Our Blog
At the end of each year, our team gathers to reflect on what the data, our grantees, and our partners are telling us about where education is headed. Once again, we used these insights to craft our predictions for 2026, as well as review the accuracy of our predictions from 2025.
The average 8th-grade NAEP science score decreased four points since 2019. These results are a warning, but they can also be a turning point. Emma Banay, Christine Cunningham, and James Ryan call for investment in K-12 inquiry-based science learning that is active, relevant, and engaging, both in and out of school.
Teachers’ time is one of the most valuable resources in education. Yet too often, much of it is dedicated to non-student-facing work. Jessica Fredston-Hermann shares three practices school and district leaders can use to help teachers reclaim time to foster deeper student engagement and improve outcomes.
As districts embrace the science of reading to improve literacy outcomes, there’s a real risk of squeezing out something just as vital to early learning: play. Meghan McCormick and Carly Roberts make the case that play doesn’t compete with explicit reading instruction. Instead, it helps build the very skills kids need to become strong readers in the first place.
Tutoring works—but only if school and district leaders focus on improving implementation. Pete Lavorini and Meghan McCormick analyze the latest tutoring research and list five key questions schools and districts should consider to ensure these programs deliver on their promise.
As states and districts work to combat chronic absenteeism in K-12, out-of-school-time providers are essential partners in boosting student engagement and attendance. Emma Banay, Hedy Chang, and Jodi Grant underscore the proven impact of high-quality programs on reducing school-day absences and urge decision-makers to prioritize them as more than an “expendable extra.”
Overdeck Family Foundation and the Ad Council Research Institute surveyed 5,000+ K-12 parents to identify messaging that would help them commit to sending their children to school on a consistent basis. Informed by this research, Lina Eroh and Derrick Feldmann list three key recommendations for educators to consider as we head into 2025.
We’re continuing a tradition—sharing our predictions to kick off the new year. Our leadership team reflected on what we’ve seen across the education and philanthropic landscape and what we’ve learned from our peer funders and grantee partners to assess the accuracy of our predictions for 2024 and list 10 predictions for 2025.
With the expiration of ESSER funds, out-of-school programs—key beneficiaries of federal stimulus dollars—may be at risk of disinvestment in schools nationwide. Emma Banay points to the irreplaceable role high-quality out-of-school-time programs play in children's holistic development, calling for school, district, and state leaders to prioritize these programs as more than a nice-to-have.
Play is a critical component of healthy cognitive and social-emotional development. However, young children’s opportunities for play are declining. Carly Roberts and Katelyn Fletcher outline the benefits of incorporating a research-based Playful Learning approach into the school day.