High quality education is critical for reducing poverty and creating societal change, particularly in rural and underserved communities. Heather Hiebsch co-founded TeachUNITED to tackle this issue by prioritizing teacher quality and utilizing research-driven strategies to empower and support educators, and engage students.

Despite promises of efficiency leading to more focus on relationships between and among teachers and students, AI is on track to dramatically worsen student isolation – unless schools reconfigure their organizational models and metrics to elevate, rather than diminish, human relationships.

OPINION COMMENTARY:

One of the biggest barriers to closing the achievement gap is access to tutoring and academic support. Stephanie Sylvestre, a technology executive, explains how generative artificial intelligence (AI), with robust safeguards, user involvement and education, can help bridge gaps in student performance, boost comprehension, and improve emotional well-being.

OPINION COMMENTARY:

Despite today’s polarized views about the role religion should play in U.S. public education, Dr. Irvin Scott, Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, argues that partnerships between faith groups and schools can provide critical support for our most vulnerable children.

OPINION COMMENTARY:

Studies suggest that too many young people believe what they are learning is not interesting and has no connection with life beyond the classroom. Courtney Welsh and Scott Hefter suggest new models and programs that would allow youths to structure their own curricula.

SOCIAL EQUITY SERIES:

How does a leading wire and cable manufacturer become a source of transformation for at-risk students? Burt Fealing from Southwire and Ethan Rouen from the Harvard Business School describe the 12 for Life program and how it has partnered with communities and achieved collective success.

SOCIAL EQUITY SERIES:

OneGoal reimagines secondary educational support by visualizing not just what its students plan to achieve but also who they become on their educational journey. OneGoal’s leadership seeks not merely to change the educational support system, but to change how society views the gifts each student develops along the way.

OPINION COMMENTARY:

Emily Weinstein and Carrie James, researchers from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, encourage parents and caregivers to assess when and why kids might be most vulnerable to social media – and how social media may also make teens feel connected and supported. Effective interventions require “tuning into the particular” and challenging assumptions.

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IN SOCIAL IMPACT SERIES:

The education technology market is booming around the globe, with software tools aimed at organizing and delivering academic content dominating the market beyond hardware. Julia Freeland Fisher, Director of Education Research at the Clayton Christensen Institute, calls for the edtech market to refocus its purpose on providing connection, not just content.

OPINION COMMENTARY:

One driver of the wealth gap in America is that households of people of color are less likely to own stock. Anthony Mohr, a 2021 ALI Fellow, says we should give students real shares to cultivate their interest in investing and creating wealth.

Polarized politics have infected local school boards, which have historically been nonpartisan. With school boards now on the front lines of the culture wars, Andrea Gabor outlines steps to strengthen school boards to function effectively given the mounting pressures facing them.

TRANSFORMING CITIES SERIES:

Baltimore City Schools (BCS) has adopted an ambitious agenda to transform the city’s schools. Dr. Sonja Santelises, CEO of Baltimore City Schools, discusses the pillars of BCS’s Blueprint for Success, her belief that excellence in urban education is possible at scale, and the importance of leadership for the adults and students in the school system and the community.

Thomas Toch, the director of FutureEd, discusses federal COVID-recovery relief for K-12 education, how states and districts can and should use the funds to address the needs of students effectively and equitably, and bold policy initiatives to address some of education’s most pressing problems.

A conversation with historian, teacher and activist, Professor Timothy Patrick McCarthy, on the importance of embracing an honest reckoning with history, battling the culture wars in schools, and liberation dreaming in order to realize our best aspirations and intentions for public education.

Students spend upwards of thirty-five hours a week in a classroom and yet, they are rarely consulted when it comes to improving our schools. Andrew Brennen and Sanaa Kahloon discuss how this is changing as education stakeholders around the country tap into the power of student voice as a means both to bolster student achievement and to disrupt long-standing inequities.

THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF THE BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION SERIES:

A conversation with John B. King, former Secretary of Education and President and CEO of The Education Trust, on the Biden/Harris administration's first 100 days in the education domain.

A conversation with Harvard Graduate School of Education Professor Fernando M. Reimers on successful innovations and positive strategies employed by education leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 RECOVERY SERIES:

While acknowledging the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people, educators, non-profit leaders, mental health experts, young people, and education researchers share stories of hope, strength, and resilience from the work children are doing to lead the way to recovery in communities around the world.

The crisis of COVID-19, the resulting economic downturn, and the racial reckoning the country is now experiencing have made the need for equitable, high-quality education even more urgent. Author Irvin Scott’s model for the Education Ecosystem illuminates news ways of working.

Harvard ALI Fellow, Julie Allen, argues in this OpEd that federal education aid for schools, without aid for state and local governments, would be ineffective given the three-level system of education funding in the U.S.