Blog

  • Saying goodbye to our glaciers

    Saying goodbye to our glaciers

    Across the world two billion people — around a quarter of the world’s population — depend on glaciers for water to irrigate fields for agriculture, provide drinking water and to generate electricity.

    But these glaciers are melting before our eyes.

    Consider that 10% of Iceland is covered by glaciers but that is 1% less than a decade ago. That percentage will continue to decrease as the rate of change due to global warming has become dramatic.

    Glaciers are so iconic in Iceland that when one collapses, people hold a funeral. 

    It’s a ceremony created for humans to make people aware about the urgency of global warming. And it’s a poetic way of marking the end of one of nature’s most inspiring creations.

    A land where ice is prized

    The first funeral for a glacier took place in 2019. It was for Okjökull glacier, the smallest glacier in a land that is dominated by ice and snow. 

    Okjökull glacier, popularly known as Ok, was only a modest 15 square kilometres big and had been shrinking for decades. Icelanders regarded diminutive Ok with affection, even making it a character in children’s book. 

    So the emotional impact of watching Ok vanish was felt not only by the locals who had grown up with the glacier, but across Iceland. Icelanders are brought up learning songs and sagas about their spectacular island. The snowpack of their glaciers creates the wild rolling rivers and massive waterfalls throughout the island before the flow tumbles into the stormy North Atlantic.

    Now on the hill which had been covered by Okjökull is a rock with a brass plate with urgent words from Icelandic poet Andri Snær Magnason.

    A LETTER TO THE FUTURE

    Vatnajökull ice cap and parts of Hofsjökull ice cap, Iceland in September 2022. (Credit: Pierre Markuse via Wikimedia Commons)

    Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path.
    This monument is to acknowledge that we know
    what is happening and what needs to be done.
    Only you will know if we did it.

    Ice loss in Iceland

    Tiny Okjökull was nothing compared to the largest glacier in Iceland — and in Europe — the Vatnajökull ice cap.

    Despite its mass, scientists estimate that nine million litres of Vatnajökull’s glacial ice are being turned into water every minute. 

    The lakes and ice lagoons downstream of Vatnajökull, filled by meltwater, are bigger every year as the glacier itself shrinks.

    So should there be funerals for glaciers?

    Sigurdur Arni Thordarson, the pastor of Hallgrímskirkja Church in Iceland thinks so. His church was built to resemble the mountains and glaciers of Iceland and dominates the Reykjavík skyline.

    “For humans, the loss of a glacier is a real loss,” Thordarson said. “People who have a deep understanding and awareness of interconnectedness of life really feel the necessity of expressing the grief.”

    Snow melt in the Alps

    It seems a widespread sentiment. A few months after the ceremony in Iceland, hikers, many dressed in black, gathered on Pizol glacier in the Swiss Alps to listen as a priest gave a funeral service. 

    Another ceremony followed in 2020 for Clark Glacier in Oregon and soon after on a Mexican glacier named Ayoloco by the Aztecs. The Mexican geologists and ecologists who marked the day used the words written by Andri Snær Magnason that commemorate Okjökull.

    Crossing into another culture, Buddhists monks in Nepal held an ‘ice funeral’ in the Himalayas in May 2025 for Yala Glacier which had shrunk by two thirds in the past several decades. Attended by locals and climate scientists they gathered under traditional prayer flags across from the last visible ice. Even Yala’s altitude over 5,000 metres was no protection against deglaciation

    Two granite stones now mark the spot of the ceremony. One with the words of Magnason from Iceland, the other with an inscription from Nepali poet Manjushree Thapa:

    Hallgrimskirkja Church

    Hallgrímskirkja Church in Reykjavík, Iceland. (Credit: Mattias Hill via Wikimedia Commons)

    Yala, where the gods dream high in the mountains, where the cold is divine.
    Dream of life in rock, sediment, and snow, in the pulverizing ofice and earth, in meltwater pools the colour of sky. 
    Dream. Dream of a glacier and the civilizations downstream.

    In all these commemorations, Magnason’s alarm from Iceland have been echoed:

    …We know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you will know if we did it.

    The Third Pole

    The glaciers in the Himalayas are sometimes called the ‘Third Pole’ because they account for the most ice after the Arctic and Antarctica. 

    Around the world glaciers are melting faster than ever recorded but the Himalayas are warming at a higher rate than the global average, up to 65% faster. The Himalaya glaciers feed some of the great rivers of Asia — the Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra and Yangtze rivers which flow through some of the most populated areas on the planet. 

    The consequences of disappearing glaciers are starting to be felt. Mexican climate scientists who attended the Ayoloco ceremony pointed out that “without large ice masses on mountain peaks temperatures will increase.”

    All of our planet was created by massive geologic forces. Those forces are more easily observable in Iceland, being one of the newest land masses to be created on Earth. It is an island nation that was created by volcanoes but sculpted and defined by glaciers. It may be fitting that, in addition to the first glacier funeral ever held, the first Glacier Graveyard was created in 2024, to mark extinct glaciers and provide a reminder of what is at stake. 

    The glaciers remembered were taken from the first Global Glacier Casualty List. Soon after, the United Nations declared 2025 the International Year of Glacier Preservation. Now, all fifteen tombstones carved from ice to mark those vanished glaciers have melted.

     

    Questions to consider: 

    1. Should glaciers, like some rivers which have been granted legal rights, be regarded as living creatures?

    2. Does a ceremony like a funeral provide an inspiration for climate activism?

    3. What natural formations or environmental places are important to you? 

     

    Source link

  • A researcher’s view on using AI to become a better writer

    A researcher’s view on using AI to become a better writer

    Writing can be hard, equal parts heavy lifting and drudgery. No wonder so many students are turning to the time-saving allure of ChatGPT, which can crank out entire papers in seconds. It rescues them from procrastination jams and dreaded all-nighters, magically freeing up more time for other pursuits, like, say … doomscrolling.

    Of course, no one learns to be a better writer when someone else (or some AI bot) is doing the work for them. The question is whether chatbots can morph into decent writing teachers or coaches that students actually want to consult to improve their writing, and not just use for shortcuts.

    Maybe.

    Jennifer Meyer, an assistant professor at the University of Vienna in Austria, has been studying how AI bots can be used to improve student writing for several years. In an interview, she explained why she is cautious about the ability of AI to make us better writers and is still testing how to use the new technology effectively.

    All in the timing 

    Meyer says that just because ChatGPT is available 24/7 doesn’t mean students should consult it at the start of the writing process. Instead, Meyer believes that students would generally learn more if they wrote a first draft on their own. 

    That’s when AI could be most helpful, she thinks. With some prompting, a chatbot could provide immediate writing feedback targeted to each students’ needs. One student might need to practice writing shorter sentences. Another might be struggling with story structure and outlining. AI could theoretically meet an entire classroom’s individual needs faster than a human teacher. 

    Related: Our free weekly newsletter alerts you to what research says about schools and classrooms.

    In Meyer’s experiments, she inserted AI only after the first draft was done as part of the revision process. In a study published in 2024, she randomly assigned 200 German high school students to receive AI feedback after writing a draft of an essay in English. Their revised essays were stronger than those of 250 students who were also told to revise, but didn’t get help from AI. 

    In surveys, those with AI feedback also said they felt more motivated to rewrite than those who didn’t get feedback. That motivation is critical. Often students aren’t in the mood to rewrite, and without revisions, students can’t become better writers.

    Meyer doesn’t consider her experiment proof that AI is a great writing teacher. She didn’t compare it with how student writing improved after human feedback. Her experiment compared only AI feedback with no feedback. 

    Most importantly, one dose of AI writing feedback wasn’t enough to elevate students’ writing skills. On a second, fresh essay topic, the students who had previously received AI feedback didn’t write any better than the students who hadn’t been helped by AI.

    Related: AI writing feedback ‘better than I thought,’ top researcher says

    It’s unclear how many rounds of AI feedback it would take to boost a student’s writing skills more permanently, not just help revise the essay at hand. 

    And Meyer doesn’t know whether a student would want to keep discussing writing with an AI bot over and over again. Maybe students were willing to engage with it in this experiment because it was a novelty, but could soon tire of it. That’s next on Meyer’s research agenda.

    A viral MIT study

    A much smaller MIT study published earlier this year echoes Meyer’s theory. “Your Brain on ChatGPT” went viral because it seemed to say that using ChatGPT to help write an essay made students’ brains less engaged. Researchers found that students who wrote an essay without any online tools had stronger brain connectivity and activity than students who used AI or consulted Google to search for source materials. (Using Google while writing wasn’t nearly as bad for the brain as AI.) 

    Although those results made headlines, there was more to the experiment. The students who initially wrote an essay on their own were later given ChatGPT to help improve their essays. That switch to ChatGPT boosted brain activity, in contrast to what the neuroscientists found during the initial writing process. 

    Related: University students offload critical thinking, other hard work to AI

    These studies add to the evidence that delaying AI a bit, after some initial thinking and drafting, could be a sweet spot in learning. That’s something researchers need to test more. 

    Still, Meyer remains concerned about giving AI tools to very weak writers and to young children who haven’t developed basic writing skills. “This could be a real problem,” said Meyer. “It could be detrimental to use these tools too early.”

    Cheating your way to learning?

    Meyer doesn’t think it’s always a bad idea for students to ask ChatGPT to do the writing for them. 

    Just as young artists learn to paint by copying masterpieces in museums, students might learn to write better by copying good writing. (The late great New Yorker editor John Bennet taught Jill to write this way. He called it “copy work” and he encouraged his journalism students to do it every week by copying longhand the words of legendary writers, not AI.)

    Meyer suggests that students ask ChatGPT to write a sample essay that meets their teacher’s assignment and grading criteria. The next step is key. If students pretend it’s their own piece and submit it, that’s cheating. They’ve also offloaded cognitive work to technology and haven’t learned anything.

    Related: AI essay grading is already as ‘good as an overburdened’ teacher, but researchers say it needs more work

    But the AI essay can be an effective teaching tool, in theory, if students study the arguments, organizational structure, sentence construction and vocabulary before writing a new draft in their own words. Ideally, the next assignment should be better if students have learned through that analysis and internalized the style and techniques of the model essay, Meyer said. 

    “My hypothesis would be as long as there’s cognitive effort with it, as long as there’s a lot of time on task and like critical thinking about the output, then it should be fine,” said Meyer.

    Reconsidering praise

    Everyone likes a compliment. But too much praise can drown learning just as too much water can keep flowers from blooming.  

    ChatGPT has a tendency to pour the praise on thick and often begins with banal flattery, like “Great job!” even when a student’s writing needs a lot of work. In Meyer’s test of whether AI feedback can improve students’ writing, she intentionally told ChatGPT not to start with praise and instead go straight to constructive criticism.

    Her parsimonious approach to praise was inspired by a 2023 writing study about what motivates students to revise. The study found that when teachers started off with general praise, students were left with the false impression that their work was already good enough so they didn’t put in the extra effort to rewrite.

    Related: Asian American students lose more points in an AI essay grading study — but researchers don’t know why

    In Meyer’s experiment, the praise-free feedback was effective in getting students to revise and improve their essays. But she didn’t set up a direct competition between the two approaches — praise-free vs. praise-full — so we don’t know for sure which is more effective when students are interacting with AI.

    Being stingy with praise rubs real teachers the wrong way. After Meyer removed praise from the feedback, teachers told her they wanted to restore it. “They wondered about why the feedback was so negative,” Meyer said. “That’s not how they would do it.”

    Meyer and other researchers may one day solve the puzzle of how to turn AI chatbots into great writing coaches. But whether students will have the willpower or desire to forgo an instantly written essay is another matter. As long as ChatGPT continues to allow students to take the easy way out, it’s human nature to do so. 

    Shirley Liu is a graduate student in education at Northwestern University. Liu reported and wrote this story along with The Hechinger Report’s Jill Barshay.

    Contact staff writer Jill Barshay at 212-678-3595, jillbarshay.35 on Signal, or [email protected].

    This story about using AI to become a better writer was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Proof Points and other Hechinger newsletters.

    The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn’t mean it’s free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that.

    Join us today.

    Source link

  • 25 insights about what back-to-school season has in store

    25 insights about what back-to-school season has in store

    As the back-to-school season begins, educators and students alike are stepping into classrooms that look and feel increasingly different from just a few years ago. Technology is no longer just a supporting tool–it is a central part of how learning is delivered, personalized, and measured. From AI that helps teachers design lessons and personalize learning, to adaptive learning platforms that meet students where they are, education technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace.

    Innovation is at the forefront this year, with districts embracing tools that support academic growth, streamline workflows, and foster deeper engagement. AI-powered tutoring, immersive experiences, and tools that enhance collaboration are just a few of the technologies entering classrooms and lecture halls. These resources are not only helping educators save time but also are equipping students with critical thinking, problem-solving, and digital skills they will need for future careers.

    As schools balance new opportunities with challenges around implementation, equity, and data privacy, industry leaders and educators are offering valuable insights into what’s next. Teachers are sharing how these tools reshape day-to-day instruction, while technology providers are highlighting trends that will shape the coming year. Together, these perspectives paint a picture of a learning landscape that is both dynamic and adaptable, where innovation is guided by the shared goal of supporting student success.

    This back-to-school season, the conversation is not just about new devices or apps, but about how technology and thoughtful innovation can transform education for all learners–making 2025 a year of possibilities, progress, and promise.

    This school year, career and technical education (CTE) won’t just be an elective, but will be a priority. As more districts recognize the powerful outcomes tied to CTE, we’ll see a shift in graduation requirements to reflect what students actually need for their futures. That might mean rethinking four years of traditional math in favor of math courses that are career-aligned to specific career pathways. Administrators and superintendents are paying attention and for good reason. The data shows CTE not only boosts student outcomes, but also brings relevance back to learning.
    —Edson Barton, CEO, YouScience

    Throughout my administrative experience, it has become increasingly evident that many educational preparation programs fall short in emphasizing the importance of fostering connection and relevance in learning from the student’s perspective. Too often, the pedagogical approach positions educators as drivers of a rigid, outdated instructional model, centered on the teacher in a highly directive role, rather than as reflective facilitators willing to ride alongside students on a learning journey. To shift this reality, I take every opportunity to embrace and share the practices promoted by PBLWorks, which offer a framework where students not only learn content and skills but do so in ways that are connected to their own interests and community. Through the Project Based Learning (PBL) methodology, learning becomes more personal, meaningful, and accountable, with expected learning products that showcase depth in student understanding and growth.  Every school-age child has personal experiences from which to make connections, and with PBL, we are better equipped to serve all children effectively. While traditional testing data has its own importance in driving strategic moves, the outcomes derived from the application of learning are immeasurable in their long-term impact on career readiness. In our MSAP Norwalk implementation, shifting the approach requires more than updating curriculum units, it also demands a redefinition of the educator’s role as a collaborative team member in the classroom. Educators must evolve into co-learners and creative engineers of dynamic, student-centered learning environments. They must become comfortable with uncertainty and confident in guiding student discovery. Such a workshop-like classroom environment is essential for authentic PBL, which demands both deep preparation and flexible facilitation. Here, success is defined not only by content mastery but also by the authentic application of knowledge and skills. Importantly to note, the teacher is also a learner in this dynamic process. Ultimately, quality teaching and learning is measured not by the delivery of instruction but by the evidence of student learning. As I have grown in my leadership and implementation of the PBL framework, the phrase “I taught it, but they didn’t get it” is beyond obsolete, replaced by a continuous cycle of reflection, refinement, and real-world, relevant outcomes. Learning is represented dually in personalized student exemplars and in improved results on high-stakes assessments.
    –Victor Black Ed.D., Magnet School Assistance Program (MSAP) Norwalk Project Director, Norwalk Public Schools, Connecticut

    Learning is fundamentally about meaning-making. It’s a dynamic human process that involves our whole selves. It involves the brain as well as emotions, attitudes and beliefs, relationships, environments, and contexts. AI can’t make meaning for you. If the AI makes the meaning for you, you haven’t learned anything–that is the core of distinguishing between what is useful AI that is going to advance learning, and what is hype that could actually be counterproductive and destructive to learning.
    – Auditi Chakravarty, CEO, AERDF

    Welcome to your teaching journey. As we begin the 2025-26 school year, I want to extend my heartfelt welcome to our new educators. Your passion and fresh perspectives are invaluable assets to our learning community. I encourage you to remember that teaching is about building relationships. Get to know each student, learn their interests, challenges and dreams. Strong connections create the trust necessary for meaningful learning. Don’t hesitate to lean on your colleagues and mentors. Teaching can feel overwhelming, but you’re never alone. Seek guidance, share resources and collaborate whenever possible. Be patient with yourself as you find your rhythm. Focus on progress, not perfection, and celebrate small victories along the way. Most importantly, never lose sight of why you chose this profession. You have the power to change lives, one student at a time.
    –Dr. Debra Duardo, Superintendent of Schools, Los Angeles County & Board Member, Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (ALAS)

    Hello, new teachers!  As a 32-year veteran of teaching, I vaguely remember those first few days and weeks, but I do remember being thoroughly overwhelmed. So, my first piece of advice is to find yourself a mentor who can help you navigate the waters. Second, think outside the box. Educational technology has exploded in the last few years and us old people can’t keep up. Find something that works and immerse yourself in it. May I make a suggestion? Creation over consumption. Let’s give an example. VR is amazing. You and your students can “visit” places that you would never be able to take them on a field trip. Awesome! Do it! But I have found that creating our own VR experiences by integrating ClassVR with tools like ThingLink or DelightEx brings a whole new level of engagement and understanding. My last piece of advice? Love it! Love those kids. They need you. Bond with your colleagues. You need each other.  You got this. I’m happy you’re part of the team.
    –Craig Dunlap, Blended Learning Teacher, Yealey Elementary School, Kentucky

    I began teaching 25 years ago, and thirteen years ago I was introduced to Project-Based Learning (PBL). From that moment, I “enrolled.” PBL is not just a strategy, it’s a mindset. It transformed not only my students, but also me as an educator. Through engaging in and witnessing PBL, I have learned that it changes the way students view their education and their place in school. They no longer see themselves as passive recipients of information, but as active learners with a voice, a purpose, and a sense of belonging. PBL builds their self-efficacy, ignites their curiosity, and turns learning into a lifelong journey. Because learning in PBL is authentic, engaging, and connected to real life, every student can access it, every student feels valued, and every student has the chance to succeed. Most importantly, every student has the opportunity to be seen and to see themselves reflected in their education, their classrooms, and their school community. And while my primary goal as an educator has always been my students, I must say that PBL also transforms teachers in deeply positive ways. Unlike a scripted, one-size-fits-all curriculum, PBL gives teachers full autonomy to design, to create, and to make learning relevant. It allows us to become problem-solvers, innovators, and true professionals. As PBL teachers, we model exactly what we want from our students. PBL isn’t about checking boxes; it’s about unleashing your craft as an educator and showing your students what authentic, meaningful work looks like. What I have come to believe, after years of teaching and leading, is that PBL is not just a method of instruction, it’s a way of seeing students, teachers, and learning itself. It is the path that allows students to fall in love with learning, and teachers to love their craft. And once you experience it, it’s hard to ever imagine teaching any other way.
    –Beth Furnari, Principal, P-TECH Norwalk in Norwalk Public Schools, Connecticut

    For new district administrators, don’t chase every shiny object. Education is full of vendors promising silver bullets. Anchor your decisions in what solves your district’s problems, not in what looks flashy. Additionally, remember to prioritize relationships over initiatives. People will follow your lead if they believe you value them, not just their output. When you prioritize relationships, oftentimes the initiatives naturally follow. For example, our district’s performing arts manager came to me with the idea of virtual set design knowing I’d be open to his ideas and willing to try something new.
    –Tim Klan, Administrator of Information and Instructional Technology, Livonia Public Schools, Michigan

    In today’s educational landscape, our instructional strategies must evolve to meet the needs of digital-native learners. While traditional resources have their place, we recognize that deep engagement often requires more immersive and interactive experiences. To bridge this gap, our school district has strategically implemented virtual reality (VR). For the past five years, our schools have been utilizing the ClassVR platform by Avantis. This technology has proven to be a powerful tool for transcending the physical limitations of the classroom. The moment students see the VR kits arrive, a visible excitement builds for the learning ahead. These curated experiences are not simply virtual field trips; they are pedagogical springboards that empower students to explore historical eras, global locations, and complex scientific concepts. Most importantly, VR provides a unique medium for fostering essential skills in observation, critical analysis, and content creation.
    –Kyle Kline, Director of Digital Learning, Twin Lakes School Corporation, Indiana

    In the 2025 to 2026 school year, we will see a greater push for ongoing, explicit instruction in foundational literacy skills for older students. Most students need ongoing, developmentally appropriate, explicit literacy instruction in upper elementary and middle school, but very few of them receive it. Most students in grades 4-8 do not receive explicit instruction for crucial foundational skills that older students need to develop, like decoding multisyllabic words. More often than not, teachers in grades 4-8 lack the resources, time, or training to provide explicit instructional support to help their students continue to grow as readers. Giving teachers what they need to support their students will certainly be part of the solution, along with more targeted interventions that provide support to students where they need it.
    – Rebecca Kockler, Executive Director, AERDF’s Reading Reimagined Program

    After decades of progress narrowing gender gaps in STEM, the pandemic may have set girls back significantly–and the gap is likely to grow wider unless schools and policymakers act quickly. New NWEA research reveals that pandemic-era setbacks hit middle school girls hardest in math and science, erasing decades of progress. With fewer girls now enrolling in 8th-grade Algebra–a key gateway to advanced STEM coursework–there’s a real risk that fewer young women will pursue STEM in high school, college, and careers. To reverse this trend, schools will need to closely monitor gender participation in key STEM milestones, expand access to advanced coursework, provide early interventions and academic supports, and examine classroom practices to ensure girls are being actively engaged and encouraged in math and science. Without these steps, the future STEM talent pipeline will be less diverse and less equitable.
    – Dr. Megan Kuhfeld, Director of Growth Modeling and Analytics, NWEA

    Reliable, longitudinal student data is critical to drive strategic action. As federal support for education research is scaled back and key data collection efforts remain uncertain, districts and states may find themselves without trusted information to guide decisions. In the absence of these investments, schools will need to rely more heavily on research organizations and data partners that can offer the longitudinal insight and analytical capacity schools need to understand where students are, where they’re headed, and how to support them. With academic recovery proving slower and more uneven than expected, schools need evidence-based insights to navigate this complex landscape. Expect a growing shift toward research-backed, nonpartisan data sources to fill the vacuum and support smarter, more equitable decision-making.
    – Dr. Karyn Lewis, Vice President of Research and Policy Partnerships, NWEA

    As cybersecurity becomes an increasing risk for K-12 districts this year, it’s more critical than ever that IT leaders establish a culture of security at the start of the school year. Schools are continuously working to maintain 1:1 technology without compromising user safety or straining budgets, and asset tracking and inventory management is an integral part of that process. With shrinking IT teams working to track thousands of devices across schools, having a centralized asset management system allows districts to avoid costly surprises and manage devices more efficiently. It helps them to monitor device location and application use, make targeted and data-backed incident response decisions, and identify assets potentially affected by a security breach. It also streamlines the inventory auditing process, which allows school IT teams to track and manage the maintenance and updating needs of deployed devices, both of which function to improve security. Cyberattacks are not only becoming more frequent, but more complex and it’s time for schools to safeguard their technology by investing in smarter, more resilient solutions that protect learning environments and support long-term success.
    —Bill Loller, Chief Product Officer, Incident IQ

    As a new principal, your most important work is building relationships. That includes building and strengthening the trust with your staff, as well as your parents and families. Take the time to make those connections, to listen to people and get to know them. In Hawaii, we have a term “ahonui” which means “waiting for the right moment.” As a principal, you need to know when it’s the right time to act and when it’s the right time to listen. As a new leader, it’s natural to have a sense of urgency: You have a long list of things you want to do to help kids be safe and learn, but to do that you first need to honor what has been done so far. By getting to know the people who make up your school community you’ll learn how you can enhance it. To help build my relationship with my teachers, especially the new ones, we have an onboarding day the day before teachers report back. This is my chance to introduce them to some of the things that we have going on and the structures we have in place to support them as they teach. We introduce them to some tech tools that our school has that others don’t, like the AI-powered tutoring app SuperTeacher–but we try not to overload them because we understand that for a new teacher (or even a teacher who’s new to our school) it can be overwhelming if we just upload a lot of initiatives and must-dos and expectations. Instead, we get to know each other, and my vice principal and I share the theme we’ve come up with for each school year. Our theme for this year is “alu i ka hana me ke kuana’ike like,” which means “to join together in the work with a unified mindset.”
    – Derek Minakami, Principal, Kāneʻohe Elementary School, Honolulu, HI

    Through my years of teaching, I have found myself talking less and listening to students more. It’s important to make space for student voices to help create richer discussions and more meaningful learning experiences that connect to their own lives. At the same time, grounding those experiences in strong scientific practices ensures that learning is both engaging and rigorous. As a new school year begins, I encourage every teacher to connect the learning happening in your classroom to potential career paths and help students see the real-world impact of what they’re studying.
    –Mike Montgomery, Natural Resources Teacher, Littleton Public Schools EPIC Campus (recently featured in the “Building High-Impact CTE Centers: Lessons from District Leaders” e-book)

    Everyone is working with fewer resources this school year. As the number of bilingual and multilingual students continues to grow, it will be important for teachers to be creative and resourceful in how they are using those limited resources to support ELL students. For example, they can look outside their school for resources and partnership opportunities with businesses, non-profit associations and higher education institutions. They can also seek out grant funding that is specific for bilingual students. Multilingualism is a superpower, but English language learners face unique barriers that can put them at a disadvantage compared to their native-English-speaking peers. It is critical to continue to advocate for these students and be creative in finding ways to help them grow this superpower. Teachers: you will be key to ensuring shifting policy decisions and uncertain budgets don’t result in our most vulnerable students being left behind.
    –Ulysses Navarrete, Executive Director, Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (ALAS)

    As we begin this new academic year, I want to thank you for the incredible work you do each day to inspire and shape the minds of our students. In times when our nation–and especially Los Angeles–faces critical conversations about democracy and social justice, your role is more important than ever. Let us empower our students to think critically, question thoughtfully, and express their voices in meaningful ways–whether through essays, art, letters, or dialogue. Together, we have the opportunity to guide them toward becoming informed, compassionate, and courageous leaders who can influence the future. Your dedication matters, and the impact you make will be felt far beyond the classroom walls.
    –Ruth Perez, Ed.D., Deputy Superintendent, Los Angeles County Office of Education & Board Member, Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (ALAS)

    One thing we often hear from school districts is that after they purchase new technology, there is a lag in implementation. To ensure technology products improve teaching and learning in year one, I recommend district IT leaders work with companies that act as true partners with the district, offer built-in professional development, and provide opportunities for schools to learn best practices from each other. To help with adoption, districts can handle implementation in small increments to not overwhelm teachers, enlist classroom innovators who can lead the charge on integrating new technologies, and offer opportunities for teachers to learn from others who are implementing the technology.
    –Gillian Rhodes, Chief Marketing Officer, Avantis Education, creators of ClassVR

    Students learn best when they are engaged. My advice to new teachers is to find new, innovative ways to make learning relevant to real life. This will help students get more out of their lessons and prepare them for the world. Technology is a powerful way to do this. Providing immersive experiences such as through virtual or augmented reality can help teachers connect classroom concepts with real-world experiences. Whether it’s virtually touring ancient ruins, traveling through a blood vessel to learn about the circulatory system, or visiting a job site to learn about that career path–immersive experiences like these can help improve student-engagement and take instruction to the next level.
    –Gillian Rhodes, Chief Marketing Officer, Avantis Education, Creators of ClassVR

    While school safety conversations often focus on rare but severe emergencies, day-to-day medical incidents remain among the most frequent challenges schools face. From asthma attacks and allergic reactions to seizures, many medical emergencies occur away from the nurse’s office or outside traditional classrooms, making rapid response crucial. This school year, we will see the continued prioritization of real-time alert systems that enable immediate action in medical emergencies. Location-aware tools and mapping technology, such as the strategic placement of AEDs, help responders quickly locate life-saving equipment and reach incident scenes without delay. Since teachers and staff are often the first to respond, they need easy and accessible ways to summon help quickly.
    —Dr. Roderick Sams, Chief Development Officer, CENTEGIX 

    Reading fluency is a foundational skill for lifelong learning, even more so in an ever-changing, technology-based world. As such, supporting students in developing their reading fluency goes beyond building in time for practice. It is important for new and experienced teachers alike to understand that students need access to high-quality, research-based curriculum; differentiated lessons and small groups; multi-level systems of support; and well-implemented, quality instructional technology. It is also important for teachers to implement a repertoire of strategies and tools to specifically support literacy development. While there is no substitute for a differentiated reading lesson taught using high-quality curriculum by a highly-qualified educator, instructional technology is an excellent resource to further support student learning! When implemented effectively, and paired with teacher-led lessons, instructional technology platforms allow teachers to track student growth in real time, provide differentiated supports that target the needs and goals of individual students, and extend learning beyond teacher-led lessons. In a world of staffing shortages, larger class sizes, and ever-changing demands on educators, instructional technology can be an excellent supplemental support to further student achievement and learning. Building fluent readers sets our students up for success far beyond the classroom, empowering them to continue to challenge themselves and grow into the future with confidence and skills to succeed in a society with careers and livelihoods that will surely look very different from what we now see.
    –Sam Schwartz, Associate Principal, La Causa Charter School, a Fluency Innovator Grant recipient

    As a science teacher, I believe there is no replacement for hands-on learning experiences, so I suggest starting each year with an activity where students make measurements using tools or items around the classroom. This way, once students are given access to data-collection sensors and probeware for scientific investigations throughout the year, they have a better understanding and appreciation for why we use the technology. When it comes to labs and measurements, even for inquiry-based experiments, teachers should always do their own dry run of the data-collection process first. This allows teachers to see any stumbling blocks in the collection process and have a data set to refer to during the class discussion. Also, a class set of data gives students a basis of comparison when they are looking at their own data-collection practices and it allows students who may have been absent or unable to collect data at the time to still engage in the analysis process.
    –Kathleen Shreve, Physics Teacher, Homestead High School, California & Member, Vernier Trendsetters Community

    There’s incredible untapped potential in the wealth of data that schools already collect. Districts are sitting on years of attendance patterns, assignment completion rates, and family engagement metrics–all of which could predict which students need support before they hit crisis mode. With federal benchmarks unreliable and new assessments being expensive, 2025-26 is going to be the year districts finally turn inward to the data they already have. The challenge isn’t collecting more information–it’s making existing data actionable for teachers and families.
    – Dr. Joy Smithson, Data Science Manager, SchoolStatus

    As a new teacher starting the school year, remember that you can’t pour from an empty cup. Take care of yourself first—set clear work hours, protect time for rest, and don’t feel guilty about saying no when needed. Building relationships with colleagues and families is important, but healthy boundaries make those connections stronger and more sustainable. Start small: be approachable, communicate clearly, and show consistency. When you balance self-care with professionalism, you’ll create space to thrive both inside and outside the classroom.
    –Betsy Springer, Instructional Coach, Gull Lake Community Schools & a Teacher Leader Impact Award winner

    High school attendance is in crisis, and it’s about to force the conversation we’ve been avoiding for decades. When nearly 30 percent of high schoolers are chronically absent, we’re seeing clear signals that many students need different pathways to engagement and success. The districts that survive this attendance crisis will be the ones brave enough to completely reimagine what high school looks like, with flexible schedules that let students apprentice during traditional school hours and partnerships with local employers who can show students why their education matters.
    – Dr. Kara Stern, Director of Education, SchoolStatus

    The start of every school year is charged with possibility, with students and educators alike bringing energy, curiosity, and the excitement of new connections. That momentum can be a powerful tool as schools work to strengthen their Project Based Learning (PBL) practices. The insight is simple: PBL succeeds when schools build a culture where questions are encouraged, collaboration is natural, and feedback is welcomed. Without that culture, projects risk becoming just activities or separating into silos. With it, PBL becomes transformative–helping students see themselves as capable learners and community members who are encouraged to ask what’s possible and empowered to act. My advice is to use the energy of the new year to establish that culture early. Invite students and teachers to share their thinking openly, model vulnerability by sharing your own work-in-progress, and normalize feedback as a gift. When we frame PBL not only as project-based learning, but as possibility, belonging, and love, we create the conditions where authentic learning thrives, and we sustain that momentum from the first day of school through the last.
    –Taya Tselolikhina, Director of District and School Leadership, PBLWorks

    Laura Ascione
    Latest posts by Laura Ascione (see all)

    Source link

  • Technology ushers in a new era of student transportation

    Technology ushers in a new era of student transportation

    School bus fleets have a deceptively simple mission: To safely transport students to and from their homes, games, field trips, and other events. Achieving that mission is anything but simple, regardless of the size of the school or its vehicle fleet.

    The sheer number of variables a school transportation director must manage is overwhelming. Buses have to be well-maintained and fueled up before hitting the road; drivers must be thoroughly trained and regularly monitored for performance; systems need to be in place to quickly locate buses and the kids on them; and drivers, students, parents, and school administrators need objective tools to help investigate alleged behavioral or safety incidents that take place on board a vehicle.

    Unfortunately, the tools most schools have in place today make achieving all those objectives more challenging, time-consuming, and expensive. For example, most schools lack real-time visibility about the location of buses, often relying on GPS or cell phone and radio calls to drivers. “Right now, most people don’t have any real-time visibility,” said Amber Stanton, senior account executive and team lead focused on the public sector for Samsara, the connected operations technology trusted by organizations across public and private fleets.

    Transportation directors and their staff must also manage a mixture of standalone systems to track buses and ensure student safety. Besides GPS, it is common for schools to have both routing software and cameras to monitor, document, and investigate possible safety incidents. “There’s a chance that some of those systems interact with each other, but it’s not typically a perfect fit,” Stanton said. “There is usually friction.”

    A lack of visibility and simplicity

    That lack of visibility and the need to juggle multiple systems often translates into confusion, frustration, and wasted time and resources. A big reason why: When parents and others can’t confidently pinpoint the location of a bus using an app, they will call the school. “There’s congestion on the phone line because nobody can see where the bus is and they will call to ask,” Stanton said. “It takes time for the transportation to locate the bus and pass that information along – time they could use to do something more valuable, since they have so many other responsibilities.”

    Thoroughly investigating behavioral or safety incidents that take place on a bus is also time-consuming and cumbersome, even if buses are outfitted with cameras. If a student is accused of vaping or bullying, for example, staff must physically pull a DVR (digital video recorder) from a bus, upload footage, and analyze hours of video.

    It doesn’t have to be this way. By adopting Samsara’s telematics and camera solutions, school districts gain a single, connected view of their buses, drivers, and students. The platform links core safety and efficiency systems that schools already use. The result is faster response when incidents occur, less time spent tracking down buses, and a better experience for students, parents, and transportation staff alike.

    Lessons from the road

    With 182,000 students, Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) in Georgia is one of the 10 largest districts in the country. GCPS utilized siloed GPS and camera systems but found that parent complaints and incident investigations took days, sometimes weeks, to resolve.

    GCPS implemented Samsara GPS and AI dash cams across its 2,000 buses. The impact has been dramatic. Investigation times have been sliced in half, from as many as two weeks to just 24 to 48 hours.

    Implementing Samsara also helps address one of the biggest challenges facing transportation directors. “No one can keep drivers right now,” Stanton said. “It’s the number one problem for almost every transportation director I work with.”

    Canyons School District in Utah demonstrates how Samsara can help. With 190 buses serving 30 schools, Canyons had long relied on legacy GPS and camera systems that were unreliable in Utah’s extreme weather. Bus delays, slow video retrieval, and lagging GPS data created frustration for parents, administrators, and drivers.

    Switching to Samsara gave Canyons real-time visibility across its operations and enabled a new approach to safety culture. Dual-facing AI Dash Cams allowed administrators to proactively coach drivers and reduced driver mobile phone usage. Importantly, Samsara enabled Canyons to motivate drivers through recognition and friendly competition, not just discipline. By gamifying safe driving and celebrating strong performance, Canyons improved engagement and retention during a challenging labor market.

    The shift paid off. They improved safety outcomes and driver satisfaction and retention. Which in turn provides relief to the transportation director who oversees drivers and the entire fleet – and who often must drive a route themselves because of staffing shortages. “That person wears 20 different hats. They’re the main point of contact for parents, for students, for drivers, for leadership,” Stanton said. “In the end, transportation directors are looking for relief and more time.”

    Source link

  • Week in review: University of Chicago to cut $100M from its budget

    Week in review: University of Chicago to cut $100M from its budget

    Most clicked story of the week:

    The University of Chicago will move to cut $100 million from its budget, citing “profound federal policy changes” and multi-year deficits. Paul Alivisatos, president of the private institution, said that goal would require staff reductions.

    Number of the week:

     

    15%

    The decline in the U.S. Department of Education’s fiscal 2026 budget under a new proposal from House Republicans. The steep cut, which lawmakers paired with reduced funding for certain federal student aid programs, echoes President Donald Trump’s budget proposal. The House Appropriations Committee’s education subcommittee advanced the proposal Tuesday evening.

    The latest in the Trump administration’s battle with higher ed:

    • A federal judge Wednesday ruled in favor of Harvard University in its lawsuit against the Trump administration, concluding the federal government failed to follow proper procedures and acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it froze $2.2 billion of the university’s federal funding in April. The move also violated Harvard’s First Amendment rights, the judge ruled. 
    • George Mason University’s governing board announced it would negotiate with the Trump administration in hopes of resolving federal allegations that the public institution illegally used race and other protected characteristics in hiring and employee promotions. George Mason’s president summarily rebuked the accusation.
    • The University of California will need at least $4 billion to $5 billion to staunch the budgetary bleeding if it loses its federal funding, the system’s president told state lawmakers. The Trump administration has set its sights on the system — particularly University of California, Los Angeles, which recently had $584 million of its grants suspended.

    Federal agencies complicate life for international and undocumented students:

    • The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement proposed setting a four-year cap on the length of time international students can stay in the U.S. If approved, student visa holders would need to apply for extensions and undergo “regular assessments” to stay beyond that time.
    • The U.S. Department of Justice sued Illinois over its laws allowing select undocumented college students to pay in-state tuition rates and receive state-administered scholarships. That makes Illinois the fifth state the DOJ has taken action against over such policies.

    Quote of the Week:

    “The First Amendment doesn’t set when the sun goes down. University students have expressive freedom whether it’s midnight or midday, and Texas can’t just legislate those constitutional protections out of existence.”

    That was JT Morris, senior supervising attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, in a statement Wednesday. FIRE sued the University of Texas system on behalf of students over a new state law that directs public colleges to prohibit “any speech or expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment” on campuses from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.

    Source link

  • Cost-smart campuses: Building financial resilience through strategic buying

    Cost-smart campuses: Building financial resilience through strategic buying

    Across higher ed, the financial squeeze is tightening. Between shrinking enrollment and uncertain funding, colleges and universities are scrambling to deliver value with far less cash. Every purchase, from lab beakers to toner cartridges, now faces intense scrutiny. After all, one way to uncover excess spending is to identify blind spots and inefficiencies in how organizations buy.

    That drive for savings puts procurement teams squarely in the hot seat. Seven in ten procurement leaders rank cost management as their most critical capability today and for the years ahead, according to Economist Impact. Yet decentralized purchasing, patchwork systems, and limited spend visibility continue to drain institutional resources.

    Savvy institutions are flipping that script, moving from reactive penny-pinching to proactive value creation by consolidating spend, leveraging supplier partnerships, and centralizing purchasing oversight.

    From reactive buying to proactive value creation

    Financial uncertainty now dominates the higher ed landscape. To navigate it successfully, universities must shift from tactical price checks to total-value management, leveraging lessons from other industries that have successfully implemented AI-powered automations to boost efficiencies and cut costs, University Business reports. It’s the difference between playing defense and offense—both matter, but one drives wins.

    This strategic transformation requires three foundational moves: gaining real-time visibility into campuswide spending patterns, establishing centralized oversight without bureaucratic friction, and building supplier relationships that deliver value beyond the initial purchase price.

    “Reducing spend is important, but increasing value matters more,” shares Rosie Grigsby, senior sales manager for higher education at Amazon Business. “When you’re looking at things only from a price perspective, you’re missing out on other value aspects like quality, lifecycle, support, training, and more,” she explains. “When thinking about total value, I’m thinking about how a supplier is enhancing student experiences while giving university employees time back through efficiencies.”

    To make that possible, procurement leaders would be wise to prioritize the visibility problem: You can’t optimize what you can’t see. Gaining visibility into campuswide spending starts with breaking down the silos that keep procurement teams in the dark.

    Visibility and control: Centralizing spend without adding bureaucracy

    Imagine navigating unfamiliar terrain with a GPS that only shows you one street at a time. When departments buy in silos, institutions lose their ability to see the bigger picture, eroding spend leverage, killing negotiating power, and complicating compliance. Each isolated purchase decision chips away at potential savings and strategic control.

    Consider the cascading impact: With fragmented purchasing, universities could be paying different prices for the same product across departments, missing significant volume discounts, and discovering duplicate software licenses only during audits. Worse yet, audits could reveal policy violations that were invisible until it was too late. 

    Unsurprisingly, research by the IBM Center for the Business of Government shows that centralized procurement correlates with higher savings, efficiencies, and compliance. Even so, many procurement leaders struggle with organization-wide visibility. 

    The solution isn’t building a bureaucratic fortress around every purchase decision. Rather, modern procurement solutions maintain centralized control while giving end users the flexibility they need, eliminating the process bottlenecks that drive departments to work around procurement entirely.

    Solutions could be lying dormant in tools you already own. “Universities often underutilize e-procurement systems and automations they already have licenses for,” Grigsby notes. “Electronic catalogs, automated approval workflows, single sign-ons (SSOs), analytics—tools like these cut time from sourcing to receiving while enhancing compliance and reducing errors.” What once took days of spreadsheet analysis can now happen automatically, freeing teams to focus on strategy, not data entry.

    Building strategic supplier relationships

    Too many institutions treat suppliers as vendors, not partners. Transactional supplier relationships are short-term and price-focused: you buy something, and you’re done. Strategic supplier relationships, on the other hand, are ongoing partnerships built on trust and alignment with the university’s mission.

    “Without strong supplier relationships, you’re missing out on partners who help you anticipate needs, drive innovation, and uncover creative solutions,” Grigsby explains. “True partners embrace your university’s mission as their own and work to maintain or increase service levels through collaborative, strategic sourcing.”

    These partnerships prove especially valuable during budget crunches, Grigsby adds, citing the ongoing collaboration between procurement teams and Amazon Business account executives as an example. “Our higher ed clients often leverage the know-how, experience, and ideas we’ve gleaned from working with their peers across the nation,” she explains. “Whether they’re pursuing sustainability goals or 100% automation in procurement, we help them identify ideal partners or find solutions that have worked well for other institutions facing similar challenges.”

    Real results at Emory University

    Emory University faced the classic procurement challenge: fragmented purchasing and spend visibility. By adopting a centralized purchasing approach through Amazon Business, procurement leaders reclaimed oversight, optimized workflows for users across the organization, and uncovered dramatic savings.

    Guided buying and integrated search features brought the intuitive Amazon Business shopping experience right into Emory’s purchasing system. These integrations drove adherence to procurement policies while giving users flexibility to conduct price comparisons and complete purchases directly within Emory’s existing system. Plus, buyers enjoyed savings through Business Prime shipping and tax exemption on eligible purchases. 

    The payoff was significant, averaging thousands of dollars in savings each month. “Pretty hefty savings,” as one administrator put it.

    Roadmap to resilience

    As institutions rework purchasing strategies to boost value and savings, how can procurement teams position themselves as problem solvers instead of gatekeepers? Grigsby recommends three essential practices:

    • Proactive collaboration: Low collaboration with non-procurement buyers increases rogue buying risk, yet leaders currently rate collaboration as the least essential skill in procurement, according to Economist Impact. “When procurement reaches out to departments early to understand their pain points, especially in times of budget stress, they can engage, identify alternatives, and help internal customers reach their goals without being a blocker,” Grigsby advises.
    • Streamlined processes: Efficient procurement automates mundane tasks like recurring orders, approval workflows, and spend analysis while centralizing oversight. “Customers want to source, reconcile, and receive products easily so they can focus on mission-critical tasks,” Grigsby points out.
    • Broadcast successes: Procurement wins often go unnoticed despite their organizational impact. Share those wins—whether through newsletters, internal communications channels, or dashboards showing how much departments saved—to foster trust and collaboration.

    Looking ahead, the financial pressures facing higher education make procurement transformation a necessity, not a luxury. Modern, cost-conscious procurement isn’t about saying no; it’s about finding better ways to say yes.

    ▷ Learn how Amazon Business can help accelerate your procurement goals: business.amazon.com/education

    Source link

  • Colleges Shouldn’t Hike Tuition After May 1 (opinion)

    Colleges Shouldn’t Hike Tuition After May 1 (opinion)

    For students and their families, a university education is a massive investment of time and, often, money. To make a wise and informed decision about that investment, prospective students need full and timely financial transparency about that cost. The state of Florida has made that impossible for this year’s new out-of-state students.

    As a married academic couple, we were excited for our oldest daughter to begin her college journey. Starting her sophomore year of high school, she carefully analyzed her options along many dimensions, from location and program offerings to student life and academic rigor. After she developed a short list of about 20 universities, we created a spreadsheet that categorized colleges on anything that could be quantified. As offers and acceptance letters began rolling in, yet another spreadsheet carefully tracked tuition, room and board, and scholarships.

    After this careful analytic work, 13 on-campus visits and countless hours of conversation, our daughter chose the University of Florida. It was a tough decision; she had offers from other good colleges, including in- and out-of-state options that were more financially competitive. In the end, she valued UF’s high academic rigor and reputation combined with a relatively affordable cost. She made her choice about two weeks before the national May 1 decision deadline, and we began to prepare for her move to Gainesville. Of course, that planning included how we would pay for it. Based on numbers provided publicly on the university’s website, we thought we had that figured out.

    Then the state of Florida changed the financial picture.

    On June 18, the state of Florida’s Board of Governors permitted public universities to increase out-of-state student fees by 10 percent for the 2025–26 academic year (though called “fees,” this is in effect Florida’s term for the differential tuition costs paid by out-of-staters). And on July 23—more than two months after the national decision deadline, and less than a month before the start of the fall semester—the University of Florida’s Board of Trustees unanimously decided to do just that, hiking the per-credit cost for an out-of-state undergraduate by about $70 per credit, or about $2,000 for a full-time course load for the year. According to The Gainesville Sun, this decision was “in response to a budget shortfall of about $130 million due to a loss in state appropriations.”

    Both of us lead university units with tight budgets. Therefore, we have empathy for the tough fiscal decisions that higher education professionals sometimes must make. Perhaps the hardest financial decision university leaders face is when and by how much to increase tuition—in other words, when to pass the financial burden on to the students that we serve. That decision also increases young adults’ student loan debt, a matter of national concern addressed in many higher education articles, books and podcasts.

    But because of timing, what the state of Florida has done is different and much worse than a simple tuition/fee increase. If the university had announced the 2025–26 increase in fall 2024, we could have planned for that increase ahead of time. I do not think that would have changed our daughter’s decision, but it might have. Instead, by raising tuition so late in the game, Florida has created a classic example of a bait-and-switch: lure students in with the low cost, then dramatically increase it after their other options are gone.

    We remain excited about our daughter’s future at the University of Florida—and, most importantly, our daughter remains excited, too, despite this financial bump in the road. However, this last-minute change in price generated additional stress and uncertainty around her transition to college. When we spoke with one of the university’s financial aid advisers in late July, he was empathetic. He pointed us to the university’s scholarship portal—but of course, those scholarship deadlines passed long ago, serving as further evidence that Florida’s tuition increase came much too late.

    We have little doubt that this tuition approach has created stress for other students, too. With widespread concern for student mental health, increasing tuition costs just weeks before classes begin may add to students’ anxiety before they even set foot on campus. Student affairs professionals could see more requests for basic needs assistance, as students make tough choices between paying the higher tuition costs and other bills. University counseling centers are often already running at or above capacity and do not need such additional caseload.

    Ultimately, this pricing practice fails the test of scalability. If every university increased tuition well after the decision deadline, it would be chaos. Students and their families would have no way to plan. Particularly given significant public concern about the high cost of higher education and burgeoning student loan debt, this is unacceptable.

    Despite much debate within and beyond academia, the financial burden faced by young college students is a problem with no obvious solution in sight. But perhaps we can all agree on this: In order to make a wise financial decision, incoming students need complete and accurate information about the cost of college at least a few weeks ahead of the national decision deadline. Federal policy should preclude universities from making changes to their tuition and fees for the upcoming year after a certain point (say, two weeks prior to the decision deadline). Such a policy would provide transparency for students and fiscal accountability for higher education institutions.

    Andrew M. Ledbetter is a professor and chair in the Department of Communication Studies at Texas Christian University.

    Jessica L. Ledbetter is assistant dean of students at the University of Texas at Arlington.

    Source link

  • Former NIH Leaders Allege Retaliation for Whistleblowing

    Former NIH Leaders Allege Retaliation for Whistleblowing

    Two former National Institutes of Health leaders are alleging the agency illegally put them on leave in April for speaking up against research grant cancellations and antivaccine efforts.

    Jeanne Marrazzo, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Kathleen Neuzil, former director of the NIH’s Fogarty International Center and former associate director for international research, filed complaints Thursday with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, seeking reinstatement. They allege they faced retaliation for whistleblowing and other protected activity.

    Marrazzo “objected to the Administration’s hostility towards vaccines and its abrupt cancellation of grants and clinical trials for political reasons,” according to her complaint. Neuzil further objected to the administration’s “cancellation of grants based on anti–South Africa hostility and its incorrect belief that certain grants advanced ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion,’” her complaint stated.

    They both specifically allege that Matthew Memoli—who was NIH’s acting director after Trump returned to power and is now NIH’s principal deputy director—retaliated against them. An NIH spokesperson said in an email Friday that Memoli emphasizes that each vaccine “must be assessed on its own merits.”

    The spokesperson also wrote that “assertions that reprioritization, reallocation, or cancellation of certain grants are ‘anti-science’ misrepresent NIH’s progress and often echo the grievances of former staff.”

    Debra S. Katz, an attorney representing the complainants, said in a news release that the “Trump administration installed politically motivated leaders—most notably Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr., who immediately acted to stifle scientific inquiry, halt crucial research and retaliate against those, like Drs. Marrazzo and Neuzil, who refused to disavow the overwhelming body of evidence showing that vaccines are safe and effective.”

    But Katz said the Office of Special Counsel, which is their only route for legal relief, “has been politically compromised to such an extent that it will most certainly refuse to act against Trump appointees.”

    Source link

  • Accreditors Venture Into the Microcredential Landscape

    Accreditors Venture Into the Microcredential Landscape

    The microcredential landscape is often called a “wild west” in higher ed circles.

    The field is crowded with tens of thousands of program providers, in and outside of academia, online and in person. Short-term programs vary widely, from certificates to badges to boot camps, spanning weeks to months to over a year. And while some programs offer high returns, others yield little to none or insufficiently track outcomes.

    Now, two accrediting agencies are stepping into that murky terrain, hoping to bring some order—and branch out into a new market. Both the New England Commission of Higher Education and the Higher Learning Commission, which has been researching short-term programs for eight years, are gearing up to assess whether providers of these programs meet their standards.

    This past spring, NECHE voted to start endorsing noncredit program providers, including traditional four-year and two-year higher ed institutions and external organizations that offer these programs. For colleges and universities, NECHE’s recognition will be a bonus marker of quality on top of their existing accreditation. The move comes after the accreditor spent two years developing a microcredential-focused quality framework and testing it out on a cohort of six providers as part of a pilot project funded by the Lumina Foundation. Now, NECHE plans to launch its new recognition process for noncredit providers this upcoming spring.

    The goal is to start with at least 30 applicants for recognition. But NECHE officials expect to see greater demand as noncredit providers vie for students and employer partnerships in a competitive market and seek to strengthen pipelines from noncredit programs to jobs and degrees.

    Laura Gambino, vice president of NECHE, said the stamp of approval will also signal to students which programs are worthwhile.

    “There’s virtually no quality assurance in that space,” she said. “At the end of the day, this is all about ensuring that students have access to high-quality learning opportunities” as millions of students flock to these programs.

    This fall, the Higher Learning Commission is launching its own endorsement for microcredential providers, specifically those outside higher ed. The accreditor has been working since 2017 to think through the role it could play in an evolving higher ed landscape. With funding from Lumina and ECMC, it started a think tank on the topic to consult with experts and, two years later, launched its Credential Lab, a hub to help institutions and students navigate the rapid expansion of short-term credentials.

    HLC conducted a pilot project this year, starting with four microcredential providers from outside higher ed, to create and try a possible endorsement system. Now that endorsement process is set to launch before January. (Both the HLC and NECHE are recognizing program providers, not assessing individual programs.) The HLC’s Credential Lab is also in the process of selecting higher ed institutions to participate in its Innovation Center, a series of webinars for colleges and universities interested in growing their microcredential offerings or taking their first forays into the field.

    “We are knee-deep in this,” said Barbara Gellman-Danley, president of the Higher Learning Commission.

    A 2023 survey of HLC member institutions found that 91 percent expected alternative credential offerings to grow at their institutions and 86 percent wanted help parsing the quality of external providers to explore potential partnerships.

    As traditional higher ed institutions struggle with a range of challenges, from declining traditional-age student enrollments to funding losses, Gellman-Danley sees them exploring partnerships with external providers to expand their offerings as a way to be “competitive.”

    “They’re looking for some kind of solution, and we want to make sure that they don’t grab a solution that’s a temporary one and that they’re prepared,” she said. Meanwhile, microcredential providers, also eager for these partnerships, are looking for “credibility.”

    An ‘Essential’ Step

    Accreditation experts say it’s high time accreditors ventured into evaluating alternative credentials, both to keep up with students’ shifting preferences and to defend them from bad actors.

    “Reviewing microcredential programs and providers is essential for protecting students,” Nasser H. Paydar, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, said in an email to Inside Higher Ed. “Accrediting organizations recognized by CHEA and the U.S. Department of Education have already demonstrated their ability to review providers and programs. The review of these programs should begin as soon as possible, validating their quality, thereby protecting students.”

    Paul Gaston III, an emeritus Trustees Professor at Kent State University, said quality assurance for microcredentials “really needs to be done” and he believes accreditors are clearly the bodies to do it.

    “Accreditors have the advantage of 100 years or more of experience in evaluation procedures,” he said. “The challenge lies in adapting those procedures to a kind of credential that is not traditional.”

    Evaluating a New Landscape

    Officials at NECHE and HLC say they’ve drawn on decades of know-how as evaluators to reimagine quality standards for a world of shorter, faster credentials.

    For example, NECHE’s quality framework for noncredit program providers includes “agility” as a marker, alongside more traditional benchmarks like qualified faculty and student supports.

    “Noncredit providers have to be able to respond to employer needs, state workforce needs, very, very quickly,” Gambino said, unlike degree programs, which “move a little more slowly” when it comes to change. As a former faculty member and chair of a curriculum committee, “‘agility’ is never a word I used to describe our process.”

    That’s why NECHE plans to recognize noncredit program providers over five-year cycles, with annual data reporting requirements, rather than the 10-year accreditation cycles it uses for degree-granting institutions. Reviews by peer evaluators will also be offered online and in hybrid form to accommodate online providers.

    Alongside agility, measuring returns on investment, such as employment and job-promotion rates, is especially important for short-term programs, Gambino said, because so many students come to these programs with such goals in mind. NECHE and HLC also plan to evaluate providers on whether their noncredit offerings can serve as on-ramps to credit-bearing programs if students choose to continue their education.

    Gellman-Danley said adapting accreditors’ skills and processes to the microcredential landscape also comes with the added challenge that some providers outside academia don’t collect the data higher ed institutions traditionally track. For example, she found some showed high job-placement rates but had few metrics to show proof of student learning.

    She hopes that the HLC’s endorsement process encourages alternative credential providers to keep better data, but at the end of the day, an endorsement is not required to access financial aid, unlike at the colleges and universities HLC accredits and can command to shape up.

    “These companies don’t all have the financial data that we might want to see to make sure that they’re sustainable,” she said. “They don’t all have outcomes metrics—even really good [providers]. They’re new to it. It’s kind of a nascent industry … We’ve been amazed at how complex it is when we got into this.”

    Models for the Future

    Gaston believes NECHE and HLC could serve as “bellwethers,” modeling how other accreditors could go about venturing into the microcredential landscape.

    By evaluating new kinds of providers, accreditors are also asserting their ongoing value and relevance at a time when more Americans are questioning traditional higher education and accreditation, he said. He pointed out there have been recent challenges to the existing accreditation system, notably an effort by six state university systems to start their own accrediting agency.

    Accreditors would be “off-putting” to students if they ignored the burgeoning nondegree programs they’re embracing, Gaston said. But accreditors “taking seriously these opportunities that are increasingly popular has to contribute to a more positive regard for the accreditation process and for higher education in general.”

    Larry Schall, president of NECHE, also noted that as workforce Pell becomes a reality and federal dollars start to flow to low-income students in eligible short-term programs, it’s an opportune time to have tools to evaluate these program providers. States are going to be responsible for certain quality checks on these programs, so he can foresee NECHE potentially partnering with states to help with that process, depending on the final details of the workforce Pell program.

    As HLC and NECHE—and perhaps other accreditors down the line—start to work with microcredential providers, there’s bound to be some competition. But accreditors aren’t too worried.

    Gellman-Danley said with hundreds of thousands of alternative credential providers, it’s a “very big market” with plenty of room to go around. She’s particularly proud of the process HLC has developed, she said, but “we applaud our colleagues who are looking into this or doing this as well.”

    Schall agrees there’s space for multiple accreditors in the expansive microcredentialing wild west.

    “We don’t mind competition,” Schall said. “The number of colleges is actually shrinking. The number of noncredit providers is growing. And so, the supply is going to be huge.”

    Source link

  • Revisiting the Legal Framework for Students’ Unions

    Revisiting the Legal Framework for Students’ Unions

    Author:
    Gary Attle

    Published:

    • This blog was kindly written by Gary Attle, Consultant for Birketts LLP.
    • On Tuesday, HEPI and Cambridge University Press & Assessment will be hosting the UK launch of the OECD’s Education at a Glance. On Wednesday, we will be hosting a webinar on students’ cost of living with TechnologyOne – for more information on booking a free place, see here.
    • Read HEPI’s weekend blogs on governance and the Research Excellence Framework on the HEPI website here.

    The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 came into force, in part, on 1 August 2025. New and strengthened statutory duties were placed on higher education providers which are registered with the Office for Students (OfS), the higher education regulator in England. These duties require the governing bodies of registered higher education providers to take steps to secure freedom of speech (including academic freedom) for staff, students, members and visiting speakers and to promote the importance of freedom of speech/academic freedom. The Office for Students has a direct regulatory jurisdiction towards registered higher education providers under the provisions of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 and as ‘principal regulator’ for those registered providers which are charities.

    The current Government has indicated its intention to repeal the provisions in the 2023 Act which would have placed an express statutory duty on students’ unions for the first time to secure freedom of speech and a new regulatory power for the Office for Students to take enforcement action against students’ unions for breach of that duty. In a detailed statement to the House of Commons on 15 January this year, the Secretary of State noted the following:

    “Student unions are neither equipped nor funded to navigate such a complex regulatory environment, and they are already regulated by the Charity Commission. However, I fully expect student unions to protect lawful free speech, whether they agree with the views expressed or not. I also expect HE providers to work closely with them to ensure that that happens and to act decisively to ensure their student unions comply with their free speech code of conduct.”

    It is likely to be the case that a students’ union of a higher education provider which is a charity will be a separate charitable organisation itself, whether an unincorporated association of its members or an incorporated body. However, it would be prudent to check both the charitable status of the students’ union and its corporate status.

    The Education Act 1994 (sections 20-22) places a statutory duty on the governing body of specified higher education ‘establishments’ in England and Wales to secure certain requirements in respect of students’ unions of those establishments. The duty extends to a range of governance and constitutional requirements, including ensuring that the students’ union operates in a fair and democratic manner, that it has a written constitution and has a complaints procedure. The governing body is required to approve the provisions of the constitution and review the constitution at intervals of not more than five years. In addition, highlighted for the purposes of this note, at least once a year the governing body of the establishment must bring to the attention of its students “any restrictions imposed on the union by the law relating to charities.”

    Here, we turn to case-law of some vintage to illustrate what this might include. In 1971, the High Court in the case of Baldry -v- Feintuck [1972] WLR552 had to decide whether to grant injunctions against a number of individuals connected with the University of Sussex Students’ Union. The students’ union had passed resolutions for payments to be made in support of certain causes, including a campaign to oppose the then Government’s policy for the ending of free milk to school pupils. A student at the university and a member of the union brought legal proceedings against the students’ union officers and a member of staff at the university on the basis that such payments would be ultra vires the students’ union constitution. In granting the injunction against the President and Treasurer of the students’ union (only), the Judge noted as follows:

    “although research, discussion and debate and the reaching of a corporate conclusion on social and economic problems formed part of the educational process, the proposed payments outside of the university, formed no part of that process…and no payment for political purposes could possibly be charitable.”

    The Charity Commission updated its guidance on ‘Campaigning and political activity’ in November 2022 which it defines as follows:

    Campaigning: “awareness raising and efforts to educate or mobilise the public’s support for an issue or to influence / change public attitudes” (including activities which seek to ensure existing laws are observed).

    Political activity: “securing support for, or opposing, a change in the law or policy or decisions of central government, local government, or other public bodies, in this country or abroad”.

    The basic legal position set out in the Charity Commission’s guidance is that campaigning and political activities by charities can be legitimate and valuable provided they are undertaken only in supporting delivery of the charity’s charitable purposes. The guidance helpfully explains this more fully and the factors which the charity trustees should take into account before deciding to undertake campaigning and/or political activities. The Charity Commission noted that its experience had been that charities had been over-cautious in their approach to such matters and that they were inclined to self-censor, although it noted that it would take regulatory action if there had been misuse of charitable resources.

    Source link