Elementary and middle students on-task during class
Teachers defeating digital distractions
Devices being used to their best advantage
From zero to 1-to-1 in seconds
Derry Cooperative School District is nestled in the New Hampshire forests—the same woods memorialized in the poetry of Robert Frost. Its seven schools (five elementary and two middle) serve more than 3,200 students from PreK through 8th grade.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Derry CSD's technology usage was minimal. Computers were relegated to onsite labs, and a 1-to-1 Chromebook program wasn't even on the roadmap. That all changed when the pandemic hit and forced the district to radically rethink how it could use technology. Chromebooks were quickly ordered, and the district deployed hundreds of devices to students while those were on their way. From decommissioned teacher laptops to computer lab desktops, any devices that could be spared were given out to facilitate remote learning.
As district administrators scrambled to get devices into remote students' hands, they quickly realized that teachers needed more control to ensure the devices were being used effectively. Even after face-to-face instruction resumed, distracted students, wasted instructional time, and lost productivity ran rampant. Teachers tried walking around the room to make sure students were on task, but it wasn't terribly effective. Some teachers even moved their desks to the back of the classroom in an attempt to see what students were actually doing on their devices, but nothing seemed to be truly working.
Many teachers at Derry CSD were frustrated and wanted to give up on tech entirely. But Diane Pius, a Spanish teacher at Gilbert H. Hood Middle School, knew there had to be a better way.
Defeating distractions with easy-to-use classroom management
As a teacher for more than 20 years, Diane likes to stay on top of new classroom technology. However, prior to 2020 at Derry, most teachers were still using old overhead projectors and grease pencils for instruction, and playing video lessons on VCRs and CRT televisions. When in-person classes resumed post-Covid, Diane didn't want to go back to handing out assignments on paper. So when the district rolled out Securly Classroom, she was among the first to give it a try.
Diane immediately saw the benefits. With Securly Classroom, all of her students' screens were visible on her own computer in an easy-to-use interface, so she could keep an eye on everyone at once. Even if a student started wandering the web, she could easily close tabs and block distracting sites with a click to get the student on task again.
She also regained valuable time at the start of class. With Securly Classroom, Diane is able to send out all the resources for each day's lesson in seconds, so all her students are where they need to be and ready to get started. Students can even chat directly with Diane online to ask their questions instead of having to ask them in front of the entire class.
Tech that works for teachers and students
As more teachers began using Securly Classroom, they found setup to be a breeze. Their classes were automatically populated from Google Classroom and ready to start. Plus, with class scheduling, they could remove distractions automatically when their class started. With Securly Classroom's easy-to-use interface, even the most tech-averse teachers were able to make student devices a benefit instead of a distraction.
When students' focus is maintained, something incredible happens: they do their work. Diane explains, “The students are actually doing their work! That's the bottom line. They're doing their work, as opposed to messing around playing games or looking at YouTube.”
For Derry CSD, the benefits of classroom management with Securly Classroom are clear. They've helped their teachers move into the 21st century, and their students are learning valuable computer skills while staying on-task in class. Teachers like Diane and Dave Levesque, a computer teacher, spend far less time helping students navigate to the correct resources and way more time teaching.
“I'd personally been looking for something like this for about 15 years. Being able to individually message an off-task student and get them focused on the lesson without disrupting the rest of the class is one of my favorite features. The return on investment has been amazing!”
Dave Levesque
Middle School Computer Teacher, Derry CSD
Empowering teachers with visibility into their students' online activities during class
Giving teachers the ability to lock students' screens, close tabs, and block sites as needed
Ensuring students are using school-issued devices in productive way
Increasing student engagement, maximizing teacher instructional time, and seeing an improvement in grades
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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