Teaching is a complicated job. Too often, public narratives, policy, and media underestimate—or misrepresent—the skills it takes and the demands it places on teachers. Education Week’s ambitious project seeks to portray the reality of teaching and to guide smarter policies and practices for the workforce of more than 3 million educators: The State of Teaching. The annual project is built on exclusive, nationally representative data and vivid on-the-ground reporting.
Hands-on STEM programming developed by the global, youth-serving nonprofit, FIRST, is proven to improve test scores, build self-confidence, and prepare student participants for real-world success.
English teacher Casey Cuny reads in his classroom as a screen displays guidelines for using artificial intelligence at Valencia High School in Santa Clarita, Calif., on Aug. 27, 2025. A new report raises serious concerns about the potentially negative effects of AI use on students.
North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler speaks at a press conference on May 8, 2015, at the state capitol in Bismarck, N.D. Baesler will serve as assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education after her Tuesday confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
Kanette Yatsattie, 8, left, and classmate Jeremy Candelaria, 10, hang out by a board depicting the race to for best attendance at the school on Oct. 1, 2024, at Algodones Elementary School in Algodones, N.M. New Mexico passed a law in 2019 that shifts schools from punishing truancy to preventing chronic absenteeism, only referring truancy cases to the courts in extreme cases. California is the latest state to change its truancy law, undoing potential criminal penalties like fines or jail time for parents.
Ryker Elam works with itinerant teacher April Wilson at Greenville Elementary on Sept. 29, 2025, in Greenville, Ill. Wilson is a teacher of the visually impaired who works at schools across rural Illinois. A Braille training program Wilson enrolled in this fall was among dozens of special education-related programs for which the U.S. Department of Education has ended grant funding.
The Ten Commandments were seen on display at Jackson County High School in Kentucky in 2000. The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, in New Orleans, will review a Louisiana law that requires the display of the commandments in public school classrooms.
Students at R. Brown McAllister Elementary School use different strategies in phonemic awareness during literacy instruction on March 19, 2025, in Concorn, N.C. Teaching spelling in foundational-skills lessons can improve students' reading, research shows.
All content on Education Week's websites is protected by copyright. No part of this publication shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Readers may make up to 5 print copies of this publication at no cost for personal, non-commercial use, provided that each includes a full citation of the source. For additional print copies, or for permission for other uses of the content, visit www.edweek.org/help/reprints-photocopies-and-licensing-of-content or email reprints@educationweek.org and include information on how you would like to use the content. Want to seamlessly share more EdWeek content with your colleagues? Contact us today at pages.edweek.org/ew-for-districts-learn-more.html to learn about how group online subscriptions can complement professional learning in your district or organization.