A Superintendent Goes Without a Smartphone for the Summer

           In this article in School Administrator, Bryan Easter, a California superintendent (and board member in a different district), says he was in the habit of constantly checking e-mail – in meetings, on the road, during family time – believing that “productivity required constant availability.” 

            Last summer, Easter took the bold step of swapping his iPhone for a flip phone for 75 days. “The impact of being unplugged was profound,” he says. “My sleep quality improved significantly, my eye strain faded, and my stress levels noticeably decreased. Even more telling, my own children commented on my improved mood and presence. Without the constant pull of notifications, I found myself fully engaged with the people in front of me.”

            When Easter reactivated his smartphone at the end of the summer, he rethought his relationship with it – no social media, fewer apps, no watch notifications, no work e-mail – and tracked his daily screen time to hold himself accountable. “The result,” he says, “has been greater peace of mind, stronger relationships, and perhaps surprisingly, greater productivity.”

            Easter’s personal epiphany led him to rethink how his district’s students were using screens during school hours – in digital textbooks, learning management systems, assessments, and supplemental materials tied to devices. “Students spend hours hunched over screens, clicking and scrolling,” he says, “for what seems like three-quarters of the day at the secondary level. Conversations about writing drafts or problem solving are replaced by online comments and chat features. Face-to-face interactions have been replaced by more screen time… We must consider the physical and mental health implications.”

            During the 2025-26 school year, Easter’s district reduced classroom screen time by 20 percent and developed a goal for 2026-27:

• Prioritizing print reading;
• Eliminating unstructured use of devices;
• Expanding hands-on learning and student collaboration;
• Teachers using mini-grants to purchase non-digital materials;
• Trimming digital components in homework.

“As educational leaders, we must ensure that every decision about curriculum, devices, or policies centers on student health, development, and human connection,” Easter concludes. “The future of education will undoubtedly include more technology, but the future of our children depends on balancing traditional teaching pedagogy and educational technology.”

“Unplugged: A Superintendent’s Digital Detox” by Bryan Easter in School Administrator, June 2026 (Vol. 83, #6, p. 10); Easter can be reached at bryaneaster@mapleschool.org.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1142 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Award-Winning Books on the African American Experience

            In School Library Journal, Shelley Diaz spotlights children’s and YA books that affirm the richness, complexity, and global dimensions of the African American experience. Here is the winner and honor title for 2026 in each category (click here for cover images and short summaries): 

Non-fiction: 

• Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer by Quartez Harris
• Bold Words from Black Men: Insights and Reflections from 50 Notable Trailblazers Who Influenced the World by Tamara Pizzoli 

Fiction:

• A Place for Us by James Ransome
• Under the Neon Lights by Arriel Vinson 

Debut: 

• Needy Little Things by Channelle Desamours
• City Summer, Country Summer by Kiese Laymon, illustrated by Alexis Franklin 

Graphic:

• All-Negro Comics: American’s First Black Comic Book by Chris Robinson and Orrin Evans

 “Honoring Black Stories” by Shelley Diaz in School Library Journal, June 2026 (Vol. 72, #6, pp. 32-39)

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1141 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

How Teacher Leaders Can Guide Professional Conversations

            In this Kappan article, instructional coach Connie Hamilton says the way teachers talk about their students’ work reveals beliefs about students’ capabilities and determines the kind of feedback and follow-up students get. “When one teacher names a problem in a way that invites solutions, others step in with ideas, adjustments, and possibilities,” she says. “The opposite is also true. When language closes the door or shifts blame, the conversation and progress stalls.” 

            Hamilton suggests five ways teacher leaders can steer conversations in a positive, problem-solving direction:

• Tell specifically what students are doing. “The way we describe learning signals what we believe is causing it,” says Hamilton, “and that drives what we do next. Avoid statements like They don’t get it, This group is low, They’re confused, They can’t do this independently, instead using sentences like these:
• They are completing step one and missing step two.
• This group can identify the main idea and is challenged to support it with evidence.
• They are mixing up these two concepts.
• Look at the details of a learning breakdown. When students are stuck, dig into the causes of their confusion with questions like these:
• What do they already understand?
• Where do most students begin to get stuck?
• What are the students who are successful doing differently?
• Use language that invites solutions. “Some language closes the conversation,” says Hamilton, for example, This isn’t working. They should already know this. We tried that. We don’t have the resources. We don’t have time for that. We can’t force them to want to learn. We weren’t trained for this. Use language that opens up solutions, for example:
• What can we adjust to make this work?
• How can we build on prior knowledge?
• What part of that worked and what part needs to change? 
• Use the language of instructional ownership. Avoid laying blame – for example, They won’t do it. They are unmotivated. They didn’t learn it last year. – substituting questions that suggest possibility:
• What in this task might not be connecting yet?
• What do they need from us right now?
• What can we try differently? 
• Share experiences and reflections. “State what you notice,” says Hamilton. “It’s not necessary to have the answer” – for example:
• I noticed students could explain it verbally, but their writing wasn’t clear.
• When I added a model, more students were able to start.
• This question seemed to unlock their thinking. 

            “This is the kind of teacher leadership that builds a culture of efficacy, teamwork, and possibility,” Hamilton concludes. “The language we use makes it clear who is aligned with that culture and who is not.” 

 “Language Is Leadership: How Teacher Talk Shapes Team Thinking and Instructional Action” by Connie Hamilton in Kappan, Summer 2026 (Vol. 107, #8, pp. 71-73)

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1140 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Partial Math Detracking in California High Schoolks

            In this American Educational Research Journal article, Thomas Dee (Stanford University) and Elizabeth Huffaker (University of Florida) say the gatekeeper role of algebra in students’ educational and life trajectories continues to spark high-profile attention on three decisions: when students should take Algebra I, how it is taught, and the mix of students in each classroom. Tracking for Algebra I, say Dee and Huffaker, “the practice of sorting students on the basis of prior achievement or perceived ability – has long been critiqued as an inherently unequal method for distributing educational opportunities.” 

            But de-tracking middle- and high-school math classes has also been controversial, they say, surfacing “vexing tensions for any effort that simultaneously seeks to support both mathematical excellence and broad opportunity.” Many schools have struggled with the challenge of differentiating instruction in heterogeneous groups and accelerating the skills and knowledge of students who do not seem ready for algebra.

            In this article, Dee and Huffaker report on an experiment in a diverse California district (Sequoia Union) that had big proficiency gaps in math: from 2017 to 2020, more than three-quarters of white and Asian graduates met University of California math admissions criteria compared with fewer than half of African-American and Latin students. To address this disparity, the district launched the A1 Initiative: Algebra I was taught to mixed groups of ninth graders, combining on-grade-level students with students who would normally have been in remedial pre-algebra classes. Higher-achieving ninth graders, who had taken Algebra I in middle school, were not part of the initiative and took geometry or other upper-level courses.

            The A1 Initiative provided significant resources to support high-quality instruction in heterogeneous classes, while the control group in the study had business-as-usual conditions and a standard textbook: 

• 15 full days of professional development, one released class period a day, four campus coaching days per semester, a districtwide PLC, and a partner teacher on each campus;
• A strong emphasis on high expectations and growth-mindset thinking, encouraging students to pursue the trajectory toward geometry;
• Teacher collaboration on unit planning and assessments and lesson study;
• Training in language routines that promoted math academic conversations;
• Emphasis on the importance of hearing and seeing student reasoning;
• Frequent assessment of students’ skills and knowledge;
• Flexibility with day-to-day pacing of the curriculum;
• Additional lesson plan resources. 

What were the results? Dee and Huffaker report the following:

• Improvements in student attendance and retention; 
• Improvement in Algebra I achievement in the treatment group;
• Significant improvement in Algebra II achievement two years later;
• No lowering of the achievement of classroom peers. 

“These results,” conclude the authors, “suggest that higher expectations for the lowest-performing students, coupled with aligned teacher supports, is a promising model for realizing students’ mathematical potential.” 

“Accelerating Opportunity: The Effects of Instructionally Supported Detracking” by Thomas Dee and Elizabeth Huffaker in American Educational Research Journal, April 2026 (Vol. 63, #2, pp. 307-350); the authors can be reached at tdee@stanford.edu and ehuffaker@ufl.edu.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1139 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Twelve Ways Principals Can Build Collective Efficacy

            In their 2025 book, Collective Impact, Jenni Donohoo and Glenn Forbes describe how school leaders can increase teacher efficacy, one of the most important ingredients in highly effective schools. Collective efficacy is educators’ belief that they, as a group, can make a positive difference to student achievement. Studies show that when a faculty has this belief, its members put in more effort, think more strategically, and demonstrate greater commitment. It’s at the top of John Hattie’s list of key factors in high academic and SEL achievement. 

            Donohoo and Forbes name twelve “enemies” that frequently undermine teacher efficacy and organize their book around ways school leaders can counteract each one: 

• Blaming poverty, parents, and students’ lack of effort – Pinning low student achievement on factors outside teachers’ control undermines their motivation to do better. The antidote: highlighting where teachers are succeeding and connecting specific practices to impact on student learning. Rather than saying, “Good job!” to a teacher, a principal might say, “I saw you provide scaffolding to your struggling students on the spot. That’s a skill that many teachers take a long time to develop. Did you notice how effective it was? That support meant they could participate and reach the lesson’s objectives.”
• The magnitude of the task – When improving student achievement seems too daunting, teacher efficacy falters. The antidote: reframe the challenge in terms of small, specific actions teachers and teacher teams can take with available resources within a finite amount of time – for example, a one-month plan for fifth graders to work on one skill in their essay writing.
• Fragmentation – A Christmas tree of initiatives in a school undermines focused collaboration and fosters cynicism (This too shall pass). The antidote: find out which 20 percent of teacher actions are producing 80 percent of the results (the Pareto Principle) and focus the school on those super-productive practices, de-emphasizing those that are adding less value.
• Ambiguity on school goals – If staff members don’t have a clear sense of what their school’s major priorities and initiatives are, there’s going to be less productive collaboration. If there’s uncertainty about people’s roles and the definition of practices – for example, student-led versus student-centered – collective efficacy will suffer. The antidote: ensure that staff members have a shared understanding and consensus on key ideas and practices and reinforce those by encouraging colleagues to recognize and appreciate classroom successes in those areas.
• Uncertainty about what administrators are thinking – For example, The assistant principal didn’t give me eye contact – is she mad because I voiced concerns about the schedule? The antidote: communicate openly and clearly, minimize ambiguity, and check in on whether what you are saying and doing are received as intended.
• Hierarchical thinking – When school leaders wield their authority in a controlling, top-down manner, teachers work with a fearful attitude, don’t take risks, close their classroom doors, and avoid collaboration. The antidote: distribute leadership, delegate tasks, encourage mentorships, hold teacher-led professional development, empower teams to experiment with new instructional initiatives, and provide discretionary funds for promising projects. It’s also important for leaders to know what individuals are good at and encourage them to play to those strengths.
• A compliance mentality – When teachers feel they’re being managed to follow top-down policies, they go through the motions – or silently undermine mandates. The antidote: get out of compliance mode and find ways to persuade teachers to use best practices because they work. If there are concerns about a program, invite teachers to articulate their reasons and try variations, measuring the impact on students who weren’t doing well.
• Teacher isolation – Educators may feel cut off from their colleagues because of their own insecurities, the schedule (no common meeting times), or being a “lonely singleton” (the only music teacher in a school). Isolated teachers learn less from their colleagues, and their colleagues learn less from them, limiting the spread of good ideas. The antidote: fix the schedule so there are common planning times at least once a week and orchestrate tasks that foster interdependence – for example, drafting and giving common assessments, planning grade-wide projects, visiting each other’s classrooms, and shadowing a student for a day – followed by sharing insights.
• Avoiding collaboration – Teachers may not contribute ideas and energy to their grade-level or department team because they worry their methods might be questioned or aren’t comfortable with interpersonal conflict. This might take the form of skipping team meetings, contributing only the bare minimum, or not addressing problems that can only be solved through collaboration. The antidote: flip the dynamic in unproductive team meetings by emphasizing strengths and attributing positive student results to those actions. Spotlight specific actions, encourage teachers to journal about positive learning moments, and draw on your own interpersonal and pedagogical strengths.
• Negativity – Sour attitudes, pessimism, and defeatism can spread like a virus within a school, blocking positive emotions and a can-do attitude. The antidote: find small accomplishments and celebrate them, reinforcing optimism that specific practices make a difference. A principal might open a staff meeting by describing a delightful moment in a classroom or orchestrating recognition circles where colleagues appreciate each other in specific ways.
• Judgmental comments – When teachers hear comments like Her ideas are always unrealistic or He’s impossible to work with, they stop sharing opinions, don’t speak up in meetings, and refrain from sharing ideas with their team. The antidote: model norms of collaboration that foster psychological safety so teachers feel protected from being judged. Advocate for being curious about other viewpoints, holding off on criticism, and responding productively to ideas that might seem off base.
• Invidious comparisons – Humans tend to compare themselves unfavorably with others, and a competitive environment in a school can bring this out, fostering self-doubt and withdrawal from collective effort. The antidote: downplay competition among teachers and don’t publicly compare teachers or teacher teams. Instead, compare classroom practices and results to mastery goals and focus on specific practices (like wait-time and checking for understanding) and student work (like exit tickets and interim assessments) that are within teachers’ span of control. 

Collective Impact by Jenni Donohoo and Glenn Forbes (Solution Tree, 2025); this summary draws on Jenn David-Lang’s more-comprehensive précis in this month’s The Main Idea, with her permission.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1138 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Talking So Parents Understand

            In this article in Principal, Windy Lopez-Aflitto (Learning Heroes) says the words educators use can confuse or worry parents. Some examples and suggested alternatives: 

What we say: self-regulation 

        What parents hear: This sounds like my child is going through some kind of therapy.

        Try this: self-control

What we say: grit

        What parents hear: dirt, difficulty, something hard

        Try this: taking on challenges, pushing yourself, learning from mistakes and effort

What we say: growth mindset

        What parents hear: The ability of child’s mind to expand and grow increases over time. 

        Try this: learning from mistakes, hard work pays off, it’s all in the effort

What we say: executive function 

        What parents hear: Is this going to the bathroom? 

        Try this: organizational skills, setting goals, ability to focus, managing time well 

What we say: resilience, perseverance, persistence 

        What parents hear: Their child is unhappy or struggling. 

         Try this: bouncing back, sticking with it, learning from mistakes, overcoming obstacles 

 “The Power of School-Home Partnerships” by Windy Lopez-Aflitto in Principal, May/June 2026

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1137 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Reflective Feedback

            “A teacher is not likely to improve their teaching,” says Stephen Gordon (Texas State University/San Marcos) in this article in Theory Into Practice, “unless they perceive the need for change through reflection on their beliefs, their teaching behaviors, and the impact of those beliefs and behaviors on students.” But there are few opportunities for this kind of reflection, says Gordon, because of teachers’ heavy workload, curriculum demands, student behavior, isolation from colleagues, and the summative focus of the traditional teacher evaluation process.

            Ideally, principals and other supervisors help teachers reflect on their practice, but too often, says Gordon, “feedback consists of judgments and suggestions for improvement.” A better model is reflective feedback, which is non-evaluative, free of judgment, and focused on identifying and addressing teachers’ concerns. There’s a dialogue between the supervisor (or peer) and teacher, based on actual observation of the teacher working with students, or viewing a video of a lesson. The discussion pinpoints a specific area the teacher has identified, looks at possible solutions, and the teacher decides how to follow up.

            In this kind of reflective dialogue, the most potentially interesting part is how the teacher’s espoused beliefs about teaching align with what’s going on in their classroom. “Realization of a conflict between teaching beliefs and teaching behaviors can lead to cognitive dissonance,” says Gordon. “To relieve that dissonance, the teacher may change their beliefs, change their teaching, or both.”

Gordon describes four frameworks for analyzing teaching, each with the potential to foster reflective feedback:

• Clinical supervision – This is the traditional teacher-evaluation process: a pre-observation conference discussing the lesson plan; a classroom visit with detailed note-taking; a post-observation meeting and write-up. There’s certainly room for reflective feedback in the first and third phase, but principals’ workload keeps them from doing these more than once or twice a year, if that. A common workaround: having an instructional coach or peer implement the clinical supervision process, minus the evaluative component.
• Peer video analysis – A group of teachers watches a video of one of their lessons, replaying segments if necessary, reflects on questions the teacher wants to discuss, and the teacher decides how to follow up. Questions about this process: Will teachers share videos of lessons that might be viewed as problematic? Will the presence of a supervisor inhibit the discussion of less-than-stellar teaching? Will the facilitator raise important issues of beliefs and pedagogy? And will there be time for this in the busy lives of teachers?
• Teacher learning walks – A group of teachers visits several classrooms with an agreed-upon focus, meets to discuss their observations, and shares conclusions with the faculty of the school. Learning walks are intended to serve as professional learning for the teachers observed and for those doing the classroom visits. “Multiple learning walks with different teachers being observed in each walk,” says Gordon, “can gather data that becomes the basis for schoolwide instructional improvement goals.” Potential drawbacks are similar to peer video analysis: the quality of facilitation, the level of candor, and the time required.
• Collaborative autobiography – Several teachers write privately about their individual practice, meet to share and discuss one teacher’s writing, make connections to the teacher’s beliefs and professional and personal history, and share key next steps. “Often,” says Gordon, “other members of the group describe experiences, emotions, concerns, and needs similar to those shared by the teacher reading from their autobiography… This framework increases both individual and group self-awareness and a commitment for positive change.”

            Although each of these – clinical supervision, video analysis, learning walks, and collaborative autobiography – has the potential to foster high-quality reflective feedback among teachers, says Gordon, “none of the frameworks are widely used in our schools.” Why? Lack of time, and school leaders not taking the initiative to make them happen. He urges principals and other supervisors to support at least one framework, carve out sufficient time for implementation, involve teachers in planning, provide PD that demonstrates how it can foster reflective feedback, and solve inevitable glitches.

            “For any of these frameworks to be successful,” Gordon adds, “reflective feedback needs to be reciprocal: supervisor to teacher, teacher to supervisor, and in group frameworks, teacher to teacher. The supervisor is the essential model for and facilitator of reflective feedback.” 

 “The Power of Reflective Feedback” by Stephen Gordon in Theory Into Practice, Winter 2026 (Vol. 65, #1, pp. 5-22); Gordon can be reached at sg07@txstate.edu.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1134 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Recommended Nonfiction Books for Children

            In this Language Arts feature, Julia López-Robertson and six committee members announce the Orbis Pictus Award book for 2025, followed by recommended and honor titles:

- Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of the American Indian Boarding Schools by Dan SaSuWeh Jones

- Yasmeen Lari, Green Architect: The True Story of Pakistan’s First Woman Architect by Marzieh Abbas, illustrated by Hoda Hadad

- Urban Coyotes by Mary Kay Carson, photographs by Tom Uhlman

- A Plate of Hope: The Inspiring Story of Chef José Andrés and the World Central Kitchen by Erin Frankel, illustrated by Paola Escobar

- Wat Takes His Shot: The Life and Legacy of Basketball Hero Wataru Misaka by Cheryl Kim, illustrated by Nat Iwata

- Daughter of the Light-Footed People: The Story of Indigenous Marathon Champion Lorena Ramirez by Belen Medina, illustrated by Natalia Rojas Castro

- Listening to Trees: George Nakashima, Woodworker by Holly Thompson, illustrated by Toshiki Nakamura 

- Sleepy: Surprising Ways Animals Snooze by Jennifer Ward, illustrated by Robin Page

- We Sing from the Heart: How the Slants Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Victor Bizar Gómez

- Space: The Final Pooping Frontier by Annabeth Bondor-Stone and Connor White, illustrated by Lars Kenseth

- Life After Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall by Lynn Brunelle, illustrated by Jason Chin

- Race to the Truth: Borderlands and the Mexican American Story by David Dorado Romo

- Ode to Grapefruit: How James Earl Jones Found His Voice by Kari Lavell, illustrated by Bryan Collier

- Behold the Hummingbird by Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez 

 “Orbis Pictus Award 2025” by Julia López-Robertson, Caryl Crowell, Jason Griffith, Janelle Mathis, Yoo Kyung Sung, Mellissa Summer Wells, and Becki Maldonado in Language Arts, November 2025 (Vol. 103, #2, pp. 126-131)

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1132 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Audio Interviews with U.S. Workers

      In this article in Social Education, Andrew Decker provides links to a series of Library of Congress audio interviews with Americans in a wide variety of jobs, among them:

- Luann Miller, grocery story cashier in Seattle, Washington

- Barbara Miller Byrd, circus owner, Hugo, Oklahoma

- Roberta Washington, architect, New York City

- Henrietta Ivey, home health care provider, Detroit, Michigan

- Dolores Fortuna, professional potter, Galena, Illinois 

- Thomas Sink, circus clown, Mead, Oklahoma 

These interviews, 6-9 minutes long, are excerpts from longer talks about why each person got into this job and what it was like on a day-to-day basis. “Using the America Works Podcast and Occupational Folklife Project to Personalize Economics in the Classroom” by Andrea Decker in Social Education, March/April 2026 (Vol. 90, #2, pp. 67-71)

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1132 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Recommended Young Adult Indigenous Literature

      In this English Journal article, Yvette Regalado and Melody Zoch highlight these young adult novels, verse novels, and graphic novels with Indigenous themes: 

• Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, adapted by Monique Gray Smith, illustrated by Nicole Neidhardt – middle and high school
• I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day – middle grades
• Apple: Skin to the Core by Eric Gansworth – high school
• A Girl Called Echo, Volume 1: Pemmican Wars, a graphic novel by Katherena Vermette, illustrated by Scott Henderson – middle and high school
• A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger – middle and high school 

“Critical Hope and Collective Cariño Through Indigenous Youth Literature” by Yvette Regalado and Melody Zoch in English Journal, November 2025 (Vol. 115, #2, pp. 26-36)

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1126 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Fun Math Activities for Students and Their Families

      In this Mathematics Teacher article, Gina Kling (Hope College) and four co-authors share math activities that students and their families can enjoy at home. In a sidebar, they recommend these five websites:

• The Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival Online Puzzles
• Math Fact Fluency (Bay-Williams & Kling, 2019 Companion Website
• Michigan Math Essentials Early Math Games
• Investigations in Number, Data, and Space Game Websites (Grades K-5)
• Connected Mathematics Project Game Website (Grades 6-8) 

“Family Math Fun Festivals” by Gina Kling, Lucy Neville, Moly More, Kathryn Vance, and Dyana Harrelson in Mathematics Teacher: Learning & Teaching PK-12, February 2026 (Vol. 119, #2, pp. 102-111); Kling can be reached at kling@hope.edu.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1126 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

I'm Not Worried AI Helps My Students Cheat. I'm Worried How It Makes Them Feel.

        I recently displayed a photo to a 9th grade humanities class and asked what should have been an easy question: “Is this real?” 

        The students voted, and half of them believed the image was AI-generated. It was not. It was a photo I had taken at a local Vermont beach. 

        I tried again, this time with a photo of my cat, Rafiki. The results were even more stark. Almost all the students thought it was an AI-generated image. Nope. It was real, taken in my kitchen. 

        When we talk about artificial intelligence in schools, we usually focus on cheating and plagiarism. But what I saw that day wasn’t about academic integrity. It was about trust. 

        When students can’t be sure whether a picture of their teacher’s cat is real, we are facing something much bigger than a student using ChatGPT on a history assignment. We are facing a world where certainty itself feels unstable and school suddenly feels like just another place where students aren’t sure they can trust the version of reality being offered. 

        For most of modern schooling, facts might get debated, but we didn’t question whether they existed. We argued over interpretation and meaning, not whether the basic thing in front of us was real. Our shared reality was the starting point. You could trust your eyes. 

        Many of us grew up inside that shared reality. I remember the World Book Encyclopedia. If someone had the “G” volume, you waited your turn before starting your report on Greenland or germs. Once you got the book, you trusted it. Information was scarce, and that book represented a version of the truth we generally agreed on, even when it was flawed and incomplete. It still gave us a shared starting point. 

        Today, that common floor has dropped out. Our students don’t have that shared reality. They exist within a digital feed that doesn’t stop and never seems to agree with itself. This erosion isn’t new. The internet had already made it easier to question everything and trust nothing before the widespread use of generative AI, but it has accelerated dramatically. 

        Truth used to feel like something we could find if we searched hard enough, but that’s not the experience our students are having. In fact, the more they search, the harder it can become to tell fact from fiction. In this new AI landscape, we’re all sorting through endless versions of reality and deciding which one we’re willing to live with. It’s exhausting and it’s exactly what I saw in my students when they looked at those photos. 

        This isn’t just an AI problem. If you can’t trust an image of a cat in a kitchen, it becomes harder to trust the larger promises society makes about the future. Gen Z financial commentator Kyla Scanlon calls this the “end of predictable progress.” For decades, the path was clear for many of us. You went to school, got a job, and eventually bought a house. But that path has dissolved into the same fog as AI-generated images. 

        Our students feel this instability everywhere. They are told AI may replace careers before they even start them. They see a housing market that feels permanently closed. They live in what Scanlon calls a “casino economy,” where a viral moment can feel more valuable than years of steady work. 

        The version of learning we’re offering our students no longer matches the world students are trying to survive. When even a teacher’s photo doesn’t feel stable, the old model of school cracks. If students are taught to question every headline and doubt every promise of the future, why would they walk into a classroom and trust us? School can start to feel like just another simulation, a game of compliance disconnected from the physical world they actually have to navigate. 

        School is too important to be a game. We have to stop asking the small questions. We spend so much time debating whether AI can do a student’s work, but the students are stuck on much more existential questions. They are trying to figure out if the work still matters, if school still matters, and honestly, if they still matter. 

        If school is going to mean anything in this world, maybe it’s time to shift from “learning” as a way to prepare for the future to learning as a way to understand and change the present. Students are demanding relevance. We can’t just hand them information anymore or tell them to trust us that what we’re teaching them today will matter in the future. We have to give them work that carries real and immediate consequence.

        We need students creating things they can touch and solving problems in their own schools and neighborhoods that won’t get fixed unless they are there to do it. We need them grappling with what it means to be human, what it means to be needed, to be necessary. AI can write a report, but it can’t stand in the cold Vermont snow to help a neighbor. It can’t make students feel like they matter. That’s what will actually make school feel real.

        With AI reshaping everything we see, showing our students how we live with uncertainty may be the most honest thing we can do. We have to stop pretending we have the answers and start making our own questions visible. When a source feels unreliable, we should think out loud. We need to model how we weigh evidence and how we decide what actually deserves our trust. No handbook or district policy can do that for us.

        Trust is built by showing up for a student day after day. A chatbot can generate a perfect answer, but it can’t recognize the moment when a teenager finally starts to understand who they are and it can’t understand what it takes to keep showing up when everything feels uncertain. That is human work, and it is where teachers matter more than ever. The goal is no longer just to teach the curriculum. The goal is to give students something real.

***

This essay by Stan Williams first appeared in the February 12, 2026 issue of Education Week.          

Stan Williams has more than 30 years of experience as a high school teacher and learning coordinator in the Champlain Valley public schools in Vermont. He is the co-author of The Standards-Based Classroom: Make Learning the Goal (Corwin, 2018). Much of his recent work focuses on the impact of AI on teaching and learning.

Broadening Students' Idea of What It Means to Be Good at Science

        In this article in The Science Teacher, Minnesota curriculum specialist Marta Stoeckel says that when students are asked what it means to be good (i.e., smart) at science, they often say it’s about quickly getting the right answers to a teacher’s or test-maker’s questions. But when Stoeckel and a high-school physics teacher discussed the idea with students, kids’ definition of science chops expanded to include the following:

• Posing interesting questions;
• Making connections between ideas;
• Representing and communicating ideas clearly;
• Using evidence to construct explanations and arguments;
• Working systematically and persistently;
• Using multiple representations and translating between representations;
• Taking risks and trying ideas, even if it means making a mistake. 

Stoeckel and the teacher worked with students to assess their own science thinking skills and those of classmates, significantly broadening the way they thought about what’s involved in high-quality science cognition. 

      “Helping students understand that science is not just about right answers and requires a wide range of skills,” Stoeckel concludes, “is key to the reforms in the Next Generation Science Standards. Aided by this teacher’s efforts, students recognized many ways to be good at science and saw the ways their peers demonstrated those skills… Finding ways for students to give each other recognition reflectively is an important step in ensuring that students not only see that being good at science involves a range of skills, but that they have those skills.”

“Expanding What Counts As Good at Science” by Marta Stoeckel in The Science Teacher, July 7, 2025 (Vol. 92, #4, pp. 49-57); Stoeckel can be reached at mrstoeckel@gmail.com.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1125 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

NTIA Approves Vermont's BEAD Final Proposal!

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   February 10, 2026     

Contact:  Herryn Herzog, VCBB Communications, Strategy, and Policy Director phone: (802) 522-3396 email: Herryn.Herzog@Vermont.gov   

 NTIA Approves Vermont’s BEAD Final Proposal, Unlocking Millions in Federal Funding 

 Plan Will Increase Statewide Broadband Access to More Than 99% of Vermonters

Montpelier, Vermont – Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB) is proud to announce that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved Vermont’s Final Proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. The approval authorizes the state to move from planning to implementation of its $93 million federal broadband investment. 

“This is a major milestone for many of our rural towns and a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen and revitalize communities,” said Governor Phil Scott. “I want to thank Assistant Secretary of Commerce Arielle Roth and her team at NTIA for their leadership of this complex federal initiative, Vermont’s congressional delegation for their support for this important program, and the Vermont Community Broadband Board for developing and administering Vermont’s approved plan.” 

Vermont was allocated almost $229 million through the BEAD program to expand high-speed, reliable broadband networks across the state to households that currently lack broadband access. NTIA’s approval allows Vermont access to $93 million of its allocation to deploy broadband statewide. 

“Affordable, high-speed internet is a vitally important resource in every corner of the country. It is foundational to modern life. From education to health care to small business, virtually every sector of society needs it to survive and thrive. However, thousands of Vermonters still lack access to internet at broadband speed. This approval means Vermonters across our state are one step closer to connecting to reliable, quality service. While it has taken far too long, it is good news that this crucial federal investment from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will finally reach communities in our state,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

“This is a huge moment for Vermont. I’m elated that Vermonters across the state will soon be connected to the broadband they need to thrive in today’s digital economy. By working together, federal and state leaders secured tens of millions of dollars to support the build-out of high-speed, affordable broadband for Vermont families, workers, and communities. I applaud the NTIA’s final approval of this plan, and I extend my thanks and congratulations to Executive Director Christine Hallquist and the Vermont Community Broadband Board, as well as Governor Scott, for working side-by-side with broadband leaders across our state to accomplish this momentous goal,” said Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.).

"Whether it’s a student doing homework, a small business reaching new customers, or a family accessing telehealth, broadband has become critical to our daily lives. This approval is an exciting and important step towards making sure all Vermonters have the reliable connection they need to stay connected and succeed," said Representative Becca Balint (VT-AL).

“BEAD brings us closer to finishing the job of giving rural Vermonters the opportunity to connect to essential and vital high-speed internet service,” said Patty Richards, Chair of the VCBB. “This approval reflects years of careful planning, public input, and strong oversight, confirming that Vermont has put forward an accountable plan to use these federal dollars wisely and deliver broadband infrastructure across the state.”

The approved Final Proposal outlines Vermont’s competitive process for selecting internet service providers to receive BEAD funding and details the technical, financial, and service requirements providers must meet. Projects funded through BEAD will deliver broadband that meets or exceeds the federal performance standard of 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload. Vermont’s subgrantee providers are Comcast, DVFiber, Fidium, Maple Broadband, NEK Broadband, SpaceX, and Vermont Telephone.

“I am proud of the collective work of the VCBB Board, staff, and the Scott Administration. I am happy to be able to say that plans are now in place to bring broadband to more than 99% of Vermonters,” said VCBB Executive Director Christine Hallquist. “And the work isn’t finished. We’re taking a close look to make sure everyone is included and to find solutions where gaps remain. We know that rural broadband leads to higher business growth, self-employment growth, and higher per capita income growth, and we want all Vermonters to be able to take advantage of those opportunities. 

About the BEAD Program The BEAD program is a $42.45 billion federal investment authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to expand high-speed internet access nationwide. BEAD requires recipients to build to every location that previously had service below 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload and to finish the work within four years of the grant award. The program provides funding to all U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia to deploy or upgrade broadband infrastructure and ensure access to reliable, affordable, high-speed internet service. States were required to submit Initial and Final Proposals to NTIA describing how they will use BEAD funds to serve all eligible locations. 

Next Steps VCBB will now begin implementation of the VT-BEAD program, including finalizing awards and coordinating with selected providers to begin construction. For more information about VT-BEAD and ongoing broadband efforts go to VCBB’s VT-BEAD webpage. ###

What Do Vermont Students, Schools, and Communities Need from the Legislature? Two Superintendents; Two Very Different Views

            Testimony provided to the Vermont House and Senate Education Committees on January 13, 2026 by Superintendent Patrick Reen and Superintendent Jamie Kinnarney:

 Superintendent Patrick Reen Testimony to the Vermont House and Senate Education Committees

 Superintendent Jamie Kinnarney Testimony to the Vermont House and Senate Education Committees

What part of history is this?

We are officially 

living out the part of history

that makes school children ask,

"Why didn't anybody

do anything to stop them?"

Response to Governor Scott's Address to the VT Legislature, January 8, 2026

 Governor, 

Your remarks were delivered with passion and confidence, projecting a vision of progress that you argue will follow if Vermont’s towns adopt a model of school consolidation (and closure) drawn from places like Barre. Yet passion alone is not proof, and vision alone is not evidence. 

What was missing from your remarks was a clear explanation of how closing rural schools will produce meaningful savings or reduce the crushing burden of property taxes borne by working Vermonters. You spoke of increasing teacher salaries—a goal many share—but you did not explain how this will be accomplished while simultaneously lowering property taxes. These two aims, laudable on their own, stand in tension unless supported by facts rather than assumptions. We can talk about Barre as an example worthy of emulation. But if consolidation is the remedy you suggest, why not also speak of Roxbury? Why not address communities where consolidation has brought longer bus rides, weakened town centers, people moving out of state, and unresolved questions about cost savings and community loss? Rural Vermont deserves to hear the full accounting, not a selective one. 

Closing schools does not eliminate children. It merely displaces them. Education must still be delivered elsewhere, often at increased cost for transportation, facilities, staffing, and administration. In rural Vermont, sending young children from a local primary school to a distant, bused school is not the simple matter it may be in a compact city. Distance matters. Geography matters. Families matter. 

Nor did your remarks address what becomes of the abandoned school buildings that sit at the heart of our towns. Unlike larger municipalities, many rural communities lack both the resources to maintain these structures and the alternative uses that might give them new life. The loss is not merely financial; it is civic and communal. An awful lot of schools would need to close—and an awful lot of people would need to lose their jobs—to achieve the outcomes you outlined. That reality deserves honest reckoning, not rhetorical assurance. 

President Theodore Roosevelt, in convening the Country Life Commission, warned against reforms that prized efficiency while ignoring the lived realities of rural communities. He understood that a nation weakens when its countryside is hollowed out in the name of progress measured only on paper. Reform, he believed, must strengthen the whole—not sacrifice the many for the convenience of the few. 

I am disappointed that the concerns raised by the study committee appear not to have been fully heard or addressed. Rural Vermonters are not resistant to change; they are resistant to being asked to bear irreversible harm without credible evidence of benefit. 

Our shared obligation is not merely to act boldly, but to act wisely—and with respect for the communities that have long sustained this state. 

Respectfully, 

Eric C. Pomeroy, Peacham

Low-Key Mindfulness Exercises

            “Starting classroom lessons or individual counseling sessions with a brief mindfulness practice helps students reset and prepare for learning,” say Michaela Avila and Danielle Maida in this article in ASCA School Counselor. “At its core, mindfulness helps students strengthen attention and self-regulation – the very skills that drive success inside and outside the classroom.”

            Here’s how a teacher might introduce mindfulness as a voluntary beginning-of-class exercise with students – or for themselves before launching into another school day:

• Notice your feet grounded on the floor, your hands resting.
• Your body and mind settling gently into the here and now.
• Inhale slowly, exhale fully.
• Repeat for five breaths. 

Cognitive scientists have shown that this simple process has a remarkable effect on focus and learning – as described in this widely viewed 60 Minutes segment with Anderson Cooper.

            The language used to describe mindfulness is important, say Avila and Maida. Avoid terms like yoga, meditation, breathing Buddhas, and namaste, and mention that many professional athletes, actors, and musicians use mindfulness as they prepare for performances. 

 “Mindfulness Mondays and Beyond” by Michaela Avila and Danielle Maida in ASCA School Counselor, November-December 2025 (Vol. 63, #2, pp. 34-37); the authors can be reached at michaelanavila@gmail.com and dmaida20@forsyth.k12.ga.us.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1118 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.

Inferencing - a Vital Skill for Beginning Readers

            “While foundational decoding skills such as phonological awareness and fluency are essential,” says Jen O’Sullivan (Marino Institute of Education, Ireland) in The Reading Teacher, “reading comprehension depends equally on children’s ability to construct meaning beyond the words on the page… Skilled reading is not simply a matter of recognizing words on the page; it requires the ability to understand, interpret, and engage with meaning… One key component of this meaning-making process lies in the ability to make inferences.”

            What does that involve? Making inferences is the ability to combine textual information with background knowledge, says O’Sullivan, allowing the reader to go beyond what’s explicitly stated and draw conclusions, make predictions, and understand implications. “This cognitive process is crucial to reading comprehension,” she says, “and requires children to integrate what they read with what they already know and, just as importantly, to pay close attention to clues within the text itself.”        

            Inferencing is a process rather than a single skill, and is not something that can be taught in a lesson and checked off. It needs to be taught over time, starting with non-reading activities like:

• A “mystery bag” with students guessing the occupation of someone with a lunchbox, crayon, and library card (a student) or an adult with a stethoscope, notebook, and ID badge (a doctor);
• Looking at the Norman Rockwell painting Going and Coming and answering questions about what’s going on, where people are going, and the time of year;
• Using wordless picture books like The Snowman (Raymond Briggs) and Journey (Aaron Becker) to answer questions about why a character did something and how they are feeling;
• Using oral language games and role play like “What’s my emotion?” and using puppets to act out everyday situations and pose questions about what might happen next. 

All this culminates with reading aloud from high-quality texts with emotional depth and implied meaning and using the BUILD framework to help children connect the content to what they know, laying the foundation for skilled comprehension:

• Build background knowledge. Introduce content-rich topics across the curriculum, exposing children to a variety of concepts, experiences, and worldviews. 
• Unpack vocabulary and context. Identify and pre-teach essential words and concepts. 
• Infer meaning through modeling. Pause to ask questions like What do you think is happening here? and Why might the character be acting this way?
• Link texts to real-life experiences. Connect stories to familiar routines, emotions, or experiences children have had.
• Deepen understanding through extension activities. Reinforce inferencing skills through discussion, writing, and creative projects.

How can inferencing skills be assessed? The best way, says O’Sullivan, is through formative observations as children talk, play, and share reading, watching to see if they are:

• Using background knowledge to fill in information that’s not directly stated;
• Identifying clues in visual or written texts that support an idea;
• Linking their insights or responses to those clues from the reading;
• Connecting story events to their own experiences or to world knowledge;
• Inferring a character’s feelings, motives, or intentions from actions, words, or illustrations.

“When we nurture both word recognition and language comprehension from the earliest years,” O’Sullivan concludes, “we give children more than the ability to read words on a page. We open the door to understanding, curiosity, and lifelong enjoyment of reading.” 

“From Decoding to Understanding: Building Background Knowledge and Inferencing Skills in Early Readers” by Jen O’Sullivan in The Reading Teacher, January/February 2026 (Vol 79, #4, pp. 1-21); O’Sullivan can be reached at jennifer.osullivan@mie.ie.

Please Note: This summary is reprinted with permission from issue #1118 of The Marshall Memo, an excellent resource for educators.