Howard Dvorsky

If 2025 was the year of confusion and concern about the future of child care, 2026 may be the year that the field’s troubles all come to a head. The last year was filled with both direct and indirect hits to the sector, from the threat of defunding Head Start to expected cuts to Medicaid and the SNAP food assistance program that will leave many child care workers forced to tighten their already ca...[Read More]

What skills do students need to make sense of complex systems in the age of AI?

One of my earliest memories of using technology for teaching and learning was when I taught English at a small high school outside Waterbury, Connecticut. I had learned a couple of years earlier, when I taught in the U.S. Navy, to use mentor texts to model writing strategies, such as how to write a good summary. I wanted to take examples of my students’ writing from the prior year and share them w...[Read More]

But there’s still a big number of teachers who don’t plan to use the technology.

Milpitas School District uses clarity, consistency, and communication to simplify hiring and set new employees up for success.

his blog post is the first in a series documenting Norwalk Public Schools’ journey to create, implement and be formed by a living Portrait of a Graduate.  Abby & Kimberly met through a PoG workshop in May of 2025, and are documenting how their intersecting work is supporting the PoG coming to life in Norwalk. The concept of a Portrait of a Graduate (PoG) is well-known across the country, with ...[Read More]

This blog post is the second in a series documenting Norwalk Public Schools’ journey to create, implement and be formed by a living Portrait of a Graduate.  Abby & Kimberly met through a PoG workshop in May of 2025, and are documenting how their intersecting work is supporting the PoG coming to life in Norwalk. Levers for Deeper Implementation (Abby) Having spent the last decade walking alongs...[Read More]

Artificial intelligence is now integrated into a wide variety of products and services that K-12 schools use, making it almost inescapable.

During the pandemic, Lauren Bauer’s second grader attended a learning pod, a small group of students organized by parents outside of school. The group also included kindergartners. Bauer noticed that the older students in the pod seemed to struggle with the disruptions more than the younger ones. Parents had higher expectations of the older students, Bauer says. Kindergartners could just play all ...[Read More]

Changes — and subsequent confusion and concern — largely defined the early childhood education sector in 2025. Multiple social programs including Head Start and hunger assistance programs were in flux. Rising costs of living were coupled with the rising costs of child care. And many EdSurge readers were left searching for answers, as seen in our most-read stories of the year. There was also plenty...[Read More]

The criticism of AI companions is loud, sustained, and often warranted, especially when it comes to the harm they may pose to children and vulnerable adults. I am among the scores of politicians, health professionals, thought leaders, and educators who have written about the risks these AI-powered platforms present to all age groups, but especially the young and vulnerable. There’s a strong contra...[Read More]

Artificial intelligence promises to transform how we measure human potential, but it too often demands our trust without showing its work. Asking educators and families to rely on AI-powered inferences without transparency is like asking passengers to board a plane with a windowless, instrument-free cockpit. Yet, this ‘black box’ approach risks becoming the default, driven by proprietary models an...[Read More]