Sacramento, CA (November 18, 2019) The Learning Counsel, a leading education research institute and news media hub, announced this year’s National Survey Award winners at its 2019 National Gathering held in Dallas, TX. Four different categories of proficiency were celebrated in the National Survey
Awards.
This year, St. Vrain was recognized as WINNER – EduJedi Knight. This award states, “For leading with EdTech past good to great, always innovating, the nation’s front-runner district.” This stellar district continues to up its game by responding to its highest-pressure points: social and cultural expectations for consumer-level personalized digital experiences, ever-changing academic and technical standards and increasing technology complexity. Instead of running from those challenges, St. Vrain runs towards them, helping lead the entire nation in the real change needed for schools. St. Vrain Valley School District is the only district the Learning Counsel has found that is deeply involved in workflow aimed at personalized learning. The district also has 100 percent digital coverage for core curriculum, 90 percent for electives, 80 percent for special needs and 100 percent coverage for professional development.
According to Assistant Superintendent Kahle Charles, “If every child is to know their future is possible,then every educator must feel they have the tools, knowledge, and capacity to put those futures within reach. SVVSD realized long ago that we can purchase all the technology in the world, and it will come to nothing if educators throughout our district are not given continuous multi-faceted support to develop the self-efficacy to play, test, reflect, and collaborate on how these tools can be leveraged to illuminate all futures for all students. We realize and build structures to support our understanding that all students cannot be empowered digital citizens and knowledge constructors if all educators do not see themselves as learners, leaders, citizens, and collaborators.”
Over 400 schools and districts responded to this year’snational survey, including many first-time responders.
This year’s national survey provided exclusive information on education’s use of technology and exposed a wide-ranging level of both expertise in and response to the market pressures driving the
digital transition in education. Key takeaways from the 2019 national survey include:
• The U.S. K-12 Market is experiencing the results of unsustainable growth in total spending
without commensurate results – forcing more sophisticated approaches to technology use.
• Hardware and major systems software spending has leveled, while digital curriculum spending
continues a steep ascent, driving change in school and district operations.
• The social-emotional needs of students are now cited by respondents as the number one
pressure point, adding an important new focus in school operations.
• Schools and districts are progressing towards new personalized learning models at varying levels
but are still heavily entrenched in whole-group teaching.
According to LeiLani Cauthen, CEO of the Learning Counsel, “For insiders who know the education sector, the reason these awards are a big deal is because the Learning Counsel takes a very sophisticated view about what constitutes good work. The survey is written to contextualize education from a multi-industry tech progression reality, not just internal comparatives. Hundreds of administrators tell the
Learning Counsel the great effect of this research survey telling them what it really means to transition digitally, what the definitions of things really are, and how to look at new software capacities and digital curriculum for their utility and efficiency. The change in viewpoint is deeply respected.”
“Past award winners tell us that the Learning Counsel Survey Awards are very impactful,” said Daric Aquinaga, Director of School Relations at the Learning Counsel. “Thousands of other school administrators are going to look you up. You’ll have the opportunity to help other schools. This is a very high honor we’re bestowing on any one of these winners. This is real and earned.”
About the Learning Counsel
The Learning Counsel is a research institute and news media hub, focused on providing context for the shift in education to digital curriculum. The membership is comprised of 215,000 Superintendents, tech and instructional administrators, curriculum specialists, thousands of publishers, and interested enthusiasts anywhere in the teaching and learning field.
Today the Learning Counsel produces thirty Digital Curriculum Discussions each year across the U.S. and one Gathering and National Awards event to recognize leading schools and districts and share their annual research report findings on the education space.
About the EduJedi Leadership Program
An EduJedi school or district is committed to transformative relevance by co-opting the best of digitallearning technologies, organizing people and resources for a student-centric and highly personalized experience, and to leverage human empathy to the best advantage for learners. The Learning Counsel is currently developing an additional level of its EduJedi program to assist schools of education, school districts, charter organizations and independent schools with more personalized training and professional development.