Overworked and Understaffed: Special Ed Teachers Turn to AI for Help
For years, schools nationwide have struggled with hiring and retaining special educators. In the 2024-25 school year, 45 states reported special education teacher shortages, and staff turnover is worse in schools that largely serve low-income students, like Riverview. Some special educators say part of what makes them feel overworked is legally required paperwork layered on […]
Ross Greene: What if Bad Behavior Isn’t the Problem?
Episode Transcript This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.Ki Sung: Welcome to the MindShift podcast, where we explore the future of learning and how we raise our kids. I’m Ki Sung. There’s been no shortage of stories about what’s troubling kids today, the outbursts, the apathy, the […]
America’s Fastest-improving School System Still Falls Short
In 2025, only 26 percent of Washington students met grade-level standards in math and only 38 percent were proficient in reading, according to a separate report from the D.C. Policy Center, an independent local think tank. Just 16 percent of high school juniors and seniors were considered to be college or career ready. A school […]
Want to Lighten Your Mental Load? First, Let Go of These Gender Myths
In a conversation with Life Kit, Ruppanner unpacks some of the assumptions that keep a woman’s mental load heavy, and what it takes to reclaim your headspace. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Drained: Reduce Your Mental Load to Do Less and Be More, is written by sociologist and researcher Leah Ruppanner. […]
The MAHA Movement is Coming to School Cafeterias. Here’s What That Means for Kids
Yet many districts rely on processed, premade foods to feed their students, and protein is already the most expensive ingredient on the cafeteria plate, school nutrition experts say. This year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s reimbursement rate for schools in the contiguous 48 states is about $4.60 per meal for a student who is eligible […]
Students’ Test Scores Began Declining Way Before COVID. These Schools Are Making Gains
Reading gains weren’t quite as eye-popping, but they were gains nonetheless. These sustained gains “may be one of the most important social policy successes of the last half-century that nobody knows about,” says Harvard’s Thomas Kane, one of the Scorecard’s authors. “Racial gaps were narrowing too. We just need to get back on that track.“ […]
Why Career Pathways Can be Clarifying
Ideally, students take a sequence of three or more courses in fields like healthcare, construction or education. Many also earn early college credits or make significant progress toward industry certifications, and some participate in internships or apprenticeships. Researchers at RTI International, a nonprofit research organization, tracked more than 6,000 graduates who had completed at least […]
Inflation is Sucking the Life Out of Teacher Pay Raises, Report Finds
These data come with an important caveat, though: They have not been adjusted for differences in the cost of living, which can vary greatly from ZIP code to ZIP code and could reasonably account for at least some of the gap in salaries. Inflation’s effect on teacher pay NEA researchers used state department of education […]
Should Schools Get Rid of Homework? The Answer is Complex and AI Contributes
The response to Garrett’s announcement was swift — and overwhelmingly positive. The message is the district’s most “liked” post on Facebook by far this year, with hundreds of shares — many of them by parents from neighboring parishes asking how they could get their own schools on board. The scope of the district’s no-homework guidance […]
Schools and States Are Now Setting Limits on Screen Time for Students
The move is an about-face for a district that, since the pandemic, has focused on bringing technology into the classroom. States sprint to limit screen time The shift in the nation’s second-largest school district aligns with a flurry of recent state movement. Since January, Alabama, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia have passed some form of legislation […]