Does Team-Based Teaching Improve Student Learning? Early Evidence from Arizona
The traditional American classroom has looked the same for a century: one teacher, one room, one roster. Critics have long argued that this model leaves teachers isolated, overburdened, and with limited opportunities for specialization, collaboration, or career growth. In response, school systems across the country are experimenting with new ways to organize teachers via strategic […]
Webinar Plus Q&A: Why Motivated District Leaders Pursue Incremental Change
CRPE’s recent report, The Transformation Gap: Why Motivated District Leaders Pursue Incremental Change, sparked rich conversation during our webinar and panel discussion on August 5, 2026. The audience Q&A was robust, and we didn’t get to all of the great questions. We wanted to share the webinar recording for anyone who could not attend, as […]
Small Changes, Big Relief: How States Can Support School Districts While They Work Towards Strategic Leadership
State education agencies (SEAs) are being asked to do something they have rarely been asked to do before: lead. As the federal government’s influence over education recedes, leaving confusion in its wake, calls for guidance, clarity, and strategic direction are shifting to states. And they are shifting fast, to agencies that are often understaffed, under-resourced, […]
Webinar: CRPE’s AI Early Adopter Research, 2026
As AI adoption accelerates across K–12 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 what’s actually happening on the ground, where […]
Two Connected Paths for School Districts to Thrive in an Era of Enrollment Decline and Heightened Competition
America’s school districts are serving a shrinking share of a shrinking market. The K–12 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, “We treat your cancer like it’s YOUR cancer.” 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 month’s cuts to the Office for Special Education Programs, which all but eliminated the agency charged with enforcing schools’ civil rights obligations, fly in the face of decades […]
The “Big Blur”: 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 they’re 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. Let’s 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 (“AI will magically give teachers back hours in their day!”) or destroy it completely (“Students only use AI to cheat!” “AI will replace teachers!”). These […]