EdSurge

Students are facing a well-documented mental health crisis that was on the rise even before the pandemic, and schools have responded with social-emotional learning (SEL) and wellness programs. But what if some of these very practices are contributing to students’ stress? In “The Teens Are Not Alright: School and Classroom Practices to Support Student Well-Being,” education researcher Cathy Vatterott argues that to truly support adolescent mental health, schools must look beyond programs and inte

INDIANAPOLIS — There’s the mother of two who needs a full-time job to keep up with the bills, but can’t afford full-time childcare. There’s the medical technician who stopped buying groceries and turned to food banks so she could pay for her infant’s care.There’s the baby who remained in foster care, even after his mother completed the steps to bring him home. She had found a job, as the state required, but couldn’t afford his childcare.It’s hardly news that childcare is expensive, straining the

This week, two stories look at what happens when rules written far from a classroom land on a teacher’s desk. One guest found guidance that barely mentions the youngest students. The other found a law that took away the exact tool his students needed most. Both raise a question that will sound familiar to any educator: When the rules do not fit, who is responsible for making them work?Where the Screen Time Guidance Runs OutA longtime education and technology journalist went looking for what happ

Like so many educators, I was balancing more than a typical routine. I was teaching full-time in a Title I high school while writing, speaking, advocating, mentoring and trying to create learning experiences that honored students who often navigate systems not designed with them in mind. I was often somewhere between grading essays, responding to emails, and figuring out why half the class couldn’t log into Microsoft Teams because the Wi-Fi was acting up again. I wasn’t looking for a tech revolu

OpenAI launched ChatGPT for Teens on Aug. 18 as its new artificial intelligence (AI) platform for users ages 13 to 17.According to the firm, teens will be automatically placed into the new platform based on their estimated age, where they will encounter “an experience designed to help [them] learn, think critically, deepen understanding, and use AI with confidence,” OpenAI said in its product announcement. ChatGPT for Teens offers safety measures for its younger users, with tools designed to enc

For years, the United States has treated its reading crisis as an early grades problem. This narrow focus misses the bigger challenge: the “comprehension wall” that many students hit in middle school. As students move into middle school, they no longer focus on learning to read. They must understand what they are reading. Right now, they struggle to do so: Only 30% of eighth graders were proficient in reading in 2024, the lowest level in 30 years.I witnessed this problem firsthand as a principal

With the launch of ChatGPT four years ago, the graduating class of 2026 is the first to have full exposure to generative artificial intelligence. Many high school students in the United States have considerable experience using AI — and mixed feelings about its growing role in everyday life. They may take advantage of AI benefits, but some fear where the technology could take us in the future. That concern was on clear display at the Me, Myself, and AI art show at the America’s Youth AI Festival

Have you considered that the greatest risk of artificial intelligence might not be plagiarism, but the quiet erosion of students’ ability to think for themselves?“How does Kate Chopin use irony to challenge the reader’s understanding of freedom?” I ask while standing in front of my 11th-grade English class.Normally, this is the point where students flip through the text, underline a few lines, exchange ideas with classmates and slowly begin constructing an answer. Instead, their eyes stare back

The Department of Education has just released its first major guidance on classroom technology in years, urging states and districts to focus on outcomes rather than logins or screen time. The letter draws a firm line between recreational and instructional screen use, and it leaves the actual rulemaking entirely up to states and districts. On this episode of This Week with EdSurge, Ira Apfel sits down with Digital Promise president and CEO Jean-Claude Brizard and outcomes-based contracting exper

Men account for about 23% of elementary and secondary teachers in public schools, down from 30% in 1988, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. This statistic prompted the Male Educator Network & Policy Institute (MEN), the American Institute for Boys and Men and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago to survey male teachers about what attracts them to the profession — and what keeps them there.Why Men Become TeachersMEN recently released the re

EdSurge announced six new members to its Advisory Board, among them a mix of experienced journalists and education leaders.Todd Frankel, Patrick Harris II, Nneka McGee, Ramona Schindelheim, Avery Thrush and Manoush Zomorodi have joined the board, each bringing a wealth of experience and expertise. The board will serve as a vital resource for the EdSurge newsroom, offering strategic insights and industry perspectives across all areas of coverage.“Partnering with such a talented, versatile group o

The U.S. Department of Education today issued new guidance about educational technology usage in the classroom but left rulemaking to states and school districts.Edtech should ensure that “technology use is purposeful, instructionally sound, and contributing to measurable student outcomes,” writes Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education Kirsten Baesler in the Dear Colleague Letter. “Responsible design is the floor. Not only do we need to know if the tool works, but if it works;

In 2025, my home state of Missouri passed a law, Senate Bill 68, that prohibits students from possessing any electronic communication device from the start of the school day until the end of the school day. “It’s simple — cell phones have no place in Missouri classrooms,” Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe posted on X, formerly Twitter. It has become a concerning cycle in education: When any new technology becomes prevalent in our kids’ world — from TV to video games, and computers to the rise of AI — pol

On This Week with EdSurge, two guests look past the classroom to find where artificial intelligence quietly adds up. One traces the cost of AI to the assignment page, the other to the electricity bill. Together they raise a question few schools have fully worked through, what an AI-first future actually costs, and who ends up paying for it.Could Rethinking the Assignment Outsmart AI?Michael Hernandez had spent years teaching educators how to redesign their assignments through his book, his works

When the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) revamped its childcare rules in 2019 to require educators to earn more credentials, Aida Rodriguez decided to pursue her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. When it was time to choose a school, she chose the less common path.  Rodriguez earned her bachelor’s degree in 2022 from North Seattle College, becoming one of about 16,000 students who earn a bachelor’s degree from a community college each year, accord

Several leading colleges and universities are reinstating SAT or ACT scores as part of their admissions requirements after years of being "test blind" (not looking at standardized test scores, even if submitted). The move has revived the debate over the fairness and value of such testing.Institutions initially removed the test score requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since testing centers were shutting down, many students didn’t have access to testing or test preparation, so dr

Adults from seemingly every corner of society are weighing in on artificial intelligence policies in the classroom. But what do students have to say about it?A recent event offered some clues, as student leaders from around the nation proposed a set of national guidelines for the use of AI in schools at the America’s Youth AI Festival in Boston. The three-day event brought together student leaders, educators, and school system leaders from across the country to discuss acceptable AI use in schoo

Have you ever been in a room where the energy was palpable, only to have the air leave the room in an instant? I found myself in that type of room this year, right when AI entered a conversation about designing a program focused on career exploration and social-emotional learning.Last August, our community was happy to learn that we won the Delaware Pathways Middle Grades Grant (DPMG) for $150,000. Our team’s objective was clear: to create an equity-centered bridge between middle school and high

Every early educator was once new to the field, and every young child will eventually encounter artificial intelligence somewhere in their life. On This Week with EdSurge, two guests examine what the adults responsible for those youngest learners actually need in order to do their jobs well. Nicol Russell, chief academic officer at Teaching Strategies, has spent 20 years watching where that support breaks down. Dr. Nneka McGee, founder of Muon Global, has spent her time studying what happens whe

For the most part, public school students have made significant strides in returning to subject proficiency levels from before the pandemic, according to a new study by NWEA. But a disturbing exception is the lowest-achieving students in middle school, whose reading scores have suffered greatly.The NWEA study finds that, not only have reading scores not stabilized for this group in the six years since the start of the pandemic, they continue to decline significantly. The study draws on data from