In Louisiana: State Releases Guidance for Responsible Use of AI in K-12 Classrooms  

By Louisiana Department of Education

The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) is equipping educators with resources to harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI) in the classroom. The LDOE has developed a comprehensive new guide on the safe, ethical, and effective use of AI. Based on recommendations from the LDOE’s Artificial Intelligence Task Force, the guidance can be used by school systems to create their own AI policies. 

“As the impact of artificial intelligence grows, it’s important we provide information on effective and safe utilization,” said Louisiana State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley, Ed.D. “I’m excited to share the first edition of a living document we will update as this transformative technology evolves.” 

Secretary Cardona Announces 2024 Back to School Bus Tour 

By U.S. Department of Education

On Tuesday, September 3, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona will launch the 2024 Back to School Bus Tour from Sept. 3 to Sept. 6. The week-long, multi-state road trip will showcase the many ways schools, families, and communities are doubling down on accelerating student achievement and raising the bar in public education with investments and other support from the Biden-Harris Administration. 

The Back to School Bus Tour will feature stops in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. This year’s theme, “Fighting for Public Education,” highlights how school communities are using the Biden-Harris administration’s historic investments in public education to implement evidence-based and promising and innovative strategies and accelerate academic success, to support students of all ages and backgrounds. The 2024 bus tour will celebrate public education as the American system that opened the door for so many of our nation’s success stories: from astronauts to astrophysicists, writers to engineers, musicians to mathematicians, innovative entrepreneurs in the private sector to great leaders in the public sector. 

In Mississippi: Assessment Shows Student Achievement Reaches All-Time High in Three Subjects

By Mississippi Department of Education

The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) released the results from the 2023-24 Mississippi Academic Assessment Program (MAAP), which show student achievement reaching an all-time high in mathematics, English Language Arts (ELA), and science.  

Overall, for 2023-24, the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced reached a record high of 47.8% in ELA, 56.3% in mathematics, and 63.4% in science. U.S. history decreased slightly from 71.4% in 2022-23 to 70.9% in 2023-24.

The 2023-24 assessment results show student achievement continues to exceed pre-pandemic levels. Student achievement in Mississippi and the nation dropped in 2021 due to the pandemic, though Mississippi students mostly rebounded by 2022.

Huskers Make Big Impact on State Through Teacher Education

By Deann Gayman

This article was originally published on the University of Nebraska – Lincoln’s website and was reprinted with permission.

Nearly one in four new teachers in the state of Nebraska earn their degree from UNL. Among the May graduates who are now first-year educators is Madison Wosk, a fourth-grade teacher in Sutton, Nebraska, who grew up in Broomfield, CO.

“I’m having a bit of the jitters,” Wosk said from her classroom, as she prepped for the new school year — and her career — to begin. “But the level of preparation at UNL is amazing. I know I have the right tools in my tool belt, and the UNL education program really has prepared me to be the best teacher I could be.”

Kentucky Department of Ed Presents Chronic Absenteeism Resources  

By Jennifer Ginn 

Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) team members provided an update on efforts to combat chronic absenteeism during a Superintendents Webcast on August 14. 

KDE defines a student as chronically absent if they have missed more than 10% of the enrolled time in school. This includes both excused and unexcused absences. Chronic absenteeism affects nearly 30% of students across the Commonwealth each year. 

“When students miss school, they miss out on learning, meaningful relationships, and countless other opportunities that are crucial for their development and future success,” said Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher. 

Kean University to Play Leading Role in New State Literacy Initiative  

By Kean University

Kean University this week signed an agreement with New Jersey officials to facilitate a study of literacy and learning loss among elementary students as lawmakers work to improve educational outcomes for children statewide. 

Governor Phil Murphy signed into law two pieces of legislation earlier this month to bolster literary education across the state.  

In this initiative, Kean, the state’s urban research university, will provide a learning and literacy loss consultant to the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) to analyze data, coordinate policy, and implement best practices to improve students’ literacy outcomes. 

Where Do Teachers Want To Teach? And Why?

By Linda Darling-Hammond

Last month, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions held a hearing on the status of the American teaching profession, emphasizing the urgent need for policy changes. Chairman Bernie Sanders noted that, because of widespread teacher shortages, “some 300,000 teaching positions—nearly 10% of all teaching positions nationwide—have been left vacant or filled by teachers not fully certified for their assignments.” He, and several other members of the committee, attributed these shortages to the fact that “for decades, public school teachers have been overworked, underpaid, understaffed, and maybe most importantly, under appreciated.”

Teacher shortages have been front and center in the news for a number of years, deepening during the pandemic, and continuing to be a huge issue in many states. Yet, as in all things, states differ in their education policies and in the ways that teachers are prepared, compensated, and supported. These differences can result in dramatically different levels of student access to a diverse, stable, and well-qualified educator workforce across the country.

Bipartisan NEED Act Seeks To Help Schools, Colleges Advance in Learning 

By AACTE

AACTE is one of nearly 70 organizations that supports a bill seeking to make advancements in teaching and learning. 

U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO) and John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced the New Essential Education Discoveries (NEED) Act to create a national center that advances high-risk, high-reward education research projects, similar to the model employed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). 

“As a former school superintendent, I know our teachers are doing everything they can to overcome today’s educational challenges – especially as COVID, social media, and nationwide mental health crisis have made their jobs more difficult than ever. They need new tools to overcome these obstacles and educate the next generation of Americans, and Congress can help by investing in cutting-edge education research,” said Bennet. “This bipartisan bill will help schools, educators, and policy makers meet today’s education challenges and make necessary, data-based adjustments in the future.” 

In Hawaii: 44 Public Pre-K Classrooms Set to Open Statewide

By Hawai'i State Department of Education

Forty-four free, public preschool classrooms are slated to open across the state, with at least one classroom on each island. This marks a historic number of new public pre-K classrooms opening in a single year. The announcement was made Friday at Kūhiō Elementary School by Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who is leading the state’s Ready Keiki initiative, along with the Executive Office on Early Learning (EOEL) and Ready Keiki partners.

This tranche of openings follows 11 classrooms that opened last year, all of which were completed under budget and ahead of schedule. The 44 new classrooms will add 820 seats to the inventory of public pre-K seats across the state, bringing the total to 1,767.

In Tennessee: DOE Announces 2024-25 Perkins Reserve Grant Awards Totaling $2.6M

By Tennessee Department of Education

The Tennessee Department of Education announced over $2.6 million in Perkins Reserve Grant (PRG) grant funds have been awarded to 55 school districts for the 2024-25 school year to support Career and Technical Education (CTE) across the state.

The PRG grant awards support the implementation of programs of study aligned with emerging technology in regionally identified high-skill, high-wage, and/or in-demand occupations or industries, implement STEM in all CTE classrooms, and increase support for special education students. Additionally, the PRG grant opportunity is designed to support districts in rural areas and maintain high CTE student participation rates.

In Arizona: Effort to Reduce Red Tape for Teachers Succeeds with Lawmakers 

By Arizona Department of Education

State schools chief Tom Horne says the newly passed state budget includes a change that he has long sought: the elimination of the Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) program, which many educators consider an unnecessary bureaucratic requirement and a waste of classroom time. 

“Over time, the KEA had ballooned into an endless morass of paperwork that meant teachers had to spend too much time on bureaucratic requirements versus time with students,” Horne said. “Now the legislature has taken the welcome step of entirely removing the legal requirement for the KEA, which frees up more time for teachers to spend on classroom instruction.” 

New York Launches Statewide Teacher Recruitment Platform

By New York State Education Department

The New York State Education Department and TEACH are partnering to launch TeachNY.org, a new digitally powered recruitment platform developed in collaboration with a wide coalition of New York schools, districts, institutions of higher education, and education organizations, Commissioner Betty A. Rosa announced. The mission of TEACH New York (TeachNY) is to identify and cultivate the next generation of teachers throughout the state. 

“We must continually design, develop, and implement innovative approaches that nurture a highly skilled, diverse teaching workforce,” Board of Regents Chancellor Lester W. Young, Jr. said. “TeachNY is precisely the kind of initiative that will inspire and ignite the future generation of New York State teachers.” 

In Colorado: CDE Awards $3 Million in Grant Funding to Support Out-Of-School-Time Learning  

By Colorado Department of Education 

The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) is supporting school districts and community organizations to expand out-of-school-time learning opportunities for students at 24 sites across the state. The department awarded $3 million in grant funding from the federal Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant to support academic enrichment opportunities with a focus on serving economically disadvantaged students.  

This year’s grant recipients are the CDE’s eleventh cohort of 21st Century Community Learning sites. Some examples of what the funds will support include the following: 

Educators Discuss Strategies to Help Students Succeed During 2024 Persistence To Graduation Summit 

By Jennifer Ginn 

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) hosted the 2024 Persistence to Graduation Summit in Lexington, KY, on June 11-12. 

Educators, superintendents, administrators, counselors, and other community leaders focused on ways to help students at all levels reach graduation, despite any challenges they face along the way. 

“There’s a lot of different kinds of barriers,” said KDE Division of Student Success Director Christina Weeter. “And they don’t just start in high school. They start in earlier years as well, and they can be cumulative.” 

University of Louisville College of Education & Human Development to Create State Reading Research Center 

By Jennifer Recktenwald and Chris Wooton

This article was originally published on the University of Louisville’s news website. 

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has tapped the University of Louisville’s (UofL) College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) to create the Kentucky Reading Research Center, a new entity that will support educators in implementing reliable, replicable reading programs and promote literacy development.  

The project includes a two-year, $6 million contract — one of the largest competitive grant awards in the CEHD’s history — and is renewable for up to five years. 

Executive Vice President and University Provost Gerry Bradley and CEHD Interim Dean Amy Lingo, who will serve as executive director of the Kentucky Reading Research Center when it launches July 1, joined state officials and legislators at Bourbon Central Elementary School in Paris, KY, to announce the project on June 3.