Category: Artificial Intelligence

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</p> <h2>Caplan: I’ve tested more than 200 Ed Tech services this year. Here are the most useful for teaching.</h2> <p class="sans">By <a rel="author" href="https://www.the74million.org/contributor/jeremy-caplan/">Jeremy Caplan</a></p> <p>This story first appeared at <a href="https://www.the74million.org">The 74</a>, a nonprofit news site covering education. <a href="https://www.the74million.org/about/newsletters/?utm_source=republish-button&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=republish">Sign up for free newsletters from The 74</a> to get more like this in your inbox.</p> <p>As a tech explorer and author of the<a href="http://wondertools.substack.com/"> Wonder Tools</a> newsletter, I’ve tested more than 200 Ed Tech services this year in search of the 10 most useful teaching tools. The <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/2739-ed-tech-tools-later-where-are-the-outcomes/">massive number of apps</a> and sites clamoring for teachers’ collective attention can be exhausting. So this guide is intended to help you gauge what’s actually worth your time. </p> <p>Each of these top 10 tools is valuable whether you’re working with little kids, grad students, or learners in between. These services are all free to try, with paid upgrades available. I teach college and grad students, have two elementary school kids of my own and have worked with teachers at all levels for more than two decades. So you’ll find here tools designed to enhance teaching at all levels. </p> <p>–<em>Jeremy Caplan</em></p> <h2 class="wp-block-heading sectional">Make Concepts Stick</h2> <div class="wp-block-group callout"> <div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained"> <h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-left"><a href="https://www.pathwright.com/"><strong>Pathwright</strong></a></h3> <h4 class="wp-block-heading">Create a learning path</h4> <p>Pathwright is one of the best-kept secrets among teaching tools. It’s a well-designed, simpler alternative to complicated learning management systems like Blackboard or D2L, and it’s more elegant and flexible than Google Classroom. Rather than giving students dozens of menus to choose from, Pathwright lets you create a simple learning path for students to follow one step at a time. You can create a path with a few steps for guided independent learning, or set up a full online course that’s easy to navigate. Any step you create can include a reading, video, activity, assessment, embed or any other interaction. The learning paths provide an easy way to guide students toward learning objectives. It’s a visually delightful alternative to clunkier systems.</p> </div> </div> <div class="wp-block-group callout"> <div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained"> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="https://www.figma.com/education/"><strong>Figjam</strong></a></h3> <h4 class="wp-block-heading">Visual thinking and collaborative whiteboards</h4> <p>When Google shut down Jamboard and Microsoft discontinued Flipgrid, teachers went searching for lively alternative tools. Figjam came to the rescue. Digital whiteboards enable the kind of open-ended visual thinking that’s invaluable whether you’re teaching about historical networks, systems thinking, scientific processes or anything requiring students to explore connections and relationships. The platform is free for educators. Figjam also has new AI capabilities, allowing it to categorize student comments or transform a scattered brainstorm into an organized handout. You can even use Figjam for presentations. Unlike sterile corporate whiteboard apps, Figjam includes playful stickers, stamps and templates designed for teaching and learning — from icebreakers to built-in timers. </p> </div> </div> <h2 class="wp-block-heading sectional"><strong>Inspire Curiosity</strong></h2> <div class="wp-block-group callout"> <div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained"> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="https://try.gamma.app/98h0agrxo6l4"><strong>Gamma</strong></a></h3> <h4 class="wp-block-heading">Make attractive slides</h4> <p>Replace PowerPoint or Google Slides with Gamma. You’ll save time preparing slides, and they’ll be more engaging for students. Create vertical, square or horizontal slides. You can import existing PDFs or PowerPoint slide decks. When you’re done creating, you can export to Google Slides or PowerPoint. You can use Gamma without any of its artificial intelligence features, if you’re an AI abstainer, or you can use Gamma’s AI to jumpstart a new presentation instantly from an outline, text prompt or document you upload. </p> <p>Unlike PowerPoint, Gamma makes it easy to embed live websites, videos or data visualizations inside your slides to make them stand out. You can even use Gamma to build simple websites, social posts or interactive lessons. </p> </div> </div> <div class="wp-block-group callout"> <div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained"> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="https://genially.com/"><strong>Genially</strong></a></h3> <h4 class="wp-block-heading">Make interactive teaching materials</h4> <p>Genially is terrific for creating interactive lessons. Add clickable hotspots to any image, timeline, map, or other image. Student clicks reveal informational pop-ups, links, or audio files. These hotspots transform static visuals — like simple maps or timelines — into engaging, exploratory learning elements. I’ve used Genially to turn my old handouts into resources with embedded audio. When students click on something, they hear my brief recorded explanation or anecdote. The free version works great for teachers. You can invite an unlimited number of students into your workspace for free, and like these other top tools, Genially is grounded in student privacy: it’s FERPA-COPPA and GDPR compliant. While it takes a bit of experimenting to get comfortable with the interface, once you understand the basics, you can transform boring handouts into interactive learning materials that students actually want to explore.</p> </div> </div> <h4 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-da66f7650aa8b7579d1b48ce633390fc" style="color:#002dd1">VIDEO</h4> <h3 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-center">Jeremy Caplan Walks Through Three Top Tech Tools for Educators</h3> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"> <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> <p><iframe title="Top Tech Tools for Teachers in 2026" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vazxy-VAHWs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> </div> </figure> <h2 class="wp-block-heading sectional">AI That Actually Helps</h2> <div class="wp-block-group callout"> <div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained"> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="https://notebooklm.google/"><strong>NotebookLM</strong></a></h3> <h4 class="wp-block-heading">Build on your teaching materials</h4> <p>NotebookLM is a free tool from Google that lets you apply AI to any collection of documents. It’s super useful for searching through your teaching materials, but also for strengthening and repurposing them. You can have 100 notebooks in a free NotebookLM account, and each notebook can have 50 sources in it. A source can be a PDF, Word Doc, image, audio file, link or a Google Drive file. Each one can be up to 200 MB or 500,000 words. You can fit dozens of lesson plans, handouts, syllabi, slides, rubrics or even handwritten notes or voice recordings. NotebookLM makes everything instantly searchable and remixable. </p> <p>NotebookLM’s semantic search can find things in your materials based on level, topic, style or other characteristics that a simple Control-F search can’t do. You can also use it to adapt teaching materials into new formats. Turn a dense reading into an engaging audio overview students can listen to, or transform a handout into a colorful infographic or slide deck. Students can create their own notebooks and generate flashcards and interactive quizzes to help with studying. They can also use the mind map feature for helping to visualize connections across topics. </p> <p>You can create separate notebooks for each course you teach, or organize one for administrative tasks and another for curriculum development. NotebookLM works only from your uploaded sources — not generic web content — and provides citations so you can see the source of search results. </p> </div> </div> <div class="wp-block-group callout"> <div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained"> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="https://www.anthropic.com/news/projects"><strong>Claude Projects</strong></a></h3> <h4 class="wp-block-heading">Your AI Teaching Partner</h4> <p>Claude is a general purpose AI tool, like ChatGPT, Gemini or Microsoft’s Copilot. Where it excels for teachers, though, is in a feature called Claude Projects. You start by uploading your existing teaching materials — syllabi, lesson plans, handouts, slides, rubrics, notes or pictures you took of whiteboard diagrams — whatever you use for your teaching. You also provide a detailed set of instructions and context to guide your project. This might include the level of your students, your approach to project-based learning, how much time you typically have for lessons, what kinds of activities your students respond well to or any special learning needs they have. </p> <p>You can then task Claude to be your critic and coach, pointing out blind spots in your syllabi, listing potential missing elements in your upcoming lessons or suggesting supportive materials you may want to create to supplement a particular part of your class. </p> <p>You can use Claude to help you make your lessons and materials more inclusive and accessible. It can help you adapt content for different skill levels or even translate materials into multiple languages. It can suggest concrete examples and analogies, give you alternative elements to consider adding to a rubric, or even point you to additional readings or research you might want to explore related to a subject you’re teaching. It’s the closest thing most of us will get to having an assistant, available 24-7 to support our teaching prep. </p> </div> </div> <h2 class="wp-block-heading sectional">Spark Engagement</h2> <div class="wp-block-group callout"> <div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained"> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="https://kahoot.com/"><strong>Kahoot</strong></a></h3> <h4 class="wp-block-heading">Add fun to learning</h4> <p>No other teaching tool generates as much classroom buzz as Kahoot, which turns quizzes into playful games. You can design your own questions or pick from a huge library of quiz games designed by other teachers. And now that Kahoot has an AI assistant built in, you can convert text from your handout or lesson into editable quiz questions.</p> <p>What makes Kahoot especially engaging is the variety of question formats: Students can drop pins on images, fill in blanks, guess numbers or order items in a list. There’s also dramatic quiz-show music that helps create a playful atmosphere. Students can play individually or in teams, so Kahoot works for both competitive and collaborative classroom cultures.<a href="https://www.gimkit.com/"> Gimkit</a>,<a href="https://wayground.com/"> Wayground</a> and<a href="https://www.blooket.com/"> Blooket</a> are good alternative game-style quiz platforms that offer fuller free plans for those on a tight budget.</p> </div> </div> <div class="wp-block-group callout"> <div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained"> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="https://padlet.com/"><strong>Padlet</strong></a></h3> <h4 class="wp-block-heading">Get students engaging and interacting</h4> <p>Padlets are digital bulletin boards where students can post comments, links, voice recordings or short videos. You set up a board with a topic or a template. You can start with a map, timeline, discussion thread or an image gallery. Students can then participate from their own device, adding their own notes, documents, images or comments. Or they can use the built-in recorder to add audio or video. </p> <p>You can build a board as a live, collaborative activity or asynchronously. You can also use it as a teacher to guide students through teaching material or as a showcase for exceptional student work. </p> <p>I find Padlet useful for brainstorming, collecting student questions before class and building collections, like students’ favorite songs, books or snacks. </p> <p>It’s so easy to use that most students can jump in without any training. Padlets are often used in elementary school classes, but I’ve also used them with graduate students and for mid-career training. It’s one of the best tools for getting students building on each other’s ideas, rather than passively consuming content.</p> </div> </div> <h2 class="wp-block-heading sectional">Tame the Chaos</h2> <div class="wp-block-group callout"> <div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained"> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="https://www.craft.do/"><strong>Craft</strong></a></h3> <h4 class="wp-block-heading">Organize your materials</h4> <p>Craft is a surprisingly useful, underrated tool for creating and organizing notes and documents. Use it to develop attractive lesson plans, student handouts, syllabi or collections of resources. You can organize materials into neat visual cards students can click to explore. Add text, images, links or tables to your documents so they look more elegant than Google Docs, Apple Notes or Microsoft Word documents. It’s easy to share Craft docs with a link or export as PDF, and it’s easier to use than Notion or other pro tools. </p> <p>Craft also has a remarkably good mobile app, so you can actually use your phone or tablet to make notes or prepare documents. If you’re drowning in scattered teaching materials in various different apps, consider Craft as a new, flexible place to make, organize and share your docs.</p> </div> </div> <div class="wp-block-group callout"> <div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained"> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="https://tally.cello.so/s2zJWix6KRv"><strong>Tally</strong></a></h3> <h4 class="wp-block-heading">Create free, useful surveys</h4> <p>Tally is the best free tool for making forms and surveys. Whether you’re gathering feedback from parents and students, or collecting information for trips, Tally forms are better-looking and more flexible and powerful than Google Forms. They’re just as easy to create in a few minutes. You can add images, videos or text before or between questions. You can use Tally to collect assignment submissions, create quizzes or handle RSVPs for events. The interface lets you start typing and add questions from a simple list — no complicated menus. You can make forms feel less bureaucratic than other boring survey tools and connect your forms to Google Sheets, Notion, Excel, or whatever other tools you like so you can analyze responses easily. Based in Belgium, Tally follows strict European privacy rules. For educators who need to collect information regularly, Tally lets you quickly make professional-looking surveys without paying for expensive tools. Extra fancy analytics require a paid plan, but the free tier will cover most of your teaching needs. I haven’t yet needed to upgrade. </p> </div> </div> <h2 class="wp-block-heading has-text-align-left sectional">Bonus: Preserve Academic Integrity</h2> <div class="wp-block-group callout"> <div class="wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained"> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><a href="https://pangram.cello.so/XR3NTSX15Ob"><strong>Pangram</strong></a></h3> <h4 class="wp-block-heading reverse">Detect AI writing</h4> <p>Students increasingly lean on AI for homework help. Sometimes they’re trying to make sense of something confusing, like a jargon-filled textbook diagram. On other occasions, they’re using AI in more problematic ways; 84% of high school students say they’re using AI to help with schoolwork, according to College Board<a href="https://newsroom.collegeboard.org/new-research-majority-high-school-students-use-generative-ai-schoolwork"> research</a>, while about 85% of college students say the same, according to<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11528-025-01109-6"> three</a><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/academics/2025/08/29/survey-college-students-views-ai"> separate</a><a href="https://campustechnology.com/articles/2024/08/28/survey-86-of-students-already-use-ai-in-their-studies.aspx"> studies</a>. In some of those cases, students are using AI to avoid doing their own writing. </p> <p>That’s led some educators to look for new ways to discourage students from outsourcing their thinking. I wish we didn’t have to resort to AI checkers, but educators are clamoring for them. If you’re going to use an AI detector, Pangram is the most accurate. Its false-positive rates of around one in 10,000 are much better than the notoriously problematic early detection tools. From my perspective, Pangram can serve as a useful backup pair of eyes when you’re overwhelmed with questionable submissions, or if you’re just trying to identify the most egregious violations of academic integrity.</p> </div> </div> <p>

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December 30, 2025
Transform Your Classroom with Google Workspace AI Tools
The 2025-2026 school year brought a wave of powerful AI-enhanced tools to Google Workspace for Education. These aren”t just shiny new features—they’re practical classroom tools designed to save you time, personalize learning, and unlock student creativity. Best of all? Most are free for educators and students. Now that 2026 is upon us, I am excited to share with you some of my favorite new features that can be used in your classroom with your students. If you are already using these, I’d love to hear from you and learn how you are exploring AI and Google Workspace in your classrooms.

Let’s walk through the standout Google features you should try with your students this year.

Google Gemini for Education: Your AI Teaching Assistant

Google Gemini isn’t just another chatbot. It’s an AI assistant built directly into the Google apps you already use—Docs, Slides, Sheets, Gmail, and Classroom. No more copying and pasting between tabs.
- Why it matters: Gemini 2.5 Pro incorporates LearnLM, making it the world’s leading model for learning. It’s purpose-built for education with enterprise-grade data protection. Your data isn’t reviewed or used to train AI models.
- Try this on Monday: Ask Gemini to “Create a lesson plan on photosynthesis aligned to NGSS standards” or “Generate a 25-question multiple choice practice exam from this syllabus.”
Key Features for K-12 Classrooms:

Deep Research — Students can research complex topics and receive synthesized reports with sources and citations in minutes. Instead of spending hours searching, they get a comprehensive report they can then explore further.

Gemini Canvas — Create quizzes, practice tests, study guides, and visual timelines in one interactive space. Go from blank slate to dynamic preview in minutes. Students can build interactive prototypes and code snippets without knowing how to code.

Gemini Live — Students can talk through complex concepts, get real-time help, and even share their screen or camera for personalized feedback on problem sets.

What Are Google Gems?

Think of a Gem as a specialized AI assistant you create for a specific purpose. Instead of writing the same prompt over and over in Gemini, you build a Gem once with custom instructions, and it becomes your go-to expert for that task.

The difference: Regular Gemini is a generalist. A Gem is a specialist.

For example, instead of typing “Create a Jeopardy game about the water cycle for 5th grade” every time you need a review game, you create a “Jeopardy Game” Gem that already knows your grade level, subject area, and preferred format. Then you just give it the topic.

Creating Custom Gems: Build Your Own AI Experts

Once you’re comfortable with Gemini, Google Gems let you create custom AI assistants tailored to your classroom needs.

How it works: Give Gemini instructions, examples, and resources so it behaves exactly how you need it to. Upload unit plans, pacing guides, rubrics, or anchor texts so your Gem can reference them when creating content.

Teacher-facing Gems:
- Lesson Plan Generator — Aligned to your specific standards and teaching style
- Parent Communicator — Drafts emails that match your tone and school policies
- Emergency Sub Plan — Creates ready-to-go activities when you’re out sick
- Standards Unpacker — Breaks down complex standards into teachable chunks
Student-facing Gems: Create a Gem and share it with your class through Google Classroom. Students interact with your custom AI expert independently.
- AI Tutor — Provides step-by-step help without giving away answers
- Writing Coach — Gives feedback on essays and helps students revise
- Study Partner — Creates practice questions from their notes
- Career Explorer — Helps students research potential career paths
EduGems: Pre-Made Gems by Eric Curts

Don’t want to build Gems from scratch? Eric Curts (Control Alt Achieve) created EduGems—a growing library of ready-to-use Gems organized by category.

How to use EduGems:
1. Visit edugems.ai
2. Browse by category or search for what you need
3. Click any Gem to see details
4. Click “Use” to open it in Gemini, or “Copy” to customize it
Popular EduGems for Students:
- 🧑‍🏫 AI Tutor — Guides students through problems with questions, not answers. Great for homework help and independent practice.
- 🎭 Reader’s Theater — Converts stories or historical events into scripts students can perform. Brings content to life through drama.
- ❓ Jeopardy Game — Creates Jeopardy-style review games on any topic. Perfect for test prep and engagement.
- 🤔 Student Brainstorming — Helps students generate and organize ideas for projects and writing assignments.
- 💼 Career Explorer — Students explore career paths, learn about required education, and discover related occupations.
Popular EduGems for Teachers:
- 📋 Lesson Plan — Generates complete lesson plans with objectives, activities, and assessments.
- 📦 Standards Un p acker — Takes complex standards and breaks them into clear learning targets.
- 🚨 Emergency Sub Plan — Creates complete sub plans with activities, materials, and instructions.
- 🔀 Re-level Text — Adjusts reading level of any text for differentiation.
- 📊 Assessment Data Analyzer — Analyzes assessment results and suggests targeted interventions.
EduGems Categories:
- Curriculum & Lesson Design (13 Gems) — Lesson plans, unit plans, choice boards, station rotations
- Student Activities (11 Gems) — Games, simulations, debates, interviews
- Assessment (15 Gems) — Quizzes, rubrics, test prep, data analysis
- Support (14 Gems) — Accommodations, scaffolds, behavior plans, social stories
- Literacy & Language (6 Gems) — Decodable texts, discussion prompts, sentence starters
- Professional Tasks (11 Gems) — Newsletters, recommendation letters, PD plans
Pro tip: Start with EduGems to see how effective Gems work, then customize them for your specific needs. You can also submit your own Gems to be added to the collection.

Learn more: Watch Eric Curts’ complete Gems tutorial video or explore his AI resources at controlaltachieve.com.

NotebookLM: Your AI Research Assistant

Teachers and students work with overwhelming amounts of information. NotebookLM becomes an instant expert on whatever documents you upload.

What makes it special: It grounds all responses in the specific documents you provide—no hallucinations, no random internet sources.

Features you’ll use:
- Audio Overviews — Turn lecture recordings, textbook chapters, or research papers into podcast-style audio summaries. Students can study anywhere—on the bus, at practice, during their commute.
- Document synthesis — Upload PDFs, articles, unit plans, and curriculum resources. Ask questions and get answers pulled directly from your materials. Create summaries, study guides, and student-friendly resources instantly.
- Student independence — Help students understand complex texts without constant teacher intervention. They can ask clarifying questions and get explanations grounded in their assigned readings.
Google Vids: Create Professional Video Content in Minutes

Student attention spans are shrinking, and teachers need tools to deliver content that sticks. Google Vids is Google’s answer: an AI-powered video creation tool that lives right in your Google Workspace.

What Makes Google Vids Different?

Think Google Slides turned 90 degrees—instead of slides arranged vertically, you work with scenes arranged horizontally. If you can use Google Slides, you can use Google Vids. But here’s the game-changer: it’s powered by Gemini AI.

The “Help me create” feature: Type what you want to create (“Make a 3-minute tutorial on the water cycle for 5th grade”), and Google Vids generates a complete first draft in under 60 seconds—script, visuals, timing, transitions, and all. You customize from there instead of starting from scratch.

Key Features Teachers Love:
- AI-Powered Creation — Describe your video in a sentence, and Gemini builds the first draft for you. Add your own screenshots, adjust the timing, choose AI voice or record your own.
- Convert Slides to Videos — Already have a Google Slides presentation? Import it into Vids and transform it into an engaging video with music, transitions, and narration in minutes.
- Stock Media Library — Access thousands of royalty-free videos, images, music tracks, sound effects, GIFs, and stickers without leaving the platform.
- Professional Templates — Start with beautifully designed templates for tutorials, announcements, student projects, and more.
- Real-Time Collaboration — Work together on video projects just like you would in Google Docs. Perfect for group projects or co-planning with colleagues.
- Seamless Google Classroom Integration — Assign videos as templates so each student gets their own copy. Review student work directly in Classroom and see their progress in real-time.
For Teachers: Scale Your Impact

Create professional development videos, flipped classroom content, and instructional materials in 20-30 minutes instead of 2-3 hours.

Practical use cases:
- Tool tutorials — Record once, share forever. Every new teacher gets instant access to training.
- Flipped lessons — Create micro-lectures students watch at home, freeing up class time for hands-on work.
- Lab procedures — Record safety demos and complex procedures students can review anytime.
- Personalized feedback — Send quick video messages instead of lengthy written comments.
- Professional development — Build a library of PD resources teachers can access on-demand.
For Students: Voice, Choice, and Creativity

Google Vids gives students an accessible way to demonstrate understanding without needing advanced tech skills.

Student projects:
- Video essays — Students explain their thinking, cite sources, and present arguments visually.
- Book reports — Create “movie trailers” for novels or informational texts.
- Science demonstrations — Record experiments with narration explaining the process.
- Digital portfolios — Showcase learning growth throughout the year.
- Public service announcements — Combine research with persuasive communication skills.
Scaffolding tip: Start simple. Have students brainstorm in Google Keep, create a 3-slide presentation in Slides, import those slides into Vids, replace slides with video B-roll, add music and transitions. This progression teaches cross-tool workflows while building video literacy skills.

Getting Started is Simple

Access Google Vids at vids.google.com or vids.new. No software to download, no complicated setup.

Three ways to start:
1. Record — Easiest for screencasts and quick tutorials on Chromebooks
2. Use templates — Start with professional designs for various purposes
3. “Help me create” — Describe what you want and let AI build the first draft
Videos save automatically to Google Drive. Share through Classroom, Drive links, or export as MP4 files.

Why It Matters for K-12

Google Vids democratizes video creation. Students and teachers without technical expertise or expensive software can now create professional-looking content. This levels the playing field and opens doors for creativity that were previously closed.

Want the complete guide? Check out these in-depth resources:

Getting Started: Your Action Plan

This week:
1. Visit gemini.google.com with your school Google account
2. Ask it to create one lesson plan or assessment
3. Try Deep Research on a topic you’re teaching next week
This month:
1. Create your first custom Gem for a unit you teach frequently
2. Have students upload their notes to NotebookLM and create an Audio Overview
3. Record one instructional video in Google Vids
This semester:
1. Share the college student offer with your seniors
2. Build a library of custom Gems for different units
3. Let students create their own Gems as study partners
4. Assign a Google Vids project—have students create a 2-minute video explaining a concept, book report trailer, or science demonstration
One Important Reminder

With all these powerful AI tools at our fingertips, don’t forget that the most meaningful learning still happens through conversation, hands-on exploration, and human connection. Technology should enhance—not replace—the relationships and dialogue that make your classroom special.

Use these tools to reclaim your time and energy so you can focus on what matters most: your students.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to pay for Google Gemini to use these features?

No. Google Gemini is free for all Google Workspace for Education users. The paid Gemini Advanced plan offers additional features like longer conversations and priority access, but the free version is powerful enough for most classroom needs. Students can also get Gemini Advanced free for one year with a valid .edu email address.

Can students use Google Gemini and these AI tools?

Yes, but with age restrictions. Students 13+ can use Gemini with their school Google accounts if their district has enabled it. Students 18+ can access Gemini Advanced for free with a .edu email. Google Vids, NotebookLM, and Gems are also available to students through Workspace for Education accounts, though your district controls access.

How do I know if my school district has enabled these AI features?

Try visiting gemini.google.com or vids.google.com with your school Google account. If you can access them, your district has enabled the features. If not, contact your technology administrator or instructional technology coordinator to request access. Many districts are still evaluating AI policies, so your inquiry might help move that conversation forward.

Will Google Gemini replace me as a teacher?

No. These AI tools are designed to handle repetitive tasks—planning, formatting, creating first drafts—so you can focus on what only you can do: building relationships, facilitating discussions, and responding to individual student needs. Think of Gemini as a teaching assistant, not a replacement.

How do I prevent students from using AI to cheat?

Shift your assignments from “what can be Googled” to “what requires thinking.” Focus on process over product: have students show their work, explain their reasoning, and revise based on feedback. Use AI-generated content as a starting point for discussion rather than an end product. Teach students to use AI as a research and brainstorming tool, not a shortcut to avoid learning.

Are these tools accessible for students with disabilities?

Yes. Google Workspace tools are designed with accessibility in mind. Gemini can help create differentiated materials and accommodations. NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews provide auditory learning options. Google Vids supports captions and screen readers. However, always test tools with your specific students’ needs in mind and provide alternatives when necessary.

How much time does it really take to learn these tools?

You can start using Gemini productively in under 10 minutes. Google Vids takes about 30 minutes to create your first video. Custom Gems require 15-20 minutes to set up initially, but then save hours over time. NotebookLM has virtually no learning curve—just upload documents and start asking questions. Start with one tool, get comfortable, then expand.

What if the AI generates incorrect information?

AI tools can make mistakes (called “hallucinations”). Always review AI-generated content before using it with students. When using NotebookLM, the tool cites specific sources, making it easier to verify information. Teach students to fact-check AI responses and use multiple sources. Treat AI outputs as drafts that need human review, not final products.

Can I use these tools if my district blocks certain websites?

Google Workspace AI features are integrated into your existing Google account and typically aren’t blocked if you can access Google Docs, Slides, and Drive. However, some districts may specifically disable AI features. If you encounter access issues, request that your technology team enable “Gemini for Google Workspace” and “Additional Google Services” in your admin console.

How do these tools handle student data and privacy?

Google Workspace for Education accounts have strong privacy protections. Student data is not used to train AI models, and conversations are not shared with third parties. However, review your district’s AI acceptable use policy and teach students not to share personal information in AI prompts. For sensitive topics, consider using teacher accounts rather than student accounts.

Want to Learn More?

Take a free course: Getting Started with Google AI from Google for Education

Explore use cases: 100+ ways to use Gemini in education

Deep dive: Teaching Channel’s course 5381: Teaching with Google’s AI Tools covers Gemini, NotebookLM, Google Vids, and image creation

Ready to try one of these features? Pick just one from this list and test it this week. Reply and let me know which one you chose and how it went.
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December 27, 2025
The Top 20 Education Next Articles of 2025

In a journal devoted to U.S. education reform, some recurring themes in its content are expected: student achievement, curriculum, teacher effectiveness, school choice, testing, accountability. Other topics are more contemporaneous, reflecting the functional reality of American schooling in its present context. The latter group may capture just a moment in time and give future education historians a glimpse at what mattered to early 21st century reformers (and seem quaint in hindsight). It may also reflect prescient insights from leaders, thinkers, and scholars—contributions that document the early stages of a significant transformation in education policy and practice (and later be deemed ahead of their time).

What we can say confidently is that Education Next published a good mix of the classic and the contemporary in 2025, just as it has each year in its quarter century of existence. You can see for yourself below in our annual Top 20 list of most-read articles, which features an assortment of writings by researchers, journalists, academics, and teachers.

Among the traditional fare, readers turned to EdNext to keep apprised of developments in classroom instruction, from reading to literacy to history. They wanted to know if the U.S. might be better off evaluating schools using the European model of inspections rather than, or in addition to, student test scores. Amid ongoing debates about the merits of using standardized tests to gauge student preparation, readers were drawn to the findings of researchers in Missouri that 8th graders’ performance on the state’s MAP test are highly predictive of college readiness. In the realm of teachers and teaching, proponents of merit pay received a boost by an analysis of Dallas ISD’s ACE program, which was shown to improve both student performance and teacher retention in the district.

As for school choice, Education Next followed successes like the expansion of education savings account programs, the proliferation of microschools, and the federal scholarship tax credit passed by Congress as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. But the stumbles of choice had more of a gravitational pull for readers. There were the defeats of private-school voucher measures in three states—continuing a long string of choice failures at the ballot box. There are the enrollment struggles of Catholic schools, which researchers found are impacted by competition from tuition-free charter schools. And just when Catholic and other private religious schools could have gotten a shot in the arm by being allowed to reformulate as religious charters, the Supreme Court deadlocked on the constitutionality of the question, leaving the matter to be relitigated for another day.

There was no shortage of timely topics that exploded onto the scene and captivated readers. American education is still grappling with the fallout from the Covid-era school shutdowns, now five years in the rearview. Many harbor consternation about the politics of pandemic closures, as demonstrated by the enthusiasm over a new book that autopsied the decisions of that era and the subsequent book review that catapulted onto this year’s list (an unusual feat!). And now there’s research to corroborate the disaster closures were for public education. Two Boston University scholars find evidence of diminishing enrollment in public middle schools, an indication that families whose children were in the early grades in 2020 are parting for the more rigorous shores of private choice. But the post-pandemic problems in schooling have not been uniform. In one of the most-read articles this year, founding EdNext editor Paul Peterson and Michael Hartney show how, based on recent NAEP results, learning loss was greater among students in blue states that had more prolonged school shutdowns than in red states that reopened more quickly.

Meanwhile, everyone in education circles continues to grapple with what to do about technology in the classroom. Two writers did so in our own pages, presenting opposite perspectives on Sal Khan’s prediction that AI will soon transform education with the equivalent of a personalized tutor for each student. And one of our favorite cognitive scientists gave readers a different way of thinking about how digital devices affect student attention.

It is perhaps fitting that our most-read article of 2025 was also the cover story of the last print issue of Education Next. (You can read more about our transition to a web-only publication here.) After Donald Trump reassumed the presidency this year and his administration enacted major reductions to the federal bureaucracy, several education-focused programs (and indeed the entire U.S. Department of Education) came under intense scrutiny. One target was Head Start, in part because Project 2025 called to eliminate the program on the grounds it is “fraught with scandal and abuse” and has “little or no long-term academic value for children.” Paul von Hippel, Elise Chor, and Leib Lurie tested those claims against the research and found little basis for them. Yet they also highlight lingering questions about the program’s impact on students’ long-term success—and opportunities to answer them with new research. As of this writing, the nation’s largest early-education program survives, but the sector is still watching and waiting.

And so are we all for what will happen next in education. Some issues captured by Education Next this year will continue into 2026. Some will flame out. And others that are unforeseen will arise. Readers can depend on Education Next to lean into all the twists and turns that come in the year ahead.

The full top 20 list is here:

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December 24, 2025
Texas Universities Deploy AI Tools to Review How Courses Discuss Race and Gender – The 74

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A senior Texas A&M University System official testing a new artificial intelligence tool this fall asked it to find how many courses discuss feminism at one of its regional universities. Each time she asked in a slightly different way, she got a different number.

“Either the tool is learning from my previous queries,” Texas A&M system’s chief strategy officer Korry Castillo told colleagues in an email, “or we need to fine tune our requests to get the best results.”

It was Sept. 25, and Castillo was trying to deliver on a promise Chancellor Glenn Hegar and the Board of Regents had already made: to audit courses across all of the system’s 12 universities after conservative outrage over a gender-identity lesson at the flagship campus intensified earlier that month, leading to the professor’s firing and the university president’s resignation.

Texas A&M officials said the controversy stemmed from the course’s content not aligning with its description in the university’s course catalog and framed the audit as a way to ensure students knew what they were signing up for. As other public universities came under similar scrutiny and began preparing to comply with a new state law that gives governor-appointed regents more authority over curricula, they, too, announced audits.

Records obtained by The Texas Tribune offer a first look at how Texas universities are experimenting with AI to conduct those reviews.

At Texas A&M, internal emails show staff are using AI software to search syllabi and course descriptions for words that could raise concerns under new system policies restricting how faculty teach about race and gender.

At Texas State, memos show administrators are suggesting faculty use an AI writing assistant to revise course descriptions. They urged professors to drop words such as “challenging,” “dismantling” and “decolonizing” and to rename courses with titles like “Combating Racism in Healthcare” to something university officials consider more neutral like “Race and Public Health in America.”

Read Texas State University’s guide to faculty on how to review their curriculum with AI

While school officials describe the efforts as an innovative approach that fosters transparency and accountability, AI experts say these systems do not actually analyze or understand course content, instead generating answers that sound right based on patterns in their training data.

That means small changes in how a question is phrased can lead to different results, they said, making the systems unreliable for deciding whether a class matches its official description. They warned that using AI this way could lead to courses being flagged over isolated words and further shift control of teaching away from faculty and toward administrators.

“I’m not convinced this is about serving students or cleaning up syllabi,” said Chris Gilliard, co-director of the Critical Internet Studies Institute. “This looks like a project to control education and remove it from professors and put it into the hands of administrators and legislatures.”

Setting up the tool

During a board of regents meeting last month, Texas A&M System leaders described the new processes they were developing to audit courses as a repeatable enforcement mechanism.

Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs James Hallmark said the system would use “AI-assisted tools” to examine course data under “consistent, evidence-based criteria,” which would guide future board action on courses. Regent Sam Torn praised it as “real governance,” saying Texas A&M was “stepping up first, setting the model that others will follow.”

That same day, the board approved new rules requiring presidents to sign off on any course that could be seen as advocating for “race and gender ideology” and prohibiting professors from teaching material not on the approved syllabus for a course.

In a statement to the Tribune, Chris Bryan, the system’s vice chancellor for marketing and communications, said Texas A&M is using OpenAI services through an existing subscription to aid the system’s course audit and that the tool is still being tested as universities finish sharing their course data. He said “any decisions about appropriateness, alignment with degree programs, or student outcomes will be made by people, not software.”

In records obtained by the Tribune, Castillo, the system’s chief strategy officer, told colleagues to prepare for about 20 system employees to use the tool to make hundreds of queries each semester.

The records also show some of the concerns that arose from early tests of the tool.

When Castillo told colleagues about the varying results she obtained when searching for classes that discuss feminism, deputy chief information officer Mark Schultz cautioned that the tool came with “an inherent risk of inaccuracy.”

“Some of that can be mitigated with training,” he said, “but it probably can’t be fully eliminated.”

Schultz did not specify what kinds of inaccuracies he meant. When asked if the potential inaccuracies had been resolved, Bryan said, “We are testing baseline conversations with the AI tool to validate the accuracy, relevance and repeatability of the prompts.” He said this includes seeing how the tool responds to invalid or misleading prompts and having humans review the results.

Experts said the different answers Castillo received when she rephrased her question reflect how these systems operate. They explained that these kinds of AI tools generate their responses by predicting patterns and generating strings of text.

“These systems are fundamentally systems for repeatedly answering the question ‘what is the likely next word’ and that’s it,” said Emily Bender, a computational linguist at the University of Washington. “The sequence of words that comes out looks like the kind of thing you would expect in that context, but it is not based on reason or understanding or looking at information.”

Because of that, small changes to how a question is phrased can produce different results. Experts also said users can nudge the model toward the answer they want. Gilliard said that is because these systems are also prone to what developers call “sycophancy,” meaning they try to agree with or please the user.

“Very often, a thing that happens when people use this technology is if you chide or correct the machine, it will say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry’ or like ‘you’re right,’ so you can often goad these systems into getting the answer you desire,” he said.

T. Philip Nichols, a Baylor University professor who studies how technology influences teaching and learning in schools, said keyword searches also provide little insight into how a topic is actually taught. He called the tool “a blunt instrument” that isn’t capable of understanding how certain discussions that the software might flag as unrelated to the course tie into broader class themes.

“Those pedagogical choices of an instructor might not be present in a syllabus, so to just feed that into a chatbot and say, ‘Is this topic mentioned?’ tells you nothing about how it’s talked about or in what way,” Nichols said.

Castillo’s description of her experience testing the AI tool was the only time in the records reviewed by the Tribune when Texas A&M administrators discussed specific search terms being used to inspect course content. In another email, Castillo said she would share search terms with staff in person or by phone rather than email.

System officials did not provide the list of search terms the system plans to use in the audit.

Martin Peterson, a Texas A&M philosophy professor who studies the ethics of technology, said faculty have not been asked to weigh in on the tool, including members of the university’s AI council. He noted that the council’s ethics and governance committee is charged with helping set standards for responsible AI use.

While Peterson generally opposes the push to audit the university system’s courses, he said he is “a little more open to the idea that some such tool could perhaps be used.”

“It is just that we have to do our homework before we start using the tool,” Peterson said.

AI-assisted revisions

At Texas State University, officials ordered faculty to rewrite their syllabi and suggested they use AI to do it.

In October, administrators flagged 280 courses for review and told faculty to revise titles, descriptions and learning outcomes to remove wording the university said was not neutral. Records indicate that dozens of courses set to be offered by the College of Liberal Arts in the Spring 2026 semester were singled out for neutrality concerns. They included courses such as Intro to Diversity, Social Inequality, Freedom in America, Southwest in Film and Chinese-English Translation.

Faculty were given until Dec. 10 to complete the rewrites, with a second-level review scheduled in January and the entire catalog to be evaluated by June.

Administrators shared with faculty a guide outlining wording they said signaled advocacy. It discouraged learning outcomes that describe students “measure or require belief, attitude or activism (e.g., value diversity, embrace activism, commit to change).”

Administrators also provided a prompt for faculty to paste into an AI writing assistant alongside their materials. The prompt instructs the chatbot to “identify any language that signals advocacy, prescriptive conclusions, affective outcomes or ideological commitments” and generate three alternative versions that remove those elements.

Jayme Blaschke, assistant director of media relations at Texas State, described the internal review as “thorough” and “deliberative,” but would not say whether any classes have already been revised or removed, only that “measures are in place to guide students through any adjustments and keep their academic progress on track.” He also declined to explain how courses were initially flagged and who wrote the neutrality expectations.

Faculty say the changes have reshaped how curriculum decisions are made on campus.

Aimee Villarreal, an assistant professor of anthropology and president of Texas State’s American Association of University Professors chapter, said the process is usually faculty-driven and unfolds over a longer period of time. She believes the structure of this audit allows administrators to more closely monitor how faculty describe their disciplines and steer how that material must be presented.

She said the requirement to revise courses quickly or risk having them removed from the spring schedule has created pressure to comply, which may have pushed some faculty toward using the AI writing assistant.

Villarreal said the process reflects a lack of trust in faculty and their field expertise when deciding what to teach.

“I love what I do,” Villarreal said, “and it’s very sad to see the core of what I do being undermined in this way.”

Nichols warned the trend of using AI in this way represents a larger threat.

“This is a kind of de-professionalizing of what we do in classrooms, where we’re narrowing the horizon of what’s possible,” he said. “And I think once we give that up, that’s like giving up the whole game. That’s the whole purpose of why universities exist.”

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.

Disclosure: Baylor University, Texas A&M University and Texas A&M University System have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.

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December 20, 2025
The Trump administration’s biggest impact on education in 2025

by Nirvi Shah, The Hechinger Report
December 18, 2025

Even with a conservative think tank’s blueprint detailing how the second Trump administration should reimagine the federal government’s role in education, few might have predicted what actually materialized this year for America’s schools and colleges.

Or what might be yet to come.

“2025 will go down as a banner year for education: the year we restored merit in higher education, rooted out waste, fraud and abuse, and began in earnest returning education to the states,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon told The Hechinger Report. She listed canceling K-12 grants she called wasteful, investing more in charter schools, ending college admissions that consider race or anything beyond academic achievement and making college more affordable as some of the year’s accomplishments.

“Best of all,” she said, “we’ve begun breaking up the federal education bureaucracy and returning education control to parents and local communities. These are reforms conservatives have championed for decades — and in just 12 months, we’ve made them a reality.”

Related: Become a lifelong learner. Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter featuring the most important stories in education.

McMahon’s characterization of the year is hardly universal. Earlier this month, Senate Democrats, led by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, called out some of the administration’s actions this year. They labeled federal changes, especially plans to divide the Education Department’s duties across the federal government, dangerous and likely to cause chaos for schools and colleges.

“Already, this administration has cancelled billions of dollars in education programs, illegally withheld nearly $7 billion in formula funds, and proposed to fully eliminate many of the programs included in the latest transfer,” the senators wrote in a letter to Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, chair of the committee that oversees education. “In our minds, that is unacceptable.”

So, what really happened to education this year? It was almost impossible for the average observer to keep track of the array of changes across colleges and universities, K-12 schools, early education and education research — and what it has all meant. This is a look back at how the education world was transformed.

Related: Tracking Trump: How he’s dismantling the Education Department and more

Higher education

The administration was especially forceful in the higher education arena. It used measures including antidiscrimination law to quickly freeze billions of dollars in higher education research funding, interrupting years-long medical studies and coercing Columbia, Brown, Northwestern and other institutions into handing over multimillion-dollar payments and agreeing to policy changes demanded by the administration.

A more widespread “compact” promising preference for federal funding to universities that agreed to largely ideological principles had almost no takers. But in the face of government threats, universities and colleges scrapped diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs that provided support based on race and other characteristics, and banned transgender athletes from competing on teams corresponding to genders other than the ones they were assigned at birth.

As the administration unleashed its set of edicts, Republicans in Congress also expanded taxes on college and university endowments. And the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made other big changes to higher education, such as limiting graduate student borrowing and eliminating certain loan forgiveness programs. That includes public service loan forgiveness for graduates who take jobs with organizations the administration designated as having a “substantial illegal purpose” because they help refugees or transgender youth. In response, states, cities, labor unions and nonprofits immediately filed suit, arguing that the rule violated the First Amendment.

The administration has criticized universities, colleges and liberal students for curbing the speech of conservatives by shouting them down or blocking their appearances on campuses. However, it proceeded to revoke the visas of and begin deportation proceedings against international students who joined protests or wrote opinions criticizing Israeli actions in Gaza and U.S. government policy there.

Meanwhile, emboldened legislatures and governors in red states pushed back on what faculty could say in classrooms. College presidents including James Ryan at the University of Virginia and Mark Welsh III at Texas A&M were forced out in the aftermath of controversies over these issues. — Jon Marcus

Related: How Trump 2.0 upended education research and statistics in one year

K-12 education

Since Donald Trump returned to office earlier this year, K-12 schools have lost millions of dollars in sweeping cuts to federal grants, including money that helped schools serve students who are deaf or blind, grants that bolstered the dwindling rural teacher workforce and funding for Wi-Fi hotspots.

Last summer, the Trump administration briefly froze billions of dollars in federal funding for schools on June 30, one day before districts would typically apply to receive it. Although the money was restored in late July, some school leaders said they no longer felt confident they’ll receive all expected federal funds next year. And they are braced for more cuts to federal budgets as the U.S. Department of Education is dismembered.

That process, as well as the end goal of returning the department’s responsibilities to the states, has raised uncertainty about whether federal money will continue to be earmarked for the same purposes. If the state of Illinois is in charge of federal funding for every school in the state, said Todd Dugan, superintendent of a rural Illinois district, will rural schools still get money to boost student achievement or will the state decide there are more pressing needs?

As part of layoffs at the Education Department during the government shutdown in the fall, the Trump administration cut loose almost everyone who works in the Office of Special Education Programs, alarming many parents and advocates. About 7.5 million children ages 3 to 21 are served under federal law protecting students with disabilities, and the office had already lost staffers after the Trump administration dismissed nearly half the Education Department’s staff in March. Some worry this additional round of layoffs is a big step toward moving oversight of how states treat students with disabilities to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Even as the Trump administration attempts to push more control over education to the states, it has aggressively expanded federal power over school choice and transgender student rights in public schools. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will create a federal school voucher program, allowing taxpayers to donate up to $1,700 for scholarships that families can use to pay for private school. The program won’t start until 2027, and states can choose whether to participate — setting up potentially divisive fights over new money for education in Democratic-controlled states.

Already, some Democratic-led states have come to the defense of schools in funding and legal fights with the federal government over transgender athletes participating in sports. The U.S. departments of Education and Justice launched a special investigations team to look into complaints of Title IX violations, targeting school districts and states that don’t restrict accommodations or civil rights protections for transgender students. Legal experts expect the U.S. Supreme Court to ultimately decide how Title IX — a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education — applies to public schools.

The federal government directly runs just two systems of schools — one for military families and the other for children of tribal nations. In an executive order signed in January, the president directed both systems to offer parents a portion of federal funding allocated to their children to attend private, religious or charter schools.

And as part of the dismantling of the federal Education Department, the Interior Department — which oversees 183 tribal schools across nearly two dozen states — will assume greater control of Indian education programs. In addition to rolling out school choice at its campuses, the department will take over Indian education grants to public schools across the country, Native language programs, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian programs, tribally controlled colleges and universities, and many other institutions. — Ariel Gilreath and Neal Morton

Related: Trump administration makes good on many Project 2025 education goals

Early education

Early education was not at the top of Trump’s agenda when he returned to office. On the campaign trail, when asked if he would support legislation to make child care affordable, he gave an unfocused answer, suggesting tariff revenue could be tapped to bring down costs. Asked a similar question, Vice President JD Vance suggested that care by family members was one potential solution to child care shortages.

However, many of the administration’s actions, including cuts to the government workforce and grants, have affected children who depend on federal support. In April, the administration abruptly closed five of 10 regional offices supporting Head Start, the free, federally funded early childhood program for children from low-income families. Head Start program managers worried they would be caught up in a freeze on grant funding that affected all agencies. Even though administration officials said funds would keep flowing to Head Start, some centers reported having problems drawing down their money. The prolonged government shutdown, which ended Nov. 12 after 43 days, also forced some Head Start programs to temporarily close.

Though the shutdown is over, Head Start advocates are still worried. Many of the administration’s actions have been guided by the Project 2025 policy document created by the conservative Heritage Foundation. Project 2025 calls for eliminating Head Start, which serves about 715,000 children from birth to age 5, for a savings of about $12 billion a year.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act contained some perks for parents, including an increase in the child tax credit from $2,000 to $2,200. The bill also created a new program called Trump accounts: Families can contribute up to $5,000 each year until a child turns 18, at which point the Trump account will turn into an individual retirement account. For children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028, the government will provide a $1,000 bonus. Billionaires Michael and Susan Dell have also promised to contribute $250 to the account of each child ages 10 and under who lives in a ZIP code with a median household income of $150,000 or less.

That program will launch in summer 2026. — Christina A. Samuels

Contact staff writer Nirvi Shah at 212-678-3445, on Signal at NirviShah.14 or [email protected].

This story about the Trump administration’s impact on education was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.

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December 18, 2025
50+ AI Resources for Teachers

50+ AI Resources for Teachers | Shake Up Learning

Slop School Is Here: The Right-Wing Takeover of K-12 Education (Second Thought Staging)

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December 5, 2025
Experts react to artificial intelligence plan – Campus Review

Australia’s first national plan for artificial intelligence aims to upskill workers to boost productivity, but will leave the tech largely unregulated and without its own legislation to operate under.

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December 2, 2025