Texas school systems can have two years of free access to the remote learning software system Schoology thanks to the Texas Education Agency. | Morguefile
The Texas Education Agency will use CARES Act funding to offer Texas school systems free use of a remote learning software system for two years.
TEA’s offering of the K-12 Learning Management System from PowerSchool’s Schoology Learning is part of its Texas Home Learning 3.0 initiative to support school systems’ communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Texas Education Agency’s website states.
TEA has offered to fund Schoology for each Local Education Agency in Texas, PowerSchool’s website states. PowerSchool is a provider of K-12 education application technology. Over 45 million students in over 80 countries use PowerSchool’s technology.
“As part of the Texas Home Learning 3.0 program, TEA will fund Schoology Learning, the leading K-12 LMS, along with several digital curriculum and content solutions for any Texas LEA for two years at no cost to the LEA,” PowerSchool’s website states.“PowerSchool has a deep history of supporting education in Texas with over 1.2 million students using our LMS today. Our team is excited and ready to help the remaining 4 million Texas students who need our support.”
The free use of the LMS is optional for school systems, but it could save school systems up to $40 million and reduce taxpayer costs up to $22 million in two years, according to the Texas Education Agency’s website.
TEA’s use of funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act will pay for the offering. The CARES Act is a $2 trillion economic relief package that gets money to Americans in need to address the coronavirus’ economic and public health impacts, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. President Donald Trump signed the CARES Act into law on March 27.
Among benefits cited of Schoology is that teachers can create “and/or deliver courses in the LMS that support in-person, online, and blended models–enabling learning to continue regardless of the circumstances in a particular school or district,” TEA's website states.
Bryan Independent School District in Bryan, Texas, used Schoology during the coronavirus pandemic and experienced “97% student engagement," according to TEA.
Bryan ISD has approximately 16,000 students, according to the ISD's Facebook page.
Three instructional options will be available to Bryan ISD students when they return to school in August: “On-Campus, At-Home, Hybrid On-Campus,” according to the “2020-2021 Plan: Bryan ISD Return to Learn.”
“On-Campus instruction provides a traditional face-to-face instructional experience. The digital learning management system, Schoology, will also be utilized during on-campus instruction as a resource and classroom support,” according to the plan.
“At-home instruction will be facilitated through online digital platforms such as Schoology and Edgenuity.”
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