For chronic absenteeism, pandemic recovery is possible but still uncommon
It remains fairly uncommon for school districts to have rebounded from significant increases in chronic absenteeism experienced during the pandemic, according to new research published by the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University.
In fact, just 13% of districts studied had reverted to their pre-pandemic chronic absenteeism levels by the 2024-25 school year, the research showed.
Researchers defined “substantial increases” in chronic absenteeism for districts as a more than 10 percentage-point increase between the 2017-18 or 2018-19 school years and 2021-22.
Nation’s Report Card shows an uneven pandemic recovery
Nine-year-olds are recovering academic ground lost during the pandemic, with reading scores now statistically on par with pre-COVID levels and a growing share of students demonstrating foundational math and literacy skills.
The findings come from the 2025 National Assessment of Educational Progress Long-Term Trend Assessment, released by the National Center for Education Statistics. The assessment tracks reading and mathematics performance among 9- and 13-year-olds and provides a historical record dating back to the 1970s.
With States’ Increasing Power Over Schools Comes Great Responsibility
A decades-long push to give states more authority over education has increasingly taken shape through initiatives such as the Trump administration’s proposed Make Education Great Again grant program. The proposal would consolidate $220 million in rural education funding and 16 other federal programs — including literacy grants, education for homeless students and after-school initiatives — into a single $2 billion block grant designed to give states greater flexibility in addressing local educational needs.
Supporters of the proposal argue that programs like MEGA reflect a broader recognition that states and local communities are often better positioned than Washington to understand the unique challenges facing their schools. Rather than maintaining fragmented federal programs with rigid compliance structures, decentralization efforts seek to give states more authority to innovate, coordinate resources and tailor solutions to regional realities.
How 33,000 teachers want leaders to improve school culture
Well-being is the area where teachers want the most assistance, but many school and district leaders feel unprepared to help.
A staggering 93% of educator requests for support were health-related, including time for wellness, opportunities to recharge, support check-ins and small moments of encouragement, a new report from edtech company Alpaca found. However, fewer than one-third of school and district leaders expressed confidence about promoting health, the lowest figure across all leadership domains measured in the report.
This disconnect could lead to staffing woes for superintendents. In a separate survey from Horace Mann, 58% of teachers reported burnout severe enough that they might leave the profession within three years, with mental health a contributing factor.
3rd-Grade Retention Isn’t Really About Kids — It’s About Adults Who Teach Them
Should kids be held back in third grade if they can’t read?
As of this year, 18 states say yes and impose some form of retention policy linked to a child’s reading scores, according to the advocacy group ExcelInEd. But the question of retention has been hotly debated as a tool to drive reading scores, with Ohio weakening its version in 2023 and Michigan dropping its requirement in 2024.
On one side, research suggests that third grade reading scores are predictive of a student’s likelihood of academic success through middle school and into high school. Children who fall behind in the early years struggle to ever get back on track.
U.S. schools face a crisis as the number of children drops
As American women have fewer babies each year, the number of young children in the United States is dwindling. The trend is now catching up to the nation’s public school districts.
There are simply fewer children to attend school in America today: The number of public school students in kindergarten through 12th grade has fallen in 30 states since the mid-2010s.
Declining enrollment has hit many of the nation’s largest urban school districts, including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, a New York Times analysis found. But smaller and suburban districts are shrinking at a similar rate.
Biting, kicking, wandering the classroom: Teachers say there’s a rise in misbehavior even among the littlest kids
First, there was the child who had zipped his entire face inside the hood of his green sweatshirt.
“Is that a good choice?” Quinn asked.
“Yeah?” responded a muffled voice.
Then, there was the girl in pink leggings who stood up from her seat, wandered over to Quinn as she was teaching and stood next to her at the front of the room.
“Can you go sit in your spot?” Quinn whispered. The girl stayed put.
A few minutes later, there was the boy spinning around uncontrollably from his corner of the carpet in the front of the room, kicking students near him with his black and white sneakers.
“Your feet are not safe,” Quinn told him. He stopped and sat on his knees, bouncing up and down as Quinn continued her lesson.
Teaching first grade has always involved dealing with wiggly and talkative kids. But it hasn’t always been quite like this. Over the past 10 years, Quinn has seen an increase in challenging behavior and more emotions among her 6- and 7-year-olds, with a particular ramp-up since the pandemic.
We Asked Executives What Skills Young Workers Are Missing. Here’s What They Said
enior executives from American companies recognize that technical skills are critical for success in the workplace in the age of AI.
But when asked what kinds of skills are in short supply among their younger workers, many point to so-called “soft skills” such as communication, problem-solving, and collaboration. Tack on adaptability, ability to focus, and empathy to that list, too.
Digital literacy—what some might describe as both a technical and a soft skill—is also top of mind for senior executives of American companies.
Expert: School vouchers will create new money for K12
The greatest K12 financial “gamechanger” is not federal cuts to Medicaid nor the current financial freeze, but the latest school choice tax credit scholarship provision added to President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” In fact, it could mean billions in new money for K12 education.
Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab predicts the tax credit scholarship provision could ramp up to nearly $28 billion per year in funds for K12 schools.
As part of the provision, the bill creates an individual, dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 per individual taxpayer for contributions to state-approved, federally recognized nonprofits that provide scholarships for eligible children, starting Jan. 1, 2027. There’s also no cap on the total amount of donations, and states are required to opt into the program.
We’re Entering a New Phase of AI in Schools. How Are States Responding?
Artificial intelligence topped the list of state technology officials’ priorities for the first time, according to an annual survey released by the State Educational Technology Directors’ Association on Wednesday.
More than a quarter of respondents—26%—listed AI as their most pressing issue, compared to 18% in a similar survey conducted by SETDA last year. AI supplanted cybersecurity, which state leaders previously identified as their No. 1 concern.
About 1 in 5 state technology officials—21%—named cybersecurity as their highest priority, and 18% identified professional development and technology support for instruction as their top issues.