Community Engagement

LEANDER, TEXAS - DECEMBER 18: Students in a welding class work on skills and building a cattle trailer at Glenn High School, Dec. 18, 2025. Leander is one school district that measures success through a community-based accountability system, which includes students achievement in industry based education as well as other, more common metrics like STAAR test scores.
Students in a welding class at Glenn High School in Leander, Texas, work on building a cattle trailer on Dec. 18, 2025. Advocates say it's important to ensure career and technical education programs are accessible to students from diverse backgrounds.
Sara Diggins/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images
College & Workforce Readiness These Students Are Often Left Out of CTE Programs. Here’s How to Fix It
An expert warns that English learners are often shut out of career pathways.
Jennifer Vilcarino, November 6, 2026
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3 min read
Superintendent Mike Ginestre works in his office. Beyond bus routes, he says he built his own AI tool to sort the evidence he gathers during teacher observations.
Superintendent Mike Ginestre works in his office in the Sweet Home central school system on Oct. 28, 2026, in Amherst, NY. The superintendent is encouraging his district to experiment with AI tools to streamline administrative functions.
Grace Jiang/Education Week
Artificial Intelligence Q&A Can AI Take on the Grunt Work So Educators Can Focus on Student Learning?
A New York superintendent says the tech will help his district cut through red tape in transportation and other areas.
Grace Jiang, November 3, 2026
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5 min read
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Jennifer Circello (right), a teacher at Lakota West High School, and Andrew Wheatley, the Lakota district's director of career pathways and strategic partnerships, talk with a group of students during a Hacking Club meeting on Oct. 12, 2026, in West Chester Township, Ohio. The district built its cybersecurity program through industry partnerships.
Amanda Rossmann for Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness 'Real Industry, Real Adults': 4 Ways to Build Career Partnerships for Students
Lessons from a school district that has forged strong ties with businesses that are battling online hackers.
Jennifer Vilcarino, October 30, 2026
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3 min read
Amanda Rossmann for Education Week
Elsy Prempeh, an employee of Fifth Third Bank, looks over a computer program while mentoring students at Lakota West High School in West Chester Township, Ohio, during Jennifer Circello’s class on Oct. 13, 2026. The district's Cyber Academy leans on industry partners to provide relevant experience for students interested in careers in cybersecurity.
Amanda Rossmann for Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness How One District Is Preparing Students for Careers Battling Online Hackers
This cybersecurity program offers students real-world experience and professional mentorship.
Jennifer Vilcarino, October 30, 2026
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9 min read
Soddy-Daisy
Kids gather in a circle to learn how to play marbles during the after school programming in the community library in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn. on Oct. 1, 2026. The library is going beyond traditional academic enrichment to connect with a school district's literacy curriculum.
Kevin Wurm for Education Week
Reading & Literacy How One Library Is Linking Storytime to Classroom Lessons
In one county, some after-school programs use the schools' curriculum. It could boost kids' reading, experts say.
Sarah Schwartz, October 23, 2026
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6 min read
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Natalie Behring for Education Week
School & District Management Opinion When Your District Goes Through Big Changes, Relationships Are Critical
A neighboring school closed. His district embraced a reorganization. It was a lesson in leadership.
Justin Fryer, September 8, 2026
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4 min read
Collage-style illustration with a photo looking down a road surrounded by fields on either side, with squares of other images on top. The squares show two signs: one that reads "Lisbon" and another that reads "Fort Ransom." Pieces of these signs are coming together in the squares and stacking on top of each other in the center of the frame. Some squares off to the edges are blank.
Illustration by Emily Wright for Education Week + Photos by Natalie Behring for Education Week.
School & District Management Two Districts Pave a Road Toward a Shared Future and Survival
A rural school district was facing the urgent threat of dissolution. Its leaders found another way.
Elizabeth Rich, September 8, 2026
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2 min read
BigIdeas0926 Bushweller
Illustration by Emily Wright for Education Week + Getty
School & District Management Reported Essay It's Not About Being Nice. Fearless Leadership Requires Curiosity and Candor
Just ask the leader mediating an ugly school mascot fight or restructuring a once-segregated school.
Kevin Bushweller, September 8, 2026
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14 min read
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Natalie Behring for Education Week
School & District Management Opinion ‘Our School Leaves Town Every Day’: A Story of Rural Resilience and Survival
For more than a year, this town’s only school has stood empty. The spirit of community endures.
Steven L. Johnson, September 8, 2026
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7 min read
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School & District Management Opinion The Question That Guided This School District Through an Impossible Decision
Declining enrollment reshaped her district. This school board member has lessons for other leaders.
Chelsey Jones, September 8, 2026
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5 min read
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School & District Management Opinion For This School Board President, Leadership Starts With Humility
Amid a big transition, active communication helped this leader hold the community together.
Mark Qual, September 8, 2026
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4 min read
Cassatt mural on February 2026.
The reimagined “Modern Woman” mural, inspired by artist Mary Cassatt, is seen in February 2026 at Aveson’s temporary campus in Pasadena, Calif. Created by students displaced by the Eaton fire, the mural incorporates imagery from their former Altadena campus and serves as a symbol of healing, memory, and community after the wildfire.
Studio Tutto
Families & the Community Their School Burned Down. Then They Picked Up Their Paintbrushes
A group of 15 students in California used art to celebrate and grieve the school they lost to fire.
Olina Banerji, April 20, 2026
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4 min read
A sanitation worker picks up trash next to a mural of César Chavez in Bakersfield, Calif., Thursday, March 19, 2026.
A sanitation worker picks up trash next to a mural of César Chavez in Bakersfield, Calif., on March 19, 2026. Schools around the country are weighing how to respond to new allegations about the labor leader.
Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP
Families & the Community Schools Named for César Chavez Face Renaming Debates After Assault Allegations
Dozens of schools named for the labor leader are weighing how to respond to new allegations.
Evie Blad, March 19, 2026
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6 min read
Heather Nicholson, a Moonshot teacher, talks with Shyanne Schaefer, a student in the program during an art lesson at California New Area Elementary School in Coal Center, Pa., on May 16, 2024.
California Area Elementary School teacher Heather Nicholson talks with student Shyanne Schaefer during an art lesson as part of a competency-based learning program in Coal Center, Pa., on May 16, 2024. The district designed the program, which eschews conventions like traditional lesson plans, letter grades, and age-specific classrooms, with a grant from Remake Learning, an organization that encourages schools and community organizations to innovate and design new learning opportunities. A new national commission will explore how to encourage such "learning ecosystems" in other communities.
Jaclyn Borowski/Education Week
Families & the Community A New National Effort Aims to Spread Learning Beyond School Walls
A new commission will explore strategies for schools to collaborate with their communities.
Evie Blad, March 5, 2026
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4 min read