Overseas schools offering Korean language classes surge 54% in 4 years
The number of overseas elementary, middle and high schools offering Korean language classes either as part of the regular curriculum or through after-school programs reached 2,777 at the end of last year, a 54 percent increase over the past four years. The figures come from data submitted by the Ministry of Education to Rep. Kim Moon-soo of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, compiled annually by Korean Education Centers and overseas diplomatic missions. The data shows that growth has accelerated steadily since 2021. The number of overseas schools operating Korean language programs rose from 1,806 in 2021 to 1,928 in 2022, 2,154 in 2023, and 2,526 in 2024. Student enrollment in Korean language classes has also continued to rise. The number of students studying Korean increased from 170,563 in 2021 to 236,089 in 2025, marking a 38 percent increase over four years. From 2024 to 2025 alone, enrollment grew by 6.1 percent. The geographic spread of Korean language education also widened, with the number of countries offering such programs expanding from 42 in 2021 to 47 last year. Uzbekista
10 May 2026
Overseas schools offering Korean language classes surges 54% in 4 years
The number of overseas elementary, middle and high schools offering Korean language classes either as part of the regular curriculum or through after-school programs reached 2,777 at the end of last year, a 54 percent increase over the past four years. The figures come from data submitted by the Ministry of Education to Rep. Kim Moon-soo of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, compiled annually by Korean Education Centers and overseas diplomatic missions. The data shows that growth has accelerated steadily since 2021. The number of overseas schools operating Korean language programs rose from 1,806 in 2021 to 1,928 in 2022, 2,154 in 2023, and 2,526 in 2024. Student enrollment in Korean language classes has also continued to rise. The number of students studying Korean increased from 170,563 in 2021 to 236,089 in 2025, marking a 38 percent increase over four years. From 2024 to 2025 alone, enrollment grew by 6.1 percent. The geographic spread of Korean language education also widened, with the number of countries offering such programs expanding from 42 in 2021 to 47 last year. Uzbekista
10 May 2026
Korean language programs overseas rise 54% over 4 years
The number of overseas foreign elementary, middle, and high schools offering Korean language classes, either part of the official curriculum or through after-school programs, reached 2,777 at the end of last year, which is a whopping 54 percent jump over the course of past four years. This is according to data submitted by the Ministry of Education to Rep. Kim Moon-soo of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. The data is compiled annually by Korean Education Centers and overseas diplomatic missions at the end of every year. The data shows that the growth has accelerated steadily since 2021. The number of overseas schools operating Korean language programs rose from 1,806 in 2021 to 1,928 in 2022, 2,154 in 2023, and 2,526 in 2024 before reaching the latest total. Student enrollment in Korean language classes has also continued to rise. The number of students studying Korean increased from 170,563 in 2021 to 236,089 in 2025, marking a 38 percent increase over four years. From 2024 to 2025 alone, enrollment grew by 6.1 percent. Country-wise, the number of countries with schools offering Ko
10 May 2026
Space For Inspiration In The Secondary School Curriculum
The post Space For Inspiration In The Secondary School Curriculum appeared first on TeachingTimes .
8 May 2026
Training Channel Partners On Complex Commission Structures: Most Onboarding Programs Get It Wrong
Most partner training programs skip commission education entirely. Here's a framework for building commission literacy into channel partner enablement. This post was first published on eLearning Industry .
8 May 2026
This Early Learning App Supports More Than Just ABCs and 123s
Bimi Boo Academy provides flexible, engaging activities across literacy, math, and daily skills for pre-K and kindergarten students.
8 May 2026
Tunnel Vision, Consolidated Truth, And The Illusion Of Learning
AI creates tunnel vision and consolidates truth, while L&D reinforces completion over capability—driving faster decisions but weaker judgment unless organizations build true AI literacy. This post was first published on eLearning Industry .
8 May 2026
Statutory guidance: Phonics screening check: local authority monitoring visits
Guidance for local authorities undertaking monitoring visits for the phonics screening check, including instructions for completing the monitoring visit form.
8 May 2026
Statutory guidance: Key stage 2 tests: local authority monitoring visits
Guidance for local authorities undertaking monitoring visits for the key stage 2 (KS2) national curriculum tests, including instructions for completing the KS2 monitoring visit form.
8 May 2026
The curriculum review gives us a chance to get RE right
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7 May 2026
Accredited official statistics: Vocational and other qualifications quarterly: January to March 2026
Numbers of certificates issued for vocational and other qualifications in England (excluding GCSEs, AS and A levels, Advanced Extension Awards, apprenticeship end-point assessments, Extended Project Qualifications and T Level Technical Qualifications).
7 May 2026
5 Ways to Build Oral Language in Young Learners
Hearing and practicing language leads to stronger literacy skills.
6 May 2026
Most English teachers assigned at least one full book in 2024-25, Rand finds
Dive Brief: Most middle and high school English language arts teachers (90%) assigned at least one full book in the 2024-25 school year , with two-thirds saying they planned to assign between one to four full books to their students , according to nationally representative data released by Rand Corp. However, teachers serving historically marginalized students — such as students of color, those experiencing poverty, students with disabilities and multilingual learners — assigned fewer full books, according to the data. On average, teachers assigned four full books, and most teachers (60%) assigned more books than required in the curricula . Less than a quarter (24%) said they assigned more than five books , and 9% assigned none. Dive Insight: Teachers assigning more full books were more likely to say that their students spent a majority of class time engaging with grade-level texts. The findings are based on data collected in 2025. That same year, results from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress were released and showed reading scores slid further down in 2024, compared to results from 2022 following the pandemic. Later results from NAEP showed that high schoolers are graduating with fewer reading skills as the gap between higher and lower-performing students widens in most areas. And in December, a New York Times survey of over 2,000 educators, parents and students found that school curriculum products purchased from major publishers involved answering short-form questions and writing brief essays based on short stories, articles and excerpts from novels — rather than full books. That model is partly in response to state standardized testing, the news outlet reported . "By the time teachers get through their required curriculums and prep students for exams, they often have little or no time left to guide classes through a whole book," said the New York Times report. The Rand report released Wednesday also found that t eachers who primarily used publisher-developed curricula assigned fewer books than teachers who did not use such curricula. Another reason for the shift away from whole books might be lack of student interest, said Natalie Wexler, an education writer focusing on literacy and equity issues, i n the American Federation of Teachers' American Educator journal spring 2026 edition . "Another is lack of time in a world where … many students simply don’t read outside class," Wexler wrote. "That’s been especially true since the pandemic, when many schools lowered expectations because students were dealing with difficult or even traumatic situations. Even though the pandemic is long over, those looser standards are often still in place." The Rand report made three suggestions to address the lack of whole books in curriculum: Curriculum developers could include more full books in ELA curricula. Organizations supporting curriculum selection should provide more information about which full books and how many books are in curricula. Researchers should investigate how full-book reading can aid literacy instruction and boost student outcomes.
6 May 2026
Should financial literacy be factored into math curricula?
Opportunities to combine the two subjects can be found as early as elementary school, some math and financial literacy educators say.
6 May 2026
Should financial literacy be factored into math curricula?
California and three other states are among the latest to introduce financial literacy requirements for graduation, bringing the total to 39 states — and math and financial literacy educators see opportunities to combine the two subjects as early as elementary school, creating a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts. “We support the idea of introducing things such as financial literacy as early as possible, but as grade-level-appropriate as possible,” said Latrenda Knighten, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, who has taught and coached math in the elementary grades and beyond. Although today’s children might not handle cash that often, she said, “We know money is used in exchange for goods and services. We know students need to be able to make that connection. We know students need to use critical thinking and reasoning to make those decisions.” Andrew Davidson, founder of Financial Life Cycle Education, or FiCycle , a nonprofit focused on improving financial literacy, agrees with the importance of combining it with math and notes that, historically, math was developed for money-related purposes. “People had financial issues they needed to address, so they developed tools,” he said. “If you go back to Babylonian times, people started simple accounting to keep track of transactions. Counting things and having numbers comes from tracking inventory of loaves of bread.” In elementary and middle schools, adding financial literacy concepts to the math curriculum does not need to mean increasing the number of lessons — just regearing them to make them more relevant, Knighten said. “Why not incorporate real-life contexts where students are using those concepts, through the lens of financial literacy?” she said. “They may plan a class party or special event. You’ve got a budget to work with to do that.” Or students could start a mock business selling friendship bracelets, Knighten suggested. “There are so many things involved in that,” she said. “You need to figure out how much money you need to start the business, to purchase materials. How are you going to make sure that you sell at a price point that you make a profit and pay back the money you borrowed?” This, Knighten said, is realistic. “It makes sense to them. They can write ads, if you want to work literacy into it.” In teaching fractions and percentages, teachers could ask students how, if they want a new pair of shoes, they decide what level of discount to hold out for before making the purchase, Knighten said. “Children understand that,” she said. “Why would this be a better deal, as opposed to buying it at a regular price?” In NCTM’s “Catalyzing Change” series about making math relevant, the council suggests many such scenarios, Knighten said. “We stress the importance of students having opportunities to engage in relevant mathematics experiences and using problem solving situations so they are applying the math concepts they learned,” she said. “More students have the opportunity to be successful using it to navigate their lives.” Financial literacy hypothetical activities like budgeting, taking out loans, earning an income and setting aside savings all have intuitive math links, said Davidson, whose organization focuses on four concepts: Wealth, which derives from earnings and expenses. Time, which connects to investing and borrowing. Risk, the uncertainty of life and its financial instruments. Value, the appropriate compensation for taking on or removing risk. “Once you phrase it that way, it’s easier to see how these concepts can be applied to mathematics at different levels, from elementary school to high school and beyond,” Davidson said. In high school, educators can link bookkeeping and algebra, compounding interest to exponentiation and logarithms, and mortgage payments to series and sequences, he said. “You can work backwards from those to see what are the easier levels of mathematics that get you to high school concepts,” Davidson said, adding that in elementary school, counting or multiplyin gets students thinking about time, while fractions and percents relate to interest. FiCycle develops materials and trains teachers on the curricula, Davidson said. “Our goal, when people are covering mathematical topics, is to also describe the financial topic, so that there’s a connection students make across their learning.”
6 May 2026
Schools are digging into the science of food
Educators throughout the U.S. and across grade levels are using food — including school lunches — to teach science lessons employing hands-on approaches. In St. James Public Schools in southwest Minnesota, health teacher Steve Chapin provides nutrition lessons with help from the school’s foodservice provider. Students in the Tenth Grade Chefs program plan meals that are served in the cafeteria. “We’re giving kids the opportunity to plan and prepare nutritious, healthy, intelligent meals,” Chapin said. In the mostly virtual Commonwealth Charter Academy, an public cyber charter school in Pennsylvania, some students come in person to the Harrisburg campus' indoor greenhouse that’s been part of the school’s AgWorks program for the past eight years, where they learn about everything from planting strawberry seeds to fishing for tilapia, said Lindsay Coulter, program coordinator. “Agriculture is such an important career in Pennsylvania. We bring any exposure we can,” she said. Health teacher Sarah Gietschier-Hartman at Clayton High School in the St. Louis suburbs added a lesson focusing specifically on nutrition for teens that stemmed from conversations with the school’s nurses, theater teacher, and field hockey and lacrosse coach, who all had noticed how constantly hungry — and thus distracted and weary — students seemed. “We collaborated to create a lesson on the benefits of balanced nutrition for teens, and how it makes us feel better and prevent crashes,” she said. Chapin, named the 2026 Health Educator of the Year by the Society of Health and Physical Educators America, teaches his students about macro- and micro-nutrients, and how they contribute to the energy level students need to focus on academics, succeed in athletics and otherwise get through their day. A representative from the district’s foodservice representative details how the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National School Lunch Program lays out expectations for fat, sodium and carbohydrates in foods, Chapin said. “We want to make sure they see the long-term health impact of the choice related to eating,” he said. Students then propose meal choices, many based on homemade recipes in the heavily Hispanic community, and they break down how the proposed meal matches nutrient requirements and budgetary allotments. The district’s internal foodservice director sometimes recommends substituting commodity items that the government can buy in bulk, and the students tweak their ideas. Between December and February, students prepared and cooked 23 meals, working in groups of five, reporting to the cafeteria at 8 a.m. to receive instruction and safety guidance, Chapin said. “We’re super-fortunate to have an incredible, knowledgeable foodservice staff,” he said. “They are genuinely excited to have our kids come in and work with them.” The 8 th graders whom Chapin also teaches focus on sugar and salt intake and prepare a healthy snack they would be willing to share with classmates — with the caveat that it must pass muster with regard to allergies — and then are asked to prepare a meal for their family at home. “It doesn’t have to be complicated,” he said. “I just want them to learn how to be a kitchen and learn how to make homemade food.” At Commonwealth Charter Academy, Coulter offers various opportunities for different grade levels. She runs a club for K-3 graders who plant everything from strawberry seeds to tomatoes. Middle schoolers learn about vitamins and minerals and recently undertook a “ moon soil ” experiment in which they grew pepper and mustard seeds in simulated lunar soil. And in high school, students learn about the nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon cycles, all of which can be demonstrated through aquaponic agriculture, Coulter said. “We’re bringing in environmental science, showing them catfish and American eels, talking about conservation and how people fish,” she said. “Tilapia is a big source of food, and it’s invasive to Pennsylvania, so we can talk about the pros and cons of fishing for them in the environment versus producing our own.” At Clayton High School, Gietschier-Hartman, a 2018 SHAPE America Teacher of the Year, said students often visited the nurse’s office mainly because they needed a snack, while the coach reported athletes were running out of energy by halftime, and the theater teacher testified that actors often struggled to memorize lines. Through the lessons she developed and launched last fall, students learn about carbs, protein and fat, using an interactive worksheet, students design “performance plates” they would find enjoyable and nourishing. “It’s a way to teach them easy information that would help them build easy meals and realistic snacks, and include everybody in the room,” Gietschier-Hartman said. “The students have been pretty receptive to it. If we give them the opportunity to make these decisions on their own, they do a great job of it.”
6 May 2026
As AI advances, S’pore will support workers through job redesign and shared gains: Jasmin Lau
Acknowledging that technologies can amplify inequality, Ms Lau said AI literacy will be built from young.
6 May 2026
Key stage 2 tests: how to become a marker
Guidance about how to become a marker for the key stage 2 (KS2) English and mathematics tests.
6 May 2026
The teachers with top marks
The post The teachers with top marks appeared first on Cambridge International Education blog .
6 May 2026
How do you know when it’s time to leave?
Q: “I’ve been in my school community for several years now, and I’m considering my next career steps. When I started here, my goals were aligned with what we were doing, but now I’m not so sure. When is the right time to leave a school community and seek a new job elsewhere?” Signed, A teacher looking for a new challenge A: My first teaching job helped me become the teacher I am, but after three years, I knew that I had learned what I could from that environment. So, despite feeling responsible for my students, I decided to head to a different kind of school on Long Island, outside of the city, to see if it would be better. I found that the environment there didn’t suit me either. I learned a lot, but ultimately, it was not my forever work home. From there, I took a position at a small, themed school, and it really seemed like this was the one. Everything was different from the way they went about hiring me to what the school day looked like. I thrived in that school for almost a decade. It’s where I was able to innovate and grow as an educator — to dream of a future that was different for students. It was the school that gave me room to grow into who I am now as an educator. It was hard to move on from this school, but I knew there was still more to learn, so I took a job as an instructional coach at a school in another city. It felt like the right position, but it turned out to be the wrong time. I took a leadership position closer to home so I could be available when my family needed me. As you can see from my story, there is no single “right” time to leave a school community. For many educators, deciding whether to stay or go is personal because schools are not just workplaces — they are communities where relationships, routines, and purpose are built over time. If you’ve spent several years in one place and are now wondering whether your goals still align with the school’s direction, that tension is worth paying attention to. When you start a new job, it is natural to be energized by a shared mission. You may have joined because the school’s vision was exciting, the leadership was promising, or you believed strongly in the work being done. However, schools evolve over time. Leadership changes, priorities shift, and even the best-fitting role can begin to feel mismatched. That does not necessarily mean anything is wrong with you — or even with the school. It may simply mean that the fit has changed. Listen to the Quiet Signals Most people do not wake up one day and suddenly realize it is time to leave. More often, the decision builds slowly. You may notice that you feel drained more often than energized. You may stop feeling connected to the mission. You may find yourself saying yes out of loyalty, but feeling increasingly disconnected from the work. Another sign is when your professional growth stalls. This is what happened to me. I started getting bored, and when I asked for new opportunities, they didn’t come as readily as I needed. Schools should challenge us in healthy ways and help us continue learning. If you have gone from feeling inspired to feeling stuck, that is worth reflecting on. Ask yourself whether the school still offers the kind of environment where you can grow, contribute meaningfully, and feel respected. If your answer is no, maybe it is time to start looking elsewhere. Ask the Right Questions Before making any big decision, it helps to ask yourself a few honest questions: Do I still believe in the school’s direction? Am I staying because I am committed, or because I am comfortable? (This one was a big one for me at the school I was at the longest — it was so hard to leave, even though it was the right time.) Have my values changed, or has the school’s culture shifted? Do I feel seen, supported, and professionally valued? (This was another big signal for me – my principal actually told me everyone was replaceable.) If nothing changed for the next two years, would I still want to be here? These questions can help you separate temporary frustration from a deeper misalignment. Every school year has difficult seasons. A challenging group of students, a leadership transition, or a stressful initiative can make any job feel heavy for a time. But if the discomfort is persistent and connected to your sense of purpose, it may be telling you something important. Loyalty Should Not Replace Alignment Many educators stay longer than they should out of loyalty. They love their colleagues, care about their students, and do not want to disappoint anyone. That loyalty is admirable. But staying in a school community out of obligation alone can slowly wear you down. This was very much the case at the school I was at the longest. I felt responsible for my students and their families, and my colleagues, too. Plus, my leaders gave me so many opportunities, until they didn’t. It is possible to appreciate what a school has given you and still recognize that your season there may be ending. Leaving does not mean you failed. It means you are being honest about what you need in your professional life. If the school community really cares about you, they will want you to grow and be happy. Leave Thoughtfully, Not Impulsively If you are considering leaving, you do not have to make an immediate decision. Start by gathering information. Reflect on what you want more of in your next role—more autonomy, more collaboration, stronger leadership, a different grade level, or a new kind of work altogether. Talk with trusted colleagues or mentors. Update your resume. Explore what else is available . Sometimes clarity comes not from forcing a decision, but from allowing yourself to look ahead with curiosity. I always suggest that folks create the job description they want to help gain clarity. I talk about this in my book, Making an Impact Outside the Classroom . It includes activities you can do to get clear on what you want, and some different pathways that are available as an educator. The Right Time May Be Sooner Than You Think The right time to leave is not when you are completely burned out. Ideally, it is when you can make the decision with perspective, professionalism, and hope for what comes next. If your values no longer align with the school’s direction, and you have given yourself time to reflect on that honestly, then it may be time to begin your next chapter. A school community can be meaningful to you and still not be the place where you are meant to stay forever. Sometimes, the most professional, courageous thing you can do is recognize when your growth is leading you in a new direction. If you have an issue that you would like me to address, please email me at ssackstein@educatorsrising.org or complete this form . You will be kept anonymous. The post How do you know when it’s time to leave? appeared first on Kappan Online .
5 May 2026
Liberia: Is the Integration of Technology Into Liberia's Elementary and Secondary Curriculum Paramount?
[Liberian Observer] The introduction of computers and smart boards as instructional tools continues to have a great impact on classroom instructional strategies, especially in Western countries. Technology has indeed revolutionized the environment in which schools operate. The internet has introduced an environment in which schools are forced to design curricula that will empower individual students to educate themselves beyond the walls of the classrooms.
5 May 2026
Exam aids for maths and science GCSE exams to continue
More than 90 per cent supported plans to keep providing formulae and equations sheets for the exams The post Exam aids for maths and science GCSE exams to continue first appeared on Schools Week .
5 May 2026
The Hidden Risk In AI-Driven Learning
AI replaces information overload with tunnel vision, creating faster decisions but hidden risks. Organizations must build AI literacy to ensure judgment, not just speed, scales. This post was first published on eLearning Industry .
5 May 2026
Proposed changes to the assessment of mathematics, physics and combined science GCSEs
Ofqual has consulted on proposals to continue providing formulae and revised equations sheets as support materials in relevant GCSE exams.
5 May 2026
Qatar Chamber holds workshop to enhance financial, legal awareness for entrepreneurs
Qatar Chamber affirmed the importance of supporting entrepreneurs in dealing with legal and financial challenges by promoting the fundamentals of sound financial planning, raising awareness of legal rights and obligations, as well as the importance of financial literacy in avoiding risks. This came during a workshop organized by Qatar Chamber in cooperation with the Young Entrepreneurs Club and several supporting entities, under the title of 'Do Not Risk Your Future: Basics of Financial and Legal Awareness for Youth,' which was held virtually with the participation of an elite of entrepreneurs and interested participants. Delivered by lawyer Aisha Al Madeed, the workshop focused on enhancing financial and legal awareness among youth, covering key topics such as financial planning, legal rights and obligations, risk management, and supporting entrepreneurs in addressing legal and financial challenges. In turn, Head of the Training and Development Department at Qatar Chamber, Fatima Al Kuwari, said the workshop reflects the Chamber's commitment to equipping youth with the tools needed to manage their financial and legal future and make informed decisions. The Chamber continues to develop training programs aligned with market needs and praised the cooperation with partner entities in supporting youth capabilities and professional and financial stability, she added.
5 May 2026
Qatar Chamber holds workshop to enhance financial, legal awareness for entrepreneurs
Qatar Chamber affirmed the importance of supporting entrepreneurs in dealing with legal and financial challenges by promoting the fundamentals of sound financial planning, raising awareness of legal rights and obligations, as well as the importance of financial literacy in avoiding risks. This came during a workshop organized by Qatar Chamber in cooperation with the Young Entrepreneurs Club and several supporting entities, under the title of 'Do Not Risk Your Future: Basics of Financial and Legal Awareness for Youth,' which was held virtually with the participation of an elite of entrepreneurs and interested participants. Delivered by lawyer Aisha Al Madeed, the workshop focused on enhancing financial and legal awareness among youth, covering key topics such as financial planning, legal rights and obligations, risk management, and supporting entrepreneurs in addressing legal and financial challenges. In turn, Head of the Training and Development Department at Qatar Chamber, Fatima Al Kuwari, said the workshop reflects the Chamber's commitment to equipping youth with the tools needed to manage their financial and legal future and make informed decisions. The Chamber continues to develop training programs aligned with market needs and praised the cooperation with partner entities in supporting youth capabilities and professional and financial stability, she added.
5 May 2026
Thousands of students risk their qualifications by taking phones into exam hall as GCSE and A Level exams begin
Ofqual's Chief Regulator urges students not to take mobile phones or smart devices into exam halls as the summer 2026 GCSE and A Level series begins.
5 May 2026
Statutory guidance: Key stage 2: submitting teacher assessment data
Guidance for schools and local authorities on submitting teacher assessment data on the National Curriculum Assessments Portal (NCA Portal).
5 May 2026
Week In Review: Inside the ‘science of math’ and teacher salaries
Most-clicked story of the week: Math reforms, as well as differing approaches to math teaching and curricula, are at the center of a growing and complex debate. These “science of math” conversations follow the intense attention given to science of reading in literacy instruction. Supporters of the science of math approach say math instruction should be guided by empirical research and cognitive science. The issues demand attention from stakeholders who will be setting policy and supporting instruction in the subject, according to a report released April 28 by the Center on Reinventing Public Education. Number of the week: $74,495 That was the average pay for teachers nationwide in the 2024-25 school year — an increase from $71,985 in 2023-24, according to the National Education Association. Despite ongoing salary gains in actual dollars, teacher pay dropped 5% over the past decade when inflation is factored in. Teachers and schools Education leaders typically cite science, technology, engineering and math when listing the high-need areas of teacher shortages . During the 2024-25 school year, for example, science and math were the second and third most-frequently reported subjects for states facing teacher shortages, according to a Learning Policy Institute analysis of U.S. Department of Education data. That challenge comes as other research suggests a contracting of the STEM teacher workforce pipeline in recent years. The Education Department on April 30 released final regulations excluding graduate education programs from its definition of “professional degrees,” making them ineligible for higher federal student loan caps. As a result, borrowing for these programs will be capped at $100,000. The final rule sticks with a limited and contested definition of professional students who can borrow up to $200,000 in federal loans for their programs. Iowa’s Cedar Rapids Community School District board approved a plan April 27 to close or consolidate seven schools in the face of a $10 million to $12 million budget deficit and declining enrollment. State data shows the district’s enrollment fell 4.3%, from 14,567 to 13,945 students, between the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. The district projects a loss of another 642 students by the 2030-31 school year. The closures and consolidations are to take effect for the 2027-28 school year. Curriculum corner As the push to curb screen time and ed tech in schools gains momentum, district leaders need to be alert and proactive in communicating about the issue with their communities, said Barbara Hunter, executive director of the National School Public Relations Association. With the spotlight on ed tech, Hunter said, now is an opportune moment for districts to show how technology is benefiting students in the classroom. But that requires strategic communication, she added. Teachers have grown more knowledgeable of the science of reading in recent years, but gaps remain in curriculum adoption and educator training in this area, according to a Thomas B. Fordham Institute report released last month. A survey developed by Fordham and conducted by Rand Corp. found only 52% of K-3 teachers say their classroom reading instruction reflects the science of reading. And about 30% of teachers said they equally favor phonics and cueing.
4 May 2026
Education, Leadership, And Curriculum Trends That Positively Impact Student Outcomes
With education being nearly completely digital, there are some concerns of children using tablets in the classroom rather than using the old school method, textbooks. However, with the negatives of this new change come the positives. New trends have brought positive outcomes for students. This post was first published on eLearning Industry .
3 May 2026
IISER Tirupati opens admissions for one-year BioDS and DS-AI professional master’s programmes for 2026
Admissions are open for IISER Tirupati one-year Professional Master’s Programmes for 2026-2027 under Biological Data Science (BioDS) and Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DS-AI). Offered in online mode, programmes target graduates and working professionals from science, technology and allied fields. Curriculum combines theoretical and applied learning with hands-on projects using real datasets. Eligibility includes specified undergraduate or postgraduate qualifications. aim to prepare industry-ready professionals for roles in data science, AI, biotechnology and life sciences sectors.
3 May 2026
Guidance: Phonics screening check data collection: guide
Guide for local authorities to help them complete and return the 2026 phonics screening check data collection.
1 May 2026
Phonics screening check data collection: guide to submitting data
How local authorities should collect phonics screening check data from all local-authority-maintained schools, academies and free schools.
1 May 2026
Test yourself on the past week’s K-12 news
How well did you keep up with this week’s developments in K-12 education? To find out, take our five-question quiz below. Then, share your score by tagging us on social media with #K12DivePopQuiz.
1 May 2026
Statutory guidance: Key stage 2 tests: test administration guidance (TAG)
Guidance for headteachers, teachers and teaching assistants administering the 2026 key stage 2 (KS2) national curriculum tests.
30 Apr 2026
Statutory guidance: Key stage 2: assessment and reporting arrangements (ARA)
Statutory guidance for assessing and reporting the national curriculum at key stage 2 (KS2).
30 Apr 2026
Official Statistics: Longer Term Destinations 2024/25
Sustained destinations of the 2019 to 2020 cohort at one, three and five years after completing Key Stage 4.
30 Apr 2026
Teachers’ knowledge of science of reading improves, Fordham reports
Dive Brief: Teachers' knowledge of the science of reading has improved in recent years, but gaps remain in curriculum adoption and educator training, a Thomas B. Fordham Institute report, released this month, said. A survey developed by Fordham and conducted by Rand Corp. found that only 52% of K-3 teachers say their classroom reading instruction reflects the science of reading approach. About 30% of teachers said they equally favor phonics and cueing — a discredited practice that encourages guessing instead of systematic decoding. To boost reading achievement, at least 40 states have enacted science of reading laws over the past few years. Whether those policies succeed depends on how clearly and consistently they are understood and used by teachers, the report said. Dive Insight: The survey found that teachers in high-poverty schools were less likely to express a clear preference for phonics instruction, compared to teachers in low-poverty schools. Educators in low-poverty schools scored at the 54th percentile of science of reading knowledge and commitment and those in high-poverty schools were at the 44th percentile. The report said it is unclear why the gap exists, especially as teachers in high-poverty schools reported that they had more exposure to science of reading-aligned trainings compared to teachers in low-poverty schools. The lack of a clear explanation highlights "the fragmented nature of curriculum adoption and the complexity of translating exposure to science of reading-aligned training into better practice in high-poverty schools," the report said. Even with that imbalance, most K-3 teachers (81%) said they should help students break unfamiliar words into parts to identify syllables or phonics patterns — a pedagogy used in the science of reading instruction. Another survey result found that teachers' knowledge of the science of reading declines as the grade level increases. For instance, kindergarten teachers had the deepest levels of knowledge while 3rd grade teachers demonstrated the least understanding. To assess teachers' knowledge of science for reading practices, the survey included a short quiz. About 1,244 K-3 teachers participated in the survey. Regarding teacher training, the survey found that educators who rely most heavily on the science of reading instruction provided by their preservice programs tend to have substandard knowledge of the science of reading compared to other activities that build their knowledge. Such activities can include on-the-job experience, in-service professional development and their schools' English language arts curriculum. When it comes to classroom instruction, the most popular curriculum among teachers was University of Florida Literacy Institute Foundations , which is rooted in the science of reading. However, 16% of teachers said they used the Fountas & Pinnell curriculum , which has been criticized for not emphasizing daily phonics instruction. Based on the survey findings, the report offers four recommendations: Improve preservice preparation. States should set explicit instructional standards, invite higher education faculty members to participate in state-sponsored professional development, develop model courses on the science of reading, and take other actions to increase aspiring teachers' knowledge in this area. Require a strong licensure exam. New K-3 teachers should be required to pass licensure exams that include comprehensive knowledge of the latest reading science. Ensure continuing professional development. To help teachers keep up-to-date on their understanding of science of reading approaches, educators should complete at least one science of reading training in their first two to three years on the job. Adopt a science of reading–aligned K–3 curriculum. States should require districts to adopt curricula from a list of materials that are fully aligned with the science of reading but diverse enough to fit the needs of all learners.
30 Apr 2026
Wellington College International Pune Celebrates the Joy of Reading with Literary Festival 2025-26
Wellington College International Pune celebrated World Book Day with a week-long Literacy Festival that transformed the campus into a vibrant literary space. Pupils engaged in door displays, reading sessions, competitions, buddy reading, and silent reading. Author Ilika Ranjan inspired students through interactive sessions. A Scholastic book fair and a literary character parade added excitement. The event fostered creativity, community, and a lifelong love for reading, encouraging students to become imaginative readers and storytellers of future.
30 Apr 2026
Degrees Still Matter—But They’re Not Enough
A recent poll shows employers still value college degrees, but they are worried about a skills gap between what they need and what candidates actually possess. Earlier this year, Lumina Foundation and Gallup surveyed 2,000 U.S. employers across a range of industries. The results show that employers still value higher education and still expect degrees to matter in hiring. But many employers are expressing concerns about cost, accessibility, and a growing mismatch between what candidates are bringing to the table and what jobs actually require. College degrees clearly remain important and preferred. --> Many industries continue to struggle to find candidates with the right skills, raising questions about higher education’s ability to prepare its graduates for the current workforce. The survey found that 48 percent of employers believe most jobs at their organizations require a college degree, and 75 percent think a degree will remain as important or become even more important over the next five years. About three-quarters would still prefer candidates with a degree, even if the position does not formally require one. College degrees clearly remain important and preferred. But when graduates enter the workforce with obvious skill gaps, questions arise about practicality and alignment with employer needs. A glaring 69 percent of employers report that recent college graduates need a great deal or moderate amount of additional training upon hiring to be successful in their role. But 93 percent of current associate and bachelor’s degree students are confident their school is teaching them the skills they need to get the type of job they want. This disconnect matters. Students are enrolling in degree programs and studying to earn good grades without realizing that their studies may not translate into the skills employers are actually looking for. What can be done? Institutions should take a hard look at whether they are producing graduates who are readily employable. --> Institutions should take a hard look at whether they are producing graduates who are readily employable and equipped with the right skills to fill jobs. They should also be talking to employers about what skills are in demand. Regular curriculum reviews and open dialogue between employers and institutions can help narrow the gap between what students are being taught in class and what employers seek. The poll also shows that 56 percent of employers are having difficulty finding candidates with the right skills, and 38 percent say their business has had to hire foreign-born workers due to a perceived shortage of American workers with the skills they need. At a time when the return on investment of a college degree is increasingly questioned, institutions can preserve their relevance and quell doubts by evaluating students’ skills and readiness through the lens of their potential employers. Magdalene Horzempa is a 2025 Carolina Cardinal fellow at the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, a former Martin Center intern, a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, and a board member of the UNC Alumni Free Speech Alliance. The post Degrees Still Matter—But They’re Not Enough appeared first on The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal .
30 Apr 2026
Human-centered approach key in classroom AI implementation
When implementing artificial intelligence tools in schools, educators should take a human-centered approach, remaining mindful of “elements that technology can’t replace but can erode or strengthen depending on how it’s used,” says Maddy Sims, a senior fellow at the Center on Reinventing Public Education. Introducing AI without a strategy can create an “efficiency paradox” where legacy school models become more affordable and efficient but aren't responsive enough to student needs, according to a whitepaper co-written by Sims. The paper, published by CRPE earlier this year, resulted from a gathering of 40 educators, researchers, funders, technology experts and parents held by the organization in November. The forum “was aimed at elevating early lessons learned, identifying enabling conditions and building a shared understanding about how to implement AI in ways that are coherent and oriented toward long-term transformation,” said Sims. “We took stock of current roadblocks and discussed what a coherent approach to AI might look like going forward.” Among the whitepaper’s recommendations: Educators should have a vision for AI before implementing tools. Policy, infrastructure, pedagogy and technology should be aligned. Human relationships should be at the center of these efforts. Policies and investments should be adequate for system-level change, now and in the future. Participants at the forum expressed a strong belief that education needs to retain its human core, and that the most enduring values of schooling are rooted in relationships and a sense of purpose and belonging, Sims said. “There was pushback on narrow uses of AI for efficiency alone and instead, a focus on expanding what’s possible: reshaping assessments, feedback and project-based learning in ways that deepen student engagement,” she said The participants also said this type of design and philosophy doesn’t happen by default — it needs to be explicit and intentional so school systems don’t gravitate toward convenience, cost savings and novelty, according to Sims. “Those pressures can crowd out the relational and developmental aspects of learning that matter,” she said. “The human-centered approach means designing learning experiences where AI enhances rather than replaces the educator.” As such, school leaders should start with a clear vision of what they want students to experience, thoughtfully defining outcomes like deeper engagement and more authentic demonstrations of learning and then determining how AI can help achieve those goals, Sims said. “Funders and state leaders have a critical role to play in shaping conditions,” she said. “Inventing models that go beyond efficiency and support deeper changes to teaching and learning, as well as providing clear guidance and guardrails around responsible use.” Otherwise, schools are left to navigate individual tools and competing priorities on their own, she added. Districts and states must also invest in educator capacity, Sims said. “The human-centered approach depends on teachers being able to leverage AI tools thoughtfully,” she said. “This means providing time and support for educators to experiment, reflect and ultimately refine their practice.” The whitepaper noted that one of the biggest pitfalls regarding AI implementation is treating it merely as an adoption challenge rather than a strategy for rethinking teaching and learning, Sims said. “When you start with tools rather than a clear vision, it impacts how effectively teachers are able to leverage changes,” she said. “AI gets layered onto existing practice in ways that reinforce the status quo rather than transforming it.” Another pitfall she noted: failing to take what the forum group called an “ambidextrous” approach and instead feeling the need to choose between stabilizing current performance and investing in longer-term transformation. “This is not an either-or proposition,” she said. The [education field needs to do both.” Last, she said, don’t under-invest in educator capacity. “Even the most promising tools can fall short if educators don’t know how to use them.”
29 Apr 2026
How two districts are finding gifted students ‘hiding in plain sight’
Dive Brief: Broader, more thoughtful screening to identify gifted and talented students can help uncover those who are hiding in plain sight, leading to not only a greater number receiving enrichment programming but a more diverse group, according to a pair of districts in Texas and South Carolina. Since Texas' Northwest Independent School District in Fort Worth put universal screening in place for 2nd graders, educators have discovered a deeper pool of gifted students from populations like English learners, those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and those whose parents didn’t know how to advocate for them. They’ve also noted “twice exceptional” students whose challenges, such as dyslexia, might have masked other talents under a more cursory approach. In South Carolina's Charleston County School District, educators instituted universal screening and moved beyond a one-time test to demarcate who was gifted, taken in 2nd grade, to a “Stretch or Support” strengths-based model to build critical thinking skills and a reevaluation in 4th grade — a shift that has roughly tripled to 150 the number of students identified for advanced learning services in the past two years, says Elizabeth Uptegrove, assistant director for gifted and talented. Dive Insight: In Northwest ISD, across the district’s 24 elementary schools, 85 1st graders and 89 2nd graders are identified as gifted, but that number jumps to 215 by 3rd grade due to the universal screening in second, said Audra Rowell, advanced academics coordinator. Rowell noted that, districtwide, 28% of students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, while they comprise 12% of the gifted population. As a district that’s grown by 14,000 students in the past 10 years and become significantly more diverse, with more than 70 languages spoken at home, “the fact that we started universal screening so long ago, when the district was smaller and more homogenous, was impressive,” said Rowell, who joined Northwest ISD in 2015 after its implementation. “Now, it’s really critical.” About five or six years ago, teachers started noticing correlations between students who performed highly on the Cognitive Abilities Test created by Riverside Insights but did poorly on achievement testing because they were twice exceptional, Rowell said. “Giftedness hides that weakness,” she said. “In elementary education especially, we tend to focus on achievement testing a lot, or how kids are doing in the classroom, but the CogAT helps teachers see how kids learn, and think, and what their strengths are.” Although not everyone on staff was fully supportive of universal screening when she arrived, Rowell said that the ability to both identify talented students — including at the district’s Title I school — and also to uncover data that’s helpful with regard to all students has led to more of a unified commitment. “It’s for everybody,” she said. “Finding gifted kids is a great bonus.” In Charleston County School District, the “Stretch or Support” model arrived when Uptegrove arrived from another district where she had pioneered the approach. The SOS model uses CogAT data to analyze students' areas of strength and opportunities to stretch their skills, as well as areas of relative weakness where they need supports, she said. The district provided professional development for teachers to deploy CogAT data toward both ends, underscoring that the results can provide verbal, non-verbal and quantitative information that identifies whether students reason better with words, pictures or numbers, respectively, Uptegrove said. When she created the SOS approach in her previous district, she used a curated game list to help those students practice their critical thinking skills in fun ways. “What we noticed, of course, was that all the kids wanted to play the games,” Uptegrove said. “It was a great talent development shift to not gatekeep what we were doing for students and allow all kids exposure to critical thinking. They all deserve to grow in that way.” In Charleston County, Uptegrove noticed underrepresented populations were often the ones not identified as gifted, and she worked to bridge the demographic gaps. She rolled out the approach to educators she supervised and others have picked it up. In addition, she noticed students being retested on CogAT beyond 2nd grade were often White students whose parents advocated for them — so she advocated for all students to be retested in 4th grade. “To see the increase of three times as many kids is very significant,” Uptegrove said. “But it’s two-fold: Yes, we gave everybody exposure to the test again, but we’re also exposing them to the critical thinking games, so kids are more prepared for the kind of thinking that’s needed.”
29 Apr 2026
How the Science of Reading Is Reshaping Teaching: What the Data Say
A nationally representative survey shows how reading curriculum, PD, and teacher practice have shifted.
29 Apr 2026
SATS apologises after video shows rough handling of luggage at Changi Airport
A service crew member was seen tossing luggage onto a baggage belt, behaviour that SATS said "does not reflect" its service standards.
29 Apr 2026
Keeping students engaged during peer presentations
Q: “I love doing projects in my middle school classes and having students present to their classmates, but I struggle to keep all students engaged during the presentations. What tips do you have for keeping students involved while their peers present? A: This is something I struggled with a lot when I started doing student presentations. I knew it was important for students to have authentic audiences for their learning, but I noticed that when a group would present, other students naturally seemed to tune out. A few students are up front, while everyone else slips into listening mode, doodling, daydreaming, or waiting for their turn. It took some time, but I figured out a way to make listening important and to turn it into an opportunity for practice with rubrics and feedback. Not to mention that the students were able to apply what they learned in future assignments, as the projects covered the material they needed to know. Presenting is an important skill for students to develop, and so is active listening, so we must find ways to provide clear expectations for students who aren’t giving presentations. Clarify What Active Listening Looks Like Middle school students (and sometimes even adults) need very clear expectations about what engagement looks like. If you want them to participate respectfully and attentively, define what that means in concrete terms. For example, you might say: “During presentations, active listening means eyes on the speaker, one hand on your note sheet, and your brain looking for one idea you want to remember.” You can even model what passive and active listening look like. A quick teacher demonstration — first, exaggeratedly distracted, then focused and responsive — can make your expectations crystal clear in a way students remember. If time allows, you may even have them do short, small-group simulations where they practice. Additionally, you might want to co-construct success criteria with them for what active listening looks like, so their ideas are taken into consideration as well. It also helps to hold students accountable in simple ways. You might randomly call on students to share a note they took, ask them to submit a one-sentence reflection at the end, or have them vote on the most surprising idea they heard. When students know their participation will be noticed, engagement usually improves. Give Students a Listening Job and Build in Peer Response One of the simplest ways to keep students engaged is to make sure they have a purpose while listening. If students know they will need to do something with the information, they are far more likely to pay attention. For example, instead of saying, “Let’s listen respectfully,” try giving each student a response sheet with one or two specific prompts. I used to give them Google Forms to fill out, review their thoughts and feedback, and then share them with the presenting groups without their names. I found this helpful for keeping students accountable, and it allowed them to practice giving feedback and staying focused. We always made sure to review the feedback form before we started so that students knew what they were listening for and looking for, and we provided a rubric to help them give more solid feedback. The key is to make the listening task meaningful, not busy work. Good listening helps students process the presentation and prepares them to discuss it afterward. It also helps hold them accountable for what they learn during the presentation by providing opportunities to apply it later. I used to do this with my poetry tutorial assignment . Students developed a short video tutorial with a worksheet, and during a gallery walk to watch the video, they took notes on the worksheet. Later, they had to write a poetry analysis paper that applied what they had learned from each tutorial to a poem of their choice. Use Small-Group Engagement Before or During Presentations Whole-class presentations can be long for middle school students, especially when several are scheduled back-to-back. Breaking up the listening experience with small-group interactions can help reset attention and make the work feel more active. One option is to pause after every two or three presentations and have students turn and talk to a partner . Ask them to compare what they heard, identify a similarity, or note a new idea. For example: “Turn to your partner and discuss which project so far had the most convincing evidence and why.” Another approach is to use “ table talk ” after each presentation. Students at each table discuss one question together before moving on. This can be especially helpful when presentations are dense or information-heavy. A quick conversation gives students a chance to reflect, prevents them from zoning out, and allows them to take some high-level notes that can be discussed and applied later. If your class is ready for a little more movement, consider a gallery-walk format for presentations. Instead of sitting through all of them in one place, students rotate through stations, view each group’s work, and leave comments on sticky notes. I mentioned this earlier as an option, and I have found it works well for many different kinds of presentations and engagement. It keeps the room active and gives students a fresh burst of energy. Make Presentations Interactive Sometimes the best way to keep students engaged is to make the presentation itself interactive. Middle schoolers often pay closer attention when they know they may be asked to participate. A presenter might include a question for the audience, a quick poll, or a short task. For example, a student presenting on renewable energy could ask classmates to vote on which source they think is most practical for their community. A group presenting a book analysis could ask the audience to predict what they think will happen next based on the clues they found. You can also encourage presenters to plan one moment of audience involvement. This could be as simple as asking the class to complete a fill-in-the-blank note, clap if they agree with a point, or hold up fingers to show their confidence in the topic. These small moments help keep the audience alert and make the presentation feel more like a conversation than a speech. End with Reflection To make presentations more meaningful, give students a final reflection task. This not only strengthens engagement during the presentations but also helps students think more deeply afterward. You might ask them to answer one of these questions: What was one idea from today that changed or expanded your thinking? Which presentation connected most strongly to our unit goals? What is one question you still have after hearing your classmates? Reflection gives students a reason to listen with care, and it helps the class see presentations as part of learning rather than just an end-of-unit performance. You do not need to collect and grade these reflections, but you do need to make sure that you come back to them, so that students don’t see it as busy work. A More Engaged Presentation Culture The most effective presentation routines build a classroom culture in which every student knows they are both a speaker and a listener, a presenter and a respondent. When students are given clear roles, purposeful tasks, and opportunities to interact, presentations become more lively, more accountable, and more valuable for everyone. So yes — keep the projects and keep the presentations. Just make sure the audience has a job, a voice, and a reason to stay tuned in. With a little structure, your classroom can become a place where students are not only proud to present, but also eager to learn from one another. If you have an issue that you would like me to address, please email me at ssackstein@educatorsrising.org or complete this form . You will be kept anonymous. The post Keeping students engaged during peer presentations appeared first on Kappan Online .
29 Apr 2026
Some mandatory software is inaccessible
Krupali Parshotam argues that mandatory software carries the same accessibility obligations as any other part of the curriculum – and SPSS fails that test
28 Apr 2026
Some mandatory software is inaccessible
Krupali Parshotam argues that mandatory software carries the same accessibility obligations as any other part of the curriculum – and SPSS fails that test
28 Apr 2026
PISA 2029: Media and AI Literacy – key concepts, curriculum links and competences
The framework includes ideas for cross-curricular connecting activities, such as exploring in mathematics how algorithms target users based on data. ©Ao Zaa Studio/Shutterstock
28 Apr 2026
SATS apologises for service crew seen tossing bags onto Changi Airport belt
The behaviour seen in the video 'does not reflect our service standards', SATS said.
28 Apr 2026
Inside the new math wars: Navigating division over teaching approaches
The growing and complex debate over math reforms — as well as different approaches to teaching and curricula — demands attention from stakeholders who will be setting policy and supporting instruction in the subject, according to a report released Tuesday from the Center on Reinventing Public Education. CRPE refers to the report as a guide for these stakeholders, who include policymakers, educators and parents. The nonpartisan research and policy analysis center says the aim is to build knowledge of the issue's nuances so they can evaluate competing claims and determine which approaches fit best in their schools. Recent “science of math” conversations follow on the heels of intense attention toward science of reading approaches for literacy instruction. The science of reading approach explicitly teaches students the connections between letters and sounds through decoding and phonetic memorization. In contrast, the three-cueing approach in reading instruction encourages students to use meaning, structure and visual cues to identify unfamiliar words. Math and reading reforms have taken center stage in education as student performance has dipped or stagnated in recent years. On the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress , 4th and 8th grade math performance was below pre-COVID-19 results from 2019. But, unlike the general consensus reached on science of reading approaches, the science of math movement is far from settled, the 60-page report said. "There is a debate around conceptual understanding versus procedural fluency, so we pit one thing against the other, but the reality is a lot more complicated," said Alexander Kurz, co-author of the report and senior fellow at CRPE. Understanding the intricacies of the math of science debate will "sharpen the discussion and crystallize some of the next steps" for educators, policymakers and other stakeholders, Kurz said. Here are a few highlights of what the report says needs to be understood about the science of math. What is the “science of math”? The science of math is a research-driven movement, and supporters say math instruction should be guided by empirical research and cognitive science — a goal shared by researchers, advocacy organizations and educators. In the classroom, science of math approaches include explicit instruction with structured, teacher-led lessons, guided practice on math problems, and corrective feedback to students. But it is not a call for rote memorization of math formulas or that students spend 100% of class time listening to teacher lectures. The movement also emphasizes that there's not a one-size-fits-all, evidence-based practice for all students. Proponents say these approaches are especially relevant for students with disabilities and struggling learners. The movement has drawn criticism from prominent math organizations that argue the approach "misapplies research and promotes too narrow a vision of what teaching could be," according to CRPE's report. There is also unresolved consensus about what is considered strong scientific evidence and whose professional expertise should guide math instruction decisions. What are the "math wars"? The science of math is part of the ongoing "math wars" in education over what students should learn and how math should be taught. The issue dates back to the early 1900s with the debate about whether foundational education should prioritize the knowledge and experience of the teacher and a formal curriculum, or whether students' needs, interests and abilities should be at the starting point. The two factions within the math wars are known as traditionalists and reformers. The traditionalists, for example, favor procedural fluency over conceptual understanding and prefer explicit instruction over discovery learning. The reformers prioritize conceptual understanding over procedural drills and favor inquiry-based learning over direct instruction. But what Kurz found was that in the present day math wars debate, the research shows competing recommendations into what approaches are effective. And, he said, it's not fair to ask teachers to reconcile those differences. "Who gets to decide on the evidence is now a new question," Kurz said. There are also areas of agreement between the traditionalists and reformers. For instance, both sides agree students need fluency and understanding, that learners' needs vary, and that teachers need dedicated preparation and support. What approaches are schools taking? An FAQ produced by CRPE to accompany the report said that asking more specific questions is the most productive response to conflicts in math instruction guidance. Among the possible questions: What exactly is the claim? Which students does the evidence apply to? What kind of research supports it, and what does it leave out? Nationally, states are honing their math instructional approaches with a focus on more structured and intervention-focused approaches, but the states differ substantially in scope, intensity and emphasis, the report said. CRPE's research found that as of late 2025, 18 states and the District of Columbia enacted math policies since 2022. States like Alabama, Maryland, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi and Oklahoma have approved broad, multi-component packages that reflect several science of math themes, the report said. States are also making more targeted reforms. Florida and Kentucky, for instance, prioritize the identification and support for students with math difficulties, including dyscalculia. Texas and New Mexico's policies seek to expand access to advanced courses. California, on the other hand, updated its math framework in ways that seem more reform-oriented by placing emphasis on discovery learning, group work and sociocultural responsiveness while putting less priority on memorization and direct instruction, CRPE's report said. As the math wars and, specifically, the science of math debates continue to ramp up, Kurz cautions about a "forever math war" if there is continued polarization of math instruction. More quantitative and qualitative research into math instructional approaches are needed, as is a better understanding of the middle ground, he said. "If you want to issue broad guidance about how to teach math to an entire state or entire nation, you better have more than just anecdotes," Kurz said. "It is not sufficient to say, ‘Well, both sides matter.’ This doesn't tell teachers what exactly to do Monday morning," he said. "That's where we need to take a stance.”
28 Apr 2026
Korea exports anti-corruption model to Ethiopia in new training push
Korea is taking its anti-corruption playbook abroad this week, hosting Ethiopian officials for an intensive training program aimed at exporting what it calls a proven governance model. The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission said Tuesday it began a five-day training program for nine officials from the Ethiopian Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission. The program, which runs through Friday, is conducted in partnership with the Korea International Cooperation Agency. The initiative follows a memorandum of understanding signed in June 2024 between the two countries to strengthen cooperation on anti-corruption policies. Ethiopian officials requested the program to learn from Korea’s legal and institutional frameworks, the commission said. The curriculum focuses on key laws, including the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act and the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act for public officials, as well as Korea’s structured anti-corruption education system. Sessions also cover training programs designed for future generations, the commission said. The agency said Korea has drawn
28 Apr 2026
News in the times of algorithms and AI
This episode explores the impact of social media and AI on journalism, highlighting concerns over information credibility and media literacy.
28 Apr 2026
‘Scam Ready Asean’ programme hopes to boost digital safety and scam awareness
KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 — A new regional initiative, “Scam Ready Asean,” was officially launched today at the Google 2026 APAC Online Safety Dialogue event in Kuala Lumpur. The programme is designed to enhance digital safety and combat online scams across Southeast Asia, as cyber threats continue to rise alongside the region’s fast-growing digital economy. Backed by a US$5 million (RM19.7 million) contribution from Google, the initiative will combine scam prevention tools, public awareness efforts, and large-scale digital literacy training across Asean member states. It aims to reach 3 million people with accessible online safety resources, while providing deeper digital literacy training to 550,000 individuals. A further 3,000 master trainers will be developed to support grassroots education and community outreach. To ensure effectiveness across diverse communities, the programme will collaborate with over 20 local and regional partners, tailoring content to different cultural and social contexts. Beyond raising awareness, “Scam Ready Asean” focuses on equipping individuals with practical skills to identify, question, and respond to online scams. As digital adoption accelerates, the initiative seeks to address increasing risks such as fraud, misinformation, and cyber-enabled threats, while strengthening both technical safeguards and public resilience. The programme forms part of Asean’s broader push to build a safer, more inclusive, and trusted digital ecosystem across the region.
28 Apr 2026
What Are the Ingredients of a Good Preschool Curriculum?
Nonprofit curriculum reviewer EdReports has started reviewing pre-K materials.
28 Apr 2026
What Are the Ingredients of a Good Preschool Curriculum?
Nonprofit curriculum reviewer EdReports has started reviewing pre-K materials.
28 Apr 2026
Can middle school students engage with AI?
The CBSE curriculum includes introductory discussions on AI fairness, responsible use, and digital safety. This focus is broadly consistent with cross-national practices
27 Apr 2026
USP’s Medical School in Ribeirão Preto introduces new curriculum aligned with international standards
The first class of the new curriculum has reached its fourth year, a stage that solidifies clinical training through an integrated model featuring structured mentoring, continuous assessment, and deeper integration into the healthcare system
27 Apr 2026
The Art of Classroom Timing: 10 Ways to Fit It All In
Listen to this post as a podcast: Sponsored by Renaissance and Erikson Institute This page contains Bookshop.org links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you. What’s the difference between Amazon and Bookshop.org? We talk a lot about all the things that make teaching a challenging job 一 insufficient funding, lack of support staff, student behavior, meeting parent demands, and the ever-present crush of testing pressures. And that’s just a short list. But there’s another struggle that doesn’t get nearly enough attention, something that can ruin even the most beautifully designed lesson plans: Making our planned instruction fit precisely into the time we have allotted for it. Any experienced teacher will tell you that lesson plans rarely take the exact amount of time you have set aside for them. Unless you already have great systems in place, you’ve probably experienced one or more of these scenarios: An activity takes less time than you had allotted for it, leaving extra time to fill. An activity takes longer than expected, causing it to spill over the time you had planned for it 一 or you and your students get so absorbed that you don’t notice the time until it’s too late. Both happen at once: Some students finish early and others take longer than you thought they would. At the end of the school day, a ton of papers, materials, and to-dos have piled up, requiring even more of your time when you’re already exhausted. Finding yourself in any of these situations is kind of awful. It is for me, anyway. When I have too much extra time left to fill, I panic. I feel a responsibility for giving my students something of quality to do, but when I’m pressed for time, I’m a terrible improviser. And when I’m in the middle of an activity and I see that it’s going over time, I start to rush, skipping over some of the most carefully designed parts of my lesson or not giving my students enough time to process. It’s not good. But over the years, I’ve built a few habits into my classroom routine that usually prevent these problems from happening or help me deal with them much more effectively when they do. Some I figured out on my own, others I borrowed. If you think you could get better at managing your classroom time, these are worth a try. By the way, I am writing this from recent experience! Although I left full-time teaching many years ago, in January 2026 I started teaching English classes to adult learners three mornings a week. I will share more later about what an incredible experience this has been; for now, it has given me fresh ideas for skills and strategies to share here. This is just the first of what I hope are many other articles that come from this new role. OK. So here’s what I do to make the most of my class time. When I stick to these habits, I often end class feeling like I’ve made good use of the class period. On top of that, I feel like I have my act together, which is a nice bonus. 1. Always Plan to End 5 Minutes Early Creating plans that fill up every last second of your allotted teaching time is a recipe for disaster. You’ll find yourself scrambling at the end and often running over time, which makes students late for their next class and creates problems for other teachers. Instead, shoot for an end time that’s five minutes before your class officially ends. This creates a nice buffer so that if you do run “over,” you still have a little extra time to cover it. And if you really do finish with five minutes to spare, do a sponge activity, a task that can expand to fill up almost any amount of time. Usually these are whole-class activities you all do together when you find yourself with an extra chunk of time at the end of a class period, during a standardized testing window when many schools discourage teachers from doing anything academic, or on days when your lesson is cut short by a fire drill or assembly. This article from Edutopia will give you some ideas to start with. What I’ve been doing lately with my English learners is playing Simon Says to reinforce the names of body parts. They can play from their seats with all their things packed up and ready to go, so we play until it’s exactly time to go and they just walk out, nice and relaxed. Other games like Pictionary, charades, or hangman are perfect for this little bit of time if and when you have it. 2. Set Hard Stops Mid-Lesson Rather than looking at your entire lesson plan as one blob of time with one stop at the end of the class period, treat it as a collection of distinct chunks that have firm start and stop times. Let’s look at a sample two-hour class with my English students: 10:00 Journal Writing This is where students respond in writing to a prompt I have on the board. It’s a time they informally practice some of the skills we’ve already learned. 10:10 Review of Past Tense Verbs This is a brief mini-lecture, a repeat of past learning, followed by some simple review exercises students do in pairs. 10:45 Vocabulary Game Here, I show images of vocabulary students have already learned, and they use whiteboards to guess the word and try to spell it correctly. Up to this point, everything we’re doing is reinforcing and practicing previous learning. 11:00 Lecture and Practice on Wh-Questions This is new material: A short lecture, followed by practice exercises. 11:30 Dialogue Practice Students are given a written two-person dialogue (which is like a skit) that uses some of the new concepts. They spend the rest of class practicing it in pairs and performing it for the group. The lesson on Wh- Questions at 11:00 is new material for my students, and I want a full half hour for it; I don’t want to rush this lesson. I also don’t want to give it right at the beginning of class, because many of my students often come late, so I have learned to move the newest learning to later in the class session, when I feel more confident that more students will be in the room. With that in mind, I have to make sure I’m finished with the first three activities, which are not based on new material, by 11:00 so I have plenty of time for the new stuff. The vocabulary game that comes before that new lecture can go longer or shorter, depending on how much time I have, but I’m planning on stopping right before 11:00 no matter what, so I have plenty of time for the new material. It helps to always look at your lesson plans this way: Note which activities you really need to have a certain amount of time for, and figure out what time you absolutely must start them to make sure you get it 一 write that in your lesson plans and stick to it as closely as you can. The next tip will help you do that. 3. Plan for Expansion or Contraction Many activities can either be expanded to fit longer stretches of time or contracted to take up less time. As you look at each day’s plans, note where you might be able to do that. In the example English class I just described, I know from experience that the vocabulary game can take up exactly the designated 15 minutes, it can go longer if needed, or I can make it very quick or skip it altogether if the activity before it happens to take too long. Although some activities like videos consume a fixed length of time, and others have a fixed amount of content you really want to expose students to (like in a reading or lecture), certain activity types are much more fluid, and can be shortened or lengthened if the need arises: Discussions can always be cut off while they are in progress. They are also great places for expansion. As long as most students are active and talking productively, you can always let them go a little bit longer or interrupt them and call time if you have to. Writing tasks like the journal writing in my example can often be expanded or contracted. Some students may have a lot to write while others may not. You can always have more enthusiastic writers pause if needed, or if you want to stretch out the time, give the minimalists additional prompting to get them to write more. Workshops, games, role-plays, and simulations are all activities that can be given more or less time. You can let students work a little longer on a project, answer a few more questions on a game, or go a few more minutes on a role-play or a simulation. Conversely, they can all be cut short if you run out of time. Even lectures can be expanded or contracted — you can make them longer by giving extra examples, adding interactive elements like think-pair-shares or stop-and-jots, or giving students a few minutes to compare notes. If you build in a few places where these can be plugged in, you can always skip over them if you need to make the lecture faster. 4. Set “Cut Lines” in Advance This works along with the previous strategy: If you make tentative plans to shorten an activity if needed, physically mark exactly where in the lesson you’re going to do that if things start taking too long. If you’re working from a slide deck, put an icon on the slide or write in the speaker notes which slides can be skipped for time if necessary. If you want to get more techy, you can create a link at your cut line that will let you jump from one slide to a later point (here’s how to do it in Google Slides and PowerPoint ). 5. Normalize Stopping Mid-Task This is more of a mindset than a habit, but it’s one that will make the last two strategies work even better, especially if you have a perfectionistic streak. The idea of stopping a task “in the middle” might make you or some of your students feel unsettled, as if plans were poorly designed or someone has dropped the ball. Neutralize that feeling by having a conversation with your class ahead of time, and let them know that some activities will be designed with completion in mind, while others will be cut short at times when it might feel like things are just getting going. Try to think of certain activities as flowing over the course of a week or several weeks, rather than discrete events that have to be completed in one class session. 6. Prepare Anchor Activities So far, we’ve only talked about the kinds of activities that you pace yourself and how to resize them to fit the often unpredictable flow of a class period. But the other factor that has a huge impact on classroom pacing is what differentiation expert Carol Ann Tomlinson calls “ragged time,” when students finish tasks at different times, leaving you with the job of finding something else for the early finishers to do (Tomlinson, 66). A solution to this is establishing a set of what Tomlinson refers to as anchor activities , tasks students can work on independently after the assigned work has been completed at a high level (66-67). These can be chosen to supplement your existing coursework and can include reading, journal writing, creating a portfolio of work samples, and practicing skills like spelling, computation, vocabulary, writing, art techniques, or skills in a sport. For these to work seamlessly, Tomlinson recommends doing them first as a whole class, where students simply work independently and quietly on the anchor activity. Once they seem comfortable and confident with the activity, move to a half-and-half setup, where half the class is doing a content-based activity aligned to their needs and the other works on the anchor activity. Eventually the anchor activities can primarily be used as an option for early finishers, an automatic go-to whenever students find themselves with nothing to do. 7. Pre-Stage Materials Far too many classroom minutes can be wasted finding, pulling out, organizing, and distributing materials for activities. The more of this work you can do beforehand, the less time you’ll waste in class. Here are some things you can do to prepare: Stack materials by group or table, then have a representative from each group pick them up when the time comes to use them. Keep commonly used supplies in predictable places and set up systems for students to help themselves as needed. Think through the tech you’ll need — cables, remotes, dongles, and whatnot — and make sure all that is ready to go before class starts. Many of these tasks can be done in the first few minutes of class by student helpers; training them and establishing systems early in the year can save tons of time later. 8. Create an Opening and Closing Routine My first draft of this section started with this sentence: “We can lose hours of learning time every year if we don’t give the start and end of class some structure.” Later I realized I didn’t love that message. The concept of “downtime” has been unnecessarily demonized by a lot of people in education. And I think this idea that students should be academically engaged from bell to bell is unrealistic and unhealthy. Humans need breaks, we need a little boredom, and we need to socialize; this is true not only for our students, but for ourselves. So I’m putting in this strategy as a suggestion to make the start and end of your classes more intentional and predictable — not necessarily academically rigorous, but intentional and predictable — so students know what to expect. Here are some thoughts on what that could look like: Many teachers use these times for “do nows” or bell-ringers, where students complete a warm-up or entry/exit ticket based on the content they’re learning. Anchor activities (see #6) can also be great for the start and end of class, either on their own or as a buffer for students finishing a bell-ringer at different times. The “do now” doesn’t have to be academic at all. This can be a time for quiet reflection, breathing exercises, or check-ins. This post from Facing History and Ourselves has some really thoughtful ideas for these kinds of openings and closings. For example, an emotional check-in called a Mood Meter that helps students develop a more sophisticated vocabulary for their feelings and is a great way for the teacher to get a pulse on what’s going on with students emotionally. Another one I like is “Three Good Things,” where students record three good things that have happened in their day. Giving students an opportunity to do this kind of reflection at the start or end of class is another great way to use that time intentionally. In my case, my students arrive at different times, and because they’re adults, they have a lot of life responsibilities and other factors that can make them late, so I’ve had to accept the fact that they’re going to stagger in over the course of 15 minutes or so. With that in mind, I start every class with a writing prompt. While they do this, I circulate, look at what they’ve written, and give them feedback. I take my time with this, knowing that some will finish before others and they’ll probably just get on their phones or socialize. Yes, they could be doing more academically rigorous work, but I’ve decided to let that go. 9. Clean as You Go When I’m teaching a class, I have a fear of “dead air,” time when students are just kind of waiting around for something to happen. It’s my natural tendency to want to move from one activity to the next quickly and seamlessly, ensuring that as much as possible, our time is spent doing something enriching. One way that plays out is that I often don’t take time to clean up materials after an activity is over. If I distribute a handout, I end up with a few leftovers sitting on whatever surface I’m using for materials. Then twenty minutes later, I throw something else on top of that, and ten minutes later maybe a third thing. If I have my students doing something hands-on, like flashcards or mini-whiteboards, I can forget to gather them up when we’re done, or I’ll do it in a rush, piling things up at the front of the room without organizing them and properly putting them away. Mentally, I tell myself I’ll straighten it all out later, but this leaves me with a mess at the end that I have to then take time to straighten out. On the days when I’m more on top of things, I take the time in between activities to put things away as I go. This may mean students have to wait an extra minute for me, and I’ve decided that’s worth it. Other times, I squeeze in the clean-up while they are working on something that doesn’t require my presence. Either way, building this habit is a good way to save me time after class so I can have more of my free time to myself. 10. Leave Notes for Next Time Taking just a minute after a lesson to write yourself a note for future use can be a huge help when it’s time to teach the lesson again. Some ways to do it are putting a post-it note on paper plans or handouts (“This only took 5 minutes!” or “Part 4 confused many students”) or typing notes on digital plans in a large, brightly colored font (“Add a few extra minutes to set up laptops for this”). Even if you think you’ll remember next time around, you’re better off capturing your exact thoughts now while they’re fresh. What Helps You Make the Most of Class Time? I’ve only shared ten strategies here, but I know there’s a whole lot more out there. I would love to hear what you do to make classroom time work for you. Please share these in the comments! References Tomlinson, Carol Ann. How to Differentiate Instruction in Academically Diverse Classrooms . 3rd ed., Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2017. Come back for more. Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You’ll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half , the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined—come on in. The post The Art of Classroom Timing: 10 Ways to Fit It All In first appeared on Cult of Pedagogy .
27 Apr 2026
The Art of Classroom Timing: 10 Ways to Fit It All In
Listen to this post as a podcast: Sponsored by Renaissance and Erikson Institute This page contains Bookshop.org links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you. What’s the difference between Amazon and Bookshop.org? We talk a lot about all the things that make teaching a challenging job 一 insufficient funding, lack of support staff, student behavior, meeting parent demands, and the ever-present crush of testing pressures. And that’s just a short list. But there’s another struggle that doesn’t get nearly enough attention, something that can ruin even the most beautifully designed lesson plans: Making our planned instruction fit precisely into the time we have allotted for it. Any experienced teacher will tell you that lesson plans rarely take the exact amount of time you have set aside for them. Unless you already have great systems in place, you’ve probably experienced one or more of these scenarios: An activity takes less time than you had allotted for it, leaving extra time to fill. An activity takes longer than expected, causing it to spill over the time you had planned for it 一 or you and your students get so absorbed that you don’t notice the time until it’s too late. Both happen at once: Some students finish early and others take longer than you thought they would. At the end of the school day, a ton of papers, materials, and to-dos have piled up, requiring even more of your time when you’re already exhausted. Finding yourself in any of these situations is kind of awful. It is for me, anyway. When I have too much extra time left to fill, I panic. I feel a responsibility for giving my students something of quality to do, but when I’m pressed for time, I’m a terrible improviser. And when I’m in the middle of an activity and I see that it’s going over time, I start to rush, skipping over some of the most carefully designed parts of my lesson or not giving my students enough time to process. It’s not good. But over the years, I’ve built a few habits into my classroom routine that usually prevent these problems from happening or help me deal with them much more effectively when they do. Some I figured out on my own, others I borrowed. If you think you could get better at managing your classroom time, these are worth a try. By the way, I am writing this from recent experience! Although I left full-time teaching many years ago, in January 2026 I started teaching English classes to adult learners three mornings a week. I will share more later about what an incredible experience this has been; for now, it has given me fresh ideas for skills and strategies to share here. This is just the first of what I hope are many other articles that come from this new role. OK. So here’s what I do to make the most of my class time. When I stick to these habits, I often end class feeling like I’ve made good use of the class period. On top of that, I feel like I have my act together, which is a nice bonus. 1. Always Plan to End 5 Minutes Early Creating plans that fill up every last second of your allotted teaching time is a recipe for disaster. You’ll find yourself scrambling at the end and often running over time, which makes students late for their next class and creates problems for other teachers. Instead, shoot for an end time that’s five minutes before your class officially ends. This creates a nice buffer so that if you do run “over,” you still have a little extra time to cover it. And if you really do finish with five minutes to spare, do a sponge activity, a task that can expand to fill up almost any amount of time. Usually these are whole-class activities you all do together when you find yourself with an extra chunk of time at the end of a class period, during a standardized testing window when many schools discourage teachers from doing anything academic, or on days when your lesson is cut short by a fire drill or assembly. This article from Edutopia will give you some ideas to start with. What I’ve been doing lately with my English learners is playing Simon Says to reinforce the names of body parts. They can play from their seats with all their things packed up and ready to go, so we play until it’s exactly time to go and they just walk out, nice and relaxed. Other games like Pictionary, charades, or hangman are perfect for this little bit of time if and when you have it. 2. Set Hard Stops Mid-Lesson Rather than looking at your entire lesson plan as one blob of time with one stop at the end of the class period, treat it as a collection of distinct chunks that have firm start and stop times. Let’s look at a sample two-hour class with my English students: 10:00 Journal Writing This is where students respond in writing to a prompt I have on the board. It’s a time they informally practice some of the skills we’ve already learned. 10:10 Review of Past Tense Verbs This is a brief mini-lecture, a repeat of past learning, followed by some simple review exercises students do in pairs. 10:45 Vocabulary Game Here, I show images of vocabulary students have already learned, and they use whiteboards to guess the word and try to spell it correctly. Up to this point, everything we’re doing is reinforcing and practicing previous learning. 11:00 Lecture and Practice on Wh-Questions This is new material: A short lecture, followed by practice exercises. 11:30 Dialogue Practice Students are given a written two-person dialogue (which is like a skit) that uses some of the new concepts. They spend the rest of class practicing it in pairs and performing it for the group. The lesson on Wh- Questions at 11:00 is new material for my students, and I want a full half hour for it; I don’t want to rush this lesson. I also don’t want to give it right at the beginning of class, because many of my students often come late, so I have learned to move the newest learning to later in the class session, when I feel more confident that more students will be in the room. With that in mind, I have to make sure I’m finished with the first three activities, which are not based on new material, by 11:00 so I have plenty of time for the new stuff. The vocabulary game that comes before that new lecture can go longer or shorter, depending on how much time I have, but I’m planning on stopping right before 11:00 no matter what, so I have plenty of time for the new material. It helps to always look at your lesson plans this way: Note which activities you really need to have a certain amount of time for, and figure out what time you absolutely must start them to make sure you get it 一 write that in your lesson plans and stick to it as closely as you can. The next tip will help you do that. 3. Plan for Expansion or Contraction Many activities can either be expanded to fit longer stretches of time or contracted to take up less time. As you look at each day’s plans, note where you might be able to do that. In the example English class I just described, I know from experience that the vocabulary game can take up exactly the designated 15 minutes, it can go longer if needed, or I can make it very quick or skip it altogether if the activity before it happens to take too long. Although some activities like videos consume a fixed length of time, and others have a fixed amount of content you really want to expose students to (like in a reading or lecture), certain activity types are much more fluid, and can be shortened or lengthened if the need arises: Discussions can always be cut off while they are in progress. They are also great places for expansion. As long as most students are active and talking productively, you can always let them go a little bit longer or interrupt them and call time if you have to. Writing tasks like the journal writing in my example can often be expanded or contracted. Some students may have a lot to write while others may not. You can always have more enthusiastic writers pause if needed, or if you want to stretch out the time, give the minimalists additional prompting to get them to write more. Workshops, games, role-plays, and simulations are all activities that can be given more or less time. You can let students work a little longer on a project, answer a few more questions on a game, or go a few more minutes on a role-play or a simulation. Conversely, they can all be cut short if you run out of time. Even lectures can be expanded or contracted — you can make them longer by giving extra examples, adding interactive elements like think-pair-shares or stop-and-jots, or giving students a few minutes to compare notes. If you build in a few places where these can be plugged in, you can always skip over them if you need to make the lecture faster. 4. Set “Cut Lines” in Advance This works along with the previous strategy: If you make tentative plans to shorten an activity if needed, physically mark exactly where in the lesson you’re going to do that if things start taking too long. If you’re working from a slide deck, put an icon on the slide or write in the speaker notes which slides can be skipped for time if necessary. If you want to get more techy, you can create a link at your cut line that will let you jump from one slide to a later point (here’s how to do it in Google Slides and PowerPoint ). 5. Normalize Stopping Mid-Task This is more of a mindset than a habit, but it’s one that will make the last two strategies work even better, especially if you have a perfectionistic streak. The idea of stopping a task “in the middle” might make you or some of your students feel unsettled, as if plans were poorly designed or someone has dropped the ball. Neutralize that feeling by having a conversation with your class ahead of time, and let them know that some activities will be designed with completion in mind, while others will be cut short at times when it might feel like things are just getting going. Try to think of certain activities as flowing over the course of a week or several weeks, rather than discrete events that have to be completed in one class session. 6. Prepare Anchor Activities So far, we’ve only talked about the kinds of activities that you pace yourself and how to resize them to fit the often unpredictable flow of a class period. But the other factor that has a huge impact on classroom pacing is what differentiation expert Carol Ann Tomlinson calls “ragged time,” when students finish tasks at different times, leaving you with the job of finding something else for the early finishers to do (Tomlinson, 66). A solution to this is establishing a set of what Tomlinson refers to as anchor activities , tasks students can work on independently after the assigned work has been completed at a high level (66-67). These can be chosen to supplement your existing coursework and can include reading, journal writing, creating a portfolio of work samples, and practicing skills like spelling, computation, vocabulary, writing, art techniques, or skills in a sport. For these to work seamlessly, Tomlinson recommends doing them first as a whole class, where students simply work independently and quietly on the anchor activity. Once they seem comfortable and confident with the activity, move to a half-and-half setup, where half the class is doing a content-based activity aligned to their needs and the other works on the anchor activity. Eventually the anchor activities can primarily be used as an option for early finishers, an automatic go-to whenever students find themselves with nothing to do. 7. Pre-Stage Materials Far too many classroom minutes can be wasted finding, pulling out, organizing, and distributing materials for activities. The more of this work you can do beforehand, the less time you’ll waste in class. Here are some things you can do to prepare: Stack materials by group or table, then have a representative from each group pick them up when the time comes to use them. Keep commonly used supplies in predictable places and set up systems for students to help themselves as needed. Think through the tech you’ll need — cables, remotes, dongles, and whatnot — and make sure all that is ready to go before class starts. Many of these tasks can be done in the first few minutes of class by student helpers; training them and establishing systems early in the year can save tons of time later. 8. Create an Opening and Closing Routine My first draft of this section started with this sentence: “We can lose hours of learning time every year if we don’t give the start and end of class some structure.” Later I realized I didn’t love that message. The concept of “downtime” has been unnecessarily demonized by a lot of people in education. And I think this idea that students should be academically engaged from bell to bell is unrealistic and unhealthy. Humans need breaks, we need a little boredom, and we need to socialize; this is true not only for our students, but for ourselves. So I’m putting in this strategy as a suggestion to make the start and end of your classes more intentional and predictable — not necessarily academically rigorous, but intentional and predictable — so students know what to expect. Here are some thoughts on what that could look like: Many teachers use these times for “do nows” or bell-ringers, where students complete a warm-up or entry/exit ticket based on the content they’re learning. Anchor activities (see #6) can also be great for the start and end of class, either on their own or as a buffer for students finishing a bell-ringer at different times. The “do now” doesn’t have to be academic at all. This can be a time for quiet reflection, breathing exercises, or check-ins. This post from Facing History and Ourselves has some really thoughtful ideas for these kinds of openings and closings. For example, an emotional check-in called a Mood Meter that helps students develop a more sophisticated vocabulary for their feelings and is a great way for the teacher to get a pulse on what’s going on with students emotionally. Another one I like is “Three Good Things,” where students record three good things that have happened in their day. Giving students an opportunity to do this kind of reflection at the start or end of class is another great way to use that time intentionally. In my case, my students arrive at different times, and because they’re adults, they have a lot of life responsibilities and other factors that can make them late, so I’ve had to accept the fact that they’re going to stagger in over the course of 15 minutes or so. With that in mind, I start every class with a writing prompt. While they do this, I circulate, look at what they’ve written, and give them feedback. I take my time with this, knowing that some will finish before others and they’ll probably just get on their phones or socialize. Yes, they could be doing more academically rigorous work, but I’ve decided to let that go. 9. Clean as You Go When I’m teaching a class, I have a fear of “dead air,” time when students are just kind of waiting around for something to happen. It’s my natural tendency to want to move from one activity to the next quickly and seamlessly, ensuring that as much as possible, our time is spent doing something enriching. One way that plays out is that I often don’t take time to clean up materials after an activity is over. If I distribute a handout, I end up with a few leftovers sitting on whatever surface I’m using for materials. Then twenty minutes later, I throw something else on top of that, and ten minutes later maybe a third thing. If I have my students doing something hands-on, like flashcards or mini-whiteboards, I can forget to gather them up when we’re done, or I’ll do it in a rush, piling things up at the front of the room without organizing them and properly putting them away. Mentally, I tell myself I’ll straighten it all out later, but this leaves me with a mess at the end that I have to then take time to straighten out. On the days when I’m more on top of things, I take the time in between activities to put things away as I go. This may mean students have to wait an extra minute for me, and I’ve decided that’s worth it. Other times, I squeeze in the clean-up while they are working on something that doesn’t require my presence. Either way, building this habit is a good way to save me time after class so I can have more of my free time to myself. 10. Leave Notes for Next Time Taking just a minute after a lesson to write yourself a note for future use can be a huge help when it’s time to teach the lesson again. Some ways to do it are putting a post-it note on paper plans or handouts (“This only took 5 minutes!” or “Part 4 confused many students”) or typing notes on digital plans in a large, brightly colored font (“Add a few extra minutes to set up laptops for this”). Even if you think you’ll remember next time around, you’re better off capturing your exact thoughts now while they’re fresh. What Helps You Make the Most of Class Time? I’ve only shared ten strategies here, but I know there’s a whole lot more out there. I would love to hear what you do to make classroom time work for you. Please share these in the comments! References Tomlinson, Carol Ann. How to Differentiate Instruction in Academically Diverse Classrooms . 3rd ed., Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2017. Come back for more. Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You’ll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half , the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined—come on in. The post The Art of Classroom Timing: 10 Ways to Fit It All In first appeared on Cult of Pedagogy .
27 Apr 2026
Week In Review: Web accessibility rules and federal school choice
Most-clicked story of the week: K-12 schools and colleges have another year to comply with a new web accessibility rule after deadlines were extended under an interim final rule issued April 20 by the U.S. Department of Justice. For K-12 schools and postsecondary institutions in counties or cities with populations of 50,000 or more, the original compliance date of April 24, 2026, has been pushed to April 26, 2027. For districts or colleges in counties or cities with fewer residents, the April 26, 2027, deadline is now delayed to April 26, 2028. Number of the week: 27 The number of states that have expressed interest in participating in the first federal private school choice tax incentive program as of April 15, according to the IRS. Details on a formal opt-in process for states in the program set to launch Jan. 1, 2027, have yet to be released. Limits on tech and reading materials The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution on April 21 to create and enforce a screen time limit policy for students districtwide by the 2026-27 school year. The move marks a significant step toward curbing classroom tech use in the nation’s second-largest school system. The policy will include a ban on district-issued devices for students in early education through 1st grade, and it will require the district to set maximum daily and weekly screen time limits by grade level for older students. Less than 3% of book challenges in 2025 came from parents, and a full 92% were initiated by groups or government officials, according to an analysis of book challenges at public, school and college libraries published April 20 by the American Library Association. Some two-thirds of the challenged books, or about 5,668, went on to be banned, and an additional 920 were restricted in some way, marking the highest number of titles censored in a single year and the highest rate of censorship recorded between 1990 and 2025, according to ALA. Innovation spotlight Due to the budgetary impact of declining enrollment, Texas’ Donna Independent School District approved a plan in 2025 to close two elementary schools. But in doing so, the district was better positioned to launch three specialized academies for preschool and elementary — focusing on arts as well as science and sports — to launch in the 2025-26 school year. A 2023 Arkansas law improved teacher retention after boosting teacher’s minimum salaries from $36,000 to $50,000 and ensuring at least a $2,000 raise for teachers statewide, a University of Arkansas study found. The average raise spurred by the LEARNS Act was $4,246, while 1 in 4 teachers received over $5,940, the study said. But researchers warned that the law’s impact “may fade over time” if salaries aren’t continually raised and don’t keep pace with inflation.
27 Apr 2026