School & District Management Collection

Big Ideas in Education

Big Ideas is Education Week’s annual special report that brings the expertise of our newsroom—and occasionally those beyond our newsroom—to bear on the challenges you might be facing in your classroom, school, or district. Big Ideas questions the status quo and explores opportunities to help you build a better, more just learning environment for all students. Browse our collection below.

The report is committed to supporting you and the work you are doing. And so we want to hear from you. To share your thoughts, please use #K12BigIdeas on social or email us at bigideas@educationweek.org.

—Elizabeth Rich, Executive Project Editor for Big Ideas

Illustration of fragmented view of issues facing educators in k12 public schools
Traci Debarko for Education Week
Big Ideas in Education Special Report Big Ideas to Solve New and Persistent Challenges in Education
A look at the substantive divides in education—over how we pay teachers, how we teach reading, how we integrate AI, and much more.
September 1, 2023
Colorful conceptual illustration of a sprout growing from a broken pencil
Adolfo Valle for Education Week
Big Ideas in Education Special Report Big Ideas for Transforming K-12 Education
Could thinking differently about equity, mental health, how we communicate—even change, itself—usher in education transformation?
September 6, 2022
Conceptual Image of schools preparing for the pandemic
Pep Montserrat for Education Week
Big Ideas in Education Special Report Big Ideas for Education's Urgent Challenges
This special report tackles big challenges and hard questions, like: What is the purpose of school? Are we leaning on districts too much?
September 14, 2021
v40 6BI DB SOC
Illustration by Jamiel Law
Big Ideas in Education Special Report Big Ideas for Confronting Racism in Education
There’s no single solution for combating anti-Black racism in schools. That’s why we filled an entire special report on the subject.
September 23, 2020
Special Report v39 17 10BigIdeas cover
Big Ideas in Education Special Report 10 Big Ideas in Education 2020
Education Week reporters and editors question some of the basic assumptions that underpin public education and stand in the way of transformation.
January 8, 2020
v38 17BIG IDEAS cover
Daryn Ray for Education Week
Big Ideas in Education Special Report 10 Big Ideas in Education 2019
Education Week reporters and editors identify 10 of today’s most pressing challenges in education and offer bold ideas for addressing them.
January 9, 2019
BRIC ARCHIVE
Big Ideas in Education Special Report 10 Big Ideas in Education 2018
Part opinion writing, part conversation, and part journalism analysis, this special report explores game-changing disruptions to the field of education that have the potential to shake up the schoolhouse and the classroom.
January 10, 2018