Tag: support

  • The pipeline for women education leaders is broken. They need real systems of support and sponsorship

    The pipeline for women education leaders is broken. They need real systems of support and sponsorship

    by Julia Rafal-Baer, The Hechinger Report
    February 3, 2026

    In matters both big and small, women in education leadership are treated, spoken to and viewed differently than their male colleagues. And it impacts everything from their assignments and salaries to promotions. 

    The career moves available to aspiring women leaders often set them up to lead in the toughest conditions in schools and districts with the highest stakes and the least margin for error. When states and districts fail to confront the reality of this glass cliff, they constrain the advancement of some of their most capable current and would-be leaders.  

    New survey data from the nonprofit I founded, Women Leading Ed, illuminates the experiences and perspectives of women who confront the bias that creates and reinforces both the glass cliff and the glass ceiling. And research on women in education leadership points to the same conclusion: The gender gap will persist unless states and districts make systemic changes to how leaders are recruited, trained, supported and advanced through the career ladder. 

    Related: A lot goes on in classrooms from kindergarten to high school. Keep up with our free weekly newsletter on K-12 education. 

    But the glass cliff doesn’t have to be the end of the road for women in education leadership. If more leaders — women and, critically, men — take even a few steps forward, we can build a bridge to a future in which every leader can reach their full potential.  

    Here are four ways: 

    Sponsorship and Coaching. Women in education leadership need real systems of support, with a shift from mentoring to sponsorship. This calls for both women and men to take an active role in advancing up-and-coming leaders, at all stages, who can benefit from on-the-job coaching.  

    Sponsorship and coaching relationships can be game changers, the data from our 2025 Women Leading Ed insight survey found. What’s more, they provide excellent opportunities for men to become allies in advancing gender equality. 

    Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell, the superintendent emeritus of schools in Oakland, recently recalled having a male coach when she started out. He served as a coach and sponsor, helping her connect to other superintendents.  

    “This man coached me for two years every Friday,” Johnson-Trammell recounted. “He helped me and pushed me to be the leader I wanted to be as a Black woman. … His sponsorship helped open up doors to accessing people, it helped me to connect to other superintendents.” 

    Promotion and Hiring. If we want different results, we have to change the systems of evaluation, promotion and hiring. That means recruiting beyond the usual networks, building hiring committees with varied viewpoints and training decision-makers to use structured processes and consistent criteria.  

    One example: Having a finalist pool with just two women candidates made it 79 times more likely that a woman would be hired than if there was just one candidate, research published in the Harvard Business Review found.  

    More broadly, the existing education leadership pipeline continues to disadvantage women, data from the U.S. Department of Education shows. The 2023-24 Women Leading Ed survey results demonstrated that women are predominantly funneled toward elementary school leadership and academic pathways that keep their trajectory below the top job in the district or state.  

    Men, however, are elevated to high school principalships or district positions that include fiscal or operational roles, precisely the kind of experiences that are prioritized during superintendent search processes.  

    Our 2023-24 survey results underscored this divergence. Of respondents who had been principals, fewer than 20 percent had served in a high school. Overall, just over one in 20 respondents had held a finance or operations role.  

    One respondent, a senior leader in a large urban school district, captured the bias of the skewed leadership pipeline succinctly: “I was told I’m too petite to be anything but an elementary principal,” she wrote.  

    Supports and Benefits. District and state leaders can transform who advances and leads their systems by providing systems of support for women in leadership and fostering fairer hiring and promotion decisions. 

    Family and well-being supports that sustain all leaders are essential to advance more women leaders. These include parental leave, child care, elder care time and scheduling flexibility.  

    Rising to a top district leadership position comes with costs for women that men typically do not absorb. Fully 95 percent of women superintendents believe that they must make professional sacrifices that their male colleagues do not make. 

    Some of our survey respondents reported working long hours while neglecting family, under pressure to maintain unrealistic expectations at the office. Another pointed out the additional responsibilities that women often carry in their personal lives, including the care of children or parents, attending school events and family members’ doctor appointments.  

    Related: OPINION: Women education leaders need better support and sponsorships to help catch up 

    Added pressure at work and greater responsibilities at home lead to burnout: Roughly six out of 10 respondents to our 2023-24 survey said they have thought about leaving their current position due to the stress and strain; three-quarters said they think about leaving daily, weekly or monthly.  

    Providing high-quality benefits can be a key lever for addressing these underlying gender inequalities. So can offering flexible work schedules, hybrid work arrangements and remote work options that provide elasticity in where and when work gets done.  

    Public Goals. Finally, systems, not just individuals, must be accountable. Setting public goals for increasing the number of highly qualified women serving on boards and in senior management is a start. Real accountability means tracking outcomes.  

    This should also include ensuring equal pay for equal work. About half the superintendents we surveyed in 2023-24 said they had conversations or negotiations about their salary in which they felt their gender influenced the outcome. 

    Solutions: pay-equity audits, increased transparency around compensation and the inclusion of salary ranges in job postings. These can be powerful steps toward achieving pay equality.  

    Nearly 900 bipartisan men and women leaders have signed an open letter calling for the adoption of these strategies.  

    This is a movement that is both growing and vital, as research makes clear that women continue to face a different set of rules than men in leadership. Too often, states and districts respond to the glass ceiling and glass cliff with window dressing rather than the actual reform needed to change the status quo.  

    Julia Rafal-Baer is the founder and CEO of Women Leading Ed, a national network for women in education leadership. 

    Contact the opinion editor at [email protected]. 

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

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  • Reimagining teacher preparation to include student mental health supports

    Reimagining teacher preparation to include student mental health supports

    Key points:

    Teacher preparation programs have long emphasized curriculum, instruction, and assessment. However, they often fall short in one critical area: social-emotional and mental health needs of students.

    We work daily with students whose academic success is inseparable from their psychological well-being. Nonetheless, we witness new educators wishing they were trained in not just behavior management, but, nowadays, the non-academic needs of children. If preservice programs are going to meet the demands of today’s classrooms, they must include deeper coursework in counseling, psychology, and trauma-informed teaching practices.

    Students today are carrying heavier emotional burdens than ever before. Anxiety, bullying, depression, grief, trauma exposure (including complex trauma), and chronic stress are unfortunately quite common. The fallout rarely appears in uniform, typical, or recognizable ways. Instead, it shows up as behaviors teachers must interpret and address (i.e., withdrawal, defiance, irritability, avoidance, conflict, aggression and violence, or inconsistent work).

    Without formal training, it is easy to label these actions as simple “misbehaviors” instead of asking why. However, seasoned educators and mental health professionals know that behaviors (including misbehaviors) are a means of communication, and understanding the root cause of a student’s actions is essential to creating a supportive and effective classroom.

    Oftentimes, adults fall into a pattern of describing misbehaviors by children as “manipulative” as opposed to a need not being met. As such, adults (including educators) need to shift their mindsets. This belief is supported by research. Jean Piaget reminds us that children’s cognitive and emotional regulation skills are still developing and naturally are imperfect. Lev Vygotsky reminds us that learning and behavior are shaped by the quality of a child’s social interactions, including with the adults (such as teachers) in their lives. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy further reinforces that psychological safety and belonging must be met before meaningful learning or self-control can occur, and teachers need to initiate psychological safety.

    Traditional classroom management training is often sparse in traditional preservice teacher training. It often emphasizes rules, procedures, and consequences. They absolutely matter, but the reality is far more nuanced. Behavior management and behavior recognition are not the same. A student who shuts down may be experiencing anxiety. A child who blurts out or becomes agitated may be reacting to trauma triggers in the environment. A student who frequently acts out may be seeking connection or stability in the only way they know how. Trauma-informed teaching (rooted in predictability, emotional safety, de-escalation, and relationship-building) is not just helpful, but is foundational in modern schools. Yet, many new teachers enter the profession with little to no formal preparation in these practices.

    The teacher shortage only heightens this need. Potential educators are often intimidated not by teaching content, but by the emotional and behavioral demands that they feel unprepared to address. Meanwhile, experienced teachers often cite burnout stemming from managing complex behaviors without adequate support. Courses focused on child development, counseling skills, and trauma-informed pedagogy would significantly improve both teacher confidence and retention. It would also be beneficial if subject-area experts (such as the counseling or clinical psychology departments of the higher education institution) taught these courses.

    Of note, we are not suggesting that teachers become counselors. School counselors, social workers, psychologists, and psychometrists play essential and irreplaceable roles. However, teachers are the first adults to observe subtle shifts in their students’ behaviors or emotional well-being. Oftentimes, traditional behavior management techniques and strategies can make matters worse in situations where trauma is the root cause of the behavior. When teachers are trained in the fundamentals of trauma-informed practice and creating emotionally safe learning environments, they can respond skillfully. They can collaborate with or refer students to clinical mental-health professionals for more intensive support.

    Teacher preparation programs must evolve to reflect the emotional realities of today’s classrooms. Embedding several clinically grounded courses in counseling, psychology, and trauma-informed teaching (taught by certified and/or practicing mental-health professionals) would transform the way novice educators understand and support their students. This would also allow for more studies and research to take place on the effectiveness of various psychologically saturated teaching practices, accounting for the ever-changing psychosocial atmosphere. Students deserve teachers who can see beyond behaviors and understand the rationale beneath it. Being aware of behavior management techniques (which is often pretty minimal as teacher-prep programs stand now) is quite different than understanding behaviors. Teachers deserve to be equipped with both academic and emotional tools to help every learner thrive.

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  • Student renters deserve more support

    Student renters deserve more support

    Author:
    Graham Hayward

    Published:

    Join HEPI for a webinar on Thursday 29 January from 1.30pm to 2.30pm examining the findings of Student Working Lives (HEPI Report 195), a landmark study on how paid work is reshaping the student experience in UK higher education amid rising living costs and inadequate maintenance support. View our speakers and sign up here.

    This blog was kindly authored by Graham Hayward, Managing Director, Housing Hand.

    Much support is (quite rightly) given to young people in relation to choosing the right course at the right university. They are supported with reams of information on how to settle in at university, how to study independently, where to turn for advice on their course and how to develop essential life skills such as self-care and self-sufficiency. Universities also do much to support young people as they get used to living in halls during their first year. However, those who look to the wider private rented sector for accommodation in their second year often feel quite overwhelmed by the experience, finding a sudden dearth of information, not just from universities, but from the entire rental housing sector.

    Diving into the details

    Housing Hand surveyed over 1,700 private renters in early 2025, including 932 student renters. A staggering 76% of those student renters reported negative feelings about finding their first property. 24% felt overwhelmed, 20% uncertain, 19% anxious, 8% scared and 5% out of their depth. Concerns ranged from an inability to find a suitable or affordable property to not being accepted by the landlord if they did manage to find one. Just 6% reported feeling excited about finding their first property, and 6% happy.

    Going away to university can have a hugely positive impact on young people as they grow their independence, acquire essential life skills and develop a plentiful social life, as well as further their education. However, while universities provide a range of support for young people, they can’t (and shouldn’t) be expected to do it all. Our research suggests that the information provided to young people currently, by both the education and housing sectors, isn’t hitting the mark in terms of preparing students for renting.

    Students told us they typically get information on how to manage housing-related finances from family (37%), websites (29%), friends (15%) and social media (9%). 82% of the renters we surveyed wished there had been more financial education in school.

    Students feel the strain

    Finding suitable accommodation for university, as well as the pressure of being accepted by the landlord is, in the words of one student survey respondent, “exhausting”. It’s a challenge that many students face as they approach their second year of study – a far cry from the protection that living in university halls affords during their first year typically. It signals that there is much more that partnerships across the higher education and rental sectors could do to prepare young people for the experience of finding a first home.

    Doing so would not only support them to enjoy the process more, due to their increased confidence, but could also reduce the potential for student renters to make costly mistakes. Our research found that only 30% of student renters knew about deposit-less rental schemes, while just 47% knew about deposit protection schemes. We also found that 38% of students didn’t know what a guarantor was at the point they were asked to provide one.

    Students’ lack of rental sector experience puts them at a disadvantage compared to other renters and can result in them feeling overwhelmed. It is exacerbated by the fact that many of their parents also lack recent knowledge or experience of today’s rental market. This makes the process of finding a rental home stressful and can result in some student renters missing out on the property they want.

    Solving students’ rental stresses

    The passing of the Renters’ Rights Act, which marks the biggest shakeup to the rental sector in a generation, presents the ideal opportunity to address students’ knowledge gap. With both renters and accommodation providers needing to understand the changes that the Act is introducing, there is an opportunity to communicate clearly and effectively.

    The rental sector has the chance to work with educational establishments to help achieve this, ensuring the newest generation of renters has all the knowledge needed to move ahead with confidence. Preparing young people to rent a home shouldn’t be yet another burden for universities to carry; instead, the rental and education sectors must work in partnership to ensure they provide information in an easily digestible format to help empower young people from the very outset of their rental journey. Together, we have an opportunity to educate and empower, delivering a game-changing experience for young renters.

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  • Temple Research Lab Improves Student Athlete Support

    Temple Research Lab Improves Student Athlete Support

    As the landscape of college athletics continues to shift, Temple University is experimenting with a new initiative that embeds academic research into the day-to-day operations of its athletics department.

    Launched last month, the Athletic Innovation, Research and Education Lab formalizes a partnership between the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM) and Temple Athletics.

    The AIRE Lab functions as both a research center and a practical hub, aiming to improve program management and student athletes’ development through evidence-based solutions.

    Jonathan Howe, an assistant professor at STHM and AIRE Lab co-director, said supporting the student-athlete experience is especially important at an institution like Temple University, which has fewer resources for name, image and likeness and revenue sharing than larger schools.

    “We’re able to engage in research and leverage university resources in a way that the athletics department may not traditionally be able to do,” Howe said.

    Elizabeth Taylor, an associate professor at STHM and AIRE Lab co-director, emphasized the importance of data-driven decision-making.

    “The folks who work in student athlete development may not have the capacity to do their full-time jobs while also staying up-to-date on the literature or evaluating the impact and effectiveness of the programs they offer,” Taylor said.

    She added that the goal is to “connect with people on campus who are already doing this work and share resources instead of recreating the wheel or paying someone from outside the university.”

    State of play: The launch of the AIRE Lab comes amid rapid changes in college athletics, including the rise of NIL compensation, evolving transfer rules and ongoing debates over athlete eligibility and governance. Taylor and Howe said these shifts have increased the need for institutions to understand how policy, culture and organizational decisions affect student athletes.

    “The additional opportunities through NIL and revenue-sharing create more time demands on student athletes,” Taylor said, noting that potential brand deals can complicate efforts to balance practices and competitions with classes, extracurriculars and internships.

    “What the research shows us is that they’re already strapped for time and what comes with that is stress, anxiety and mental health challenges,” she added.

    Transfer rules can further complicate the student athlete experience, particularly for athletes arriving from other institutions, Howe said. “Navigating the academic setting is a lot for athletes who may be transferring in or may have a lucrative NIL deal, so academics may be put on the back burner,” he said.

    To bridge the gap between research and daily operations, the athletics department appointed two staff members as lab practitioners to help translate research into practice.

    “Everything is changing by the second, and student athletes are having to navigate these changes,” Howe said. “So how can we provide a system that identifies the most beneficial programming to help athletes be as successful as possible in their professional pursuits once they leave campus?”

    In practice: One of the lab’s first initiatives was a cooking demonstration held at Temple University’s public health school. The session was designed to help student athletes learn how to prepare simple, nutritious meals.

    Taylor said the goal was to encourage student athletes to make practical, healthy choices and develop skills they can use outside of structured team meals.

    “The idea behind the cooking demonstration came from a research article on the experiences of college athletes, and one of the things that the athletes talked about is how so much of their life is planned out for them,” said Taylor. She added that while what student athletes eat and how they work out is often prescribed, they aren’t necessarily taught why they’re eating certain foods or doing specific workouts in the weight room.

    “It was a great experience for them to learn more about cooking safely and making healthy meals,” she added, noting that over 20 student athletes participated in the session.

    What’s next: Looking ahead, Howe said he hopes the lab will serve as a model for other institutions seeking to better integrate research, student athlete well-being and athletics administration.

    “We want to continue leveraging institutional, federal and state resources to provide athletes with opportunities they normally wouldn’t get, especially at a time when higher education budgets are being cut,” Howe said.

    “For me, the AIRE Lab allows us to break down some of the long-standing barriers we’ve had at the higher education level. Just because the budget is cut doesn’t mean we have to eliminate programs,” he said.

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  • Support for student parents at risk due to proposed funding cuts

    Support for student parents at risk due to proposed funding cuts

    UCLA Bruin Parenting Scholars (BPS) board at their winter warmth basic needs drive for students with dependents.

    Credit: Photo courtesy of Trina Rodriguez

    As students across the country wrap up their final exams, academic pressure is front and center. For many, this season is stressful. For student parents, however, the stakes are even higher.

    Alongside exams and essay deadlines, student caregivers balance jobs, household responsibilities, and the constant demands of raising children and other family members — often with little institutional support. For them, success in college is not just about grades; it is about securing stability for their families and breaking cycles of economic insecurity.

    More than one in four undergraduate students in the United States are raising children, and 54% are doing so without a partner. Despite this widespread need for support, the programs that make higher education possible for student parents are threatened. Chief among them is the federal Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) initiative, the only national program that provides campus-based childcare subsidies for low-income student parents so they can stay enrolled and complete their degrees.

    Across the University of California (UC) system, survey data shows nearly 1,000 undergraduate students and 1,500 graduate students are caregivers. These students, often older, first-generation, and low-income, face challenges that traditional student support systems were never designed to meet. Parenting students also experience food and housing insecurity at disproportionately higher rates than their non-parenting peers. Add the cost of childcare, and the financial burden becomes nearly impossible to bear.

    Despite this clear need, support is shrinking. Although Congress allocated $75 million for CCAMPIS in fiscal year (FY) 2025, and there have been previous bipartisan proposals to increase funding to $200 million annually, President Trump’s budget request and the House education spending bill for FY 2026 proposed cutting the program entirely.

    Eliminating this funding would put thousands of families under severe financial strain, intensifying the challenges for caregivers already facing heightened food or housing insecurity and making it much harder to balance school and parenting responsibilities.

    “As a CCAMPIS recipient, I know that without federally supported childcare, I would never have been able to care for my late mother while returning to school, nor would I have completed undergrad with dual degrees,” Schinal Harrington, a masters of social work (MSW) candidate at UCLA, wrote in an email to us. “As a first-generation, system-impacted woman of color, mother, and graduate student, I have spent my academic journey navigating red tape, institutional neglect, and the loss of [fellow] peers whose struggles were shaped by the same barriers student parents face today.”

    Harrington chairs Bruin Parenting Scholars (BPS), a UCLA student advocacy organization that provides resources, mentorship, and community for students with dependents. Every day, she sees how childcare access, trauma-informed services, and flexible policies support not just parenting students, but their families.

    Trina Rodriguez, another UCLA MSW student and student parent advocate, describes this reality with raw clarity: “My lived experience carries many identities, but the first thing I am when I wake up, before anything else, is ‘Mommy.’ When universities do not acknowledge the existence of this marginalized community through institutional supports — like flexible scheduling, affordable childcare, and family-friendly policies — student parents face systemic barriers to completing their education. Universities are, therefore, perpetuating harm on this community.”

    Yet despite systemic gaps, student parents demonstrate extraordinary resilience. UC survey data show that parenting graduate students feel more upbeat about their career prospects and better prepared for the job search than their non-parenting peers. Their determination is evident — even when given modest support.

    “As a parenting scholar [myself], I’ve witnessed how student parents embody perseverance, compassion, and leadership, yet must navigate systems that were never built with their lives in mind,” said Sonya Brooks, the 2025-26 UC student regent. “Supporting student parents means recognizing that higher education is not one-size-fits-all: it must evolve to meet the realities of those raising families while pursuing their dreams. The success of student parents ripples across generations, shaping stronger families, communities, and universities.”

    Other resources for student parents

    BrightLife Kids is a free virtual behavioral health coaching program for families in California with children ages 0–12.

    Part of the CalHOPE initiative, BrightLife Kids offers 1:1 video coaching and secure chat services at no cost, with no insurance or referral required, providing caregivers with helpful tools.

    When Congress passed a short-term continuing resolution (CR) to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, longer-term funding questions — including CCAMPIS funding for 2026 — remained unresolved. House and Senate appropriators are now deciding whether to follow the president’s proposal or save the program when the continuing resolution expires in January.

    Congress must restore full funding for CCAMPIS and reject cuts that threaten the educational futures of thousands of student parents nationwide. Undermining these supports jeopardizes not only individual students but entire families.

    Colleges and universities must also do their part by expanding childcare access, adopting family-friendly policies, and offering flexible learning options with integrated advising. Higher education cannot credibly claim to value its students while ignoring the realities faced by the many on campus who are raising dependents.

    Parenting students have shown up for their families. Now it is time for our institutions to show up for them.

    •••

    Duke Dela Rosa is the director, and Amrit Dhillon, Arianna Li, and Sue Jung are associates, of the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) federal government relations department at UC Berkeley.

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.

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  • Edtech teaching strategies that support sustainability

    Edtech teaching strategies that support sustainability

    eSchool News is counting down the 10 most-read stories of 2025. Story #7 focuses on sustainability in edtech.

    Key points:

    Educational technology, or edtech, has reshaped how educators teach, offering opportunities to create more sustainable and impactful learning environments.

    Using edtech in teaching, educators and school leaders can reduce environmental impact while enhancing student engagement and creativity. The key is recognizing how to effectively leverage edtech learning strategies, from digitized lesson plans to virtual collaboration, and keeping an open mind while embracing new instructional methods.

    Rethinking teaching methods in the digital age

    Teaching methods have undergone significant transformation with the rise of educational technology. Traditional classroom settings are evolving, integrating tools and techniques that prioritize active participation and collaboration.

    Here are three edtech learning strategies:

    • The flipped classroom model reverses the typical teaching structure. Instead of delivering lectures in class and assigning homework, teachers provide pre-recorded lessons or materials for students to review at home. Classroom time is then used for hands-on activities, group discussions, or problem-solving tasks.
    • Gamification is another method gaining traction. By incorporating game-like elements such as point systems, leaderboards, and challenges into lesson plans, teachers can motivate students and make learning more interactive. Platforms like Kahoot and Classcraft encourage participation while reducing paper-based activities.
    • Collaborative online tools, such as Google Workspace for Education, also play a critical role in modern classrooms. They enable students to work together on projects in real time, eliminating the need for printed resources. These tools enhance teamwork and streamline the sharing of information in eco-friendly ways.

    Sustainability and innovation in education

    Have you ever wondered how much paper schools use? There are approximately 100,000 schools in this country that consume about 32 billion sheets of paper yearly. On a local level, the average school uses 2,000 sheets daily–that comes out to $16,000 a year. Think about what else that money could be used for in your school.

    Here are ways that edtech can reduce reliance on physical materials:

    • Digital textbooks minimize the need for printed books and reduce waste. Through e-readers, students access a vast library of resources without carrying heavy, paper-based textbooks.
    • Virtual labs provide another example of sustainable education. These labs allow students to conduct experiments in a simulated environment, eliminating the need for disposable materials or expensive lab setups. These applications offer interactive simulations that are cost-effective and eco-conscious.
    • Schools can also adopt learning management systems to centralize course materials, assignments, and feedback. By using these platforms, teachers can cut down on printed handouts and encourage digital submissions, further reducing paper usage.

    Additionally, edtech platforms are beginning to incorporate budget-friendly tools designed with sustainability in mind; some of these resources are free. For instance, apps that monitor energy consumption or carbon footprints in school operations can educate students about environmental stewardship while encouraging sustainable practices in their own lives.

    Supporting teachers in the shift to edtech

    Transitioning to edtech can be a challenging yet rewarding experience for educators. By streamlining administrative tasks and enhancing lesson delivery, technology empowers teachers to focus on what matters most: engaging students.

    Circling back to having an open mind–while many teachers are eager to adopt edtech learning strategies, others might struggle more with technology. You need to expect this and be prepared to offer continuous support. Professional development opportunities are essential to ease the adoption of edtech. Schools can offer workshops and training sessions to help teachers feel confident with new tools. For instance, hosting peer-led sessions where educators share best practices fosters a collaborative approach to learning and implementation.

    Another way to support teachers is by providing access to online resources that offer lesson plans, tutorials, and templates. Encouraging experimentation and flexibility in teaching methods can also lead to better integration of technology. By allowing teachers to adapt tools to their unique classroom needs, schools can foster an environment where innovation thrives.

    If you’re concerned about bumps on this road, remember teachers have common traits that align with edtech. Good teachers are organized, flexible, have communication skills, and are open-minded. Encourage a team approach that’s motivating and leverages their love of learning.

    Bringing sustainability and enhanced learning to classrooms

    The integration of edtech learning strategies into classrooms brings sustainability and enhanced learning experiences to the forefront. By reducing reliance on physical materials and introducing eco-friendly tools, schools can significantly lower their environmental impact. At the same time, teachers gain access to methods that inspire creativity and collaboration among students.

    There’s also this: Edtech learning strategies are constantly evolving, so you’ll want to stay on top of these trends. While many of those focus on learning strategies, others are more about emergency response, safety, and data management,

    Investing in modern technologies and supporting teachers through training and resources ensures the success of these initiatives. By embracing edtech learning strategies, educators and administrators can create classrooms that are not only effective but also sustainable–a win for students, teachers, and the planet.

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  • What we lose when AI replaces teachers

    What we lose when AI replaces teachers

    eSchool News is counting down the 10 most-read stories of 2025. Story #8 focuses on the debate around teachers vs. AI.

    Key points:

    A colleague of ours recently attended an AI training where the opening slide featured a list of all the ways AI can revolutionize our classrooms. Grading was listed at the top. Sure, AI can grade papers in mere seconds, but should it?

    As one of our students, Jane, stated: “It has a rubric and can quantify it. It has benchmarks. But that is not what actually goes into writing.” Our students recognize that AI cannot replace the empathy and deep understanding that recognizes the growth, effort, and development of their voice. What concerns us most about grading our students’ written work with AI is the transformation of their audience from human to robot.

    If we teach our students throughout their writing lives that what the grading robot says matters most, then we are teaching them that their audience doesn’t matter. As Wyatt, another student, put it: “If you can use AI to grade me, I can use AI to write.” NCTE, in its position statements for Generative AI, reminds us that writing is a human act, not a mechanical one. Reducing it to automated scores undermines its value and teaches students, like Wyatt and Jane, that the only time we write is for a grade. That is a future of teaching writing we hope to never see.

    We need to pause when tech companies tout AI as the grader of student writing. This isn’t a question of capability. AI can score essays. It can be calibrated to rubrics. It can, as Jane said, provide students with encouragement and feedback specific to their developing skills. And we have no doubt it has the potential to make a teacher’s grading life easier. But just because we can outsource some educational functions to technology doesn’t mean we should.

    It is bad enough how many students already see their teacher as their only audience. Or worse, when students are writing for teachers who see their written work strictly through the lens of a rubric, their audience is limited to the rubric. Even those options are better than writing for a bot. Instead, let’s question how often our students write to a broader audience of their peers, parents, community, or a panel of judges for a writing contest. We need to reengage with writing as a process and implement AI as a guide or aide rather than a judge with the last word on an essay score.

    Our best foot forward is to put AI in its place. The use of AI in the writing process is better served in the developing stages of writing. AI is excellent as a guide for brainstorming. It can help in a variety of ways when a student is struggling and looking for five alternatives to their current ending or an idea for a metaphor. And if you or your students like AI’s grading feature, they can paste their work into a bot for feedback prior to handing it in as a final draft.

    We need to recognize that there are grave consequences if we let a bot do all the grading. As teachers, we should recognize bot grading for what it is: automated education. We can and should leave the promises of hundreds of essays graded in an hour for the standardized test providers. Our classrooms are alive with people who have stories to tell, arguments to make, and research to conduct. We see our students beyond the raw data of their work. We recognize that the poem our student has written for their sick grandparent might be a little flawed, but it matters a whole lot to the person writing it and to the person they are writing it for. We see the excitement or determination in our students’ eyes when they’ve chosen a research topic that is important to them. They want their cause to be known and understood by others, not processed and graded by a bot.

    The adoption of AI into education should be conducted with caution. Many educators are experimenting with using AI tools in thoughtful and student-centered ways. In a recent article, David Cutler describes his experience using an AI-assisted platform to provide feedback on his students’ essays. While Cutler found the tool surprisingly accurate and helpful, the true value lies in the feedback being used as part of the revision process. As this article reinforces, the role of a teacher is not just to grade, but to support and guide learning. When used intentionally (and we emphasize, as in-process feedback) AI can enhance that learning, but the final word, and the relationship behind it, must still come from a human being.

    When we hand over grading to AI, we risk handing over something much bigger–our students’ belief that their words matter and deserve an audience. Our students don’t write to impress a rubric, they write to be heard. And when we replace the reader with a robot, we risk teaching our students that their voices only matter to the machine. We need to let AI support the writing process, not define the product. Let it offer ideas, not deliver grades. When we use it at the right moments and for the right reasons, it can make us better teachers and help our students grow. But let’s never confuse efficiency with empathy. Or algorithms with understanding.

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  • An educator’s top tips to integrate AI into the classroom

    An educator’s top tips to integrate AI into the classroom

    eSchool News is counting down the 10 most-read stories of 2025. Story #10 focuses on teaching strategies around AI.

    Key points:

    In the last year, we’ve seen an extraordinary push toward integrating artificial intelligence in classrooms. Among educators, that trend has evoked responses from optimism to opposition. “Will AI replace educators?” “Can it really help kids?” “Is it safe?” Just a few years ago, these questions were unthinkable, and now they’re in every K-12 school, hanging in the air.

    Given the pace at which AI technologies are changing, there’s a lot still to be determined, and I won’t pretend to have all the answers. But as a school counselor in Kansas who has been using SchoolAI to support students for years, I’ve seen that AI absolutely can help kids and is safe when supervised. At this point, I think it’s much more likely to help us do our jobs better than to produce any other outcome. I’ve discovered that if you implement AI thoughtfully, it empowers students to explore their futures, stay on track for graduation, learn new skills, and even improve their mental health.

    Full disclosure: I have something adjacent to a tech background. I worked for a web development marketing firm before moving into education. However, I want to emphasize that you don’t have to be an expert to use AI effectively. Success is rooted in curiosity, trial and error, and commitment to student well-being. Above all, I would urge educators to remember that AI isn’t about replacing us. It allows us to extend our reach to students and our capacity to cater to individual needs, especially when shorthanded.

    Let me show you what that looks like.

    Building emotional resilience

    Students today face enormous emotional pressures. And with national student-to-counselor ratios at nearly double the recommended 250-to-1, school staff can’t always be there right when students need us.

    That’s why I created a chatbot named Pickles (based on my dog at home, whom the kids love but who is too rambunctious to come to school with me). This emotional support bot gives my students a way to process small problems like feeling left out at recess or arguing with a friend. It doesn’t replace my role, but it does help triage students so I can give immediate attention to those facing the most urgent challenges.

    Speaking of which, AI has revealed some issues I might’ve otherwise missed. One fourth grader, who didn’t want to talk to me directly, opened up to the chatbot about her parents’ divorce. Because I was able to review her conversation, I knew to follow up with her. In another case, a shy fifth grader who struggled to maintain conversations learned to initiate dialogue with her peers using chatbot-guided social scripts. After practicing over spring break, she returned more confident and socially fluent.

    Aside from giving students real-time assistance, these tools offer me critical visibility and failsafes while I’m running around trying to do 10 things at once.

    Personalized career exploration and academic support

    One of my core responsibilities as a counselor is helping students think about their futures. Often, the goals they bring to me are undeveloped (as you would expect—they’re in elementary school, after all): They say, “I’m going to be a lawyer,” or “I’m going to be a doctor.” In the past, I would point them toward resources I thought would help, and that was usually the end of it. But I always wanted them to reflect more deeply about their options.

    So, I started using an AI chatbot to open up that conversation. Instead of jumping to a job title, students are prompted to answer what they’re interested in and why. The results have been fascinating—and inspiring. In a discussion with one student recently, I was trying to help her find careers that would suit her love of travel. After we plugged in her strengths and interests, the chatbot suggested cultural journalism, which she was instantly excited about. She started journaling and blogging that same night. She’s in sixth grade.

    What makes this process especially powerful is that it challenges biases. By the end of elementary school, many kids have already internalized what careers they think they can or can’t pursue–often based on race, gender, or socioeconomic status. AI can disrupt that. It doesn’t know what a student looks like or where they’re from. It just responds to their curiosity. These tools surface career options for kids–like esports management or environmental engineering–that I might not be able to come up with in the moment. It’s making me a better counselor and keeping me apprised of workforce trends, all while encouraging my students to dream bigger and in more detail.

    Along with career decisions, AI helps students make better academic decisions, especially in virtual school environments where requirements vary district to district. I recently worked with a virtual school to create an AI-powered tool that helps students identify which classes they need for graduation. It even links them to district-specific resources and state education departments to guide their planning. These kinds of tools lighten the load of general advising questions for school counselors and allow us to spend more time supporting students one on one.

    My advice to educators: Try it

    We tell our students that failure is part of learning. So why should we be afraid to try something new? When I started using AI, I made mistakes. But AI doesn’t have to be perfect to be powerful. Around the globe, AI school assistants are already springing up and serving an ever-wider range of use cases.

    I recommend educators start small. Use a trusted platform. And most importantly, stay human. AI should never replace the relationships at the heart of education. But if used wisely, it can extend your reach, personalize your impact, and unlock your students’ potential.

    We have to prepare our students for a world that’s changing fast–maybe faster than ever. I, for one, am glad I have AI by my side to help them get there.

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  • Education Dept. $15M Fund to Support Talent Marketplaces

    Education Dept. $15M Fund to Support Talent Marketplaces

    The statewide talent marketplaces should include credential registries, learning and employment records, and skills-based job description generators.

    ATHVisions/E+/Getty Images

    The Department of Education launched a new $15 million grant competition to promote the development of what it calls statewide “Talent Marketplaces,” or digital systems that track the credentials, employment records and skills of students and graduates.

    “Talent Marketplaces give learners, earners, and employers a clearer way to validate skills, opening doors to stackable credentials and stronger recognition of prior learning and work experience,” Nick Moore, the acting assistant secretary for the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education said in a Friday news release about the program. “As we expand these systems, we open more pathways into good jobs, support broader participation in the workforce, and help strengthen our Nation’s economy.”

    The announcement came just days after the House Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing about expanding access to similar Learning and Employment Records. The goal, according to Republicans in both Congress and the Education Department, is to help institutions better match talent to opportunity and expand access to career pathways with a positive return on investment.

    In this first competition, the department will identify up to 10 award winners, each of whom will receive a portion of the $15 million as well as technical assistance in refining and implementing their development plans. It is unclear based on the news release where the funding for this program will come from.

    The application will open in January, according to the release.

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  • OPINION: Workforce Pell can lead to good jobs for students if they get the support needed for long-term success

    OPINION: Workforce Pell can lead to good jobs for students if they get the support needed for long-term success

    by Alexander Mayer, The Hechinger Report
    December 16, 2025

    Ohio resident Megan Cutright lost her hospitality job during the pandemic. At her daughter’s urging, she found her way to Lorain County Community College in Ohio and onto a new career path.  

    Community colleges will soon have a new opportunity to help more students like Megan achieve their career goals. Starting next summer, federal funds will be available through a program known as Workforce Pell, which extends federal aid to career-focused education and training programs that last between eight and 15 weeks. 

    Members of Congress advocating for Pell Grants to cover shorter programs have consistently highlighted Workforce Pell’s potential, noting that the extension will lead to “good-paying jobs.”  

    That could happen. But it will only happen if states and colleges thoughtfully consider the supports students need for success.  

    This is important, because helping students pay for workforce programs is not enough. They also need support and wraparound services, much like the kind Megan was offered at Lorain, where her program followed an evidence-based model known as ASAP that assigns each student a career adviser. 

    Related: Interested in innovations in higher education? Subscribe to our free biweekly higher education newsletter. 

    Megan’s adviser “helped me from day one,” she said, in a story posted on the college’s website. “I told her I was interested in the radiologic technology program but that I had no idea where to start. We just did everything together.”  

    Megan went on to secure a job as an assistant in the radiology department at her local hospital, where she had interned as a student. She knew what steps she needed to take because her community college supported and advised her, using an evidence-backed practice, illustrating something we have learned from the experience of the community colleges that use the ASAP model: Support is invaluable.  

    Megan also knew that her path to a full-time position in radiologic technology required her to pass a licensure test — scheduled for four days after graduation.  

    The students who will enroll in Workforce Pell programs deserve the same careful attention. To ensure that Workforce Pell is effective for students, we should follow the same three critical steps that helped drive the expansion of ASAP and brought it to Megan’s college: (1) experiment to see what works, (2) collect and follow the data and (3) ensure that colleges learn from each other to apply what works. 

    Before ASAP was developed, the higher education community had some ideas about what might work to help students complete their degrees and get good jobs. When colleges and researchers worked together to test these ideas and gathered reliable data, though, they learned that those strategies only helped students at the margins. 

    There was no solid evidence about what worked to make big, lasting improvements in college completion until the City University of New York (CUNY) worked with researchers at MDRC to test ASAP and its combination of longer-lasting strategies. They kept a close eye on the data and learned that while some strategies didn’t produce big effects on their own, the combined ASAP approach resulted in significant improvements in student outcomes, nearly doubling the three-year college completion rate.  

    CUNY and MDRC shared what they learned with higher education leaders and policymakers, inspiring other community colleges to try out the model. Those colleges started seeing results too, and the model kept spreading. Today, ASAP is used in more than 50 colleges in seven states. And it’s paying off — in Ohio, for example, students who received ASAP services ended up earning significantly more than those who did not. 

    That same experimentation and learning mindset will be needed for Workforce Pell, because while short-term training can lead to good careers, it’s far from guaranteed.  

    For example, phlebotomy technician programs are popular, but without additional training or credentials they often don’t lead to jobs that pay well. Similarly, students who complete short-term programs in information technology, welding and construction-related skills can continue to acquire stackable credentials that substantially increase their earning potential, although that also doesn’t happen automatically. The complexity of the credentialing marketplace can make it impossible for students and families to assess programs and make good decisions without help.  

    Related: OPINION: Too many college graduates are stranded before their careers can even begin. We can’t let that happen 

    A big question for Workforce Pell will be how to make sure students understand how to get onto a career path and continue advancing their wider career aspirations. Workforce Pell grants are designed to help students with low incomes overcome financial barriers, but these same students often face other barriers.  

    That’s why colleges should experiment with supports like career advising to help students identify stepping-stones to a good career, along with placement services to help them navigate the job market. In addition, states must expand their data collection efforts to formally include noncredit programs. Some, including Iowa, Louisiana and Virginia, have already made considerable progress linking their education and workforce systems.  

    Offering student support services and setting up data systems requires resources, but Workforce Pell will bring new funds to states and colleges that are currently financing job training programs. Philanthropy can also help by providing resources to test out what works best to get students through short-term programs and onto solid career paths.  

    Sharing what works — and what doesn’t — will be critical to the success of Workforce Pell in the long-term. The same spirit of learning that fueled innovation around the ASAP model should be embedded in Workforce Pell from the start.  

    Alexander Mayer is director of postsecondary education at MDRC, the nonprofit research association. 

    Contact the opinion editor at [email protected]. 

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

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