HOUSTON – Sept. 29, 2020 – Spring ISD has earned the EVERFI Champion Seal, awarded annually to North American school districts who have made “an exemplary commitment to whole-child education,” according to a statement from EVERFI. The honor recognizes a commitment to greater educational equity and the well-being of all students, and is awarded to fewer than five percent of districts across the nation for their work with the firm’s online educational software.

“When EVERFI showed us the different programs they offered for learning real-world skills, we decided that we would develop particular modules for different grade levels, and that’s what we did last year,” said Spring ISD Director of Career and Technical Education Cynthia Williams, who helped oversee the implementation of EVERFI’s online lessons in the district’s CTE classrooms. “The success with the program was really great, with great participation from the teachers and strong engagement from the students.”

The award is given by EVERFI, a digital education organization focused on helping educators address some of the most challenging issues affecting their students, including financial literacy, social-emotional learning, health and wellness, inclusion and equity, and college and career readiness. The company’s cloud-based software offerings complement schools’ traditional curricula while also integrating seamlessly into their existing technology networks.

Through venture capital investments combined with a range of individual and business sponsors, all of EVERFI’s programs are free for students, schools and school districts to use.

“It’s been a really good partnership for us,” said Williams. “EVERFI empowers our educators to teach and reinforce real-world skills, and that’s what CTE is all about.”

In bringing EVERFI into Spring ISD, administrators and CTE teachers mapped out ways to align EVERFI’s online lessons with stages of student development and grade-appropriate content. Sixth graders begin with lessons on digital wellness and staying safe online, then move on to explore STEM career ideas and to begin thinking about college and career readiness as they proceed through middle school and into high school. High school students go on to learn about financial literacy, then later – as upperclassmen – complete EVERFI modules related to alcohol awareness, underage drinking prevention, substance abuse and prescription drug safety.

In the first year Spring ISD adopted EVERFI and began implementing the targeted modules in middle school and high school CTE classrooms, nearly 7,500 district students across 15 campuses enrolled and took part in the EVERFI mini-courses. According to Williams, the online lessons are geared to pique students’ interest and engage them immediately in interactive learning.

“We know students love to be on the computer,” Williams said. “This way we’re channeling that toward something productive. It’s also going to be beneficial in the remote learning situation we’re in now, because they can get to it from home once the teacher registers them with EVERFI and makes the assignments. Then the kids can keep working on it whether they’re at home or face-to-face on campus.”

For more information about EVERFI and the EVERFI Champion Seal, visit everfi.com/k-12/champion-seal/.