EdWeek's Must Read Articles

Pedestrians cross a nearly empty street in downtown Bentonville, Ark., on May 28, 2020. The superintendent there has found strategies to recruit and retain educators, including child care and affordable housing for staff.

Mason Wargo, 17, a student at Morrisville Middle/Senior High School, stands in the hallway in the school in Morrisville, Pa., on Nov. 13, 2025. Wargo was concerned about how a legislative impasse that resulted in a much-delayed state budget would affect his ability to graduate this year.

Sonya Rinehart, the principal of John A. Holmes High School in Edenton, N.C., stopped to briefly speak with former student Jataziun Welch, who is working with a local business in downtown Edenton on Sept. 5, 2025. School leaders have been viewed as community leaders, too. Here are five ways they can embrace the role.

A crossing guard assists students as they arrive for classes at Chalmers STEAM Elementary school on Jan. 22, 2026, in Chicago. Extreme cold hitting much of the United States in the coming days could test schools' aging infrastructure and force school closures. Chicago Public Schools called off classes for Friday, Jan. 23.

Chase Christensen, superintendent of Sheridan County School District #3, presents a panel at the National Conference of Education in Nashville, on Feb. 12, 2026.

Adaora Umeh and daughter Weluchu Umeh, a sophomore, learn about a digitized cadaver used by dental students Makaylen Martinez, center left, and Katie Pham, right, during an open house at a Garland ISD career and technical education center on Feb. 9, 2026, in Garland, Texas. Districts around the country are partnering with colleges and local employers to offer students more learning opportunities connected to future careers.

Strong career and technical education programs offer students experiences to tackle and solve real world problems, experts say. Students participate in disaster simulations at Van Buren Tech in Lawrence, Mich., on May 13, 2025.

The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Minneapolis Public Schools for discrimination in its efforts to shield teachers of color from layoffs and reassignments.

Waymo self-driving taxis sit parked at a Waymo facility on Dec. 8, 2025, in San Francisco. Federal agencies are investigating after Austin, Texas, schools documented incidents in which the cars illegally passed stopped school buses. In a separate incident, a robotaxi struck a student at low speed as she ran across the street in front of her Santa Monica, Calif., elementary school.

Protestors gather after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, on Jan. 7, 2026. The incident later prompted the Minneapolis school district to cancel classes amid broader federal immigration operations.