10 innovative education startups that are making primary grade teachers more effective
Out of 250 million Indian children in the age group of 6–14 years, 97% go to school but their learning levels are appalling. Over 50% children in 5th standard cannot read grade level text. The inability of the schooling system to improve despite the massive increase in enrolment rates has become a major issue which our government has not been able to tackle.
A closer look shows that primary school functioning is severely handicapped by some contextual and structural constraints which are exclusive to it. The main handicap that restricts the availability of quality education is highly correlated to the poor teaching standards. The pupil-teacher ratio across primary schools is a major concern. Teachers lack dedication and motivation to cater to different student learning levels within a class, which makes it difficult for teachers to pay any attention to individual students.
However, there are a few stalwarts who are working to address this problem of teacher effectiveness and we have made your job easy by listing those down. So, given below is a list of early education solutions that are being used across the board by teachers, schools or by educators in their own personal capacity, all with an aim to improve the early grade reading levels with a classroom.
*There are some examples of interventions/programs operating out of some other country. They have been included in this list to give a hint of the kind of platforms that exist to help teachers manage their workload and be more effective at teaching primary graders.
National Teacher Platform (NTP) is a state-of-the-art platform built to host Open Educational Resources (OER) and tools for Teachers in Schools, Teacher Educators in Teacher Education Institutes (TEIs) and Student Teachers in TEIs. NTP envisages to provide:
- Teacher training courses (example — training on learning outcomes, CCE, etc.)
- Teaching resources such as lesson plans, concept videos, worksheets, mapped to curriculum,
- Assessments for teachers, to find out their strengths and areas of improvement.
Teachers will be able to access this material offline on their smartphones, tablets and other devices anytime and anywhere. Material will be contextualised to local languages as well as mapped to the curriculum.
The Teacher App is a free app to help teachers learn and grow anytime, anywhere at zero cost. The Teacher App is a platform where every teacher in India can access high quality content to learn and grow anytime, anywhere, at zero cost using a smartphone. With the Teacher App, you get access to courses, expert advice, educational resources, stories, best-practice classroom innovations, methods and resources adopted by teachers all over India through networking opportunities.
BYJU’S app offers a complete and comprehensive learning program for Class 4 & 5 students across all syllabi — CBSE, ICSE, State Boards, IGCSE and more. The app through interesting features like interactive games, puzzles, reward system, personalised learning etc. develops all essential skills that are needed to help prepare students to do well at school and also builds a solid foundation for a successful future education. Some of the key features of this application are Engaging Video Lessons developed by India’s best teachers. This app doesn’t have any ads or pop-ups that can interrupt or spoil the user experience for the students. The learning plan in BYJU’S App is designed as an exciting adventure map where all topics and math concepts are explained in the form of games, educational videos, interactive puzzles and activities.
Over a million educators worldwide trust TeacherKit with managing their time and activities. TeacherKit helps organise classes and students easily, by allowing for easy recording of attendance and student behaviour. TeacherKit also empowers teachers to assess students performance and the class overall progress, add and manage behaviour types, enabling them to improve their students’ behaviour actions.
5. Firki
Firki is India’s first and only Online Teacher Training Portal: a world-class, open-source blended learning programme for teachers across India to access, use and transform their teaching practice. Firki is for any educator who wants to learn, is committed to providing the best opportunities for each of their students and most importantly loves to teach! This platform is used by K-12 teachers, community learning programs, NGOs and International Foundations. What makes firki unique is easy-to-use, self-paced, reflective content, gamified, tracks progress and allows sharing and collaboration.
It allows teachers to facilitate their courses on the go, both inside and outside the classroom. This app provides quick access to three of the most frequent course facilitation tasks for teachers:
• GRADING: Teachers can browse submissions and provide feedback to their students with a new and improved mobile SpeedGrader embedded in this app.
• COMMUNICATING: Teachers can send announcements and messages (including “Message Students Who…”), and participate in course discussions from the palm of their hand.
• UPDATING: Teachers can also change due dates of assignments, fix misspelling and update their course content.
7. Kahoot
Create a fun learning game in minutes — called ‘kahoots’. You can make a series of multiple choice questions or try their game — jumble. The format and number of questions are entirely up to the teacher. Add videos, images and diagrams to questions to amplify engagement. The games can be developed for individuals as well as groups. After a game, encourage players to create and share their own kahoots to deepen understanding, mastery and purpose, as well as engage in peer-led discussions. When a learner becomes a leader, that’s a true magic moment!
Teach Learn Lead is dedicated to supporting, celebrating and connecting new teachers as they navigate early careers in the classroom. Its main feature is, encouraging peer learning through collaboration with other teachers, instant classroom ideas, learning more about leadership roles, classroom management, Professional Development, Teacher Leadership, Teacher Mentorship and Support and Curriculum Planning. Sponsored by Teaching & Learning, an annual conference hosted by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), Teach Learn Lead relies on the power of peer-to-peer learning so that new teachers can make better decisions in the classroom and grow professionally.
9. Class Dojo
Ready to build an amazing classroom community? ClassDojo is a beautiful, safe, and simple communication app for teachers, parents, and students.
* Teachers can encourage students for any skill, like “Working hard” and “Teamwork”
* Teachers can bring parents into the classroom experience by sharing photos, videos, and announcements
* Students can add their classwork easily to their own digital portfolios for their parents to see
* Teachers can also safely and instantly message with any parent
* Parents see their child’s updates at home, as well as a stream of photos and videos from school
* All your favorite teacher tools, like Group Maker and Noise Meter, are now in one place!
ClassDojo helps teachers build a positive classroom culture by encouraging students and communicating with parents.
10. Edmodo
Share and discover new lessons and resources across your school, district, or any of the teacher connections. Edmodo makes it easy for teachers to share anything on their internet enabled smartphones. There are a dozen of educational resources for the entire classroom all at once. Some of the unique features are, teachers get a brand new home stream for sharing and discovering resources among their colleagues, All the classes are organized into one space, Real-time Direct Messaging available for students and teachers, and all-new Assignment Center that shows all their upcoming assignments and quizzes.
There are many great ideas and innovations (both tech and non-tech) that are addressing the early grade reading needs of low cost primary school going children in India. And we at READ Alliance are looking for such solutions, that can join the Education Innovation Mentorship Program (EIMP) and scaled up. An initiative of READ Alliance and supported by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Center for Knowledge Societies (CKS), the Education Innovation Mentorship Program aims to provide seed grants and capacity building support to early stage education entrepreneurs over the course of four months.
We are looking for innovators and early stage education entrepreneurs who are committed and passionate about the education sector and are willing to go the extra mile to make a difference.
If you fit the bill, apply here.
For more details on EIMP, click here
