What’s Worse for Students: A Boring Worksheet or Ineffective Ed Tech?
Some parents and policymakers are growing skeptical of the value of education technology.
When Machines Think, Human Thinking Must Go Higher
Not long ago, I participated in an exercise that asked educators to define thinking and learning. It was a familiar prompt, one we have returned to countless times over the past decade. This time felt different. The task was to triangulate, even pinpoint, what these concepts mean in today’s educational landscape. The conversation was thoughtful and wide-ranging. Educators from varied contexts shar...[Read More]
What George Washington Can Teach Us About Grace in the Wake of Violence
This year, Americans are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. That statement of foundational political principles and national identity in the summer of 1776 capped off a year of armed conflict marked by the first shots at Lexington and Concord, the shocking British casualties at Bunker’s Hill, and the ensuing siege of Boston in the spring and summer of 1775. Those...[Read More]
Blueprints Are Not Enough: Building Balanced Assessment Systems for Science of Reading 2.0
Ms. Rivera has done everything right: she attended the state-mandated Science of Reading (SoR) training and internalized the new, evidence-based curriculum. She is teaching phonics and phonemic awareness. Yet, as October settles in, she feels a familiar anxiety. She is teaching the “what” of the new laws, but flying blind on the “how” of student progress. While her students chant the ‘silent e’ r...[Read More]
Why Web Security Has Become Core Infrastructure for K–12
As classrooms continue to stretch across cloud platforms and home networks, web security has become foundational infrastructure that underpins learning continuity and student safety.
Snowflake Expands AI Stack With $200M OpenAI Partnership
Snowflake and OpenAI have announced a multi-year, $200 million partnership that will make OpenAI models available on Snowflake’s platform.
Anthropic Criticizes OpenAI Ad Strategy in Super Bowl Campaign
Anthropic recently launched a multi-million dollar Super Bowl advertising campaign criticizing OpenAI’s decision to start showing ads within ChatGPT.
Why PBL and 21st Century Skills Aren’t “Add-Ons”: Using AI to Prove They’re in the Standards
A recent visit to Orlando to present at the FETC conference marked a milestone in my education career. Thirty years ago, I stood in front of an audience at the California League of Middle Schools Conference in San Diego, delivering a session on gamification in sixth-grade social studies. It was my first foray into public speaking. Since that event in San Diego, I have spoken publicly more than 25...[Read More]
What is CAPS? | A Conversation with Corey Mohn
Hello, I’m Tom Vander Ark. When I think about the future of education, one name that consistently comes to mind is Corey Mohn and the incredible work happening at the CAPS Network. So, when I had the chance to sit down with Corey at the Getting Smart and Britebound Pathways event, I knew we’d dive into a powerful conversation about unbundling pathways, student agency, and the future of profession-...[Read More]
New Education Security Toolkit Provides AI-Aware Cybersecurity Guidance
Microsoft has launched a new toolkit for educators and IT teams designed to provide practical cybersecurity guidance tailored to the education sector.
‘I Can Read, But I Don’t Know What It Means’: Rethinking Literacy for Multilingual Kids
In classrooms across the country, children are showing progress in reading, yet many students cannot tell you what those words mean, why they matter or how the text connects to their lives. My first grade multilingual learner asked for help with an assignment that required reading the word and matching it to the corresponding picture. I assumed that my student had not read it. My student replied, ...[Read More]
Khan Academy Partners with Google to Integrate Gemini into Writing and Reading Tools
Google and Khan Academy recently announced a partnership that will integrate Gemini into the latter’s suite of writing and literacy tools.