Author: studyblog

Key points: Have you ever been to an escape room? For those unfamiliar with the term, an escape room is a structured, problem-solving experience where participants are locked in a room and must use their wits, tenacity, and deductive skills to find a way out. The challenge is thrilling, but also surprisingly edifying too. Participants are required to adjust the way they think, and the solution only becomes visible by exercising curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking–the very skills that make also make for a successful classroom. Naturally, this has led some educators to pose an interesting question: “What if teachers…

Key points: Chronic absenteeism has become one of the most pressing challenges facing K-12 education today. According to the American Enterprise Institute, chronic absenteeism rates are leveling out at 23.5 percent, still far above pre-pandemic attendance levels. Here’s the other thing the data shows us: Absenteeism isn’t random. Predicting which students will become chronically absent is possible–and that predictability makes it preventable. Pattern recognition: Your district’s attendance has a fingerprint Analyzing attendance data across hundreds of districts, clear patterns emerge. Fridays consistently show higher absence rates. The days immediately before and after breaks become blackout zones. Sixth grade marks a…

Key points: Artificial intelligence is no longer approaching the classroom–it is already embedded in it. Students are using generative tools to brainstorm, summarize, translate, draft, and revise. Attempts to construct “AI-proof” assignments through surveillance software or detection systems are proving unreliable, inconsistent, and often counterproductive. The more productive question for educators is not, “How do we prevent AI use?” but rather, “How do we design assessments that assume AI is present and still measure meaningful learning?” For instructional leaders at all levels, this shift requires rethinking assessment design, policy language, and professional development. The AI-resistant classroom is a myth. The…

Key points: Traditional education models rely on providing rigid pathways for students to follow. They learn a particular way to solve problems and focus on achieving specific outcomes, rather than focusing on the creative ways that outcome can be achieved. Students are encouraged to focus on getting the answer right, rather than exploring how critical thinking and problem solving evolves in the process. Grades are based on the number of correct vs. incorrect answers, and while that is still critical to academic success, today’s classroom must evolve to include more flexibility in teaching a variety of methods to achieve results.…

Key points: On the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, only about one in four fourth graders in Michigan scored at or above proficiency in reading–a stark reminder that too many students are moving through elementary school without secure foundational literacy skills. In Wayne-Westland Community School District, these statewide trends were visible locally. When I stepped into my role as the director of professional development and school improvement, I encountered a familiar paradox: committed teachers, significant investment in literacy resources, and uneven student outcomes. Instructional effort was high, but results were inconsistent. The problem was not motivation. It was fragmentation.…

Key points: Chronic student absenteeism has reached troubling new heights in the post-pandemic K-12 landscape, with one in four students in many systems now missing significant class time. To date, the institutional response has been both predictable and insufficient. School systems nationwide have intensified compliance efforts with an expanding array of tech tools, tightened attendance policies, increased monitoring, and escalated warnings to families, all in the name of sound logic that dictates that learning requires attendance. Yet after more than three decades in education as a teacher, coach, principal, and superintendent, I have come to believe absenteeism is not primarily…

Key points: Last year, a third-grade teacher in São Paulo told me she had “finally found the perfect AI tool.” It generated colorful worksheets in seconds. Vocabulary lists, reading comprehension questions, even a quiz. She was thrilled until she tried to use them. The worksheets tested recall. Every one of them. No scaffolding, no collaborative structure, no entry point for students who needed more time with the concept. The AI had produced content. It had not produced a learning experience. This gap shows up everywhere. Search “best AI tools for teaching” and you’ll find dozens of roundups comparing features: which…

Key points: Data has become one of the most important strategic assets in education. Yet across institutions, publishers, and edtech companies, it often remains fragmented, inconsistently governed, and difficult to use with confidence. The challenge is rarely a lack of dashboards or reports. Most organizations already have plenty of data. The real issue is that the data behind those dashboards is often disconnected, inconsistently defined, and not structured to support better decisions. That problem shows up differently across the market. For institutions, student information, learning activity, advising, assessment, and operational data often live in separate systems. That makes it difficult…

Key points: This time of year has always been challenging for teachers. I know it was for me. We are past the halfway point in the school year, but right in the middle of the coldest, greyest months in the calendar. If you’re feeling a bit sluggish (rightly so), most likely your students are. It may not feel like they are the prime audience for learning about multiplication, division, or decimals.  Motivating students to engage with the subject matter and materials is critical at any time of year. Some learners are intrinsically motivated, or interested in learning because they find…

Key points: While prevention remains essential, 2025 has reinforced a hard lesson for district leaders: it’s not a question of if a cyber incident will occur, but how prepared a school system is to respond and recover when an attack happens. A significant majority (more than 80 percent) of U.S. K-12 schools experienced cyber threat activity in 2025, from phishing and account compromise to ransomware and supply chain breaches, with further surveys indicating that almost two-thirds of districts have reported at least one cybersecurity incident across the past two academic years. Ransomware activity targeting education continues to rise, disrupting operations…