Alabama’s St. Clair County Schools (SCCS) announced it has selected Discovery Education to support in-person and remote instruction for all 9,000 students at the district’s 17 community school sites and virtual academy.  SCCS’s decision to partner with Discovery Education ensures all district students and teachers access to Discovery Education Experience’s award-winning resources and tools, which supports the creation of  equitable learning experiences for all learners at home, in the classroom, or wherever learning is taking place.  Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms.

To meet the challenge of continuing to educate students during the COVID-19 Pandemic, SCCS created a three pronged approach to reopening schools.  Families were asked to select one of the following options for instruction: 

• Traditional, classroom based instruction with school-specific modifications,
• Full remote learning through the district’s Virtual Preparatory Academy, and
• Hybrid instruction consisting of a combination of traditional and online learning for each grading period.

To meet the needs of educators and students participating in the three different modes of instruction the district was implementing simultaneously, SCCS sought a flexible digital content service that featured a high-quality collection of standards-aligned, vetted resources that could be used in the classroom, online, or wherever students are learning.  Following a rigorous review period during which Discovery Education’s digital services were piloted by students and teachers at the district’s Ashville Elementary School, school administrators selected Discovery Education Experience for traditional, full remote, and hybrid instruction.

 Experience connects educators to a vast collection of compelling high-quality, standards-aligned content, ready-to-use digital lessons, and professional learning resources.  Together, these resources give educators everything they need to facilitate instruction in any learning environment and create lasting educational impact.  

 Discovery Education’s team continues adding, contextualizing, and organizing exciting new content and timely resources to Experience each month in response to current events and the ever-evolving needs of educators. These resources, sourced from trusted partners, are aligned to state and national standards, and help educators bring the outside world into teaching and learning every day. 

 Finally, Experience is designed to work within school systems’ existing infrastructure and workflows.  Through expanded partnerships with Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, Schoology, Canvas, and now Clever, integrating Experience into existing IT architecture is easier than ever.  

 SCCS elementary and middle school teachers and students will also receive access to Discovery Education Coding.  With Discovery Education Coding, students will gain a secure understanding of coding concepts, like algorithms, sequences and variables, and develop critical computational thinking skills through decomposition, logical reasoning, and imaginative problem-solving. In addition, students and teachers alike will be able to demonstrate their creativity and build confidence by creating their very own apps and sharing them with their classmates and colleagues.

 “Elementary school teachers are among the busiest professionals in the world.  In the space of 15 minutes, elementary school teachers are asked to be counselors, nurses, IT directors, mediators, art teachers, and more,” said Lisa Glasgow, St. Clair County Schools’ Elementary Curriculum Director. “The grab-and-go lessons and research-based strategies within Experience will save our elementary teachers valuable time they can use to interact with their students either online or in the classroom.”

 “Student engagement in the secondary grades is incredibly important,” said Kenneth Trucks, St. Clair County Schools’ Secondary Curriculum Director. “In both the physical and the online classroom, teachers have to quickly grab and hold students’ attention to maintain their engagement in instruction.  Discovery Education Experience’s high-quality content—which is sourced from trusted partners—connects the real world to learning and ensures students stay highly engaged in classroom activities.”

 To help SCCS educators integrate their new digital resources into instruction in the coming school year, Discovery Education will provide selected district educators dedicated professional learning. Through these interactive professional development sessions, participants will learn best practices for integrating technology and digital content into teaching and learning in ways that will maximize the power of their digital resources, increase student engagement in instruction, and improve students’ academic achievement.  These educators will then share their knowledge with their peers so that all educators are prepared to use these resources for instruction.

SCCS’s partnership with Discovery Education also provides district teachers 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.

“Discovery Education is incredibly proud to begin this new partnership with the St. Clair County Schools,” said Jeanette Russell, Discovery Education’s Manager of Education Partnerships. “The district’s dedication to the mission of preparing all students to succeed in an ever-changing world has not wavered one bit during the ongoing pandemic, and we look forward to working closely with the St. Clair County Schools team as they maintain students’ continuity of learning through their innovative three pronged response to COVID-19.”

For more information about St. Clair County Schools, visit the district website here.

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.