Caitlynn Peetz Stephens is a reporter for Education Week who covers special education and school district management. Prior to working at Education Week, she covered local education in Maryland and South Dakota.
Preschool teacher Melissa Mowbray works with artificial intelligence on her laptop at Academic Magnet High School during the Charleston County School District's Charleston Educator Symposium on July 22, 2026 in North Charleston, S.C. Some school districts are employing AI to help craft special education students' individualized education programs, but experts warn that doing so could run afoul of student privacy laws without the proper guardrails.
Board members speak during a school board meeting on Aug. 18, 2025, at Fayette County Public Schools Central Office in Lexington, Ky. About 44% of school board members across the country have never worked in K-12 education before, according to a new EdWeek Research Center survey.
Christian Kantosky/Lexington Herald-Leader via TNS
Students raise their hands in Lindsey Wuest's Science As Art class at A.D. Henderson School in Boca Raton, Fla., on April 16, 2024. Florida is one of 32 states that requires at least 180 days of instruction per school year. Instructional time requirements vary by state, ranging from 160 days in Colorado to 186 days in Kansas.
Plaintiffs Elaine Wilson and Lois Curtis, shown here on April 10, 1999, during their Supreme Court battle, were the two Georgia women whose lawsuit established the landmark <i>Olmstead</i> decision requiring community-based care for adults with disabilities. The U.S. Department of Justice in July issued new guidance that said it will no longer rely upon the <i>Olmstead</i> decision in its enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Citlali Márquez-Hamil dances during a transitional kindergarten class at First Street Elementary School in Los Angeles, on April 22, 2026. During a recent Education Week webinar, experts discussed California's shift to play-based screeners, including how they work, the risk of student misidentification, and implementation oversight.
The Los Angeles Unified School District school board meets on April 21, 2026, to discuss whether to develop a policy to limit students' screen time. A new EdWeek Research Center survey shows that many school board members nationwide are retired and have never worked in K-12 education.
Students prepare waffle mix in Gabrielle Carpenter's special education classroom on Oct. 2, 2026, at Daniel Webster School 46 in Indianapolis. Carpenter uses the biweekly cooking lessons to teach the students independence, along with skills like counting and measuring.
Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles and Principal Erica Brame-Manuel tour Cullen Middle School in Houston on Oct. 8, 2024. New research shows that repeated superintendent transitions often trigger ripple effects on district performance and student achievement.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
Mustard unveils its new consumer line of AI smart glasses with built-in privacy guards during 2025 CES Unveiled, on Jan. 5, 2025, in Las Vegas. Some schools are banning smart glasses as they crack down on students' digital technology use.
Sari Beth Rosenberg, a U.S. history teacher at M400 High School for Environmental Studies in Manhattan, carries the 9/11 lesson plan for her 11th grade class, in New York City on Sept. 9, 2026. "I'm trying to use 9/11 as a way to help them understand how historians do their work," she said.
Lois Curtis, left, addresses a group at the Connecticut state Capitol in 2009 to mark the 10th anniversary of <i>Olmstead</i> v. <i>L.C.</i>, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling stemming from a lawsuit in which she was a lead plaintiff that established qualified patients' right to community-based care over institutionalization. In June, the U.S. Department of Justice stated it “will not rely upon the <i>Olmstead</i> Guidance in its enforcement” of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a move that advocates fear could upend transition planning for K-12 students who have disabilities.
Jessica DiMaggio, an education for students with disabilities paraprofessional, watches a Structured Academics and Interpersonal Learning or SAIL student put the tips of his index fingers together at Watkins Elementary on Nov. 4, 2025 , in Wylie, Texas. Most teachers don't feel confident in their ability to adapt instruction to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of students with learning disabilities, according to a new survey by the National Center for Learning Disabilities and West Ed.
An activity table inside the Pocono Services for Families and Children's new sensory bus on Aug. 20, 2026, in East Stroudsburg, Pa. The bus is set to hit the road this spring to help teach young students how to regulate their emotions through play.
A paraprofessional assists a student in a special education program in filling out a ballot during an Election Day lesson at Watkins Elementary on Nov. 4, 2025, in Wylie, Texas. Determining the supports students with disabilities need to succeed in school starts with deciding whether they will be best served by an individualized education program or a 504 plan.
A student participates in a reading and writing lesson at the Head Start program at Easterseals South Florida, an organization gets about a third of its funding from the federal government in Miami on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. As it seeks to scale back regulations governing Head Start, the Trump administration has stalled competitions for programs awaiting renewed funding.