COVID-19 has disrupted education worldwide in 2020 and 2021, with tsunami-sized ripples that may echo for generations. Teachers, school districts, parents, and most of all, students, are grappling with how to adapt to and overcome shortened school years, distance learning, loss of socialization and hopelessly jumbled childcare arrangements.
Despite all that, there are of course stories of success – shining examples of teachers who have overcome the distance divide to reach and inspire their students, and students who have found ways to perform and excel.
A second wave of mass disruption has befallen a population you might not have considered. Think of all the systems, products and people that work to support America’s education enterprise.
Project Education, which launched its first product in 2014 and has rapidly expanded its product line and professional training and support teams in the time since, despite the pandemic’s buzz saw. The Software-as-a-Solution (SaaS) company offers an innovative database management and access solution.
What that jargon-heavy description means is that teachers and administrators can have instant access to data for decision making, to be alerted of specific student needs to advance, and even to tackle tough behavioral challenges or disadvantages. Its tools also allow teachers to share information with administrators, other teachers, students and parents, including translations for the parents’ home languages when needed.
Schools and districts have mountains of data that could be used to improve decisions and actions. Project Education was engineered to help them use it.
The Project Education system began with a module to help English-Language Learners – Project ELL – but soon morphed into an ever-growing array of solutions to address educators’ everyday needs, from serving disadvantaged students to overseeing gifted and talented programs.
But about that pandemic: With almost no warning, districts, teachers, students and parents all had to become masters of dealing with distance learning if they were to thrive. It has also put the Project Education system through a rigorous, real-world test.
The good news: The tools that make Project Education an easy, efficient and productive solution also equip educators with the tools to function with seamless remote access, making working from home more viable for teachers and administrators.
Our working world has changed. Many industry sectors have realized that a hybrid blend of Work From Office/Work From Home is likely to continue even after the pandemic has passed. That forecast may hold true for education, too: New structures of combined in-person/remote experiences answer practical realities and provide benefits that cannot be ignored. Districts must make a data/technology infrastructure that delivers consistent access and intuitive design a budget priority.Bringing it home: The Project Education system is the productof intense, innovative work by developers, educators, administrators, and workflow professionals. It has blossomed into a comprehensive, ever-growing array of products that answer every teacher’s need to save time and deliver truly actionable insights that power more informed decision-making. Read about them here.