Featured Articles
Best Practices for AI Upskilling: Four Culture Building Strategies
As AI continues to grow in acceptance and use in the workplace the need for AI upskilling has become essential for employers who want to leverage the power of these new and exciting tools. Ho...
Marc Booker, Ph.D.
The Age of AI Is Really the Age of the Learner
“There will be a shift in demand toward higher cognitive skills. Our research also finds a shift from activities that require only basic cognitive skills to those that use higher cognitive s...
Betsy Hill and Roger Stark
Three steps to a robust zero-trust architecture for K-12 schools this academic year
As the buzz around back-to-school season subsides and teachers and students fall into the rhythm of a new academic year, it’s time for K-12 administrators and district leaders to turn their a...
Charlie Sander
Courage as a Leadership Imperative in Public Education
Public education is operating in a moment of sustained volatility. A variety of political and ideological factors have fundamentally altered the leadership landscape for school systems. In th...
Dr. Luvelle Brown, Ed.D.
The New Education Imperative: The 9 Human Intelligences Revised for the Age of AI
Education is operating on an obsolete definition of intelligence -- definitions that may also be silently creating great inequity. This will just not do in the Age of AI.
LeiLani Cauthen and LC Staff
6 Key Factors for K-12 Leaders to Evaluate Classroom Tech in 2026
As we're heading into 2026, K-12 administrators have a tough job ahead: figuring out which classroom tech actually helps kids learn versus what just looks shiny and impressive. I'...
Lia Sanderson
Why Your District or Traditional School Will Have Fewer Students Next Year
An Explanation of the Gravitational Pull Toward Decentralized Education - Odds are below 35% that schools and districts retain their current form by 2040
LeiLani Cauthen
2026 Trends & Predictions in Multilingual Literacy: Part One — From Biliteracy to Workforce Readiness
For decades, schools across the United States have worked hard to support multilingual learners, often relying on the same structures, goals, and definitions of success. Despite good intentio...
José Viana, Ed.D.
Preparing Kids for The Future of Work: Where Traditional Education Falls Short in an Increasingly Digital World
Traditional education models rely on providing rigid pathways for students to follow. They learn a particular way of solving problems and focus on achieving a specific outcome, rather than fo...
Ed Kim
Why “Free Communication Tools” Are Deepening Inequities and Creating a Two-Class System Inside Districts
For years, K–12 districts have relied on “free apps” to communicate with families—texting platforms, group-messaging apps, email blasts, social media groups, classroom apps with limited feature...
Chakrapani Appalabattula
Behind the Numbers Are Students Who Haven’t Given Up
The key to improving graduation rates is simple but radical: meet learners where they are, treat them as people, and rebuild trust one relationship at a time.
Dr. Abby Andres
The STEM Shortage Never Was: 50% of Grads are Underemployed
Current Stats 50%+ of American STEM grads are underemployed or outside their field. 8% of recent STEM grads remain completely unemployed. Physics: 7.8% unemployment; Computer Engineerin...
LeiLani Cauthen
Digital & Virtual Resources to Bring America’s 250th Anniversary to Life in Your Classroom
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, as educators we have a unique opportunity to help our students explore the nation’s founding, growth, challenges, and future in meaningf...
LeAnn Simmerman
The Transformation of Education: From Factory-Mode Learning to Time-Orchestrated, Pace-Based Intelligence
For many educators, artificial intelligence is still understood primarily as a tool —something that assists lesson planning, generates assessments, or personalizes practice activities. While t...
LeiLani Cauthen
STEM is over and Why Schools Missed the Warning Signs
For years, the mantra was clear: “Study STEM and you’ll never struggle for work.” Policymakers, educators, and parents pushed science, technology, engineering, and math as the golden ticket t...
LeiLani Cauthen
How Schools Can Empower Parents as Partners in Learning
Families want to support their children’s learning, but busy schedules, unclear guidance, and fragmented communication with schools often get in the way. No matter how much parents want to he...
Torrey Maloof
K–12 Communications in 2026: Consolidation, Strategy, and Measurable Engagement
If 2020–2024 were the years districts accelerated communication, 2026 is shaping up to be the year districts refine it. Across the country, district leaders and communications professionals ...
Dr. Chad A. Stevens
Wave of School Closures Sweeps U.S. as Urban Exodus and Shift to Smaller Learning Environments Reshape Education Landscape
In a stark reflection of ongoing demographic and societal shifts, public school districts across the United States are announcing a record number of closures for the 2026-27 academic year and...
LC Staff
How Cell Phone Bans Will Change K-12 Family Engagement
When my son was in third grade, a group of friends dared him to stick his head in the toilet in the school bathroom. He did it. I heard about it before he got home. Not because he texted me. ...
Dr. Kara Stern
Schools Are Losing the AI Plot: Why Consumer Tool Chaos Undercuts Security, Equity, and Transformation
Little Rock, AR — As districts tiptoe into AI by “letting teachers experiment” with consumer tools like ChatGPT or Gemini, they risk locking themselves into fragmented pilots that never sca...
LeiLani Cauthen
Featured Papers
The Learning Counsel presents journals, papers and briefs on critical topics in Digital Education.
Most will require registration in order to access them, but they are all free.
Addressing Crises in School Absenteeism, Staffing and Privacy: Using a human touch tech solution
Three Near-Term Innovation Areas for K12
An Essential Audio Ingredient in Today’s Accessible Learning Environments
The Gaps Remaining for District Digital Transition
5 Steps to Fixing the Hidden Traffic of Records Management Overwhelming Schools
From Chaos to Learning Recovery: Going from Manual-Digital All the Way to Efficiency
