As 2022 draws to a close, we’re wrapping up the big topics of the year in K12 education including K12 mobile apps & more.
Here at Edlio, we are proud to serve the leaders of over 17,000 schools in North America, which means we tend to have a lot of conversations each day about the topics that are important to schools.. With that in mind, we’ve compiled this post as a kind of “year in review” of some of the things that stood out in our conversations with school leaders over the past 12 months.
Here are a few of those topics:
K12 Mobile AppsEducation leaders realized this year, more than ever, that a mobile app is a requirement for maintaining strong, open lines of communication within their school communities. We spoke with Dr. Joseph Glavan, the Director of Career & Technical Education for Mentor Public Schools in Ohio, about his decision to implement a K12 mobile app for the district’s career vocational center, Lake Shore Compact.
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“I love the website—it's been great to share information. The question is, how do we get that information out to families? We are dealing right now in a society that is inundated with information. With our school mobile app, it allows families to have those push notifications. Everybody’s on their phone. They don't have to have a computer or to go through the website,” Dr. Glavan explained. |
MarketingOnce upon a time, if a family moved into your school zone, their kids would attend your school, no questions asked. These days, families have choices about where to send their children to school, which means that schools need to market themselves effectively in order to stand out in that sea of choice.
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According to a report from the National Center for Education Statistics, “for students in prekindergarten through grade 12, between fall 2019 and fall 2020, total public school enrollment dropped from 50.8 million to 49.4 million students. This 3 percent drop brought total public enrollment back to 2009 levels (49.4 million), erasing a decade of steady growth.” |
In order to help school leaders combat this decline in enrollment, we held a webinar earlier this year on How to Market Your School, which was very well attended. It included a free marketing workbook designed for schools, which our webinar attendees found helpful in creating marketing plans for schools that are easy to follow and implement.
When you entered the educational field, we’re sure you didn’t intend to become a marketing expert, but marketing still needs to be on your To Do list as a school leader. Our free webinar and workbook can help you get started!
Teacher ShortageThe teacher shortage affected schools and districts across the country this year. Several schools began the year with open positions, and had to scramble to find creative solutions like combining classes or bringing in retired teachers as substitutes. This problem is far from over, and most schools are preparing to face the same or worse this coming year.
According to the National Education Association:
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We can’t fix all of the problems facing America’s teachers today, but we can provide you with some FREE resources to fight the teacher shortage in your area. Our hope is that our FREE teacher shortage resource page will help you recruit and retain the best teachers for your students.
Mental Health and Drug AbuseAny educator will tell you that students everywhere are facing crises in mental health and drug abuse. In response to these issues, many schools are implementing programs that will help students weather these storms and connect them with much-needed resources. The leaders of the Bristol, Virginia Public Schools did exactly that, and we had an opportunity to talk to them about it.
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The leaders of BVPS wanted to gather community information and resources on the topics of mental health and drug abuse. “We decided we wanted to make a resource page for all this information, and so what we ended up doing was making what we call a Thrive Line,” explains Logan Childress, Emerging Technology Specialist and CS Ready Schools Team Lead at BVPS. They also organized a community event where organization leaders set up table displays to connect students and families with their resources. Through the power of technology, they got the word out about this event and continue to provide updated resource links in their community. |
Successful school-based mental health programs don’t have to be complicated in order to be effective. Though the pressure to focus on test scores and academic growth is still present, we are proud to serve educators because we know that you care about the whole child, and that you work every day to connect them with resources that help them succeed not only in the classroom, but in life.
Do you need a proven partner who will help you meet the needs of your students & families, recruit & retain the best teachers, and maintain open lines of communication from school to home?
We’re here to help! Book some time on our calendar before the holiday break and let’s see how we can work together to make the New Year the best one yet.
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