Webinar: CRPE’s AI Early Adopter Research, 2026

As AI adoption accelerates across Kâ12 education, leaders are navigating a rapidly evolving and often fragmented landscape. This webinar, held on May 27, 2026, shares early insights from CRPE’s research on AI in school systems, state agencies, and the broader education ecosystem. It offers a synthesized view of whatâs actually happening on the ground, where […]
Two Connected Paths for School Districts to Thrive in an Era of Enrollment Decline and Heightened Competition

Americaâs school districts are serving a shrinking share of a shrinking market. The Kâ12 population is declining overall, families are leaving high-cost cities, homeschooling has expanded since the pandemic, private school enrollment has rebounded, and charter school enrollment continues to grow. Over the past six years, district schools have lost nearly two million students nationwide, […]
Precision Learning Has the Potential to Do What Personalized Learning Could Not

Driving past Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, I noticed a billboard that reads something like, âWe treat your cancer like itâs YOUR cancer.â The message is more than a slogan. It captures a growing conviction that generic approaches are no match for serious threats to human health. What distinguishes places like Fred Hutch […]
Special Education Identification: What We Learned from the Unlocking Potential Data Sprint

Fifty years ago, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) promised to bridge the gap between what students with disabilities need and what the public education system was designed to provide. Today, that bridge is at risk of collapse as ever-larger shares of students are identified with disabilities, only to languish without access to the […]
Special Education Is Broken. Our New Database Can Help Spark Way to Fix It

Advocates who have fought hard battles to preserve the right of children with disabilities to attend public schools have never faced a fight like this one. Last monthâs cuts to the Office for Special Education Programs, which all but eliminated the agency charged with enforcing schoolsâ civil rights obligations, fly in the face of decades […]
The âBig Blurâ: A Renewed Call to Merge High School, College, and Career

Imagine a world where every high school junior has walked a factory floor, sat in a boardroom, taken college courses, and earned credentials valued by employers before graduation. Even before theyâre legal adults, these students will have cracked open the door to a career by blurring the lines between school and work. While this might […]
The Debate over AI in Education Is Stuck. Letâs Move It Forward in Responsible Ways That Truly Serve Students

Artificial intelligence is already reshaping how we work, communicate, and create. In education, however, the conversation is stuck. Sensational headlines make it seem like AI will either save public education (âAI will magically give teachers back hours in their day!â) or destroy it completely (âStudents only use AI to cheat!â âAI will replace teachers!â). These […]
Smartphones and Absenteeism are Noisy Problems, but the Quiet Crisis in Math Is Instruction

Everyone needs foundational math skills. Numeracy predicts higher earnings, better health, and increased access to fast-growing jobs. Algebra is the gateway to advanced math and to many college and workforce programs. Yet America has a math problemâand it didnât start with Covid. After two decades of gains, national math performance peaked around 2013 and has […]
2026: A Year for Leadership

The start of a new year is always a moment for reflection, but 2026 leaves little room for pause. This is not a year for incrementalism or hoping someone else will lead. It is a year that demands decisive action. In education, responsibility for student success has shifted: the federal government has abandoned many of […]
Reckoning with Reality: The Case for a New Union Strategy in Kâ12

Public school districts are facing an existential threat. Demographic shifts and school choice policies are exacerbating declining enrollment. A diminishing role for the federal Department of Education alongside broad economic uncertainty could further erode state and local revenues. These trends threaten student outcomes and teacher jobs, as well as district solvency. When we talk about […]