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How Atlanta Public Schools created an engaging and safe learning environment for students using Securly Classroom

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50,000+

students focused and on-task during class

2,000+

teachers keeping students engaged and safe

1:1

visibility of devices and students' learning

Average rating of Securly Classroom from APS teachers.

9.22/10

Average rating of Securly Classroom from APS teachers.

Challenge

Challenge

Empowering Educators to lead class with confidence

Atlanta Public School District (APS) consists of over 100 schools in Georgia that share the ethos of Making a Difference—a motto that extends not only to their students, but to their staff as well. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, APS' teachers were struggling to effectively monitor their students from behind their Chromebook screens during class. That's when APS decided it was time to put their motto into action: to make a difference for their educators.

As with most districts during the COVID-19 pandemic, the sudden boom in 1:1 technology usage saw a dramatic increase in demands for APS' educators when it came to managing student engagement during class.

The lack of ability to monitor each student's learning and focus in a meaningful way was a major challenge. Some teachers even resorted to teaching from the back of the classroom just so they could see each student's screen.

When in-person learning resumed, balancing both the additional technology and distracted students was putting even more of a strain on time and resources. APS needed a solution that was simple and quick to implement, and that would work for all levels of technological understanding across the teaching faculty.

Solution

Solution

A need to alleviate classroom distractions, remove unnecessary stressors and reduce teacher work-load

As an Instructional Technology Coach who helps to train APS' teachers on all things tech, Renee Dawson is always on the lookout for the latest technological solution that can support teachers both inside and outside the classroom. "Most of our curricula are 100% online. We needed an avenue for us to monitor whether the students were accessing those curriculums and what was going on if not."

The most frequent struggle Renee was looking to address was the lack of student engagement. Renee explains, "Engagement was a big problem. Just keeping the

students online and engaged in the learning, and making sure they weren't using the Chromebooks for stuff they shouldn't and that they were actually doing the work was a challenge."

On top of this, APS wanted to ensure all of their staff felt comfortable with their chosen solution and that it allowed them to monitor their students' learning, their progress and – most importantly of all – their safety online.

Outcomes

Outcomes

78%

of APS teachers use Securly Classroom to teach some or all of their classes

74%

of APS teachers use Securly Classroom either every day or for specific classes

"I open up Securly, and I've got my fingertips on everything."

The benefits of introducing Securly Classroom were immediate to see and, as a data-driven district, implementing Classroom opened up a whole new layer of data for teachers and parents at APS. For Education Technology Specialist, Krynica Drake, the introduction of Classroom created a “huge impact” for teachers all across APS.

"Securly Classroom is an amazing tool and we're all quite thankful for it. The teachers are really on board with it! When there's conversation and collaboration with the students and those students are on task, that provides data for teachers to share with parents. It's one of those big features that's had a real impact. Being able to monitor how students are doing fully from afar supports the teachers in doing what they do best: focusing on delivering meaningful learning."

With Securly Classroom, Atlanta Public Schools' teachers can now:

  • Push relevant class resources directly to students' devices
  • Identify and redirect students who are distracted and off-task
  • Share screens, applications, and audio to keep students engaged in their learning

"We appreciate Classroom. It really assists us with our day-to-day responsibilities and tasks. And in this day and age, we have to be more diligent as educators to ensure our students are safe. I appreciate Securly for giving us that look-see from the outside." Krynica Drake, Education Technology Specialist, APS

When recalling the implementation, Digital Learning Specialist Tommy Clay was thrilled by the simplicity of integrating Classroom into APS' day-to-day systems and processes: “Ease of use was so important because this was going to be deployed system wide. So it had to be something a classroom teacher could pick up in a quick training, not a two or three-day training."

  • Gain greater visibility into their students' progress
  • Maximize instructional time
  • Focus on teaching instead of managing technology distractions
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Experience the power of simplified classroom management for yourself

To keep students productive and engaged in a technology-first world, teachers need simple and powerful classroom management tools that give them their power back. They can't combat what they can't see. Give them the visibility and control they need with Securly Classroom.

See for yourself how Securly Classroom helps teachers improve student engagement.

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