For Maria Artica, a first-year student at Richard Bland College, a two-year college in Virginia, enrolling was like stepping “into a new world.” Artica, who is Hispanic, is pursuing an associate degree in life science and plans to become a doctor. A first-generation college student, she was told that higher ed would lead to a better life. But there isn’t a lot of help available for paying for education, she says. That makes the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA — a gateway to loans, grants and other money — her “main reliable source” of funding. While she had no experience wit ..read more

The edtech market is saturated with various tools designed to improve children’s literacy from e-readers to apps to digital libraries. Over the past few years, more literacy tools have been using generative AI, either to accelerate children’s reading proficiency or to stimulate more reading interest. Recently, a new kind of tool has emerged. Referred to as AI-powered reading coaches, assistants or tutors, these tools use generative AI to provide learners with personalized reading practice, stories, feedback and support. Some of these tools focus on a specific learning objective, such as phonic ..read more

Remember all the hype around the metaverse in education? Just two years ago it seemed like a 3D virtual realm for education was imminent: Facebook had changed its name to Meta, to signal its giant bet on the VR space, and it had launched TV ads showing classes happening in new immersive worlds; several college campuses started building replicas of their physical campuses in VR spaces, in part with money from Meta; and think tanks were issuing reports on how to best harness VR spaces for education. (EdSurge receives philanthropic support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which is co-owned ..read more

The number of Latino students who are going to college is on the rise, and they don’t all fit the profile of what institutions might consider the typical freshmen on campus. They’re more likely to be first-generation, working to support themselves and caring for dependents than other college students, according to a new analysis by Excelencia in Education. The nonprofit researches and promotes policies around Latinos in higher education. “Our intent in putting this compilation together was to not only clarify the current profile of our students, but hopefully inform and compel thoughts about w ..read more

High-quality instructional materials (HQIMs) are educational resources designed to effectively support student learning. They can include textbooks, lesson plans, digital resources and other materials carefully crafted to meet the needs of diverse learners and facilitate meaningful learning experiences. By using HQIMs, educators can enhance the quality of instruction, support differentiated learning and improve overall learning outcomes. While the concept of HQIM has been established and embraced in other core academic disciplines, applying this concept to social studies has been more complex ..read more

This story was originally published by The 19th. For more than a decade, Erin Farias has watched the low-income families who send children to the day cares she runs navigate America’s broken child care system. Many of those parents had government assistance for school tuition, but half the time, Farias couldn’t count on them to make their co-payments. They were still too high. Subsidies are supposed to make care more accessible for those with the most need, but families in many states still struggle to pay child care bills. To be considered affordable by the Department of Health and Human Serv ..read more

COVID-19 was edtech’s big moment, and while digital tools kept learning going for many families and schools, they also faltered. A great deal of edtech purchases went unused, equity gaps widened, and teachers and students were burned out. Combined with sobering reports on the persistent lack of strong evidence for edtech, it’s no wonder why the notion of using technology to “fix broken schools” has fallen out of most startup pitch decks and education TED Talks. Yet it seems the reckoning has been cut short. The emergence of generative AI has brought the term “disruption” back to headlines and ..read more

Data-driven decisions are increasingly recognized as a critical component of K-12 education, enhancing personalized learning, improving assessment and feedback, optimizing resource allocation and fostering early intervention. These decisions are informed by analyzing various types of data, such as academic achievement, non-academic factors, program and systems data, and perception data. In turn, this analysis helps educators make informed choices that directly affect student learning and school effectiveness. Despite the benefits, implementing data-driven decision-making in education presents ..read more

Education has had a wobbly relationship with the still-evolving presence of generative AI in schools — with some school districts banning it only to reverse course. It can save teachers time by automating tasks, while also causing headaches as an accomplice to cheating students. So how much work would it take to come up with guidelines to help educators manage the challenges of using generative AI tools for their work? In Michigan, it was a team effort. A coalition of 14 education organizations, helmed by the nonprofit Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute, released sample guidelines ea ..read more

A VR experience created by students at The New School in New York City is designed to take viewers to an almond farm in California and illustrate the effects of pesticides on bee colonies. At first, participants wearing a VR headset can walk around the virtual stands of trees, and hear the sounds of rustling leaves and buzzing bees. Then, with the push of a button, users can choose a different perspective. “You get to become a bee,” explains Maya Georgieva, who runs the university’s Innovation Center, “and you have the sense of what happens to the bee colony when the pesticides go all over to ..read more