This Week with EdSurge

Pandemic relief money paid for a big expansion of tutoring in schools, but now most of that money is gone. Districts could cancel programs, but University of Maryland researcher David Blazar warns of bigger risks: larger groups, fewer sessions, and tutoring that stops helping kids as much. Then Catapult Learning’s Devon Wible explains how some districts have made tutoring a regular part of the school day. Ira Apfel talks with both guests about how districts decide what stays when money, time and tutors all run short. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN Why tutoring may not be canceled but could quietly weaken as districts cut costs The three features David says to look for in a quality program: dosage, who delivers the tutoring, and group size Why David believes intensity — how many days and hours per week — is probably the most important feature, and what his national scan found about how much tutoring schools provide How Maryland districts are finding tutors and finding time What Devon says the districts that kept tutoring going do differently How a third grader’s day works when tutoring is built into the schedule STORIES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Can High-Impact Tutoring Survive Post-Pandemic Funding Loss? by Cameron Goodnight STAY CONNECTED Subscribe to EdSurge newsletters at www.edsurge.com/newsletters. Find the latest education news at edsurge.com/news. Follow EdSurge on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. HOST AND CONTRIBUTORS Host: Ira Apfel, Editorial Director, EdSurge Featuring: David Blazar, Associate Professor of Education Policy, University of Maryland College of Education Devon Wible, Vice President of Teaching and Learning, Catapult Learning

AI tools can generate a lesson in seconds, but educators still lack a shared way to check whether that lesson is evidence-based and aligned to state standards. Learning Commons, a nonprofit backed by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, launched an open platform to address this gap. Ira Apfel sits down with Learning Commons President Sandra Liu Huang about how the platform works and who gets to build the underlying AI infrastructure in K-12 schools. Disclosure: Learning Commons is a financial supporter of EdSurge. This episode was produced independently by EdSurge and Learning Commons had no editorial role or influence over its recording, production or editing. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN How Learning Commons uses a knowledge graph to map state standards and learning progressions – showing how early concepts (like fractions) connect to advanced subjects (like Algebra) years later. Why AI outputs need custom evaluators to score pedagogical quality and standards alignment, replacing static testing with real-time quality control. How an Illinois district used the platform to build its own math assessment tool – and what it took to tackle privacy and scaling challenges. Critical questions district leaders should ask AI vendors, including where standards data originates, how it stays current and whether the model treats standards as a source of truth. STORIES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Learning Commons Launches Open Platform for K-12 Edtech by Ira Apfel STAY CONNECTED Subscribe to EdSurge newsletters at www.edsurge.com/newsletters. Find the latest education news at edsurge.com/news. Follow EdSurge on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. HOST AND CONTRIBUTORS Host: Ira Apfel, Editorial Director, EdSurge Featuring: Sandra Liu Huang, President, Learning Commons

A few weeks into the school year, the adrenaline wears off and many teachers hit a wall that has a name: the October Blues. Ira Apfel sits down with author Mike Anderson, who crashed hard as a rookie teacher and swim coach working more than 100 hours a week. Together they explore why the slump hits new teachers hardest, how teacher stress can spill over to students, and what one year-long experiment revealed about where teaching time really goes. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN The October Blues are a predictable slump that arrives approximately three or four weeks into the school year, and they hit new teachers hardest because many have never been told the crash is coming. A study of roughly 400 fourth and fifth graders in British Columbia found that teachers who reported higher workplace stress had students with higher cortisol levels, which suggests that stress can travel in both directions in a classroom. Mike uses six intrinsic motivators from his book, “Rekindle Your Professional Fire” (autonomy, competence, purpose, belonging, curiosity and fun) to help teachers find the need in deficit and pick one small step, such as drinking a tall glass of water before coffee or a short walk after the last student leaves. A group of teachers in Fairfax County, Virginia, had a far better second October even with harder classes, and Mike credits concrete classroom management strategies and a stronger sense of competence rather than rest alone. STORIES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE The “October Blues” Are Coming. Here’s How Teachers Can Beat Them. by Ira Apfel Books by Mike Anderson Rekindle Your Professional Fire: Powerful Habits for Becoming a More Well-Balanced Teacher Hugging Porcupines STAY CONNECTED Subscribe to EdSurge newsletters at www.edsurge.com/newsletters. Find the latest education news at edsurge.com/news. Follow EdSurge on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. HOST AND CONTRIBUTORS Host: Ira Apfel, Editorial Director, EdSurge Featuring: Mike Anderson, Educational Consultant, Former Classroom Teacher, and Author

From tutoring tools to grading platforms, edtech vendors are frequently adding AI features to new and existing instructional materials. Almost every company selling these products says the features are educationally effective, so EdReports went looking for the evidence behind those claims. EdReports CEO Dr. Lewis Ferebee and Chief Academic Officer Courtney Allison join Ira Apfel to unpack what their new brief found and what district leaders should ask before signing their next vendor contract. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN AI is blurring the lines between core curriculum, supplemental materials, and standalone grading or tutoring tools, which makes it harder for district buyers to know what they are actually purchasing. Only one of the 10 providers in the EdReports scan cited third party evidence on student outcomes for its AI tool, and only two named an independent evaluator for their AI feature. Courtney Allison, a former New York City middle school math teacher, explains what is at stake when AI content reaches students in real time without a teacher reviewing it first. Lewis Ferebee, the longest serving chancellor in DC Public Schools history, shares the questions he would ask vendors, including whether a teacher can override the AI and whether the evidence covers the version a district is actually buying. STORIES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Study: EdTech Is Rushing AI Integration Before Proving It Work by Ira Apfel STAY CONNECTED Subscribe to EdSurge newsletters at www.edsurge.com/newsletters. Find the latest education news at edsurge.com/news. Follow EdSurge on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. HOST AND CONTRIBUTORS Host: Ira Apfel, Editorial Director, EdSurge Featuring: Dr. Lewis D. Ferebee, CEO, EdReports Courtney Allison, Chief Academic Officer, EdReports

A new workforce survey finds that men now make up less than a quarter of public schoolteachers, and the ones who do stay often walk into assumptions before they even introduce themselves. Meanwhile, a flood of AI generated videos aimed at toddlers is teaching young kids things that are not true, sometimes in unsettling ways. This week, Ed Finkel and Adam Stone join Ira Apfel to look at two very different classrooms, one in a school building and one on a screen, where nobody stopped to check the story before deciding it was true. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN Men now make up about 23% of public school teachers, down from 30% in 1988, according to a survey of 145 male teachers commissioned by the Male Educator Network & Policy Institute. Only 25% of the men surveyed said they experienced recruiting efforts aimed specifically at men, but 72% of those who did found those efforts effective. A children’s YouTube channel called Bright Tunes posted nearly 5,500 AI generated videos in under a year, and some of that content shows scenes that do not match reality, such as a school bus catching fire in the middle of a video about colors. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a Stop, Wait and Go framework to help parents and teachers evaluate AI generated video content before showing it to young children. STORIES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE As Male Teachers Vanish From the Classroom, Schools Look for Ways to Bring Them Back by Ed Finkel AI Videos Are Warping Early Learning, Teachers Say. Here’s How They’re Responding by Adam Stone STAY CONNECTED Subscribe to EdSurge newsletters at www.edsurge.com/newsletters. Find the latest education news at edsurge.com/news. Follow EdSurge on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. HOST AND CONTRIBUTORS Host: Ira Apfel Featuring: Ed Finkel, writer covering education and public policy for EdSurge Adam Stone, education technology journalist