Sarah Schwartz is a reporter for Education Week who covers curriculum and instruction. Before joining the staff, she was as an Education Week intern, covering education technology. She has also worked at a middle school in New York City.
Seventh graders follow along in their copies of <i>Among the Hidden</i> by Margaret Peterson Haddix in Bow, N.H., on Oct. 29, 2025. The district has invested in targeted supports for older readers who struggle with foundational reading skills.
Illinois Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth M. Rochford, in blue, talks to Lindblom Math and Science Academy student Marianna Haynes during an event at Chicago-Kent College of Law on March 13, 2026 in Chicago. Marianna and other students asked a panel of state judges how they decide cases—and put aside their personal feelings.
Students listen to their social studies teacher during a 7th grade civics class at a school in Boca Raton, Fla., on April 16, 2024. New proposed legislation would create a model national civics curriculum—something that has never successfully been tried.
A teacher teaches phonics to her intervention class for struggling students on Nov. 8, 2024 at an elementary school in Port Orange, Fla. Research points definitively to phonics as a key part of learning to read—but not how much phonics instruction, or for how long, students should ideally receive.
A second grader works on math problems at a school on May 20, 2025, in Denver. New research shows that children born during the pandemic who are now in 1st and 2nd grades, are showing slightly lower growth than other cohorts.
Trenchant quotes about democracy cover the walls of an empty conference room at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Feb. 7, 2026. New research finds many civics teachers, feeling local political pressure, have altered their lessons.
Alisson Ramírez, right, listens to her social studies teacher during class Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, in Aurora, Colo. Elementary social studies is the focus of a new tool meant to guide curriculum selection that leans more heavily on history content than on skills like weighing primary sources.
Students at a Chicago elementary school make their way to the cafeteria past logos showing the core subjects they study on March 8, 2024. The state of Illinois has launched an effort to offer school districts guidance on effective strategies in math.
Bow Memorial School in Bow, N.H., pictured here on Oct. 29, 2025, has developed a systematic approach to addressing foundational reading gaps in middle school students. Teachers who work with older readers say they often have a hard time finding texts that support these students' needs at grade level without feeling babyish or patronizing.
Teachers from across the country convened at National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Feb. 7, 2026, to create lessons for America's 250th anniversary this summer. In the distance Independence Hall is visible.
The Texas State Capitol on the first day of the 87th Legislature's special session on July 8, 2021 in Austin. In 2025, Texas lawmakers mandated professional development for classroom teachers, math coaches, interventionists, and building leaders working with students in grades K-3.
Students look at books during a book fair at Schaumburg Elementary, part of the ReNEW charter network, in New Orleans, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana have seen a promising turnaround in their student reading scores after passing a series of similar literacy reforms.
Jaime Garcia, the dean of academics at LISA Academy North Middle-High School won a $25,000 award from the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, in part for the work he's done to build community and academic by having students help their classmates.
Cory Alexander, child nutrition director for Osborn School District, meets with the middle school culinary team, chef Theresa Mazza and Maddie Furey at the Garden Cafe in Phoenix, on Jan. 21, 2026.
Texas is poised to be the first state to require that every student read the same texts—including, controversially, selections from the Bible and several Christian parables. Books line shelves in a high school library on Oct. 1, 2018, in Brownsville, Texas.
An elementary school classroom in Effie, La., shows how one of the learning goals is to master the ability to compare numbers, on August 22, 2025. New research points out steps teachers can take to memorize facts—through a combination of practice, drills, and playing with numbers.
A child kneels in the snow among demonstrators holding signs during a news conference at Lake Hiawatha Park in Minneapolis on Jan. 9, 2026, demanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement be kept out of schools following the killing of Renee Good by federal agents.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, pictured on Capitol Hill on Dec. 9, 2025, has asked for details from colleges and universities about whether matriculants possess adequate math skills.
A 5th grader works on a problem during a math class at an elementary school in Effie, La., on Aug. 22, 2025. A position paper on teaching math published by the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics recently kicked off another round of conversations about what practices work best in the classroom—and what the ultimate goals of the subject even are.