Nebraska’s Schuyler Community Schools Deepens Partnership with Discovery Education
Expanded Collaboration to Help Educators Make the Most of Every Instructional Moment in the Classroom or the Virtual Learning Environment
Silver Spring, Md. (Wednesday, April 8, 2020) Nebraska’s Schuyler Community Schools (SCS) today announced it has deepened its partnership with Discovery Education. In the latest phase of this seven-year collaboration, Discovery Education will empower SCS’s elementary teachers with a unique science curriculum solution and robust capacity building model. Together, these resources will help educators make the most of every instructional moment in the classroom or in a virtual learning environment. Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms.
“The Schuyler Community Schools are excited to continue its long-time partnership with Discovery Education,” said Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Dan Hoesing. “This collaboration has been critical to the creation of the digital learning environments our educators use daily to engage students either in the classroom or in the home, and its extension accelerates our efforts to graduate all students college and career ready.”
Believing students learn best when they are actively engaged in the learning process, SCS has built an immersive, standards-based K-12 curriculum that is aligned to the Nebraska State Standards but flexible enough to meet the needs of all learners. To continue the evolution of SCS’s innovative elementary science curriculum, the district selected Discovery Education’s ScienceX. The ScienceX suite of resources is comprised of the following award-winning Discovery Education services:
Discovery Education Science Techbook and print resources. Science Techbook empowers educators to transform science instruction through a seamless print and digital curriculum that includes video, audio, text, interactives, hands-on activities, and virtual labs that help educators differentiate instruction and provide a rich and engaging learning experience for students. Additional student features include Spanish/English text-to-speech, leveled reading tools, note-taking and highlighting capabilities. Science Techbook also includes valuable STEM resources including STEM Project Starters that encourage students to connect math, technology, and engineering to their understanding of science concepts to produce creative solutions to real world problems. In addition, the STEM In Action resources help students connect their work to STEM careers, which promotes a clearer understanding of how skills used in school can be applied to jobs “in the real world.”
Discovery Education Experience. The latest iteration of Discovery Education’s popular Streaming Plus service, Discovery Education Experience is a comprehensive digital service supplementing instruction across all K–12 curricular areas. Discovery Education Experience assists educators in creating real-world learning opportunities that engage all students and lead to improved academic achievement. The service’s standards-aligned content is assignable and can be bookmarked and saved for later use and remixed to meet the varying needs of diverse student populations in a safe and secure environment. In addition, the service’s up-to-date, high-quality, and ever-growing digital content collections, as well as a library of immersive virtual field trips and viewing parties, are drawn from trusted partners.
Discovery Education Professional Learning. With Discovery Education’s Professional Learning, educators will learn how to use their new digital resources. In addition, participating teachers will explore best practices for integrating technology and digital content into instruction and discover new ways to increase student engagement and improve academic achievement.
ScienceX also includes ready-to-use instructional strategies, and the grab-and-go lab materials teachers need to support the learning needs of every student regardless of abilities, learning styles, and language needs.
In addition to supporting the continued development of SCS’s science curriculum, the expansion of the district’s partnership with Discovery Education expands teacher capacity. Through Discovery Education’s STEM Leader Corps capacity building model, district administrators and participating elementary school teachers will learn new strategies and best practices for building and sustaining a culture of STEM in their schools. With a focus on developing high-quality STEM instruction, creating interdisciplinary lessons and units, and vertically aligning STEM education across all middle schools, STEM Leader Corp will provide the robust professional development, job-embedded coaching, and administrative leadership support necessary to create centers of STEM excellence.
According to Diane Wolfe, who manages Digital Learning Services for Nebraska’s Education Service Unit 2 and authored the grant helping underwrite SCS’s expanded partnership with Discovery Education, “Schuyler Community Schools’ pairing of professional development opportunities with new digital resources helps ensure district teachers are prepared to help students reap the benefits of the great new technology in their classrooms or homes.”
The continuation of SCS’s partnership with Discovery Education ensures district teachers ongoing access to the Discovery Education Community. A global community of education professionals, the Discovery Education Community connects members across school systems and around the world through social media, virtual conferences, and in-person events, fostering valuable networking, idea sharing, and inspiration.
“Schuyler Community Schools have long been a leader in creating digital classroom experiences that engage students in learning,” said Nellie Fisher, Discovery Education’s Senior Manager of Education Partnerships. “We are honored the district has chosen to deepen our relationship, and are proud to be support Dr. Hoesing and his talented team on this effort.”
For more information about Nebraska’s Schuyler Community Schools, visit the district website here.
In response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Discovery Education is offering schools and school systems not currently using the company’s digital services free access to Discovery Education Experience. Schools accepting this offer will have access to Discovery Education’s dynamic K-12 learning platform and its ready-to-use digital lesson plans, activities, and standards-aligned resources through the remainder of the school year. In addition, Discovery Education is offering a suite of no cost resources for parents and caregivers called Daily DE that can be used at home. For more information, visit Discovery Education’s comprehensive Virtual Learning resource website dedicated to helping educators adapt their instruction to meet today’s needs.
For more information about Discovery Education’s digital resources and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Facebook, follow us on Twitter at @DiscoveryEd, or find us on Instagram and Pinterest.
###
About Discovery Education
Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms. Through its award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia resources, and the largest professional learning network of its kind, Discovery Education is transforming teaching and learning, creating immersive STEM experiences, and improving academic achievement around the globe. Discovery Education currently serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 140 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Discovery, Inc., Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and like-minded organizations to empower teachers with customized solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.DiscoveryEducation.com.
Contact:
Discovery Education
Stephen Wakefield
Email: SWakefield@discoveryed.com
Phone: (202) 316-6615