Author: studyblog

Key points: After 20 years teaching high school math, I thought I understood why students struggled. Then I sat in my first professional learning session focused on early math and was humbled. Like many secondary educators, I used to describe students as “lacking number sense.” But that experience broke the idea down into something much more precise and much more actionable. I began to see that many of the challenges students face in algebra actually stem from gaps in foundational understanding that begin years earlier. Across the 20 districts we serve at Pennsylvania’s Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit 19 (NEIU19), one…

Key points: Walk into one classroom and AI doesn’t exist. Walk into another and it’s doing half the work. Walk into a third and it’s not allowed at all. Students notice that. They might not have the vocabulary for it yet, especially in elementary school, but they feel the shift. They know when something is “AI,” even if they can’t fully explain why. They also know when expectations change depending on the room they’re in. One teacher ignores it, another models it, another shuts it down. The result isn’t clarity. It’s confusion. This is where we are right now. In…

CHICAGO, May 5, 2026 — ClassMate by World Book, the leading platform of trusted content that helps build knowledge through reading in every subject, today announced it has earned the coveted ISTE Seal from the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). This independent certification recognizes educational technology solutions that demonstrate practical usability, pedagogy grounded in research and learning sciences, and strict alignment with the ISTE Standards. The need for trusted literacy resources has never been more urgent. Data show that only 30% of eighth-grade students perform at or above the proficient level in reading in 2024, a figure that…

Key points: In mathematics education, we have long relied on a familiar sequence: introduce vocabulary, demonstrate procedures, and assign practice. For some students, this works well enough. But for many students–particularly those in special education, multilingual learners, and those who struggle with language processing–this approach creates barriers before learning even begins. In my experience as a math teacher, and through ongoing research into how students actually learn, there is a more effective starting point: the way the brain is naturally wired to make sense of the world. The brain is built for patterns, not procedures At a fundamental level, the…

Key points: A shadow teacher follows Ezekiel, an intermediate multilingual learner, through his school day. In science, the lesson is structured around talk. Ezekiel discusses ideas with a partner, uses key vocabulary and sentence stems provided by the teacher to explain his thinking, and builds on what others say. When he shares with the class, his sentences are not perfect, but his thinking is clear, and it grows stronger as he speaks. Later, in history, the pattern shifts. The teacher explains, questions, and evaluates. Ezekiel listens carefully, but speaks only once, offering a short response. His understanding remains largely unspoken.…

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters. Chromebooks are scattered all around the classrooms of Floyd M. Jewett Elementary School in Mesick, Michigan. Towers of them are teetering atop bookshelves. They’re piled up in corners of classrooms. They’ve even cropped up in one classroom’s dish rack. But there’s one place you won’t find them: in students’ hands. Last month, Mesick Consolidated Schools banned digital devices in its elementary school of about 250 students. The decision wasn’t an agonizing one. The ban came at astonishing speed, almost overnight, after a conversation between Mesick Superintendent…

Key points: Educational research has never been more abundant, yet its impact on classroom practice remains uneven at best. While universities continue to produce studies on instructional strategies, student outcomes, and emerging technologies, many K-12 educators rarely engage with this work in meaningful ways. The issue is not due to a lack of interest. It is a failure of access, translation, and alignment. Recent survey data from 263 K-12 educators highlights a persistent gap between research production and classroom application. While educators overwhelmingly value research, only a small percentage engage with it regularly, and many turn instead to informal sources…

Key points: AI plays a supportive educational role for nearly 70 percent of top-performing math students asked about their study habits, according to a new survey.The survey, conducted by Philadelphia-based Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), surveyed more than 1,300 11th and 12th grade students from across the U.S. and sixth form students in England and Wales–comprising some of each country’s top young math minds–to get a glimpse into the motivation and practices behind their academic success.  The students are participants in this year’s MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge (M3 Challenge), an annual internet-based, intensive math modeling contest organized by SIAM.  Survey resultsAccording to the…

Key points: In the Ithaca City School District, we have long understood that relationships are not peripheral to the work; they are the work. A culture of love is not aspirational language but a daily commitment to ensure that every student, every family, and every member of our community feels seen, valued, and connected to something greater than themselves. Outreach cannot be distant, procedural, or impersonal, because when we treat a student’s absence as a simple matter of compliance, we risk sending families to truancy court for systemic issues like transportation or illness. It must be rooted in humanity, grounded…

Key points: 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. Built on a new statewide educator survey and the momentum of Senate Bill 1920, the legislation that directs the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to establish statewide AI guidance this summer, the report gives policymakers a clear, classroom-grounded roadmap for getting this…