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The document suite in Google Workspace for Education is great.

But districts that embraced Google’s free, lightweight document management system Google Classroom, especially in the flurry of the COVID-19 pandemic, are finding it time-consuming, challenging, and costly to make work as a K-12 LMS. One of the biggest reasons: it requires many companion apps for students, parents and teachers, with some forced to use dozens of extra apps with Classroom. And that’s got users fed up.

If your district is hitting the limits of Google Classroom, read how Edsby compares.

Edsby & Google Classroom >

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Gartner’s list includes only platforms relevant in K-12. It defines its list as “those forming the core teaching and learning technology environment, with a range of internal and external tools and services that support classroom learning … They are designed to support functions such as developing and tracking assignments and assessments, and managing online interactions and collaborations among teachers, students, administrators and parents/guardians.”

See Gartner’s ranking of K-12 LMS products here

Recent Edsby customer reviews on Gartner’s site:

Read the above full review here.

Read the above full review here.

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RICHMOND HILL, ONTARIO (October 17, 2024) – Kids Help Phone (KHP), Canada’s only 24/7 e-mental health service for youth, and Edsby, an innovative K-12 education software company, have formed a strategic partnership aimed at integrating KHP’s extensive mental health resources into Edsby’s platform when used by Canadian education organizations. The collaboration will provide vital support to school-age students, educators, and parents, enhancing mental health awareness and assistance within educational communities.

Kids Help Phone is the only free, 24/7 national, multi-lingual, e-mental health service for all youth in Canada. Since 1989 KHP has been a cornerstone of youth mental health, giving millions of youth a safe, trusted space to Feel Out Loud over the phone, through text, or in self-directed supports for any moment of crisis or need.

Edsby’s innovative social-style communication and collaboration system is used by hundreds of thousands of students, parents and educators daily across Canada. By making KHP’s resources available inside Edsby, these users will be able to easily access and implement crucial mental health support tools.

“At KHP we innovate and evolve at the pace of youth.” said Katherine Hay, President & CEO of Kids Help Phone. “We offer a space that’s judgment free, and for any young person – however they identify – anywhere in Canada to let their feelings out. This partnership with Edsby will make it easier for schools to integrate mental health support into their everyday environments, ensuring that young people have the help they need readily available in the spaces where they may need it most.”

“At Edsby, we are committed to enhancing the educational experience by providing tools that support both learning and well-being,” said John Myers, CEO of Edsby. “Partnering with Kids Help Phone enables us to extend our platform’s value even further, making vital mental health resources easily available that can make a significant difference in the lives of students and educators in the platform they use every day.”

The partnership will provide Canadian territories, provinces, school districts and individual schools using Edsby with access to a variety of KHP resources and 24/7 services. The partnership will deliver KHP resources through Edsby news posts, launchpad links, internal staff support groups with KHP Counsellors as optional moderators, and live learning sessions for organizations’ staff.

Organizations interested in these offerings can contact their Edsby representative to enroll in the program at no charge.

About Kids Help Phone
Kids Help Phone is Canada’s only 24/7 national, e-mental health service offering free, confidential, multi-lingual support to young people. As the country’s virtual care expert for 35 years, we give millions of youth a safe, trusted space to Feel Out Loud over the phone, through text, or in self-directed supports for any moment of crisis or need. The Feel Out Loud campaign is the largest movement for youth mental health in Canada’s history – it will raise $300 million to unlock hope for young people to thrive in their worlds. Kids Help Phone gratefully relies on the generosity of donors, volunteers, stakeholder partners, corporate partners and governments to fuel and fund our programs. Learn more at KidsHelpPhone.ca.

About Edsby
The unique needs of K-12 education are hard to meet with conventional technologies. Edsby’s innovative software systems have been putting the connections between people, not just documents, at the center of K-12 worldwide since 2010. Edsby fosters rich communication and data exchanges between students, teachers, families and other education stakeholders to drive K-12 student success. Edsby has received more than 80 industry awards and distinctions. Learn more at www.edsby.com

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RICHMOND HILL, ONTARIO (October 15, 2024) – Edsby®, an innovative vendor of K-12 education software, has been selected by the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of the country of Georgia as the winning vendor for a national learning management system (LMS) initiative. The project seeks to transform education across the country through the implementation of advanced digital learning.

The contract for Learning Systems Solutions and Support is part of Georgia’s I2Q initiative, a six-year, multifaceted education reform supported in part by the World Bank.

Edsby’s selection follows a rigorous international Quality-Based Selection (QBS) process. Edsby was awarded the contract with local Georgia technology integrator partner Orient Logic.

Edsby, a leading K-12 social learning platform, is to be piloted beginning next year across Georgian public schools to support localized, flexible curriculum, interactive teaching methodologies, and active learning pedagogies. The platform is ultimately to provide a national system for teachers, students, and parents to engage in blended learning, with support for synchronous, asynchronous, and activity-based learning paths.

“We are pleased to collaborate with the Georgian Ministry of Education, Science, and Youth and Orient Logic on this high impact project,” said John Myers, CEO of Edsby. “The I2Q initiative aligns perfectly with Edsby’s mission to empower educators, students and parents with cutting-edge learning technologies. Our platform will enhance Georgia’s educational landscape by providing a flexible, scalable, and engaging system that fosters a culture of lifelong learning.”

“This project represents an exciting step forward in transforming education in our country. In partnering with Edsby, we are equipping our students, parents and teachers with world class tools to thrive in the 21st century,” said Alexander Bagratia, CEO of Orient Logic. “This new national LMS is to enable personalized learning pathways and provide robust support for educators and families. We look forward to the positive impact on our students’ education.”

Georgia’s I2Q project focuses on improving educational outcomes, promoting inclusion, and fostering innovation. I2Q aims to foster quality teaching and learning in Georgian schools and includes a focus on localized, student-centered curricula. The implementation of the Edsby LMS will support Georgia’s strategic objectives of raising educational standards, creating equitable access to quality education, and preparing students for future success.

When fully deployed, the national Georgian learning management system will be comparable in size to Edsby’s contract with the New Zealand Ministry of Education, another national deployment of Edsby to 800,000 K-12 learners and their parents, and the country’s educators.

About Edsby
The unique needs of K-12 education are hard to meet with conventional technologies. Edsby’s innovative software systems have been putting the connections between people, not just documents, at the center of K-12 worldwide since 2010. Edsby fosters rich communication and data exchanges between students, teachers, families and other education stakeholders to drive K-12 student success. Edsby has received more than 80 industry awards and distinctions. Learn more at www.edsby.com.

About Orient Logic
Orient Logic is a leading IT company operating in the Georgian market since 1995. Its mission is to create better IT ecosystems by providing technical and business consulting services. Core markets include banking and government. It has successfully implemented 10,000 projects for 1,600 customers, and with world-class vendors, introduces innovations and high-tech products nationwide in Georgia every year. Learn more at www.ol.ge.

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Ensuring student success is the top priority of education leaders. While much of their focus is on curriculum, instruction, and teacher development, one powerful lever that can significantly impact K-12 student achievement lies outside the classroom: parent involvement.

A widely respected meta-analysis of hundreds of related studies by the American Psychological Association (APA) proves the undeniable connection between parent engagement and student outcomes. This body of research provides valuable insights into how K-12 leaders can leverage parent involvement to improve academic achievement, behavior, and overall student well-being.

Here’s what education leaders should know about the research findings:

Parent Involvement: A Key to Academic Success

The study consolidates findings from various research efforts. And they all point to a critical fact: students perform better when their parents are involved in their education. This improvement isn’t limited to grades. Students with engaged parents are more likely to have better attendance, display positive behaviors, and demonstrate a stronger commitment to learning.

For district leaders, this insight is especially important. While academic interventions and teacher support are essential to any improvement strategy, the research indicates increasing parent engagement can amplify the effects of those efforts. By building stronger parent-school relationships, districts can create a more supportive learning environment that benefits every student.

How K-12 Can Encourage Parent Involvement

Parent involvement takes many forms. There’s attending parent-teacher conferences, helping with homework or simply staying informed about school activities. However, not all parents have the time or resources to engage at the same level. K-12 leaders can play a pivotal role by ensuring schools create accessible, inclusive opportunities for families to participate in their child’s education. Here’s how:

1. Improve Communication Channels
   One of the most consistent barriers to parent involvement is a lack of communication between home and school. Parents need regular, real-time updates on their child’s progress to stay engaged. The research highlights that clear and consistent communication between parents and teachers is one of the most effective ways to keep families involved. Edsby’s family communication features are designed to bridge this gap. Through Edsby’s social learning platform, parents can access real-time information about their child’s grades, assignments, and attendance, making it easier for them to stay connected. Edsby also supports direct messaging with teachers and administrators, which enables 1:1 communication when needed.
2. Foster a Collaborative School Culture
   Schools with a strong culture of collaboration between parents and staff tend to have higher levels of parent involvement. The research shows that when parents feel welcomed and included as partners in their child’s education, they are more likely to engage. K-12 leaders, can promote a district-wide, or even region-wide, culture that values parent involvement and encourages schools to establish open lines of communication with families. Encouraging schools to host parent workshops, open houses, and other community events creates opportunities for parents to engage and build trust with educators.
3. Provide Multiple Points of Access
   The study highlights parent involvement can take many forms. K-12 leaders should therefore accommodate different types of engagement. Not all parents will be able to volunteer in classrooms or attend every school event, but they can still be active partners in their child’s learning journey. Edsby’s platform provides multiple points of access for parents, from viewing their child’s learning progress to participating in online discussions. Districts can empower parents by making it easy to access school updates from anywhere, on any device. This inclusivity ensures that all parents, regardless of their circumstances, can stay involved in meaningful ways.

Addressing Equity in Parent Involvement

One of the most important findings from the research is the need to address equity in parent involvement. The data shows that not all parents have the same ability to engage with their child’s school. Factors include work schedules, language barriers, or a lack of computer access.

For district leaders, promoting equity in parent engagement means providing support where it’s most needed. Offering multilingual support, ensuring schools provide technology access to underserved families, and training staff on how to engage diverse parent populations can make a significant impact. Edsby’s platform is designed with equity in mind, offering features like multilingual support and mobile access to ensure that every parent can be part of their child’s learning experience, regardless of background.

The Long-Term Benefits of Engaged Families

Beyond immediate academic benefits, parent involvement has long-lasting effects on student success. The APA analysis above shows students with engaged parents are more likely to pursue post-secondary education and have higher levels of self-esteem. Moreover, schools with strong parent engagement tend to have improved school climate, reduced behavioral issues, and higher overall student achievement.

For districts, the return on investment in parent engagement is clear. Fostering strong relationships between schools and families not only supports student success in the short term but also helps build a foundation for lifelong learning and achievement.

Drawbacks of Piecemeal Solutions

Asking families to use multiple apps to track student progress has drawbacks. Fragmented access to different tools increases frustration, complicates the user experience, and can lead to information overload.

The growing number of platforms and apps parents in K-12 must often manage today is a burden. Many parents struggle with managing their time between them. Users express frustration (and even satirize!) when they need to use separate apps for communication, homework tracking, behavior monitoring, and extracurricular activities, especially when every teacher is allowed to select their own.

How Edsby Supports District-Level Parent Engagement

Edsby understands the challenges districts face in increasing parent involvement, and has built a single platform to address them. Edsby provides parents with real-time updates on student performance, seamless communication with educators, and access to school events and announcements. All from a single login, with a single user experience. And in a way that protects student data and doesn’t put teachers at risk to have to manage distribution lists or parent contact info themselves. With Edsby, district leaders can ensure all parents have the opportunity to stay informed and engaged, no matter their circumstances.

By aligning with research-backed strategies, districts can leverage Edsby to build stronger, more inclusive school communities where parents are active partners in their child’s education. Together, environments can be created that support student success, enhance school culture, and build trust with families—ultimately helping districts, and whole states, provinces and countries, achieve their academic and equity goals.

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Edsby has updated its Services and Website Privacy Policies. The new versions became effective August 16th, 2024.

These revised policies provide more detail to improve alignment with evolving international best practices regarding privacy and transparency.

We’ve not made any significant changes in what we do with customer data. The full list of edits include:

• Affirming that our hosting provider is not allowed to access user data: Edsby’s host, Microsoft Azure, has never had our permission to access student data. Section 4.0 of our services policy has been bolstered to make it even more clear we “limit the information we share with Microsoft through contractual, administrative and technical means. Our cloud service provider may not use the information disclosed to it for any other purpose other than to provide us with specific services.”
• Removing Google and Microsoft as entities that receive personal information. Previously, Section 7.0 of our services policy stated Google and Microsoft received student data if an Education Organization customer directed its Edsby system to be integrated with Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace for Education. There is no longer any sharing of any personal information when connecting Edsby to Google and Microsoft’s systems, so this statement has been deleted.
• Adding a list of sub-processors: Certain sub-processors receive information from Edsby in the provision of our platform service. A sub-processor is a third party engaged by a Data Processor (in this case, Edsby) “who has or will have access to or process personal data from a Data Controller” (Edsby’s customers.) We’ve add a list of sub-processors on Edsby’s public website here and will maintain this list.
• Revising the list of third party products used on our public website: For those who visit Edsby’s public marketing website (www.edsby.com), which exists primarily to inform and identify new prospective Edsby customers, a revised set of third parties now process data. We have deprecated use of Bablic for managing translated version of our public website, and have added Microsoft Clarity to help us understand visitors’ user experiences. These third party tools are only used for management and optimization of Edsby’s public website and not in provision of the commercial Edsby service.

You can always find Edsby’s latest Services Privacy Policy in its entirety here, and our Public Website Privacy Policy here. Previous versions are archived at the bottom of each policy. You’re also invited to read our About Edsby & User Data document.

The Common Sense Privacy Program has independently reviewed Edsby’s privacy policies and rated them a 95% pass, the highest rating of any software in Edsby’s category.

Your continued use of Edsby is your acceptance of our revised policies.

If you have any questions about these changes, you can reach us at privacy@edsby.com.

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The global teacher shortage is one of the most pressing challenges facing education today. As schools grapple with increasing class sizes and dwindling resources, pressure on teachers has reached unprecedented levels. One of the roots of this crisis are the working conditions that drive some teachers out of the profession. To help address this, moving away from traditional staffing models that isolate teachers and embracing team-based approaches can provide crucial support, reduce burnout, and improve student outcomes. Edsby has a role to play, here.

The Teacher Shortage: A Growing Crisis

According to UNESCO, there’s a global need for nearly 44 million new teachers by 2030 to meet educational goals. In many countries, teachers are leaving the profession faster than they can be replaced, creating a vicious cycle where remaining teachers are burdened with increased workloads and responsibilities.

The reasons for this exodus are multifaceted and were acknowledged onstage recently by AASA Executive Director David Schuler, whose organization, the American School Superintendents Association, also advocates team-based teaching as a model for improved teacher satisfaction and retention.

The Problem with Traditional Staffing Models

Traditional staffing models often isolate teachers, expecting them to manage large classrooms, prepare lessons, and handle administrative tasks on their own. This model leaves little room for collaboration or support from colleagues, which can make teaching feel lonely and overwhelming. Research has shown that isolation is a significant factor contributing to teacher burnout and attrition, even before remote teaching and COVID-19.

In contrast, team-based approaches, where teachers work together in collaborative groups, offer a more supportive environment. Studies have found that when teachers collaborate, they are more likely to share best practices, provide mutual support, and innovate in their teaching methods. This collaborative approach not only benefits teachers but also leads to better student outcomes. For example, a study by the Annenberg Institute found that schools that implemented collaborative teaching models saw significant improvements in student achievement.

The Role of Collaboration in Teacher Retention and Student Success

Collaboration is key to both teacher retention and student success. When teachers work together, they can pool their expertise, share resources, and provide emotional and professional support to one another. This collaborative environment helps reduce the feelings of isolation and burnout that so many teachers experience. Collaboration also allows for more consistent and effective instruction, as teachers can align their teaching methods and ensure that all students are receiving high-quality education.

In addition to improving working conditions, collaborative approaches also help to create a more dynamic educational environment. Teachers who work in teams are more likely to engage in professional development, stay updated on the latest educational trends, and experiment with new teaching techniques. This ongoing professional growth benefits both teachers and students, leading to a more effective and engaging learning experience.

How Edsby’s Groups Capability Supports Teacher Collaboration

At Edsby, we understand the importance of collaboration in education. That’s why we designed our platform to foster inter- and intra-school collaboration through our Groups capability. Edsby Groups (details) enable teachers to create and join groups centered around specific interests, subjects, or professional development goals. These groups provide a safe, protected online space for educators to share curriculum, collaborate on lesson planning, and build their professional communities.

Edsby Groups are particularly effective in supporting professional development. Teachers can establish PD groups to access resources, participate in discussions, and share their experiences with other colleagues in their school, district or country/region.

Edsby Groups help to break down the barriers that often isolate teachers within their own classrooms. By connecting educators across different schools and districts, Edsby fosters a sense of community and collaboration that is essential for both teacher well-being and student success.

“Edsby’s groups allow for collaboration between teachers and students. Professional learning communities (PLCs) are especially useful and allow teachers to share resources.”

– Jessica Zhou, Teacher / St. Andrew’s College, using Edsby for every student, teacher and parent since 2011

Conclusion

The global teacher shortage is a complex problem that requires multifaceted solutions. However, it’s clear that improving working conditions for teachers is an essential element to address. Working to change existing models that isolate teachers and embracing team-based approaches will help teachers to thrive.

Edsby is proud to play a role in fostering collaboration among educators. Our Groups capability helps thousands of teachers worldwide feel less alone by providing a platform for sharing curriculum, collaborating on lesson plans, and building professional communities.

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The widespread outage has disrupted flights, banks, media companies, emergency services and others around the world. Disruptions occurred when cloud security provider CrowdStrike applied an upgrade overnight which began crashing Microsoft systems. The provider’s fix is still making its way to affected systems.

Some are calling today’s problems the largest IT outage in history.

Edsby is hosted on Microsoft’s Azure network worldwide, but no Edsby services have been affected. Edsby’s services are protected by other means than CrowdStrike.

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