For nearly three decades, E-Rate has helped school districts build and sustain the network infrastructure that supports teaching, learning, safety, and the many systems educators rely on every day.
While classroom technology is nearly universal, educators are navigating a growing disconnect between how digital tools are mandated and how they actually function, according to Teaching for Tomorrow: Screen Wise, a new report from the Walton Family Foundation and Gallup, in partnership with the Joan Ganz Cooney Center.
Early childhood classrooms are seeing a clear shift. Young children are starting school feeling increasingly worried and overwhelmed compared to years past.
Integrated directly into Abre’s Data Intelligence Platform, Vera delivers real-time, role-aware answers to plain-language questions without compromising student privacy or ... Read more
In my eight years as a high school CTE, Engineering and Architecture Pathway instructor, I have witnessed students and their families struggle to navigate their career trajectory. Every year, I hear three scenarios: “I think I know what I want to do,” “My parents want me to be a…,” and “I have no idea what I want to do.”
When school librarians hear the word marketing, many immediately think of newsletters, social media posts, bulletin boards, or eye-catching displays. Those tools certainly have their place, but they're only part of an effective marketing strategy.
As students and educators settle into the 2026-27 school year, K-12 leaders are navigating a landscape shaped by rapid technological change, persistent academic challenges, and growing pressure to demonstrate that new tools and strategies actually improve teaching and learning.
In 2023, Catherine Hartmann, a professor at the University of Wyoming, gave students in a history of meditation course a deeply personal assignment: try a contemplative practice and write a reflective analysis on the experience.
According to research I recently saw , About 16% of young people ages 18 to 24 are not in employment, education, or training. Researchers call them NEETs, or disconnected youth. After 35 years in public education, I read the number a different way.
It’s quite rare to hear someone say, “I can’t read” or “I’m illiterate so I don’t read.” On the other hand, lots of people claim that they’re “not a math person.” The phrase isn’t just “I don’t like math.”
As budgets remain tight and expectations for measurable student growth increase, every instructional decision carries greater weight. Choosing one initiative often means delaying another, making it even more important to separate promising ideas from approaches supported by stronger evidence.
Every few years, something shifts how schools think about accessibility. A law changes, a new technology arrives, or a group of advocates succeeds in bringing attention to the topic. Right now, it's Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
School leaders have invested heavily in campus security over the past decade. Cameras, visitor management systems, emergency communication platforms, and access control upgrades have become standard parts of many districts' safety strategies.
A new national framework from AACTE (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education) aims to help educator preparation programs (EPPs) navigate the rapidly changing role of artificial intelligence in education.
A student can complete 20 questions and still leave a teacher with very little useful information. A score may show that something went wrong, but it does not always show which learning objective needs attention, whether the problem is a misunderstanding or a careless error, or what the student should practice next.
I’ve sat across from more than one district administrator staring at a dashboard full of reading intervention minutes and a flat progress line. The pattern is familiar: a student gets pulled for extra decoding practice, scores move for six or eight weeks, and then they stall — not because the student stopped trying, and not because the intervention stopped running.
Schools are racing to teach students how to use AI. That is necessary, but it is not enough. The workplace advantage will increasingly belong to people who can decide when an AI output is useful, when it is incomplete and when it is wrong.
AI technology is advancing rapidly in schools, but research is increasingly showing that Large Language Models (LLMs) lack the common sense, morality, and knowledge of individual classroom dynamics needed to be truly equitable.
Picture a group of middle school math teachers meeting to mull over a specific problem. Their eighth graders keep missing the same assessment question about graphing a system equation, and the educators’ assignment is to figure out why.
Many parents, policymakers, and educators are worried about screens in schools. They’ve observed the positive effects of cell phone bans and are wondering how edtech might contribute to real issues, including declining attention spans and learning loss.
Librarians and instructional designers have long understood that the first question someone asks is not always the question they need answered. In a library reference interview, a patron’s initial request is often just the starting point for uncovering the real information needed.
For a lot of students, school can feel like a transaction: You do the work, you get the check mark, and then you move on. That model can unintentionally cap what students show us about what they know and can do.
Clear, timely communication is the bedrock of the relationship between a school and its families. It is the invisible thread connecting a student’s classroom progress to the support they receive at home.
Long before computers entered our homes and classrooms, photographs helped shape what people believed. Images carried a particular kind of authority: We did not simply look at them; we often treated them as evidence.
Financial education is gaining real momentum across the United States. More states are adopting mandates, more schools are adding graduation requirements, and more policymakers are acknowledging that students need practical preparation for the financial decisions they will face as adults.
If I had been asked a few years ago, I would have told you that chronic absenteeism was a school system's problem to fix. With better data systems, staff trained on outreach, and improved intervention protocols, school districts could move the numbers on their own.
If you ask most educators where college and career readiness (CCR) begins, many will point to high school. That's when many students start thinking seriously about graduation requirements, dual enrollment, financial aid, career pathways, and college applications.
Walk into almost any classroom in America, and you’ll see a system designed for consistency: same lesson, same pace, same expectations for every student. For decades, that model has served millions well.
A year ago, many educators were still asking whether artificial intelligence belonged in the classroom. Some were cautiously experimenting with AI-generated lesson plans, while others were focused on preventing students from using it altogether.
For the first time, a federal tax credit is opening a clear path for public school students to access expanded learning opportunities through Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs).
As the school year begins, teachers often devote significant time to planning lessons, reviewing standards, organizing classrooms, and establishing routines. While these are all essential components of effective teaching, they cannot replace the importance of creating a positive classroom culture.
As students return to classrooms across America this fall, parents are focused on school supplies, class schedules, and academic expectations. Teachers are preparing lesson plans, organizing classrooms, and hoping for a successful year.
There’s a wise quote that says, “Kids don’t care about your expectations until they know you care about them. Connection is the foundation everything else stands on.”
Over the last 15 years, I have observed a recurring pattern. A new principal, whether brand new to the role or a veteran principal arriving at a new school, wants to make an immediate impact.
America’s schools are moving quickly to respond to the rise of artificial intelligence, with parents, teachers, administrators, and lawmakers working to wrap their arms around what this means for student education.
There’s a confusing trend going on in the nation’s classrooms: While national test scores have dropped to levels not seen in decades, average high school GPAs are actually climbing.
School safety emergencies are inherently chaotic, frightening, and made even more perilous by a lack of real-time visibility once an emergency is underway. In an active shooter incident, first responders often arrive at the scene with little or no knowledge about what is happening inside the school.
Adolescence is one of the most consequential periods of human development, yet the environments designed to support it often fail to reflect its complexity. Spanning ages 10 to 18, this stage is marked by rapid neurological, emotional, and social transformation.
For as long as school has existed, so has the parental question: How are my kids doing? For nearly two centuries, educators have used some type of report card to communicate with families how their children are progressing in school.
To ensure children build foundational reading skills in the early elementary years, educators have embraced the Science of Reading with its emphasis on phonics and phonemic awareness.
In first grade, educators shape the trajectories of how students feel about math. Long before they discover algebra or standardized tests, six- and seven-year-olds are forming beliefs about whether they are "math people," if their ideas are worth sharing, and what their mistakes say about them as learners.
Outdoor education has been shown to improve academic outcomes across subjects, including science, reading, and math, while also strengthening motivation, well-being, and school engagement. Studies also link outdoor learning to increased attendance, improved behavior, and stronger relationships among students.
Walk into almost any elementary classroom today and you will likely hear the same concern from teachers across grade levels: Many students can swipe, tap, and navigate a screen with ease, but struggle to hold a pencil comfortably, form letters fluently or sustain writing for more than a few minutes without fatigue.
Professional development is one of a school district's most powerful strategies for improving student outcomes. Yet, educators often leave workshops feeling inspired in the moment, but take little action in the classroom. The problem isn’t that teachers don’t want to learn, but that professional development is treated as an event, rather than an ongoing process.
Every summer, I find myself in conversations with teachers and administrators trying to figure out why their current pedagogical practices are or aren’t working. So, once I came across Harnessing the Science of Learning by Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D., I haven’t been able to stop recommending it.
Every school leader I know has a version of the same moment: You pull up a student's attendance record expecting to find a discipline problem, and instead you find a family going through a crisis none of us would wish on anyone.
Do you think you’re creative? Try this: List as many uses for a paperclip as you can in two minutes. Most people imagine a standard size metal or plastic clip. But consider that the “paperclip” could be made out of wood, gold, microprocessors, money, or anything you can imagine.
With the growing movement to limit technology in schools, parents and educators are right to question how much time students spend on screens. But, as schools reconsider the role of technology in the classroom, an important distinction is often getting lost in the public conversation: Not all screen time is equal.
When I taught Spanish, students would often ask, “Why do I need to learn this?” Many thought that learning a new language would only be useful if they wanted to become interpreters or work abroad.
School accountability systems measure whether students are mastering the academic standards states expect them to teach and signal where additional support is needed. Education is one of the largest budget items in most states, and accountability is how states verify that spending translates into student learning.
As the Director of Maintenance and Operations for 42 campuses across our district, my work is never small. From managing facilities and construction to navigating procurement and public sector regulations, the responsibility can feel like a heavy lift.
In an era defined by rapid technological advancement and an unprecedented explosion of information, public education stands at a pivotal and exciting crossroads.
It is an odd thing to hear from someone who builds education technology for a living, but the most important tool in an elementary classroom is still a pencil. The learning science says so.
Schools today are navigating an unprecedented convergence of academic gaps, behavioral challenges, chronic absenteeism and rising student mental health needs.
Summer break has finally arrived, and if you're like most educators, you're probably feeling a lot of conflicting emotions. There's relief that the school year is behind you, pride in everything you've accomplished, but also exhaustion from months of pouring your time, energy, and heart into your students.
As school districts prepare for the 2026–27 academic year, new national data from BlazerWorks reveals a growing staffing crisis across K–12 education, with more than 90% of district leaders reporting increased demand for specialist staff.
Today’s K-12 school districts have numerous responsibilities, from managing staff resources, to ensuring student safety, to fostering a learning environment where all students flourish.
District leaders are under increasing pressure to improve science achievement while balancing competing priorities, staffing challenges, instructional demands, and accountability expectations.
A post-graduation readiness report by YouScience found that the majority of graduating high school seniors lack confidence in their post-graduation plans, including choosing a college, paying for it, pursuing a career pathway, evaluating a job offer, and assessing which risks are worth taking. These types of decisions affect all students, regardless of zip code, ethnicity, or gender.
The answer to stagnating test scores is not adopting technology that has never demonstrated any ability to move test scores. Educators have to finally recognize that hope is not a strategy and cease rewarding vendors who show up without RCTs and rigorous validation.
Students are more than letter grades and test scores. They are unique individuals with their own goals, skills, and needs--deserving an educational journey that supports all three.
Teacher stress declined modestly in 2026, but teachers were still far more likely than similar working adults to report higher stress, worse well-being and greater financial strain, extending a pattern that has persisted since 2021, according to new RAND research.
A student’s school experience can shift dramatically--not just from year to year but from classroom to classroom each day. They may feel seen and encouraged by one teacher, but overlooked and underestimated by another.
Cyber resilience in education starts at the data layer. That is because the data layer is where schools' most important information lives and where recovery begins when something goes wrong.
The future of high-quality middle level engagement will include career exposure and exploration with a focus on transferable skills and the development of career goals.
Ameer Baraka knew something was wrong long before anyone gave it a name. Ameer grew up in poverty in Louisiana and had difficulty learning to read, but no one caught it. By third grade, he had already decided he would never amount to anything.
I've been teaching fifth grade in Massachusetts for 26 years. I hated social studies as a kid. I found it boring, heavy on dates and facts, and light on everything that might make a person actually care.
In 2023, Bob Bolduc, the founder of Hope for Youth and Families, identified a gap in our student’s reading success here in Springfield, Massachusetts. He sought to identify a solution that would specifically support middle school students reading below grade level, and in 2024 partnered with Storyshares and HILL for Literacy to create an intensive, four-week summer literacy program.
Across classrooms right now, many educators are noticing the same shift: Students are even harder to reach than they were just a short time ago. In a recent survey, teachers pointed to rising disengagement as a growing concern, with more students opting out of learning in both loud and quiet ways.
“Maybe we have too much teacher training.” That headline is a sentence I never thought I’d write, given that I run a company built around supporting teachers’ professional growth. But it has been sitting with me since I read the latest Education Scorecard report.
There is a period in the school leadership journey that we do not talk about enough: the time between earning an administrative license and actually becoming a school leader.
Once upon a time. For generations, those four words were an invitation. Children leaned in because a story was beginning. They would listen closely, follow the characters, and stay with the plot until the end.
It’s easy to connect with the families who show up in September already invested: responding to messages, attending events, kids showing up on time. In most cases, building that investment started months or years earlier.
Building a strong foundation in math during elementary and middle school is essential for success in the later grades. Because each concept builds on the last, students must truly grasp the material before moving forward.
American schools spent roughly $30 billion on educational technology in 2024--a figure that's projected to nearly double by 2033. Superintendents are constantly bombarded with emails, brochures, and demos from education technology companies.
As I wrapped up my student conferences, one conversation stuck with me. Steven had barely touched his final project for our computer science course, a virtual simulation of a piano, despite showing real promise earlier in the year.
The recent Instructure/Canvas breach should be a wake-up call for every school and university relying on third-party platforms to power teaching and learning.
Educators often see recommendations, dashboards, and strategic plans labeled as “data-backed,” as if the numbers themselves drive outcomes. The truth is that data alone cannot make decisions or explain why students struggle or programs succeed.
In the second week of January, a senior mathematics teacher with 22 years in the classroom raised a hand at the end of a staff meeting and asked a question that changed the way I now design AI literacy work for entire faculties.
A fictional space station orbiting the moon is turning into a real-world digital success story. Spacegate Station, a STEM series created in 2022 by Duval County Public School (DCPS) to support daily instruction, has unexpectedly taken off on YouTube, drawing sustained engagement from viewers far beyond the district.
Across the country, educators, parents, and policymakers are struggling with a question that schools can no longer afford to avoid: What role should cell phones play in today’s classrooms?
The overreliance on AI is a widely discussed topic for teachers, administrators, and families alike. The last thing we want is for technology to stifle the creativity, expertise, and human connection that educators bring to the classroom or hinder our students’ ability to think critically.
Every June, once the last bus leaves and the halls go quiet, I get the strong desire to take a deep breath and to allow the pressure of the previous school year to subside and let the slower pace of summer settle in.
The MacBook Neo may narrow a pricing gap, but it also exposes a management gap. A lower-cost Mac may be enough to spark fresh interest. However, it alone isn’t enough to guarantee a smooth rollout.
Summer is full of learning opportunities that many children miss. When back-to-school season begins, some kids are already starting behind. That's all due to a lack of access to high-quality programs and resources.
Libraries are more than a quiet corner of school where students can pick up a book now and then--they are vibrant learning environments that support classroom curriculum, spark curiosity and creativity, and enhance vital literary skills
There’s never been a more turbulent time for young people to plan for and embark on their futures, and a new survey gives insights on their feelings and plans.
When people outside of education talk about comprehensive school safety planning, it can sometimes sound theoretical: a checklist of protocols or a compliance exercise.
Last year, one of my strongest students could solve complex equations flawlessly--but paused when I asked a simple question: “Why does this method work?”
New York is currently standing at a historic crossroads. With a rare alignment of executive leadership in Albany and NYC and a tireless advocacy community, the state is poised to transform the promise of universal early childhood education (ECE) into a reality for tens of thousands of families.
AI is a daily reality in the nation's schools, and in Illinois, it shapes how students research, problem-solve, and create. Now, Teach Plus Illinois and the Illinois Digital Educators Alliance (IDEA) are releasing “From ‘Rules and Tools’ to Schools,” a follow-up to the 2024 report that first sounded the alarm on AI's "Wild West" conditions in schools.
