(Dated April 30) ALA President Commends ConnectED: Library Challenge to Expand Student Access to Public Library Cards Today, American Library Association (ALA) President Courtney Young issued a statement in response to President Obama’s announcement of the ConnectED: Library Challenge, an initiative designed to ensure that every student receives a public library card through their school. … Read more

U.S. K-12 EdTech Spending Surged in 2020, Survey Finds By Charles Sosnik In 2020, U.S. K-12 education institutions spent $35.8 billion on educational technology — including devices, major software systems, digital curriculum resources and networks — an increase of $7.5 billion compared with 2019. That sharp rise was driven largely by emergency funding from the … Read more

By Abbey Dorsey Great teachers open doors to new possibilities. Every student deserves to feel empowered to pursue opportunities, but young people can only reach for options they know exist. Exceptional educators expand students’ horizons by revealing what’s possible in college, careers, and life. To create that learning environment, teachers must first build trusting relationships … Read more

By Kathleen McClaskey Editor’s Note: This is part one of a three-part series “How do we create an inclusive learning culture with equity at the center?” Establishing a culture of learning that is inclusive and centered on equity is essential for competency-based schools, yet it remains a significant challenge for many K–12 public education systems. … Read more

By Ken Tam The past year demanded extraordinary flexibility and resilience from educators. Faced with overlapping personal and professional pressures, teachers, principals, and administrators improvised, innovated, and adapted to keep students learning. Despite these heroic efforts, systemic barriers persisted and in many places widened opportunity gaps, particularly for Black and Latino students. With lessons learned … Read more

This episode opens with an in-depth conversation with LeiLani Cauthen, CEO of the Learning Counsel, who explores how school districts are moving beyond simply accepting technology to actively leading a digital transition (0:30). Cauthen outlines how districts are shifting their mindset, prioritizing digital strategy, and making deliberate choices to integrate technology in ways that support … Read more

By Robyn D. Shulman You can literally hold your future in the palm of your hand. Meet the career and college-planning app, Schoold.co, a mobile tool that brings personalized college and career guidance to students and families. Today’s students and parents have access to an unprecedented volume of information about college and careers. Yet sifting … Read more

By Dr. Ana Gabriela Bell Jimenez Introduction I grew up in Costa Rica and moved to the United States as a foreign exchange student at age 20. I know firsthand what it means to learn a second language, to be an English language learner (ELL), and to develop biliteracy. Those experiences guide my work: I … Read more

By Christy S. Martin, Ed.D. Where children live is increasingly shaping the educational opportunities they receive. The Center on Reinventing Public Education recently examined reopening plans across 477 school districts and found unsettling patterns that highlight a widening equity gap in access to instruction. Their review reported that 26 percent of those districts planned to … Read more

By Nhon Ma STEM fields—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—offer some of the most promising career paths today. While the overall U.S. job market is expected to grow modestly, demand for STEM skills continues to outpace general employment growth. As innovations reshape daily life and previously speculative technologies become practical realities, students of all backgrounds are … Read more