This Week with EdSurge

Two educators are reckoning with who is really in charge: technology or the teacher. First, a teacher notices her students are quietly forming their professional knowledge on TikTok and decides to lean in rather than fight it. Then a high school engineering teacher builds an AI grading tool so efficient that it sent feedback to students without him ever reading it, and confronts what that actually means for his role in the classroom. Together, they raise urgent questions about judgment, accountability, and what teaching is really for.What You'll LearnPre-service teachers are forming their professional knowledge partly through TikTok and social media reels, including content from former teachers who left the profession, raising questions about how teacher prep programs should respond.Evi Wusk argues that the information gleaned from social media is already shaping how future teachers think, so the more productive move is to help them engage with it critically rather than dismiss or ignore it.Steven Swanson built a fully automated AI grading tool that sent feedback directly to students without his review, and after a student thanked him for words he never wrote, he rebuilt the tool to put himself back in the loop.Swanson describes specific assignment types where AI grading adds value versus where it falls short, including the risk of missing opportunities to learn who students actually are as people.Stories Mentioned in This EpisodeWhat TikTok Is Teaching Future Teachers That We Aren't by Evi WuskI Built an AI Grading Tool. Then a Student Thanked Me for Words I Didn't Write. by Steven SwansonUpcoming EventISTE+ASCD Live '26 in Orlando, FloridaStay ConnectedSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters at edsurge.comLatest education news at edsurge.com/newsFollow EdSurge on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTubeHost & ContributorsHost: Ira Apfel, Editorial Director, EdSurgeGuests:Evi Wusk, Ed.D., teacher educator and author of What TikTok Is Teaching Future Teachers That We Aren'tSteven Swanson, high school engineering teacher and author of I Built an AI Grading Tool. Then a Student Thanked Me for Words I Didn't Write.

Schools are racing to write AI policies, but what if the policy is not the first step? This week, we hear from Aleta Margolis, founder and president of the Center for Inspired Teaching, who argues that real progress starts with a conversation, not a rule. Then EdSurge editor-in-chief Sarah McKibben brings it home with what AI actually looks like at her kitchen table, with two middle schoolers navigating it in real time.What You'll LearnA new RAND American Youth Panel survey found that only about one in three students say their school has a school-wide AI policy, and Aleta Margolis of the Center for Inspired Teaching explains why co-creating guidelines with students leads to better outcomes than top-down rule-making.A recent NPR and Ipsos poll found that 54 percent of teachers say AI is making it harder for students to learn critical thinking skills, and nearly three in four believe its impact on education will exceed that of the internet or computers.Sarah McKibben describes the mix of productive and concerning AI use she sees with her own children, including a student using an AI humanizer app to avoid plagiarism detection when submitting AI-written essays.Both guests converge on the idea of productive struggle: the concern is not AI itself but whether students are learning to think with it rather than bypassing the thinking entirely.Stories Mentioned in This EpisodeWhat to Do About AI: Begin by Talking About It by Aleta MargolisNPR / Ipsos Poll: Teachers on AI and Critical ThinkingRAND American Youth Panel: Select FindingsUpcoming EventISTE+ASCD Live '26 in Orlando, FloridaStay ConnectedSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters at edsurge.comLatest education news at edsurge.com/newsFollow EdSurge:LinkedInXFacebookTikTokInstagramYouTubeHost & ContributorsHosted by Ira Apfel, Editorial Director, EdSurgeFeaturingAleta Margolis, Founder and President, Center for Inspired TeachingSarah McKibben, Editor-in-Chief, EdSurgeStay informed, stay curious.

Schools have been quietly chipping away at recess for nearly a decade, and a sweeping new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics says it is time to stop. Meanwhile, the federal government has issued a formal advisory on screen time and children, raising urgent questions about how schools, parents, and tech companies should respond. This week, EdSurge reporters Lauren Coffey and Nadia Tamez-Robledo bring both stories together around a single urgent question: what does it look like when kids get less real-world experience and more pressure?What You'll LearnThe American Academy of Pediatrics updated its recess guidelines for the first time since 2013, expanding its recommendations to include middle and high school students.One Massachusetts high school cut chronic absenteeism from 35 percent to 23 percent in a single year after introducing movement breaks, suggesting that belonging and physical activity can drive school attendance in meaningful ways.The screen time advisory issued by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy calls for bell-to-bell phone bans, warning labels on apps, and the elimination of recommendation algorithms for children, but researchers caution that the evidence linking screen time to negative outcomes is correlation, not proven cause and effect.Experts warn that broad phone and screen restrictions could inadvertently affect students with IEPs and disabilities who rely on assistive devices, a tension the advisory acknowledges but does not fully resolve.Stories Mentioned in This EpisodeRecess Took a Break in Some Schools. A Push Is On to Bring It Back by Lauren CoffeySurgeon General Advisory Wants Kids to Live Beyond the Confines of Screens by Nadia Tamez-RobledoStay ConnectedSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters at edsurge.comLatest education news at edsurge.com/newsFollow EdSurge:LinkedInXFacebookTikTokInstagramHost & ContributorsHosted byIra Apfel, Editorial Director, EdSurgeFeaturingLauren Coffey, Reporter, EdSurgeNadia Tamez-Robledo, Reporter, EdSurgeStay informed, stay curious.

Three-quarters of school districts now have AI guidelines, up sharply from just a year ago, yet 82 percent of teachers say they have never received formal guidance on how to use AI in their work. EdSurge reporter Lauren Coffey breaks down the 2026 CoSN State of Ed Tech report and what it reveals about AI adoption, cybersecurity gaps, and edtech vetting inside K-12 districts. Then host Ira Apfel talks with Joseph South, chief innovation officer at ISTE+ASCD, about why teachers say they feel unprepared to bring AI into their classrooms and what it would take to change that.What You'll LearnWhy AI adoption in K-12 districts jumped from 54 percent in 2025 to 75 percent this year, and why most prefer local flexibility over state or federal mandates.Why cybersecurity remains many districts' top concern even as two-thirds lack the staff and budget to address it, and what the Canvas ransomware attack reveals about the real cost of that gap.What the Gallup and Walton Family Foundation data actually shows about the teacher guidance crisis: 82 percent of teachers have received no formal AI guidance, 34 percent have received no guidance at all, and 69 percent have received no guidance specifically on using AI for one-on-one instruction or tutoring.How districts in Long Beach, Gwinnett County, and Fairfax County are building transparency-first AI frameworks, and what the Lighthouse Schools model offers as a replicable path for districts that want to move without waiting for policy from above.Stories Mentioned in This EpisodeCoSN U.S. State of EdTech 2026 Report with coverage by Lauren CoffeyTeachers Say Lack of AI Guidance Is a Major Problem from Education Week featuring Joseph South, Chief Innovation Officer, ISTE+ASCDStay ConnectedSubscribe to EdSurge newsletters at edsurge.com/newslettersGet the latest education news at edsurge.com/newsFollow EdSurgeLinkedInXFacebookTikTokInstagramYouTubeHost and ContributorsHosted by Ira Apfel: Editorial Director, JournalismFeaturingLauren Coffey: Reporter, EdSurge (public policy, early childhood education, K-12 technology)Joseph South: Chief Innovation Officer, ISTE+ASCDStay informed, stay curious.

When the only school in Donora, Pennsylvania, closed a few years ago, it hit the town’s residents hard. Now the building may be the town’s best hope, as a community college considers setting up in the former school. A University of Pittsburgh professor spent three years documenting life in this fading town for an unusual podcast series that ran late last year. Education was a key theme. On this week's EdSurge Podcast, we talk to the professor about her takeaways for the role of education in the many forgotten small towns around the U.S.