Round Rock ISD Named World Leader In Google-Certified Educators

ROUND ROCK, TX — Round Rock ISD was recently named the world leader in Google Certified Educators, district officials said.

According to Google, Round Rock ISD has the most Google Certified Educators in the world, "...connecting the digital world we live in to compelling, relevant approaches in the classroom," district officials said in an advisory. The district earned the distinction after Google compiled the number of certifications associated with the district’s email domain, officials explained.

The upshot: With nearly 3,400 educators, the percentage of Round Rock ISD teachers that are Google Certified totals nearly 17 percent. Hence, the world leader in the designation.

“Our educators understand that the world we live in today is immersed in technology and the way our students interact, learn and process information reflects that,” Superintendent Steve Flores said in a prepared statement. “They continually rise to the occasion, adapting to an ever-changing world, and their efforts to become Google Certified reflect that sentiment. It’s the result of their mission to put our students first and provide them with the environment they need to prepare them for the world we live in today and what we’ll encounter in the future.”

Among that 17 percent are the teachers and administrators at Cactus Ranch Elementary School, officials noted, adding that the campus was the first in Round Rock ISD to have the entire campus become Google Certified. District officials are building on that momentum, working toward a goal of having the district become 100 percent Level 1 certified. Some teachers are already at Level 2 certification, district officials noted

To become Level 1 certified, teachers participated in day-long training taught by teachers who had previously taken the exam, followed by a 180 minutes test. There are two levels for Google Educators: Level 1 focuses on teaching best strategies for integrating Google into the classroom, which includes helping teachers go mostly paperless, bringing students’ work online and helping measure students’ growth: Level 2 focuses on more advanced, cutting-edge strategies for integrating Google.

Some of the Google applications teachers and students utilize are Google Classroom, Google Sites, Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Drive, which includes Sheets, Docs, Forms, Drawing and YouTube, according to district officials.

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