Category Archives: Uncategorized

School Cybersecurity: Protecting Student Data

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Technology is a powerful tool that helps educators deliver personalized learning, manage records efficiently, and streamline communication with parents and staff. It can lessen the burden on teachers, so that they can focus on fueling their passion in the classroom and inspiring their students. However, technology also brings risks. And those risks can impact teachers, students, and school districts in numerous ways.

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. So, even as we embrace the potential of technology and its role in the classroom, we must also consider the responsibility that schools – and teachers – have in making sure the tools being used do not unduly increase risk.

Schools are responsible for storing a great deal of important data. Student records, special education information, health records, and other personally identifiable information (PII) must be safeguarded against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. A single data breach can disrupt learning, compromise privacy, and damage trust in the school community. That’s why building a cyber-resilient environment is essential.

Key Strategies for Cyber-Resilient Schools

  • Staff and educator training: Successful cyberattacks often start with phishing emails or malicious links targeting staff. Regular training equips teachers and administrators with the ability to recognize suspicious activity and understand best practices for online security. A culture of cybersecurity awareness can prevent small mistakes from becoming large breaches.
  • Routine system updates: Outdated software is a common entry point for cyber criminals. Schools should ensure that operating systems, applications, and security tools are consistently updated and that vulnerabilities are patched. Automated updates and alerts can help IT teams stay ahead of potential threats.
  • Strong authentication practices: Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds a critical layer of security. By requiring a second form of verification beyond passwords, MFA significantly reduces the likelihood that unauthorized users can access sensitive information.
  • Centralized, secure data management: One of the most effective ways to protect student data is through a centralized system that securely manages information across all departments. Solutions like Bright SUITE and Bright SPED allow schools to integrate student records, special education data, and reporting functions within a secure, user-friendly platform. Centralization not only reduces exposure risk but also streamlines compliance with regulations like FERPA, making data management more efficient for educators and administrators.
  • Regular risk assessments: Schools should routinely evaluate their cybersecurity posture to identify vulnerabilities. This includes reviewing network security, auditing access permissions, and testing incident response plans. Proactive assessments allow schools to address weaknesses before they become critical problems.
  • Incident response plans: Even the most secure systems can be targeted. A clear incident response plan ensures that schools can respond quickly to threats, minimize disruption, and communicate effectively with stakeholders. Response plans should include procedures for isolating affected systems, notifying affected parties, and restoring secure access to data.
  • Secure communication practices: Educators often share sensitive information with parents, colleagues, or external service providers. Using encrypted email services, secure portals, and password-protected files can prevent accidental data exposure. An integrated communication platform improves engagement and security.

Why Cybersecurity Matters Beyond Compliance

Protecting student data isn’t just about meeting regulatory requirements. It’s about building trust. Parents and communities expect that schools will handle sensitive information responsibly. Educators, meanwhile, need confidence that the tools they use daily are safe, reliable, and compliant. When data is secure, schools can focus on teaching rather than worrying about data breaches or compromised information.

Cybersecurity also supports equity in education. Schools that experience data breaches or ransomware attacks often face learning interruptions, which disproportionately affects students who rely heavily on school resources. By prioritizing cybersecurity, schools ensure that all students have uninterrupted access to education in a safe digital environment.

Cybersecurity Awareness Month is the time of year when we remind ourselves that cybersecurity is more than a one-time initiative; it’s an ongoing commitment. Schools must take proactive steps that protect student data, support educators, and strengthen trust across the entire school community. By combining best practices, modern technology solutions, and a culture of awareness, schools can create a cyber-resilient environment in which learning thrives safely. Lumen Touch is committed to the safety and security of the schools we serve. Get in touch to learn more.

The Future of Learning is Personalized

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As education continues to evolve, personalized learning is at the heart of the transformation. Education was never meant to be one-size-fits-all. And personalized learning allows instruction to be tailored to meet each student’s unique needs, strengths, and learning pace. All students – not just students with special needs – benefit from individualized education. When students receive instruction aligned with their abilities and interests, they are more engaged, motivated, and successful.

Providing Personalized Learning is the Role of Technology

Technology has revolutionized the way educators approach personalized learning. Today’s schools can leverage advanced tools, such as adaptive learning software and AI, to customize instruction in real time. Data-driven insights help educators identify areas in which students excel and those in which they need additional support, enabling proactive intervention rather than reactive remediation.

AI-powered platforms analyze student performance and recommend the next steps, ensuring that each learner follows an optimal path. By integrating technology into the learning process, schools can bridge achievement gaps, enhance student engagement, and foster a culture of lifelong learning.

Lumen Touch Supports Personalized Learning

At Lumen Touch, we are passionate about building the future of education. Our Bright SUITE platform is designed to support personalized learning by equipping educators with the tools they need to deliver tailored instruction. Bright SUITE ensures that students receive the right support at the right time.

Bright SUITE’s integrated system provides:

  • Real-time student progress tracking, to monitor learning milestones and adjust instruction accordingly.
  • Adaptive learning pathways that cater to individual student needs.
  • Comprehensive analytics that empower educators and districts to make informed decisions about student interventions and curriculum adjustments.

In addition, we provide additional, comprehensive support for supporting students with special needs. Bright SPED specializes in data driven reporting and tracking that:

  • Significantly reduces time spent on paperwork and reporting.
  • Reduces litigation risk – our clients report 100% compliance after audits
  • Automatically populates compliance reports and forms with each student’s data for easy submission
  • Continual updates to the latest federal and state requirements

Transformative Benefits for Students and Educators

When learning is tailored to individual needs, students take greater ownership of their education, leading to higher engagement and improved outcomes. Personalized learning fosters a sense of autonomy, helping students develop the critical thinking and problem-solving skills they need for future success.

Personalized learning doesn’t just benefit students. For educators, technology-driven personalized learning solutions streamline the instructional process. Teachers can quickly identify struggling students, implement targeted interventions, and track progress without being overwhelmed by administrative burdens. Instead of spending time manually analyzing performance data, educators can focus on what they do best: inspiring and guiding students toward success.

The Future of Personalized Learning

The future of education is secure, data-driven, and deeply personalized. Schools that embrace technology-powered learning paths will be better positioned to meet the diverse needs of their students. With an all-in-one enterprise management solution like Bright SUITE, education leaders can ensure that every learner receives the support they need to reach their full potential.

At Lumen Touch, we believe that technology should empower, not replace, educators. By combining cutting-edge innovation with human expertise, we are helping schools create a more equitable, engaging, and effective learning experience for all students. Now is the time to reimagine education and unlock the power of personalized learning.

Teacher Retention Is a Serious Issue

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We have a serious issue in the US: Teachers are leaving the profession by the thousands. To fill the gaps, school districts are being forced to increase classroom size, curtail the number of courses offered, and provide emergency certification to underqualified personnel.

From Education Week:

Over the last two years, teacher vacancies seem to have been increasing substantially since the onset of the pandemic. Last year, when we first put out the report and the website, compared with now – it’s increased to 55,000 vacant positions from 36,000 before. That’s a substantial increase.

And then we also learned that the number of underqualified positions is around 270,000 nationally, which is a substantial portion of teachers – about 9 or 10 percent of teachers in the United States. There seems to be a substantial number of vacant positions and positions that are filled by teachers who don’t have a standard license or who are under emergency certification or [who teach] out of subject expertise.

This article identifies a secondary issue that is leading to higher shortages in the teaching profession: Less people are going to school to become teachers, and of those who do go (there are around 600,000 prospective teachers each year), only 159,000 are actually completing the program and entering the profession.

Teacher Attrition Has a Domino Effect

The more teachers who leave, the more teachers leave. When the losses to the teaching profession are so high, the teachers who remain are impacted. Either they see their colleagues giving up and they follow suit, or they choose to remain and end up with larger class sizes and more pressure. Consequently, the remaining teachers end up leaving anyway. And schools that bring in underqualified personnel may only be exacerbating the issue, since the teachers who have worked hard to become certified and level up with master’s degrees are now teaching next to someone who was granted emergency certification with no pedagogical training.

How Can We Reverse the Crisis?

Attracting and retaining teachers is a high priority for many schools. We believe there are things that can be done, however, at the school and district levels. There are also federal initiatives that can help attract teachers back to the profession.

With fewer students choosing to go into the teaching profession, there are systemic issues that can only be addressed through community and congressional actions to ensure higher teacher pay and improved teacher support systems. At the district level, administrators can retain and attract educators by offering four things:

At the federal level, an ideal solution would be to make the teacher certification process the same for every state. This would standardize the professional requirements for teachers and allow them to continue teaching even if they relocate. Additional pathways to certification, as well as increased pay, can all make a difference.

How is your district handling teacher shortages?

The Future of Education

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For the past few weeks, our team has been busy attending some of the largest education conferences in our area, including the 2020 KASEA Winter Conference and Kansans Can 2020. While there are some challenges facing the education industry that are being complicated by the coronavirus, these conferences left us inspired about what the future of education will look like.

Why These Conferences Matter

Gathering with fellow educators, solutions providers, and decision makers gives us all a chance to share ideas and learn from each other. This year’s conferences were focused on student success, the evolution of education, and developing a world-class education standard in Kansas that can serve as a template to districts throughout the country.

The Kansans Can and Do! Symposium, co-sponsored by the Kansas State Department of Education and the Kansas Association of Education Service Agencies was, “designed to assist administrators, administrative teams, and school leaders with the process of implementing the Kansans Can initiative. All symposium presentations, guided discussions, and collaboration time [focused] on facilitating high levels of conversation.”

The Kansas Association of Special Education Administrators (KASEA) Winter Conference theme was “Fostering Success.” KASEA realizes that leaders in education “strive to create an environment that leads toward the success of all students, teachers, and leaders in our organization.”

Educators Are All In

Every educator we saw, spoke to, or listened to had one thing in common: They are committed to providing the best possible education to students and are willing to embrace the solutions and technologies that will benefit their students, free teachers to engage more concretely with students, and stretch their budgets so that they can do more for their students. Everywhere we turned, there was a focus on the importance of STEM – and more importantly, STEAM education

It Takes a Village

Giving our students in this country the education they need and deserve really does take all of us – from parents and teachers to administrators and legislators. Everyone must work together to create a generation of engaged learners. Lumen Touch is committed to being a part of the evolution of education in Kansas and throughout the country.

At Lumen Touch, we know that there are no simple answers to solving the big challenges that face schools. But there are changes that can make a difference. To learn more about how Lumen Touch can help your school with our all-in-one solution, get in touch.

Lumen Touch Commits to School Safety in Partnership with GG4L

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lumen touch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Lumen Touch is pleased to announce that they have joined the Safer Schools in America Impact Initiative led by Global Grid for Learning (GG4L) and McREL International.

October 10, 2019 | Kansas City, MO – Lumen Touch is proud to announce that the company has joined the Safer Schools in America Initiative to provide EdTech solutions to K-12 schools that are sharing up to $25 million in Safer Schools in America grants. Schools who participate in the initiative will have access to Lumen Touch’s Bright Care™.

“We welcome Lumen Touch to GG4L membership and are pleased to offer their innovative physical health and wellness solution, Bright Care, as part of GG4L Safer Schools Impact Initiative and the Safer Schools in America Grant Program,” says GG4L Chairman and CEO Robert Iskander. “Lumen Touch’s SIS Platform is now tightly integrated with GG4L Connect, offering their districts’ clients automated integration with a variety of different solutions, without compromising data security and student data privacy.”

Bright Care is a complete student medical record management system providing immediate and historical information. Some system features include: Medication Inventory, Daily Medications Schedule, Student Medication Chart (dosage and expiration dates), and Customizable School Screenings, which include mass screenings, BMI, and physicals that can be linked to extracurricular activity groups. Bright Care keeps your students safe and healthy in your schools by providing secure notifications to nurses and teachers, and nutritional services about student allergies and conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, etc. Our HIPAA compliant system is available on any device, anywhere, and allows providers to access critical information on the go. Traditional school clinics or school-based health clinics, Bright Care can manage your needs.

“My mission is to connect every student around the world to opportunity through education and Lumen Touch,” explains owner Dr. John Vandewalle, who purchased Lumen in 2011. “My focus is bringing technology to the K-12 education arena so that every student has the best opportunity for a great education and working with GG4L on this important initiative is a wonderful opportunity to reach more students.”

The Safer Schools in America Impact Initiative, led by Global Grid for Learning (GG4L) and McREL, a Regional Educational Laboratory (REL), is an initiative developed by a national panel of experts to facilitate a positive school climate and incorporate conditions related to engagement, environment, and safety, with considerations for emotional and physical safety, anti-bullying, anti-substance abuse, emergency readiness, school building design, and human variables, as well as threats resulting from technology vulnerabilities.

About Lumen Touch

We focus on improving the learning opportunities for children with measurable outcomes.

Lumen was established in 2000 and has been diligently listening to its customers and building an all-in-one solution that is unparalleled in the education arena. You can experience a seamless technological solution that will save you time and money and allow your students and teachers to focus on improving their wellbeing. Lumen continues to grow and has a presence in 14 states in the US. One of our goals is to go global in the near future. To learn more, visit https://lumentouch.com.

In 2011, Lumen Software was acquired by Dr John Vandewalle who wanted to make a difference in Education. He changed the name to Lumen Touch to better reflect the vision and mission of Lumen. Since then we have upgraded all our systems and are hiring the right people to deliver the best service.

About Global Grid for Learning (GG4L)

Global Grid for Learning (GG4L) is committed to promoting data security in schools. Protecting the data of every user is a top priority. GG4L’s Connect platform makes integrating and deploying education technology safe, easy, and inexpensive. It’s free for schools to use, less expensive for EdTech vendors, and safer for students. As a Public Benefit Corporation, GG4L welcomes collaboration and support from corporate social responsibility (CSR) and philanthropic foundations. Help us keep K-12 data interoperability costs low for schools, while maintaining the security and privacy of student data. To learn more, visit https://www.GG4L.com.

About this School Safety Grant

The total grant value is estimated at $25 million; the SSIA Grant is now underway with 48 unique EdTech solutions addressing the various domains of school safety that are a focus of districts and schools across the US. Eighty-seven schools in fifty districts across the US will be testing solutions in the Safer Schools Framework, consisting of campus security, physical health and wellness, emotional and behavioral health, emergency preparedness and management, digital safety, community engagement, and healthy school and district culture. This represents nearly 194,429 students who are directly and indirectly impacted by this initiative.

GG4L Member schools and districts worldwide that are not already participating may apply and qualify for an on-demand one-year grant that enables schools and districts around the world to assess their progress against implementation of best practices for school safety, discover validated EdTech solutions that can save them time and money and make them more effective and efficient, and apply for an in-kind grant that allows them to select any vendor’s solution in the Safer Schools catalog of curated EdTech solutions for the use of the school year. Any school or district can be a GG4L member at no cost and apply for an on-demand grant. Learn more and apply: https://gg4l.com/impact-initiative-grant-application/

Media Contact

Shadra Bruce
shadra@dashfactor.com
DaSh factor LLC

Training Troubles

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As American classrooms gain more and more technology we begin to run into the problem of teachers not having enough training to use this technology correctly or to full potential. In Education Week’s, Technology Counts 2017 Survey it became apparent that teachers in high-poverty school districts are receiving less technology training than teachers from wealthier schools. Google, Digital Promise and EdTechTeam have teamed up to curb this issue. They began a program in July that provides 6.5 Million dollars to 50 different school district with a focus on informing teachers on how to better use devices in the classroom. These different districts all reside in 5 different states (Alabama, California, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas). We hope that this creates the ability for people in high-poverty school districts to receive better instruction and produce better than they have in the past.

Tech Troubles

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As we move further and further into the future technology keeps developing. Technology is used to increase productivity in most businesses today. The original thought is that the more technology you have the greater the productivity of your workers will be but this is starting to cause problems for some businesses. In most companies employees are outnumbered 4 to 1 by technological devices. These include switches, routers, hubs or firewalls, desktop or laptop computers, smartphones, tablets, factory controllers, printers and multi function fax, copy and print devices. Now this may not seem very much but this can cause major problems for the IT departments of many businesses. With this many devices IT departments have started to require more people and more money to work. This also requires them to receive more training as the have to be prepared to see all sorts of different devices with all sorts of issues.

What can we do to resolve this issue? A solution that has some potential is RPA’s or Robotic Process automation. RPA’s would be able to run the basic tedious tasks that would take the time out of most IT departments day. It can evaluate most of the issues in most devices and act upon them. This will save businesses time and money in the future.

Strikes in Oakland

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Members of the OEA or Oakland Education Association went on strike the week of Feb. 21st. The demands of the strike were an 11% increase on total salaries, a delay on school closures, and smaller class sizes. The strike lasted 5 days with many conversations happening between the OEA and the Oakland school district. Before the strike the school district said that the best they could do was a 7% increase on salary with a one time 1.5 percent  bonus. With the school district failing to meet or comprise with the unions demands it left the 86 schools and 36,000 students out of school for a whole week. With the pressures of getting these children back to class the OEA secured a deal which they felt was fair. Salaries would be raised by 11% plus a 3% bonus once the new contracts were ratified. Along side of this it opened up additional spots for counselors and medical personnel, as well as reducing the size of high school classes by 1 person by the 2019-2020 school year. This is one of many times this school year that a major city’s teaching work force has gone on strike to secure raises and has done so successfully. These city’s include Oakland, Los Angeles, and Denver. Along with these city’s states such as West Virginia and Kentucky have payed attention to teachers needs this year.

Newest Defense Against Breast Cancer

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On Monday, March 5th, iCAD, an artificial intelligence company, developed a partnership with Karolinska. This partnership expands on an existing agreement between the two companies that will be able to provide AI assistance to scan mammography images. This program shows promise in developing an individualized way to scan for the potential to develop breast cancer in the future.

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in all women. The key to stopping and treating breast cancer depends on how early you can catch it. This makes screening and early detection a major key to preventing breast cancer. The model that is being produced by this partnership shows promise in providing individualized screening for each person. Turning the current model of age based screening on its head. Instead replacing this with a means of risk related screening. They accomplish this based off of mammography images.  Per Hall, professor and senior physician at the Karolinska Institutet says that, “Most current risk models are population-based and focus on lifetime or long-term risk. Our research using the iCAD AI technology has shown that by simply using the information available in the mammogram images, we can more accurately stratify women based on short-term risk. Understanding short-term risk will open the door to new paradigms in both the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.” We can expect to see this form of detection soon under the name ProFound AI.

Snow Days

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Sometimes the best way to innovate inside the classroom is to focus on what happens outside of it. It seems that this year we have had an abundance of snow days. A usually celebrated day might be on its way out. As school moves more to the online sector it becomes easier to teach classes while not at school. This also avoids the make up days at the end of the school year that take away from summer vacations.

There are many positives to eliminating snow days. It allows college level classes to stay on pace. Advanced Placement classes have a set testing day that isn’t adjusted due to snow days. Having an online element where kids can check in and get instruction on days where they would have been at school is very helpful. If you lose a day due to snow it causes major problems in lesson plans. Teachers from Neenah High School, in Wisconsin have experienced 5 snow days this year. They have described the ability to go online and teach as a “life save” because of how it allows them to stay on pace.

At the end of the day some students may be upset that they no longer get a free day off in the middle of the week but with this loss they have the potential to gain in other areas. Test scores and overall understanding of the topic will go up due to being able to learn without condensing lessons.