In our technologically advanced society, cyber security is of critical importance. This curriculum helps students understand how the technology devices we trust can create vulnerabilities to cyber threats across all areas of our lives.
Students will learn about a wide range of risks, including:
Malware
Phishing attempts
Hacking
Identity theft
These threats can have severe consequences for individuals, organizations, and entire communities. Our curriculum goes a step further by teaching students the principles of Secure by Design.
Developed with grants from the Office of Naval Research, the Cyber ConnectED curriculum is available in the free Scoutlier platform. When combined with our hands-on kit, it offers students a comprehensive learning experience:
Explore the Internet of Things (IoT)
Learn to innovate using IoT
Develop skills to build safer infrastructure systems in the United States
This practical approach helps students grasp complex cybersecurity concepts and apply them to real-world scenarios.
Who Should Attend
Middle and High School educators passionate about bringing cutting-edge STEM education to their classrooms and enhancing their students’ digital safety skills.
As we enter this post-ESSER period, there’s a Peter Drucker quote that becomes particularly relevant for all K-12 leaders. “Management,” he wrote, “is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” I don’t often hear Drucker being quoted when it comes to K-12 district leadership, but he should be.
School and district leaders are constantly navigating multiple priorities and interests. The distinction between “doing things right” and “doing the right things” is crucial for leaders at every level, from classroom teachers to superintendents. It’s not enough to “manage” resources—leaders need to understand what’s important, when to focus on it, and how to balance competing priorities between student outcomes, financial resources, and community expectations. This is where conducting and participating in quality research programs becomes an essential leadership tool.
For district leaders, particularly chief business officers and superintendents, research isn’t just a “nice-to-have.” Securing funding for schools through Title I and competitive opportunities like School Improvement Grants (SIG) requires more than just good ideas. These funds are tied to evidence-based strategies, meaning that funded programs must demonstrate they improve student outcomes.
“Any leader, when making decisions about funding or innovation, regardless of the source of funding, it’s essential to act and implement with fidelity. Otherwise you’re just spending money, not leading and not moving forward.”
Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), schools receiving Title I funds are mandated to use interventions that have a strong evidence base Brookings. This requirement ensures that taxpayer dollars are spent on programs that show measurable impact and align with best instructional practices. Without research, the ability to secure and maintain funding for new programs can evaporate leaving schools unable to meet the needs of their students. Districts applying for grants must also show detailed plans for evaluating the success of their initiatives, which underscores the critical role ongoing research plays in fiscal sustainability.
Lead with Data: Join Teachers College Research Study (IRB 24-127) Now!
Understand the impact of interactive whiteboards in your district!
Bill Bass, Innovation Director at Parkway School District in Missouri says, “Any leader, when making decisions about funding or innovation, regardless of the source of funding, it’s essential to act and implement with fidelity. Otherwise you’re just spending money, not leading and not moving forward.”
The Benefits of Conducting and Participating in Research
Conducting and participating in quality research offers three immediate benefits:
Ensures efficacy and ROI for your assumptions and investments.
Identifies the unique needs of your learning community, including both educators and students.
Demonstrates leadership’s commitment to responsiveness and informed decision-making.
The Role of Reflection in Research and Funding
This connection between research and funding highlights the importance of ongoing evaluation. By collecting data and assessing the effectiveness of new programs, school leaders can make informed financial decisions, whether the programs are grant-funded or not. If a program is successful, districts can reinvest to continue the initiative or even expand its reach. If unsuccessful, funds can be redirected to better training or more promising solutions to achieve the identified goals. This cycle of research, reflection, and reinvestment is essential for balancing innovation with financial accountability.
It’s also a shared responsibility. A school’s first job is serving its students, and the process of reflection takes time and careful management. This creates an interdependent relationship between schools, academics, and solution providers. Schools contribute real-world needs, academics provide authoritative frameworks for analysis, and solution providers respond with products based on these validated market needs.
Solution providers should view themselves as vested partners in this process. Given the pressures that districts face, offerings should either include or integrate feedback loops that make it easier for schools to assess the impact they’re having with the tools they adopt.
For instance, Promethean, a manufacturer of interactive whiteboards, has a dedicated research department that regularly engages with district partners and academic institutions to conduct and provide rigorous analysis of the impact they are supporting in the classroom.
“Partnering with universities and research organizations like Teachers College, Columbia University brings rigor to the process that ensures we gain real insights from the data—insights that we can share directly with the districts themselves.”
Anna Hughes, Director of User Research at Promethean, explains the value of these partnerships, “Our focus is always on listening to the teachers, administrators, and technology staff involved in teaching and learning around the world. We’re constantly seeking evidence of impact, whether to improve our existing solutions or develop new ones. The best moments come when we recognize a challenge and see user feedback directly shaping product development.”
“We partner with universities and research organizations like Teachers College, Columbia University whenever possible. The rigor and methods they bring to the process ensure that we’re gaining real insights from the data—insights that we can share directly with the districts themselves.”
Using Research to Redirect Resources
Sometimes vendors may feel concerned about scrutiny, but an important part of any district/vendor partnership is the trust that both parties want each other to be successful. Making it easy for school leaders to evaluate success and/or identify gaps creates an opportunity for redirection—for instance, investing in additional professional development.
The history of interactive whiteboards offers a useful example. When IWBs entered the market more than 15 years ago, they were met with a rush of enthusiasm and quick adoption. Community support was overwhelmingly positive, and purchases soared. But soon, practical issues—installation, professional development, and maintenance—began to temper that excitement. As a result, classroom adoption declined, with many districts unsure whether the investment had paid off.
However, a more recent meta-analysis of 23 studies found that IWBs, when combined with well-structured, independent learning approaches, can have a positive impact on cognitive outcomes SpringerOpen.
“When you partner with an organization like the NSF, the Office of Naval Research, or MIT Critical Data you’re becoming part of an amazingly rigorous feedback loop. ”
Research, though it takes time, is essential for validating the effectiveness of new tools and strategies. Without it, school leaders are left guessing which innovations are worth the investment, risking missed opportunities or wasted resources.
Some new solutions do evolve from research-driven grants. In fact, that’s a driving factor behind many grants from organizations like the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.
“We make it a priority to participate in quality grant opportunities,” Says Dr. Luk Hendrik’s of Scoutlier, a relatively new scaffolding and enrichment platform. “When you partner with an organization like the NSF, the Office of Naval Research, or MIT Critical Data you’re becoming part of an amazingly rigorous feedback loop. By the time your offerings are ready for release they’ve already been through prolonged field tests with educators and have been independently evaluated by some of the national top educational researchers. Yes, it’s a lot more work up front, but everyone ends up benefiting from the process.”
The Hawthorne Effect and Innovation
It’s worth recalling the Hawthorne Effect, a classic example of the value of experimentation and observation. In the 1920s and 1930s, researchers at Western Electric’s Hawthorne Works experimented with changing the brightness of lighting to observe its impact on worker productivity. They found something unexpected: whether the lights were brightened or dimmed, productivity improved. Why? The workers were responding to the attention they received during the study, not the lighting changes themselves Home | American Institutes for Research.
For educational leaders, the key takeaway is that experimentation can lead to positive outcomes even before the results are rigorously studied. Importantly, this isn’t about treating staff or students as “subjects” in experiments. Instead, it’s about involving educators as collaborators in the innovation process. When teachers are supported and involved, they’re more likely to engage with new tools and teaching methods in ways that drive desired outcomes.
Professional Development and Ongoing Support
As seen with the example of interactive whiteboards, it’s critical that educators are equipped to integrate new tools into their teaching practices. While initial professional development is important, research shows that ongoing support is what drives long-term success SpringerOpen.
Schools didn’t struggle with whiteboard adoption because the technology was ineffective, but because teachers needed support to use the boards in ways that improved learning outcomes. Districts that invest not just in initial training but in ongoing professional development see better engagement and outcomes.
Professional learning communities (PLCs) are equally critical. These communities provide spaces where educators can collaborate, share experiences, troubleshoot challenges, and learn from one another. Many companies, like Apple and Microsoft, offer their own communities, but general networks like K12Leaders provide platforms where educators can stay connected with peers, trainers, and presenters long after an initial conference or training session. These networks foster a continuous flow of new ideas and encouragement, helping educators navigate the practical challenges of implementing innovative strategies in the classroom.
Join a Research Oriented PLC on K12Leaders!
Explore the intersection of research and K12 education in this growing community. Led by experienced educators and researchers, we discuss cutting-edge studies, share opportunities, and examine the role of evidence in shaping classroom practices. Essential questions include: How can we bridge research-practice gaps? What constitutes “good” educational research? Join us in driving data-informed decision-making in education!
In the end, it’s the ongoing learning—both through structured professional development and peer networking—that sustains innovation. Teachers can’t be expected to learn a new tool with a single training event; they need continuous opportunities to adapt, share insights, and evolve their practice.
Bass adds, “Leaders need to “create space” for teachers to be able to try new practices and tools while recognizing that some things will work better than others. Just like with students, teachers learn through experimentation and must have the opportunity to work through challenges and successes. This takes time, energy, and collaboration which are all critical elements of the ongoing support when adopting or implementing new solutions.”
Leading with Research
How do we, as a district, contribute to research on topics we care about? This is an essential question for today’s educational leaders. Beyond using research to guide decisions, district leaders have a responsibility to contribute to the research that shapes the future of education. In an era where technology, tools, and methodologies are evolving rapidly, leaders must ensure their communities’ voices are represented in broader conversations about what works in education.
District leaders who engage in research contribute to the collective knowledge base, not just for their own benefit but for the benefit of students and educators everywhere. Whether it’s partnering with vendors conducting efficacy studies or collaborating with universities, districts have an opportunity to drive the innovations that will shape the next generation of learning tools.
Moreover, participation in research allows districts to tailor solutions to their specific needs, rather than waiting for external solutions to be presented. Leadership in this context means helping to discover what works best within the unique context of a community, ensuring that the tools and strategies developed reflect the diverse realities of today’s schools.
Research, Reflect, Reinvest, or Redirect
“Research and reflection helps us be strategic, not just reactive, with our resources.”
Leo Brehm, Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Business, and Technology at Dighton-Rehoboth in Massachusetts says, “Managing a budget requires more than just oversight; it really requires thoughtful reflection and the ability to make informed decisions. By reallocating funds to areas where we know, through research and careful evaluation, they’ll have the biggest impact, we make sure that each dollar is working to support student success. Research and reflection helps us be strategic, not just reactive, with our resources.”
The challenge for today’s educational leaders isn’t about choosing between innovation and a balanced budget- it’s about finding the balance that enables both. By establishing systems for ongoing evaluation, school leaders can reflect on the impact of their investments and make informed decisions about whether to reinvest in successful programs or redirect resources toward more effective solutions.
As Drucker’s wisdom suggests, leadership is about “doing the right things.” That means ensuring that every decision, whether grounded in research or driven by experimentation, aligns with the ultimate goal of improving student outcomes. With a careful balance of strategic risk-taking, data-driven evaluation, and fiscal responsibility, K-12 leaders can ensure their districts remain innovative, adaptable, and prepared for whatever the post-ESSER future holds.
Fiscally responsible leadership requires balance : Effective leadership in K-12 education is about making informed decisions that balance student outcomes, financial resources, and community expectations.
Research is essential for securing funding : Districts need evidence-based strategies to secure Title funding and other competitive grants like School Improvement Grants (SIG), ensuring that funded programs lead to measurable improvements in student outcomes.
Ongoing reflection drives financial sustainability : School leaders must continuously evaluate the success of programs and make data-driven decisions to reinvest in successful initiatives or redirect funds to more promising solutions.
Collaboration is key : Schools, academics, and solution providers must work together to ensure that research reflects real-world needs and results in effective solutions.
Professional development and peer support sustain innovation : Initial training is important, but ongoing professional development and learning communities (PLCs) are critical for ensuring that educators continue to improve their use of new tools and strategies over time.
Experimentation with purpose : The Hawthorne Effect demonstrates that experimentation can lead to positive outcomes, especially when staff are involved as collaborators in the innovation process.
Contributing to research strengthens leadership : By engaging in primary research, districts not only benefit their own communities but also contribute to the collective knowledge base, influencing broader educational trends.
Long-term success requires flexibility : Leaders must be willing to reflect, reinvest, or redirect resources based on research and ongoing evaluation to ensure sustained innovation and financial responsibility.
Essential Leadership Questions:
How are we ensuring that our decisions about funding and innovation are based on evidence and research?
Are we participating in or contributing to research that will directly benefit our district and shape the future of education?
How can we better collaborate with academics and solution providers to align our needs with research-backed strategies?
Are we providing enough ongoing professional development and support to ensure that our educators can effectively use the tools and strategies we implement?
How do we maintain the balance between fiscal responsibility and long-term financial sustainability?
What feedback loops are in place to help us assess whether the tools and solutions we adopt are having the desired impact?
How can we encourage a “growth mindset” and culture of innovation, where staff are active collaborators in suggesting, testing and refining new ideas?
Are we flexible enough in our approach to reinvest in successful initiatives or redirect resources when programs aren’t delivering expected results?
How do we create opportunities for educators to learn from each other and take advantage of opportunities to experiment?
Teachers College, Columbia University invites you to participate in a research study (IRB approval (ID: 24-127)) on interactive whiteboards’ role in student engagement. By joining, you’ll gain early insights into technology’s effect in the classroom, helping your district make data-driven decisions for future tech investments.
Be Part of the Research
Minimal Disruption : One classroom observation, plus a quick, anonymous survey.
Actionable Insights : Anonymized findings specific to your district, shared exclusively with you.
Future-Ready : Help shape research that informs technology funding and planning decisions.
Sign Up Now to Learn More!
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Why Participate?
Inform Your Technology Investments : Gain early insights into how interactive whiteboards affect engagement, allowing you to allocate resources strategically.
Minimal Classroom Disruption : The study involves a single-day classroom observation and a brief, anonymous survey for participating teachers and students.
Valuable District Insights : Receive anonymized, trend-level data that can inform instructional planning and align with district improvement goals.
How It Works:
This study is coordinated between Teachers College, Columbia University, Promethean, and K12Leaders.
One Day of Observation : We’ll observe standard classroom activities with no changes required.
Short Surveys & Interview : A quick survey follows the observation, alongside a brief teacher interview to capture essential feedback.
Receive Anonymized Results : All findings are aggregated and shared with your district, supporting evidence-based decision-making for future technology adoption.
If you’re interested in advancing research-driven leadership in your district, respond here to receive more details or schedule a conversation to explore this opportunity.
When I began my tenure as a Director of Instructional Technology for an 8000 student district in Austin, mobile devices weren’t wide spread. It was 2010 and smartphones were only 3 years old and popular social media platforms like TikTok and Snapchat didn’t even exist. We launched our 1:1 device program to update our teaching and learning practices as well as prepare kids for a future that involved the internet and technology.
After the first few years, albeit far from perfect, we had a pretty well-established program that schools from across the nation would come to and learn from. Somewhere along the way, I was encountered by a group of parents that were pushing back on the use of screens in schools. I listened and tried to understand their concerns in the hopes of working on a plan that still enabled educators to prepare students for their future while also balancing their use of technology.
That balance is something I’ve always strived for. For the past 15 years, I’ve given talks to parents, teachers, students and leaders around the thoughtful and purposeful use of technology in and out of school. I’ve even dressed up like a zombie to get my point across (“Surviving the Digital Zombie Apocalypse”). For the next several years, I felt like the battle of screen time was missing the point. It wasn’t about the amount of time, it was about the usage and the distraction that comes from the devices.
Then a pandemic happened. We all retreated back to our screens and the argument around screen time and social media was put on hold for a few years. Recently, the argument has made a phoenix-like resurrection in schools, largely due to the New York Times best selling book by Jonathan Haidt called The Anxious Generation. In Haidt’s book, he claims our kids (GenZ largely), are experiencing a crisis of mental health due to the addictive distraction of smart phones. His book would appear on Oprah’s book list and now has become the gospel of school leaders looking for an excuse to hit the easy button and ban technology like phones.
I’m not going to go into detail in this post about many of the fallacies in Haidt’s book except to say this: He wields our own vices and fears around technology to encourage confirmation bias within ourselves. Heck, you don’t become a New York Times best seller by just writing about a solution. As a society, somewhat ironically, we are attracted to fear-mongering click bait and his book gives us all the “feels” and head-nods we are looking for.
Are phones distracting? Yes.
Should kids be on them 24/7? NO.
Solution: Ban them!
That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. The real answer (or “antidote” as I’ve posited here) is much more nuanced. As many states and districts push out cell phone bans this school year, I think it is helpful to reflect on the purpose of our job as educators (and parents…but we’ll tackle that later). Our job is to prepare students for their future. Yes, we have to teach them standards and subjects, but ultimately, it’s about getting them ready for a future that we can’t predict.
Five years ago, I wrote an article around this topic and, after reading Haidt’s book, it pretty much nails every negative point he tries to leverage in his book. A couple years before that, I wrote another article about when parents should give kids a smart phone. A lot has changed since those posts (hello…Covid), but there are still some salient points back then that still apply today. Recently, I read a post from educational thought leader (and friend) A.J. Juliani about the book and subsequent phone ban fall-out. Juliani makes some great points while also recognizing the possible causal effect of increased phone and social media usage in kids.
I’m not about to argue that phones have zero effects on us or our kids. I’ve spent years working with my own kids (ages 11, 13, and 15) around teaching them the balance of phones, screen time, entertainment time, and social media doom-scrolling. My wife and I have spent countless hours in debates and arguments with them around their own screen time limits, but the goal has always been the same; Teach them to monitor and self-regulate their phone usage. Can we do that as parents if there is no device?
Phone bans are really just band aids. It covers up the problem without really addressing it. If it’s out of sight, it will be out of mind. Phone bans are a solution, but is it the right solution? In the next couple of months, I hope to tackle this problem in a more long-form format (Yes, another book. No, probably not a NYT best seller). However, I also want to put some ideas out to my community and gather feedback for solutions. Remember, this goes beyond the phone. It’s more about the mental health and self-awareness for this generation of students.
Smart phones will be a part of students lives for the foreseeable future. It’s important for students to be aware of how often they are on them and how often they are distracted by them. For this antidote, set up an experiment to see how often students get notifications (or as I call them “notifistractions”) on their phones. A few years ago, a teacher actually did this and had a chart paper to track the amount of alerts that went off in her classroom. Here’s the data from one class period:
This is a whole lot of distractions to a student trying to learn algebra. One solution to this particular symptom is to have students silence their distractions when they are working, collaborating, creating or being productive. As they prepare for the world of work, notifications can be distracting and potentially harmful to their career. Silencing and/or regulating what you get notified about on your phone can directly help with your focus.
Discussing this with students helps them create more proactive solutions to their own focus. Do you need to get notified about the group Snapchat or can it wait until after school? What things do you need to be notified about right away on your phone? What happens to your learning when you get distracted? Reflecting on these and other questions around distraction is the first step in addressing the problem. The goal is to recategorize the relationship students have with their phone from “distraction device” to more of a “productive tool”.
This idea was actually shared with me by my daughter’s sophomore ELA teacher. He has the students for 90 minutes and knows their minds can wander at times. To help keep them focused, he asks that for the time in class they have their phones put away. Then, in the middle of class, he has a “tech break” where they can stand up, walk around the hallways (monitored) and check-in on their device. He relayed to me, that doing this little break every day helped kids with their anxiety (FOMO) and actually helped them learn how to take a break with technology and then get back into the work.
This summer, my family did a full digital detox over a weekend. We went off to a cabin in the woods and no one was allowed to bring any technology except my phone for emergencies. What ensued was pretty hilarious for several reasons. For one, the kids were all extremely upset that we were doing this to them. It was almost like they were suffering from detox before we even took the device away. The other thing that happened is that we lost water service at the cabin and realized my wife’s phone was needed to verify account information (whoops). So we ended up at a cabin with no water and no technology it turned out. However, after a couple of days, we all reflected on how we felt. We acknowledged that technology is necessary and useful but also can be distracting, especially social media.
It’s difficult to reflect on an event or activity while it’s happening. With the pressure of constant social media connectedness, the ability to pause and think becomes even more difficult. In this activity, challenge students to take an entire day (24 hours) away from social media. No Snapchats, TikTok video scrolls, or group message drama. Then, ask them to discuss and reflect on how they did. Were they more focused? Did they have a severe sense of FOMO? How could doing something like this regularly be helpful? Did they have increased focus or creativity?
Acknowledging the distraction of phones is one thing. Banning them does take away that distraction but doesn’t teach students how to inherently manage that distraction in every day life. One technique I’ve used personally is called the Pomodoro Technique (check out my Digital Zombie post for more). The idea is to scaffold your day (and time) based on different tasks. Learning these executive functioning skills is vital to their own success and productivity later in life.
In this challenge, have students set a timer to work on a task for 10 minutes. Then have them pick up their phones and interact in someway with an app (like a game or social media). Then have them get back to the task. Were they capable of picking up where they left off? Was their any momentum lost by checking in on their phones? The fallacy of multi-tasking has long since been exposed, but many students still claim they can task-switch without any issue. Helping them identify what a distraction can do to their work, will help them develop their own techniques on when and how to manage their phone interaction in a productive way.
As a society, we have all become used to having our phone as sort of a Linus security blanket. It helps fill in the quiet gaps that enter our mind and makes us feel connected when we are physically in a place with no connections. I see it all the time when I travel or go to a doctor’s office. It helps occupy our minds and for those with significant social anxiety, can ease some of the pressure that comes with social interaction. I even wrote about my experience in 2013 of going “digitally naked” to an event where I didn’t know anyone.
During my workshops with teachers, I often create opportunities for interaction without technology. This is done purposefully and with a variety of different challenges that encourage collaboration, creative thinking, and wit. In class, we need to create purposeful opportunities to encourage social interaction without their phones. It could be anything group discussion or even playing an analog board game, but the idea is to have them reflect on how the conversations and interactions go compared to interactions with their phones. Did the absence of phones improve the quality of the interaction? How do they feel when they are talking to someone and they start looking at their phone? How valuable is it to have someone’s attention when you are discussing a deep topic?
Back in 2013, I learned about professor David Levy from the University of Washington. Professor Levy taught a class around contemplation and mindfulness. As part of the class, he would ask students to sit silently, with their eyes closed and try to be present for five minutes. Students immediately struggled with this assignment and many became fidgety and complained of being bored. It took several attempts but eventually students not only were capable of calming their minds, but also focus more on their work. (for more check out Levy’s book on Mindful Tech)
Professor Levy practicing mindfulness with his college students
We need to have opportunities for students to be mindful and reflective every day of class starting in kindergarten. Our society has become extremely fast paced and isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Our constant connection with technology and social media is a big driver of this pace of life. For this activity, I like to practice one minute of mindfulness. I ask students to close their eyes while I set a timer and play some light instrumental music. Then, I ask them to raise their hand when they think one minute as passed. Not surprisingly, many hands start to come up within the first 30 seconds of the activity and most are up before 45 seconds have passed. One minute of silence is a LOOOOOOONG time for most of us.
I know we teach in a time where every minute is valuable. There’s pressure to get through the curriculum and the standards quickly. However, taking just one minute to have students pause, reflect, and be present can actually help them with their own focus and productivity going ahead. We all need a break!
I saved this last one for the end because it takes the most amount of work and effort for a teacher to implement. Using the above techniques helps with awareness of the distraction of phones and our lack of attention spans. We can’t compete with the short form video content of TikTok and Reels, nor should we. However, we can learn from those tools about what garners and keeps kids attention.
Those platforms personalize the “feeds” based on algorithms of what the user watched. If you like videos about cats (or in my case lately, pickleball), then the feed will continue to show you videos about these things. We’ve been talking about personalizing learning in education for decades, but the reality is, to do so would take a monumental shift in pedagogical practices as well as total overhaul of state-level assessments and mandates.
I believe AI can help with this personalization in many ways by structuring content around student interests. Whether it creates a Taylor Swift song about elements on the Periodic table or generates a personalized tutor to help with a math equation, we can leverage AI to help drive more interest-based learning in our classrooms. This means opening up the lesson plan book to the idea of letting students truly drive their own learning. Have students create in whatever medium they choose as long as they can demonstrate their understanding of the subject or topic. Differentiate how the information is consumed from written form to a variety of other formats like those very short form videos I mentioned earlier.
This doesn’t have to be a fight. Banning phones produces great short term results that allow educators to win the battle, but not the war. We need to meet students where they are and give them guidance to help their own path toward a productive (and happy) future.
Carl Hooker is an international speaker and trainer. He works with schools, parent groups and events across the country to thoughtfully integrate technology into learning. His latest book Learning Evolution shares several examples of ways to integrate AI into the every day classroom. If you are interested in booking Carl for your next event or professional development day, fill out this speaking form to get more information.
Ensuring students are present and accounted for is a core responsibility shared by educators, parents, and students alike. While school staff and guardians play a significant role, student accountability is just as critical in monitoring their whereabouts throughout the school day. This isn’t merely about attendance; it’s about ensuring students are consistently in their designated classes or authorized areas. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that around 8% of students skip classes or leave school without permission annually, emphasizing the need for more effective monitoring solutions.
At Access411, we’ve developed a comprehensive system that directly addresses this challenge. Our OneCard, paired with the CAASS system, provides schools with a robust tool to track students from the moment they board the bus in the morning until the final bell rings. This ID-based solution empowers school staff and guardians to seamlessly monitor student movement throughout the day, enhancing safety and accountability.
Not only does this system discourage students from skipping classes, but it also ensures they are exactly where they need to be at all times. Research from the American Institutes for Research reveals that schools with effective monitoring systems experience a 20% reduction in disciplinary incidents, highlighting the impact of CAASS. Monitoring attendance is just the beginning; continuous oversight throughout the day is crucial to guaranteeing that students are safe, accounted for, and receiving the quality education they deserve.
Do you have school IDs with a purpose in your district?
While charging carts and charging stations are often an afterthought in many district budgets they are a surprisingly important contributor to time-on-instruction, classroom management, and a well-managed IT budget. Recognizing that high-quality charging stations are an investment ultimately results in increased teacher and student satisfaction and educational outcomes, and should be an important consideration in any device management plan.
Understanding the Purpose of Charging Carts
The common misconception is that charging carts only serve one purpose: to charge devices. However, charging carts are essential for organizing, protecting, and maintaining a devices educational impact. Viewing charging carts as a commodity and choosing the cheapest option may, indeed, save money in the short term but will likely not meet all the necessary criteria for effective use in schools.
Material Matters: Steel vs. Aluminum
Surprisingly, many budget-friendly charging carts are made of steel, which is less expensive, but not ideal for dissipating heat. Aluminum, on the other hand, naturally dissipates heat and helps maintain a safer temperature for devices. Choosing aluminum can prevent premature device loss caused by overheating in steel enclosures.
Device Orientation and Usability
Cheaper charging carts often stack devices vertically, similar to dishes in a dish rack. While this design minimizes the cart’s footprint, it can create access issues for students and complicate cable management. Proper orientation and easy access to devices are crucial for ensuring that students can independently manage their devices without teacher intervention, saving valuable learning time, while putting less stress on charging cables minimizes maintenance headaches.
Aligning Charging Solutions with Educational Goals
Effective charging carts support the goal of assigning devices on a 1:1 basis by ensuring organized and accountable management of devices and cables. Disorganized carts can lead to accidental or intentional damage, and hinder the development of responsible device care habits among students. By prioritizing quality charging solutions, districts can foster a culture of responsibility and proper technology use.
Encouraging Technology Use Through Practical Design
Investing in user-friendly charging carts can significantly enhance both teacher and student experiences. When retrieving and returning devices is simple and efficient, it encourages consistent use of technology in the classroom. This leads to better integration of digital tools in teaching and learning processes.
Supporting Local Economies
Choosing charging carts manufactured domestically supports local economies and aligns with initiatives to strengthen American manufacturing. High-quality charging stations made in the USA, such as those from PowerGistics, not only ensure better product standards but also contribute to the economy by providing jobs and supporting local industries.
Making an Informed Choice
Selecting the right charging cart is about more than just price—it’s about ensuring the longevity, usability, and proper management of educational devices. PowerGistics offers high-quality, American-made aluminum charging stations designed with students in mind. Investing in superior charging solutions reflects a commitment to enhancing educational experiences and fostering responsible technology use.
By making informed decisions about charging carts, districts can ensure that they support both their educational goals and their broader economic responsibilities. Choose wisely to ensure that technology remains a powerful tool for learning in your district.
To learn more about effectively deploying and managing devices in the classroom, we encourage you to enroll in the free certificate program “K12 Device Deployment and Classroom Models – Tips and Challenges” offered by K12Leaders. This comprehensive program covers assessment, technology setup, device charging, take-home models, classroom communities, and implementation strategies to help you maximize the impact of technology in your district.
About the author:
Christine Nelson helps K-12 Districts across the United States and Canada align their Chromebook, iPad, and laptop charging station infrastructure with their district’s technology and learning goals. She has been in this role at PowerGistics since 2019.
Our learners are changing in conjunction with their ever-changing environment. Hence, the role of the educator must be as fluid to meet the needs of their learners.
The shift in education we’ve seen over the last years to incorporate devices of some sort in almost every classroom has created both opportunities as well as challenges. Equitable and easy access to digital devices, internet, and trained educators is more important than ever. Systems of support are essential for all learning environments to ensure the optimal conditions for each learner. Join us in this community of practice to share best practices with each other!
This community also includes a free certificate-bearing Professional Pathway that includes tons of free resources for taking your device management strategy to the next level!
And ne thing we know for certain – we can emPower all learners together !
