Issues

October 1, 2026

Education Week, Vol. 46, Issue 3

Centerpiece

Oscar-winning actor and women's health activist Halle Berry joins Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., second from left, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, right, and other women of the Senate as they introduce new legislation to boost federal research on menopause, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 2, 2024. The bipartisan Senate bill, the Advancing Menopause Care and Mid-Life Women's Health Act, would create public health efforts to improve women's mid-life health. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Actress Halle Berry joins federal lawmakers who introduced new legislation to boost federal research on menopause, at the Capitol in Washington, on May 2, 2024. School officials and advocates are paying more attention to the financial cost the health condition brings to schools and individual teachers.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Leadership

Drones fly around a mannequin during a demonstration on how to neutralize a shooter in a school, at the headquarters of the startup "Campus Guardian Angel" on May 8, 2026, in Austin, Texas.
Drones fly around a mannequin during a demonstration on how to neutralize a shooter in a school, at the headquarters of Campus Guardian Angel, a school safety startup, on May 8, 2026, in Austin, Texas.
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty
Front view of a group of wooden cubes with icons representing persons. The main focus is on an angry person who has a cube over his head with a thought bubble full of insults
Education Week + iStock/Getty
House Education 26161628416540
San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Maria Su, right, testifies during a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing on parental rights and school content policies on June 10, 2026 in Washington. More superintendents are pointing to financial pressures and enrollment as top concerns.
Kevin Wolf/AP Photo
Signs reading "NO ICE ACCESS" taped to the front doors of Valley View Elementary School, on Feb. 3, 2026, in Columbia Heights, Minn.
Signs taped to the front doors of Valley View Elementary School declare that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents can't enter the building, on Feb. 3, 2026, in Columbia Heights, Minn. District leaders across the country are now regularly requesting emergency contact information from families in the wake of heightened immigration enforcement.
Liam James Doyle/AP

Politics & Policy

Collage of a school building, files, maps, and pinpoints on the map.
Collage by Laura Baker/Education Week + Canva
Chief Leschi Schools senior Gerald Dillon, 18, who spends time as a teaching assistant for a second grade class through the school's career and technical education program, look son Wednesday, March 18, 2026, at Chief Leschi Schools in Puyallup, Wash.
The Education Department just withdrew 60-year-old regulations holding school districts responsible for "disparate impact" of their policies across racial and ethnic student groups. It also rescinded similar regulations for career-technical education programs. A March 18, 2026 photo shows a senior who works part time through the career's CTE program at Chief Leschi Schools in Puyallup, Wash.
Lindsey Wasson/AP
Hudson, 7, left, Callahan, 13, middle, and Keegan Pruente, 10, right, stand outside their school on their first Monday home during the new four-day school week on Monday, Sept. 11, 2023, in Independence, Mo. Hundreds of school systems around the country have adopted four-day weeks in recent years, mostly in rural and western parts of the U.S. Districts cite cost savings and advantages for teacher recruitment. Still, some experts question the effects on students who already missed out on significant learning during the pandemic.
Three siblings stand outside their school on their first Monday home during a new four-day school week in Independence, Mo., on Sept. 11, 2023. Four-day school weeks have risen in popularity in recent years, though states have started to limit when school systems can switch to the abbreviated schedule.
Nick Ingram/AP
States States Start to Crack Down on 4-Day School Weeks
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4 min read

Teaching & Learning

Children look at the Star Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired the lyrics of the American national anthem, at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Washington.
Children look at the Star Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired the lyrics of the American national anthem, at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History on June 10, 2025, in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo
CapitalCity009
Katrina Fernandez, lower school principal at Capital City Public Charter School, helps organize these preschoolers as they practice along with high school seniors during a graduation rehearsal at Capital City Public Charter School in Washington, DC on June 11, 2026. The school's pre-K classes practice "looping," in which 3- and 4-year-olds share a classroom and stay with the same teacher for two years.
Marvin Joseph/Education Week
Early Childhood Why 'Looping' in Pre-K Helps Kids
Elizabeth Heubeck, July 20, 2026
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5 min read
Anthropic Chief Product Officer Mike Krieger during the unveiling of Claude 4 during the Code with Claude conference, on May 22, 2025 in San Francisco.
Anthropic Chief Product Officer Mike Krieger unveils Claude 4 during the Code with Claude conference on May 22, 2025, in San Francisco. The company recently launched Claude for Teachers, joining other tech companies that already have AI tools for teachers in the market.
Don Feria/AP Content Services for Anthropic

Opinion

Education Week opinion letters submissions
Gwen Keraval for Education Week
Education Week opinion letters submissions
Gwen Keraval for Education Week
Teaching Letter to the Editor The Myth of Differentiation
September 25, 2026
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1 min read
Education Week opinion letters submissions
Gwen Keraval for Education Week
Education Funding Letter to the Editor Expired Funds, Unreliability Harm Rural Schools
September 25, 2026
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1 min read
A collage showing the dome top of the U.S. Capitol building and the facade of a high school building. An image of a hand holding a magnifying glass over a stack of documents is emerging between the two buildings.
Illustration by Emily Wright for Education Week + Getty
Federal Opinion Why Local Control Over Education Won't Work Without Federal Support
Dan Goldhaber & Vivian Wong, July 16, 2026
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6 min read
A student climbs the block steps placed before them. The lettered blocks spell out "FUTURE." Career Technical Education.
Daniel Diosdado for Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion Is Career and Technical Education Stuck in the Past?
Cami Anderson, July 23, 2026
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5 min read
Young boy at a table in conversation.
The young characters in François Truffaut's 1976 film "Small Change" illustrate how children are often capable of much more than adults grasp.
Everett Collection
Teaching Opinion What Abilities Are Your Students Hiding From You?
Alfie Kohn, September 2, 2026
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4 min read