development Center, talks about her important work on Building CT Readiness: A Framework for Integrating Computational Thinking Across Subjects in High-Poverty Elementary Schools, an NSF-funded project investigating and refining a set of resources designed to help elementary schools clarify their definitions of CT and CT integration, to articulate their vision and plans for CT implementation, and to monitor the effectiveness of teacher professional development in CT instruction. Kristina and Heather translate and talk to this technical language which, in the end, boils down to the fact that students now must learn how to succeed in a device-driven world, and there are some real and effective solutions to do that well.

This episode also features a special guest, David Carter from Vernier Software & Technology, who shares some new news about the exciting new schedule of Spring 2020 Professional Development Workshops. Vernier is also a sponsor, and can more information on the workshops can be found at vernier.com/training.

The episode is also sponsored by InnovateK12. Contact President and co-founder Eric Schneider today at eric@innovatek12.org or log into the website at www.innovatek12.org/services to learn more.

Kristina talks with Eric Schnieder, President and Co-Founder of InnovateK12, a platform built to include teacher and school staff involvement in identifying solutions and cultivating ideas for school improvement. Joining the conversation is Robb Virgin, a principal at Eden Prairie High School who uses InnovateK12 in his school. Listen to how he applies InnovateK12 to increase collaboration among students and staff as he strives to bring 21st leadership in everyday education. This episode is sponsored by InnovateK12. Learn more at InnovateK12.org.