CHEERS
Sarah Sparks explains why early reading intervention matters more than remediation. Rather than asking only what type of tutoring works, some districts are now rethinking when it works best—and researchers say the answer is well before third grade, during the critical window of early literacy development. —Education Week
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Jessica Grose offers a cautiously optimistic take on teens and tech. Many Gen Z and Alpha kids aren’t as screen-obsessed as adults assume. Teens share why they are frustrated by teacher AI use, skeptical about surveillance software, and increasingly drawn to more analog lives. —The New York Times
JEERS
A San Diego principal apparently let a social media influencer into her high school during student drop-off after he ran from federal immigration agents, bypassing safety procedures and putting students at risk. —Dave Summers, NBC San Diego
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“Texas has excluded about two dozen Islamic schools from its new $1 billion voucher program for allegedly being linked to terrorist groups, a decision that has led to a lawsuit and claims of discrimination from the Muslim community,” writes Lauren Lumpkin, who notes that a similar effort is underway in Florida. —The Washington Post
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Naaz Modan reports on new NWEA data showing that pandemic learning loss extends even to children who were infants and toddlers during the disruption. The NWEA press release talks about system-level challenges, but especially given the pre-Covid declines in NWEA’s kindergarten scores, it seems highly likely that the rise in screen use for both young children and their parents plays a big role. —K–12 Dive
Editor's note: This was first published on Mike Petrilli's Substack, SCHOOLED, a twice-weekly free Substack and email newsletter restarting the education-reform conversation.
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Sharp analysis of the week’s biggest K–12 debates
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