Promethean, Channel One News and the National PTA launched The Parent Connection, a new program that will deliver daily Channel One News InterActiv broadcasts shown in the classroom directly to parent’s mobile phones. Representatives from San Diego Unified School District joined the announcement and will be the first school district in the country to offer the service to parents.
“This is truly good news for parents and our entire school community. One of our objectives is to continually look for opportunities to strengthen and grow parental involvement in schools across the district. Without involvement of parents, we would not be successful and we are delighted that next year, we will be able to offer yet another avenue to strengthen the school to home connection,” said San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Bill Kowba.
Once enrolled with The Parent Connection, parents would receive a daily update with a video link to the Channel One News InterActiv broadcast shown in classrooms that day. Parents can also view updates using their district’s existing parent portal. For districts using Promethean ActivProgress, an adaptive, personalized learning environment for students, parents can see how well their child performed on any Channel One News broadcasts, their school performance, and have topics for discussion based on the broadcast content.
The Parent Connection kicks-off in the San Diego Unified School District in grade 3 through 12 classrooms. Over the course of the year, The National PTA will work with school districts implementing The Parent Connection to determine its overall impact it has on achievement.
Launched last year at ISTE, Channel One News InterActiv delivers daily news with embedded assessments conducted using on screen buttons and Promethean Learner Response Devices. The subscription service also includes just-in-time professional development to support teachers’ efforts to build instructional technology skills. Additional resources linked to the daily broadcasts are correlated to Common Core State Standards providing teachers’ ready-to-use interactive, digital content on a range of subjects connecting classroom learning to the real world.
An informal survey of the services reported that for 57% of teachers using Channel One News InterActiv lead to an increase in their overall use of technology in the classroom. Teachers also reported that 87% of students were highly engaged and interacting with the content.
Additional information about Channel One New InterActiv can be found online at www.PrometheanPlanet.com/ChannelOne (registration required). The Parent Connection App can be downloaded for free in the education section on both Google Play (for Android) and the Apple App Store (for iPhone).
