Research evaluated priority populations in North Carolina and South Carolina to assess direct impact to a diverse educator workforce, leading to an eight-percentage point increase in pass rates

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — As the U.S. K-12 student population becomes more diverse, with students from historically marginalized racial and ethnic identities comprising the majority of public-school students, it is critical that the educator workforce reflect the make-up of today’s classrooms. That prompted the creation of Study.com’s “Keys to the Classroom” initiative, focused on building a more robust and representative teacher pipeline to support student outcomes.

As part of this initiative, Study.com partnered with TEACH, a national nonprofit that implements comprehensive, statewide teacher recruitment systems to identify and support prospective teachers on their path to the classroom, in North Carolina and South Carolina. Together, these two organizations examined the impact of test preparation on pass rates of priority populations, such as teachers of color, exam re-takers and teachers on conditional or temporary licenses. Certification exams are often a barrier to aspiring educators from diverse backgrounds, but research shows that intervention support leads to positive outcomes.

In a research partnership across ETS®, Study.com – an official partner of the ETS Praxis exam, and TEACH, this pilot demonstrates that teacher candidates with sufficient use of Study.com for test preparation consistently passed the Praxis exam at higher rates than candidates with less usage. Sufficient use of Study.com led to an 8-percentage point increase in pass rates overall although priority populations, which were over-represented in this study with 45% non-white and 40+% re-take candidates, were positively impacted more significantly. For example, among Black re-takers in North Carolina, there was a 34% increase in passage rates.

Key Findings

The study found a direct impact to the educator workforce that demonstrates targeted intervention and support works, especially among priority populations who historically have lower pass rates on certification exams. Only 38% of Black teacher candidates and 57% of Hispanic teacher candidates pass the Praxis exam even after multiple attempts while 75% of white candidates ultimately pass1.

Specifically:

Black teacher candidates in both N.C. and S.C. experienced a 12-percentage point increase in pass rate with sufficient use of Study.com for test prep.

In N.C., Black teacher candidates who re-took the Praxis exam following sufficient use of Study.com for test prep had a 17-percentage point increase in pass rate than for Black re-takers overall.

While Praxis exam re-takers overall tend to pass at lower rates, sufficient use of Study.com improved their scores by 12-percentage points in N.C. and by 7-percentage points in S.C.

Teacher candidates with temporary or conditional licenses in N.C. had a 10-percentage point increase in pass rate with sufficient use of Study.com than those without it.

“This partnership has enabled us to extend the support we offer to aspiring teachers by providing more necessary interventions on their preparation journey,” explained Veronica Wilson, Co-Executive Director, TEACH. “The results of this study highlight that we can reduce the barrier of licensure exam passage that future teachers face when trying to get into – or stay in – the classroom, especially among diverse educator populations. And we can do it at scale.”

Value of Diverse Teacher Pipeline

Nationwide, only 7% of teachers identify as Black while about 14% of public-school students identify as Black. That gap is even greater among Hispanic and Latine students who comprise nearly one-third of the public-school population but only 9% of educators identify as Hispanic or Latine2. These representation gaps impact students across multiple variables. For example, the likelihood that a student is seen as disruptive by a teacher of a difference race increases by 46% for students of color – that leads to disciplinary actions that are closely linked to future academic performance3. While teachers of color positively impact the outcomes for students of color, research shows they also positively impact white students across academic performance, critical thinking and creativity factors.

“Given the significant and systemic barriers that educators of color can encounter entering and advancing within the profession, it is essential for the industry to understand those barriers and address them through robust, targeted resources. This support is crucial for teachers’ entry into the profession as well as for their long-term retention and success,” said Dana Bryson, SVP, Social Impact at Study.com. “This study unequivocally reinforces the findings of other reports: when aspiring educators have access to comprehensive test preparation tools and resources, they achieve higher pass rates, directly addressing teacher shortages and creating a more equitable and representative education system that benefits all students.”

“Ensuring that teacher candidates – especially those from diverse backgrounds – are fully supported and well-prepared for the Praxis exam is crucial to building a more equitable education system,” said Paul Gollash, Senior Vice President of K-16, ETS. “By helping teacher candidates excel, we take an important step toward expanding access to opportunities that have historically been limited. Mentoring, coaching and other candidate development offerings create a teaching workforce that more accurately reflects the diverse communities they serve.”

Impact and Reach

Both North Carolina and South Carolina face ongoing teacher shortages that disproportionately impact low-income students and students of color, populations that need more support. In North Carolina, the Governor’s Office of Roy Cooper invested more than $1.3 million to support nearly 8,000 future teachers with test prep, which included more than 3,800 licenses from Study.com and 5,000+ test vouchers from ETS. In South Carolina, a close partnership with Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement (CERRA) enabled 2,000+ aspiring teachers to receive support, more than 1,200 of whom used a donated license from Study.com. The TeachNC and TeachSC initiatives are supported by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the South Carolina Department of Education, respectively. 

Methodology

As part of this research project, 10,053 current and future educators across North Carolina and South Carolina received support from Teach.org and Study.com. Study.com provided 4,700+ licenses while TEACH purchased at least 5,000 Praxis test prep vouchers and provided them at no cost to participants. From that pool, the research pilot examined the test results and pass rates of 2,557 teacher candidates over 18 months who took a Praxis exam after joining TeachNC or TeachSC. Of those, 1,832 were in North Carolina and 725 were in South Carolina. The study also over-indexed in key, priority population segments as it relates to the educator workforce: 30% Black / African American and 44% exam re-takers. Almost 90% of both groups reported having a temporary or no license (89% in S.C. and 88% in N.C.). 

Sources:

1 National Council on Teacher Quality: https://www.nctq.org/publications/A-Fair-Chance
2 Pew Research Center: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/12/10/americas-public-school-teachers-are-far-less-racially-and-ethnically-diverse-than-their-students/
3 Brown University: https://www.brown.edu/news/2019-07-18/discipline

Study.com opens the door to the life-changing impact of education for more than 34 million learners and educators a month through its award-winning online learning platform for K12 curriculum, college courses and test preparation. With learners and educators in more than 11,000 school districts nationwide, Study.com is recognized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for meeting Level IV evidence standards. Headquartered in Mountain View, CA, Study.com has been honored as one of the world’s most innovative companies by Fast Company and included in the GSV150, celebrating the world’s most transformative private companies in education, for the last two consecutive years. The company has donated $29 million across social impact programs committed to increasing educational equity. These programs include Working Scholars®, an accelerated pathway for working adults to earn a debt-free bachelor’s degree; College Saver, which has saved students more than $475 million in tuition costs, and Keys to the Classroom, which seeks to help aspiring educators prepare for and pass their teacher certification exams.

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SOURCE Study.com

BOSTON and FREIBURG, Germany and LONDON and DUBAI, United Arab Emirates and SINGAPORE and SYDNEY, Nov. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Jedox, the world’s most adaptable planning and performance management solution, was named a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Financial Planning Software. Jedox was recognized by independent analyst firm Gartner, based on its completeness of vision and ability to execute.

Jedox solutions, built with JedoxAI technology designed for global finance leaders, provide faster access to accurate information so organizations can operate efficiently and uncover new opportunities that increase revenue. The platform connects real-time operational and financial data through hyperautomation to automatically create a replica or “digital twin” of a business so leaders can model any scenario, plan, budget and forecast effectively, and make sound decisions.

Over the last five years, before AI became mainstream, CFOs used Jedox AIssisted™ planning wizards to understand future demand and predict customer churn through AI-enhanced forecasts. Today JedoxAI is a digital business partner to finance leaders by summarizing complex financial information and providing a catalyst to ad hoc reporting through Gen AI natural language interrogation of data within the Jedox platform. Use cases include applying Gen AI to draft management commentary on forecasted business performance or summarize long-range plans based on key drivers of performance.

“We’re thrilled to be named a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Financial Planning Software,” said Florian Winterstein, CEO of Jedox. “We believe it reflects the confidence our 2,800 customers and global partner ecosystem place in Jedox. Through our AI-powered solutions for planning, budgeting, forecasting and analysis, organizations are accelerating their digital transformation from siloed processes to collaborative integrated business planning, outperforming their goals, and achieving greater business value.”

As most people understand Microsoft Excel, they quickly master the Jedox platform and its drag-and-drop management reporting and dashboarding. This simplifies adoption and change management within the office of finance and allows for better and faster transformation consistent with the way people like to work. Capturing ad hoc insights within dashboards and formatted financial and tabular views of budgets, forecasts, and plans enables companies to understand their drivers and focus effective performance management.

“Our R&D, engineering, and product development engine plans to deliver even more enterprise-ready applications of predictive analytics and Gen AI to the office of finance,” said Dr. Rolf Gegenmantel, Chief Product Officer of Jedox. “We’ve listened to the market through a global series of Jedox Elevate roadshows and customer roundtables. From this listening tour, our roadmap was shaped towards building more pre-built functional use case templates we call Best Practice Accelerators. We want our customers to increase collaboration, so they deepen their understanding of connections between financial and operational planning, and performance management, to further support autonomous finance operations and heightened value creation.”

2024 will end with record revenue for Jedox, high customer satisfaction and best-in-class retention rates, and global customer growth in diverse industries on six continents including Tony’s Chocolonely, Li&Fung, Schaeffler, Saudi Aramco, Deutsche Telekom, Henkell & Freixenet, and Sandvik.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark and MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Gartner, “Magic Quadrant for Financial Planning Software,” Regina Crowder, Matthew Mowrey, Vaughan D Archer, Farrah Watson, 18 November 2024

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Jedox

Jedox is the world’s most adaptable planning and performance management platform that empowers organizations to deliver plans that outperform expectations. Over 2,800 organizations in 140 countries trust Jedox to model any scenario, integrate data from any source, and simplify cross-organizational plans across all business systems. Jedox enables a culture of decisiveness and confidence so teams can plan for opportunities, react quickly to changes, and uncover what they didn’t know was possible.

For further details, kindly visit: www.jedox.com

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SOURCE Jedox

VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 20, 2024 /CNW/ – The Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 presented by ATCO and Boeing announces today an all-star, GRAMMY-nominated talent lineup for its Closing Ceremony, Live at Rogers Arena on February 16: Nashville country superstar Jelly Roll, legendary Canadian rock band Barenaked Ladies, and electrifying Americana duo The War And Treaty.

The Closing Ceremony will bring to a spectacular close nine days of memories and life-changing sport events for the up to 550 competitors, their family and friends, and many thousands of Invictus Games supporters around the world who will have experienced the Games live, through broadcast and online.

Tickets for the Closing Ceremony, which went on pre-sale in late September, now start at the low price of $61 ($89.05 with fees) and are available now at invictusgames2025.ca/tickets/. 

The three Closing Ceremony acts join previously announced Opening Ceremony talent Noah Kahan, Nelly Furtado, and Roxane Bruneau on Saturday, February 8 at BC Place. Stay tuned for more Opening Ceremony superstar performers and celebrity appearances to be announced in early December.

About Jelly Roll

Award-winning, GRAMMY-nominated Nashville native singer/songwriter Jelly Roll (Jason DeFord) bowed at #1 on the Billboard 200 All Genre Chart for the first time with his acclaimed 2024 album, Beautifully Broken—which also earned the highest critical praise of his career so far from Rolling Stone, Billboard, Associated Press, NPR, and more. The release concluded his most successful year yet and followed his sold out Beautifully Broken Tour in arenas nationwide.

Just a year earlier, Jelly debuted Top 3 on the Billboard 200 All Genre Chart and #2 on the Top Country Album charts with his debut Country Album, Whitsitt Chapel (released June 2nd, 2023) – earning the biggest Country debut album in Billboard Consumption Chart history. Following his sweep at the 2023 CMT Music Awards where he earned three awards to become the most awarded artist of the night, the Billboard Country Power List Cover star and “country’s ‘most authentic’ new artist” (The New Yorker) received Billboard’s 2023 Breakthrough Award and the People’s Choice Award for Male Country Artist of the Year. Nominated for Best New Artist and Best Duo/Group Performance for “Save Me (with Lainey Wilson)” at the 2024 GRAMMY Awards, along with eight genre-spanning nominations at the 2024 iHeartRadio Awards and a win for Best New Country and Pop artist, Jelly is one of three artists alongside Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs to have scored three Country Airplay #1s in 2023 and the first to do it with his first three singles.

About Barenaked Ladies

Toronto-based Barenaked Ladies are one of Canada’s biggest rock success stories, with their self-titled 1991 cassette tape becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. With singles such as ‘Be My Yoko Ono,’ ‘If I Had $1000000,’ and ‘Brian Wilson,’ the band quickly earned a dedicated following across the country.

With their eclectic blend of witty lyrics, pop harmonies and melodic folk, they earned their first GRAMMY nomination in 1998 for their Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit single, ‘One Week’. The album it was featured on, Stunt, also peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200. Barenaked Ladies has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide and wrote the iconic theme song for award-winning television sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The quartet was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2018. 

The band’s latest album is In Flight, released in September 2023.

About The War And Treaty

Founded in 2014 by the husband-and-wife duo Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter, The War And Treaty has emerged as one of the most electrifying new acts in American music.

Recently earning their first ever GRAMMY nominations for Best New Artist and Best American Roots Song for “Blank Page,” they also received their first ever Duo of the Year nomination from the Country Music Association, Vocal Duo nomination from the Academy of Country Music, plus recognition by the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Grand Ole Opry, and the Americana Music Association including earning AMA Duo/Group of the Year for the second straight year.

About the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025

The Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025, presented by ATCO and Boeing, is an international sporting competition for wounded, injured, and sick service members and Veterans. From February 8-16, 2025, the seventh Invictus Games will bring together up to 550 competitors from up to 25 nations in 11 adaptive sports in the natural beauty of British Columbia, Canada. Invictus means unconquered and the Games celebrate courage, resiliency and the strength of the human spirit. Through the power of sport, the Games will inspire recovery, support rehabilitation, and generate a wider understanding and respect for those who have served their country.    

The Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 will be held on the traditional territories of the Lil̓wat7úl (Líl̓wat), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. True Patriot Love Foundation, the Government of Canada, and the Province of British Columbia are the valued Founding Partners of the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025.     

Visit invictusgames2025.ca/media-hub/ for our latest news, supporting materials and full Games details.

SOURCE Vancouver Whistler Games Corporation