Author: studyblog

Key points: When my daughter was little, every time we climbed into the car, she’d look up and ask, “Are we going to take the low way?” It took me embarrassingly long to realize what she meant. To her, the “highway” was a place where we got stuck in traffic—a “high” duration (I guess…), and therefore, bad. She wanted the “low way”: the shortcut. That’s not what those terms mean (if they mean anything), but she recognized a problem—being stuck in the car—and used the tools she had to invent a solution. This is the essence of creativity: the decisions…

Key points: 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? In Georgia, that conversation has reached a pivotal moment with the passage of Georgia House Bill 1009 (HB1009), a measure designed to limit student cell phone use during the school day. As the bill moves to the governor’s desk, it reflects a growing national movement. States and districts across the United States are considering similar policies aimed at reducing distractions and improving student outcomes. Data from the National Center…

Key points: 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. Today, the Spacegate YouTube channel has more than 1,600 subscribers, more than 196,000 views, 25,000+ hours of watch time, and roughly 2.3 million impressions, according to district analytics. Its 4.9 percent click-through rate places it at the high end of STEM instructional content (Tubular Labs,2023). For a district-produced series with…

Key points: 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. Her question was not about prompts or platforms. It was simpler and more honest than that: “What if I look stupid in front of my students?” The room went quiet. Nobody had said it out loud before, but every teacher present had been carrying some version of the same worry for months. American districts trying…

Key points: 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. Numbers can highlight trends, reveal gaps, and flag areas for improvement–but only if leaders know how to interpret them. Without intentional analysis and context, even the most robust datasets can lead to misguided actions and missed opportunities. The difference between insight and noise lies in what leaders do before acting. When a district sees flat test scores, the instinct is often to adjust…

Key points: 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. Education’s attack surface is no longer limited to district firewalls or school-issued devices. It now extends across the cloud services, identity systems, and other platforms that support daily instruction. This reality is forcing a mindset shift: Traditional perimeter defenses are still necessary, but they are no longer sufficient. Digital landscape To understand the urgency, it’s important to consider how the digital sprawl in education has amplified security risks. Districts now rely on thousands of edtech…

Key points: 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. I knew he was capable of more, so I began our conference by telling him this. Slowly, he opened up. Instead of talking about coding, his project, or his grades, Steven spent most of our time describing the anxiety and insomnia he was experiencing because his mom was sick. At that moment, the final project and the skills I wanted…

Key points: 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. What’s more, teachers and students are trying to figure out how to make the most of top-down mandates on technology from school and district leaders. Schools have processes for these decisions–pilots, data reviews, stakeholder check-ins, procurement policies–all of which create something that feels rigorous. But by the time most schools are running through that process, they have already answered a prior question: Who gets to name…

Key points: 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. The key to that deeper understanding is making math feel relevant, engaging, and fun. I teach sixth-grade math, and one of the lifelines I’ve found for engaging students is project-based learning (PBL). Project based learning is a teaching method where students learn by doing real-world or personally meaningful projects. At our school, each day we provide students with meaningful, engaging lessons that challenge…

Key points: 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. Those families engage because they have a fundamental level of trust in their school, and that trust gets built intentionally with message here, a check-in there, a personal note that said, “We’re thinking about your kid, and we’ll see you soon.” Summer is the most underused relationship-building window in the K-12 calendar. And that makes it one of the best opportunities a school…