Cell phone use and reading survey

 A recent survey of 900 school librarians and educators across the country revealed that mobile device policy that banned cell phone coincided with 2/3 reporting more visual engagement with books in classrooms, increased library circulation, and more independent reading during free periods. Full bans, especially those who used physical storage methods, outperformed looser "off and away" approaches, particularly in high schools. 

Yurio, K. (2026. July 23). SLJ survey: Cell phone bans boost reading, library use. School Library Journal. https://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/story/SLJ-Survey-Cell-Phone-Bans-Boost-Reading-Library-Use 

AI in school libraries report

A recent report examined K-12 teaching about AI. Some of the key recommendations are based more around how we assign and assess student work, rather than on AI as a specific technology. For example, the report suggested moving away from AI detectors or other adversarial approaches to assessment re-design and instead seeking more valid evidence of student understanding. 

Harris, C. et al. (2026). TeachingAbout.AI K-12 Field Report.  Teaching About. https://teachingabout.ai/report-for-the-k-12-field/

For Classroom Teachers

• Move from punishment to a restorative protocol for suspected AI misuse: conversation, redo opportunity, explicit teaching about the purpose of the assignment.
• Pilot Black Box Assessment in two or three units per grade band where the work has traditionally been a take-home product. Capture and credit the rough draft, the revision, and the rationale—not only the final paper.
• Use AI feedback as preparation for human feedback, not as a substitute. A chatbot can scaffold a first draft; only a teacher can tell a student what the work means and provide recognition.

For Principals and Instructional Leaders

• Reframe district planning documents from “AI policy” to “teaching and learning in an AI-mediated context.” The shift is not cosmetic; it changes what counts as a relevant solution and who needs to be in the room.
• Issue explicit, written permission from district leadership: this is the year we redesign. Specify what divergence is allowed, what evidence is requested, and what supports are available.
• Replace “AI ban” and “AI mandate” framings with explicit harm-reduction policies. Name the harms (engagement-driven design, parasocial bonding, deepfake abuse) and the mitigations.

For School Librarians

• Empower school librarians as in-house consultants on task redesign. Their co-teaching role across subject areas makes them well placed to coach colleagues through structural redesign one unit at a time.
• Use the LibraryReady.AI PreK–12 scope and sequence as a backbone. It is grade-banded, librarian-friendly, and built for exactly this work in all levels of classrooms.
• Treat school librarians as the in-district R&D unit. Their broad view across classrooms, their information-evaluation skills, and their relationship to the LibraryReady.AI scope and sequence make them ideal redesign partners.

Harris, C. et al. (2026). TeachingAbout.AI K-12 Field Report

teens and AI report

 Students are using AI tools. The study found that a majority of U.S. teens have used AI chatbots, and many report using them to support schoolwork and research. For educators and librarians, the issue is no longer whether AI belongs in education. The real question is whether schools will teach students how to use it responsibly.

How Teens Use and View AI. (2026). Pew Research CENTER.

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2026/02/24/how-teens-use-and-view-ai/pi_2026-02-24_teens-and-ai_0-01/?_gl=1%2Axfpp0n%2A_up%2AMQ..%2A_gs%2AMQ..&gclid=Cj0KCQiAk6rNBhCxARIsAN5mQLuD1rnbi9_P4wWPrGN0j3TvT5shVi4oi2y2QzkSO5EdLccyCl6dABMaAuQHEALw_wcB&gbraid=0AAAAA-ddO9HhIP5NLYtpLbodzRDa_adD3&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

AI in school report

 

A recent global report examined students, schooling, and artificial intelligence. It is not a tool guide. It is not a classroom how-to. It is a warning, and a call to professional responsibility. The report concluded that under current conditions, the risks of AI in education outweigh the benefits. 

Brookings organizes its recommendations around three pillars that assume active educator involvement:

• Prosper: Use AI only when it strengthens learning rather than replacing effort, struggle, or sense-making.

• Prepare: Build AI literacy that includes limitations, bias, data use, and appropriate non-use.

Protect: Prioritize student privacy, emotional well-being, cognitive development, and safety through intentional design and governance.

Burns, M. et al. (2026). A new direction for students an an AI world: Prosper, prepare, protect. Brookings. 

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/a-new-direction-for-students-in-an-ai-world-prosper-prepare-protect/

COVID-19 and the State of K–12 Schools

COVID-19 and the State of K–12 Schools

Results and Technical Documentation from the Spring 2020 American Educator Panels COVID-19 Surveys

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA168-1.html

How schools should respond to pandemics.

“This resource provides the text of state statutes and regulations—as well as noncodified guidance from state health and education agencies—that relates to pandemic planning for schools. This tool is designed as a resource for educators, policymakers, and general audiences to learn more about pandemic planning for schools within their states; it is not designed to provide a comprehensive analysis of these policies.”
Nunez, B. (2020, Mar. 11).  As COVID-19 Spreads, Most States Have Laws That Address How Schools Should Respond to Pandemics.  ChildTrends. 

How to bridge homework gap with tech study

Enhancing connections between schools and communities could help close digital divides and curb the "homework gap," according to a study of schools in Alabama and Arizona. The study finds that bridging this divide relies on robust in-school technology programs and relevant community connections.
Lee, N. (2020). Bridging digital divides between schools and communities. Washington, DC: Brookings Institute.
https://www.brookings.edu/research/bridging-digital-divides-between-schools-and-communities/
 

Refugees and Educational Outcomes

The researchers of this study examine the effects of a large refugee influx into Florida public schools following the Haitian earthquake of 2010 using unique matched birth and schooling records. They find precise zero estimated effects of refugees on the educational outcomes of incumbent students in the year of the earthquake or in the two years that follow, regardless of the socioeconomic status, grade level, ethnicity, or birthplace of incumbent students.

Figlio, D., & Özek, U. (2017). Unwelcome guests? The effects of refugees on the educational outcomes of incumbent students. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University and Institute for Policy Research. https://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/publications/docs/workingpapers/2017/wp-17-12.pdf

Factors Affecting Learning and How People Learn

How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures provides a much-needed update incorporating insights gained from this research over the past decade. The book expands on the foundation laid out in the 2000 report and takes an in-depth look at the constellation of influences that affect individual learning. The report examines the science behind learning and makes several recommendations for schools, including understanding students' prior knowledge and experiences and supporting students in directing their own learning. This text will become an indispensable resource to understand learning throughout the lifespan for educators of students and adults.

Natural Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (2018). How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.17226/24783

Infusion of Technology in Schools

Education Week releases this special report investigating the impact technology is having in K-12 schools as digital learning tools flood classrooms across the country. The report reveals that technology is failing to reach its full potential in K-12 schools, despite the rapid infusion of new devices and technologies into the classroom. Further, disparities in technology access and adoption, and in the ways new tools are integrated into instruction, may be fueling a new digital divide that threatens to exacerbate long-standing inequities and separate education’s haves and have-nots along new fault lines. An analysis of federal data from the Education Week Research Center examines schools’ access to high-speed internet, passive vs. active uses of technology, and teacher training needs.

Education Week (2017). New report from Education Week shows classroom technology fails to reach full potential in K-12 schools. Bethesda, MD: Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/media/techcounts2017_release.pdf