Education Blog
ESSER Funding Winds Down as State Budgets Cool
By Jay Diskey, Diskey Public Affairs, LLC After four years of providing unprecedented support for K-12 public schools, the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund will soon end. On September 30, “ESSER” as it is commonly called, will hit its Congressionally mandated deadline. School districts and states must use or commit the funds by…
Read MoreReflecting on ISTE 2024
Takeaways from the Denver Conference by Christine DeFranco, Director, Client Solutions As the sun sets on another exhilarating International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference, held this year in the vibrant city of Denver, educators, technologists, and those who live at the intersection of both (ahem Westchester Education and me) find themselves buzzing with…
Read MoreASU+GSV Summit 2024
by Kevin Schroeder, Director, Client Solutions Having recently attended the ASU+GSV Summit 2024 in San Diego, I was once again immersed in a whirlwind of innovation, collaboration, and forward-thinking conversations that are shaping the future of education on a global scale. With over 7,000 attendees, this year’s Summit was the most widely attended yet and…
Read MoreDigital Learning Annual Conference 2024
by Kevin J. Gray, President Last week (February 26-28, 2024) the Digital Learning Collaborative hosted DLAC in Austin, TX. Now in its sixth year, this annual gathering of online and hybrid schools, school groups, and suppliers continues to evolve to meet the needs of students not served by traditional brick-and-mortar schools. Student engagement was a…
Read MoreSupporting the Learning Needs of Multilingual Learners
While the number of multilingual learners in American schools has increased over the last twenty years, unfortunately, the achievement gap has remained unchanged. In September 2023, members of our Literacy, Science, and Math teams attended the English Learners Success Forum Fall Institute. The two days of intensive sessions provided attendees with in-depth training about how…
Read MoreBy the Numbers: A Look at Fiscal Year 2024
Federal & State Funding for K-12 Education for the Next Academic Year After two years of record-breaking hikes in K-12 funding, federal and state education budget increases are beginning to moderate. Now, as schools begin the next academic year across the country, education providers are anxious to see how school district spending may be affected.…
Read MoreThinking Globally for English Language teaching materials
Why English Language teaching materials benefit from an international approach The Westchester Education teams – based in the UK and in the US – are continuously collaborating to find the best and most effective solutions for our clients. Drawing on our vast experience of producing ELT materials in both teams, we have delved into the…
Read MoreASU+GSV = The Best Education Conference
I’ve attended many education conferences but ASU+GSV is the best. When I say “the best” I mean connections, thought leadership, and overall value. To put it another way, I spent 54 hours traveling roundtrip (the airlines being what they are today) for 15 hours of conference time. Still worth it. Why? First, one of the…
Read MoreASU-GSV 2023: Collaborative Energy
It was great to see ASU-GSV back at pre-pandemic levels. It was the most energetic conference we’ve seen since 2020, and in typical ASU-GSV fashion, even random conversations were interesting and shed light on new, different, or evolving parts of the market. A couple of topics stood out. AI, of course, was on everyone’s radar. Chat GPT was the…
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