K-12

To curb distractions during class, a school district in North Alabama will no longer allow non-school-issued student devices to connect to its network, exempting students with certain medical conditions.

The Statewide Education Network will create an internal system for sharing classes, educational materials and other resources. All of the state's districts and charter schools are expected to join the network by 2027.

Seven major education organizations have joined forces to establish quality indicators for ed-tech tools in the EdTech Index, achieved by validation through a variety of third-party certification processes.

Several new state laws taking effect in Georgia are focused on school safety, including one requiring schools to teach about the risks of social media and put barriers on school devices to limit access to online content.

Teachers and administrators are finding it increasingly difficult to get students to focus in class, and a district-wide policy for collecting phones would avoid putting the onus on teachers to confront defiant students.

Some observers say generative AI could make homeschooling more practical and accessible, giving parents a useful organizational and instructional tool, and students the ability to explore complex topics on their own.

If students are on their phones too much, it has at least something to do with learning that behavior from adults. As schools ban phones, it becomes increasingly important for parents and teachers to put theirs down, too.

Many students say they prefer the SAT's new digital format, which is shorter and "adaptive," meaning a student's performance on the first set of questions determines what questions they receive on the next set.

In about two weeks, New York City Public Schools is expected to unveil a new policy allowing students to bring smartphones to school but barring them from having access to the devices during class.

Katy Independent School District in Texas approved a policy prohibiting elementary and middle school students from having smart watches in school, and high school students from having them during instructional time.

AI tools excel at generating content, but knowing what to do with that content is the skill that human users must bring to the table. Students tend to learn it best when trying to solve problems they care about.

School districts should be establishing flexible guidelines for AI use, providing AI-focused professional development, looking at data-privacy policies of AI tools and considering what data they were trained on.

Artificial intelligence tools trained on non-representative data have the potential to exacerbate inequities in the education system, unless developers train better ones and educators are strategic about using them.

For all the opportunities generative AI brings to middle and high school students, it could also undermine their proficiency at reading and writing. Experienced teachers have some suggestions for how to make it work.

A recent summit hosted by St. Cloud Area School District 742 put educators, business leaders and lawmakers in the same room to discuss the future of education policy in light of artificial intelligence.

A pair of five-day CyberPatriot Camps for high school students in the Decatur, Ala., area aim to prepare them for cybersecurity and computer science jobs, as well as teach them how to safely use the Internet.

Eight presenters at ISTE’s annual conference Tuesday in Denver shared their own visions, anecdotes and suggestions for innovative changes in their field, each making a case for exploration and openness to technology.

Legislation recently advanced by the Pennsylvania Senate Education Committee would enlist various districts to participate in a two-year pilot program to test the impact of locking up student cellphones during the day.