Author: studyblog

Key points: STEM workforce shortages are a well-known global issue. With demand set to rise by nearly 11 percent in the next decade, today’s students are the solution. They will be the ones to make the next big discoveries, solve the next great challenges, and make the world a better place. Unfortunately, many students don’t see themselves as part of that picture. When students struggle in math and science, many come to believe they simply aren’t “STEM people.” While it’s common to hear this phrase in the classroom, a perceived inability in STEM can become a gatekeeper that stops students…

Key points: Teacher evaluations have been the subject of debate for decades. Breakthroughs have been attempted, but rarely sustained. Researchers have learned that context, transparency, and autonomy matter. What’s been missing is technology that enhances these at scale inside the evaluation process–not around it.  As an edtech executive in the AI era, I see exciting possibilities to bring new technology to bear on these factors in the longstanding dilemma of observing and rating teacher effectiveness. At the most fundamental level, the goals are simple, just as they are in other professions: provide accountability, celebrate areas of strong performance, and identify where improvement…

Key points: When you need to fix your sink, learn how to use AI, or cook up a new recipe, chances are you searched on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or even Facebook–and found a video, watched it, paused it, rewound it, and successfully accomplished your goal. Why? Videos allow you to get the big picture, and then pause, rewind, and re-watch the instruction as many times as you want, at your own pace.  Video-based instruction offers a hands-free, multichannel (sight and sound) learning experience. Creating educational videos isn’t an “extra” for creating instruction in today’s world; it’s essential. As an educator,…

Key points: Schools, colleges, and universities face growing challenges in keeping their communities informed, connected, and engaged. From classroom collaboration to campus-wide alerts, reliable communication is critical to creating positive learning environments and student experiences. Currently, many educational institutions are weighed down by outdated and disjointed communication systems that hinder learning, experience, and even safety. Educators need technology that is both flexible and responsive, and these systems are falling short.   The campus communication disconnect Many schools find themselves in a fragmented communication trap, juggling a complex tech stack with outdated systems. On its own, each tool might work well,…

Key points: For the last two years, conversations about AI in education have tended to fall into two camps: excitement about efficiency or fear of replacement. Teachers worry they’ll lose authenticity. Leaders worry about academic integrity. And across the country, schools are trying to make sense of a technology that feels both promising and overwhelming. But there’s a quieter, more human-centered opportunity emerging–one that rarely makes the headlines: AI can actually strengthen empathy and improve the quality of our interactions with students and staff. Not by automating relationships, but by helping us become more reflective, intentional, and attuned to the…

Key points: Teacher preparation programs have long emphasized curriculum, instruction, and assessment. However, they often fall short in one critical area: social-emotional and mental health needs of students. We work daily with students whose academic success is inseparable from their psychological well-being. Nonetheless, we witness new educators wishing they were trained in not just behavior management, but, nowadays, the non-academic needs of children. If preservice programs are going to meet the demands of today’s classrooms, they must include deeper coursework in counseling, psychology, and trauma-informed teaching practices. Students today are carrying heavier emotional burdens than ever before. Anxiety, bullying, depression,…

Key points: With the end of federal COVID-19 emergency funding and the inherent volatility of state income tax revenues, California school districts are in an era of financial uncertainty. Fortunately, Jurupa Unified School District is already several years into the process of finding ways to track and control expenses while still supporting teachers and staff so they can provide the best possible educational experience for our students. Here’s how we’re making staffing and payroll processes more efficient, starting with the perennially challenging extra duty. Getting a handle on extra duty In addition to our salaried staff, we have a number…

Key points: When you walk into a math classroom in Charleston County School District, you can feel the difference. Students aren’t just memorizing steps–they’re reasoning through problems, explaining their thinking, and debating solutions with their peers. Teachers aren’t rushing to cover content, because their clear understanding of students’ natural learning progressions allows them to spend more time exploring the why behind the math. This cultural shift didn’t come from adopting a new curriculum or collecting more data. Instead, we transformed math education by investing deeply in our educators through OGAP (The Ongoing Assessment Project) professional learning–an approach that has reshaped…

Key points: Many years ago, around 2010, I attended a professional development program in Houston called Literacy Through Photography, at a time when I was searching for practical ways to strengthen comprehension, discussion, and reading fluency, particularly for students who found traditional print-based tasks challenging. As part of the program, artists visited my classroom and shared their work with students. Much of that work was abstract. There were no obvious answers and no single “correct” interpretation. Instead, students were invited to look closely, talk together, and explain what they noticed. What struck me was how quickly students, including those who…

Key points: Walk into any data meeting at a K-12 school today, and you’ll likely see a familiar scene: educators huddled around printed reports, highlighters in hand, trying to make sense of student data spread across multiple dashboards. If you’ve ever left one of these meetings feeling mentally exhausted without clear next steps, you’re not alone. The problem isn’t that we lack data in education, but rather that most dashboards show us the past–not the path ahead. It’s like trying to drive while only looking in the rearview mirror. The education sector sits on massive amounts of student data, yet…