Technology in Education: The Game-Changer in Student Engagement and Progress

During the pandemic, we started the school year virtual like many other districts, but we ended the year at about 10% virtual. We knew coming in this year that we would have a number of students with gaps. We know that without foundational skills and reading, our students can't be successful. You can't make it in AP English for if you don't have strong, foundational skills as a young child. Data is important to us because it really gives us a true picture of what students know and what their needs are. And when we have specific information on what kids need, it allows us to intervene appropriately and in a timely manner so that we can get them to where they need to be. Ice station is a tremendous part of the success we have seen as a district. Pre-pandemic, we actually moved from being a C district to a B district and when we dig into that data, it was really elementary growth that had the largest part of that impact. We've been going through a pandemic, but Istation still helped us keep moving the work forward. And while many districts, especially urban districts across the state and nation, actually saw tremendous loss around reading, we held our own and I do attribute our work with Istation to that success. The benefit we see of Istation in the classroom is that our teachers know their students, they know their data well, they're able to support them strategically and specifically in order to gain the next skill that a student needs. Our station is so fun it helps us play and how to read and how to anticipate. I like the opportunity that kids have a chance to grow. I like that they can see success immediately. I like that. They know their levels, they know their numbers. They get excited about seeing movement. The fact that we can support both our English and Spanish speakers here on campus and just the celebrations when you see students' eyes light up because they know that they've had progress. When you know that kids have grown and they know they have grown, that's powerful.