News & Insights
News and insights from The Learning Agency and our partners.
The NEED Act Introduced In The House
News & Press
The NEED Act will establish a National Center for Advanced Development in Education (NCADE) as a fifth center at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). NCADE is modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
ESRA Is Moving in the Senate – And It Has Major Problems
News & Press
The proposed reauthorization of ESRA does not authorize the establishment of the National Center for Advanced Development in Education (NCADE), an informed-risk, high-reward R&D model with immense potential.
The World is Changing Fast. Students Need Data Science Instruction ASAP.
News & Press
In K-12 schools, students are facing an onslaught of emerging technologies — new developments arrive by the day — and yet we’re still teaching many of our core school subjects as if our daily lives are unchanged by these tools.
Improving Education Through Developing State and Local Research and Development
News & Press
As the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee considers reauthorizing the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA), it should leverage this opportunity to build the capacity of states.
Parents Are Partners in Social Media Regulation
News & Press
But a growing body of research has linked social media to harmful behaviors among children, and the platforms have shown an inability to address the issue.
5 Questions With WiKIT’s Natalia I. Kucirkova
5 Questions
Evidence of learning is key to the successful development of new edtech tools and platforms. Prof. Natalia I. Kucirkova of WiKIT discusses efforts to leverage the collective expertise of those in the education community to ensure that children worldwide can use technologies that genuinely enhance their learning.
5 Questions With Zarek Drozda of Data Science For Everyone
5 Questions
Data Science For Everyone is working to ensure every student becomes data literate and has access to the resources and educators they need to build marketable data skills that can advance their lives and careers.
5 Questions With Alvin Irby of Barbershop Books
5 Questions
Alvin Irby of Barbershop Books discusses how adults can help children from underrepresented communities build their reading identity and develop a love of reading that can translate into academic gains.
5 Questions With Short Answer’s Adam Sparks
5 Questions
Tools like ChatGPT are changing writing instruction, literacy initiatives, and science of writing research in previously unimaginable ways. Teacher Adam Sparks of Short Answer weighs in on what these changes mean for learning advances and how teachers are adapting their instruction.
5 Questions With Teaching Lab’s Sarah Johnson
5 Questions
A provider of educator coaching and professional learning, Teaching Lab recently launched the Coherence Innovation Studio to fund forward-looking ideas, tools and platforms that push education forward.
5 Questions With RPPL’s Stacey Alicea
5 Questions
Stacey Alicea of the Research Partnership for Professional Learning, shares her thoughts on the value of teacher professional learning now and its potential to improve the field in the future.
5 Questions With Journalist Benjamin Herold
5 Questions
Journalist Benjamin Herold writes about how the promise of the American Dream and equitable education has unfolded for five families in his new book, Disillusioned.
5 Questions With Presidential Candidate Jason Palmer
5 Questions
Palmer's presidential campaign aims to pull America out of conflict by offering a different, positive, optimistic vision of how we can work together to reinvent and rebuild the American dream.
Six Tips for Building and Managing Engaging Online Communities
Guides & Resources
Anyone can create a Slack workspace or Google Group, but sustaining or growing a generative, respectful online community requires careful planning and regular attention.
What Do Teachers Know About the Science of Learning?
Guides & Resources
In the past several decades, cognitive psychologists and other learning researchers have performed
thousands of studies on effective learning and teaching practices.
Public Prize Competitions: What You Need To Know
Guides & Resources
It can be difficult to bring people together and get them focused on a single idea. This is where competitions can be a game changer.
How To Write an Op-ed: A Step By Step Guide
Guides & Resources
Better yet, think of the formula as a flexible template for making an effective argument in print—one that you personalize with your specific style, topic and intended audience in mind.
A Breakthrough In Better, Cheaper, And Faster Education R&D
Insights
An unprecedented grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to OpenStax at Rice University will facilitate the education R&D needed to develop new tools for teaching and learning.
How the Next ESRA Reauthorization Could Build State and Local Education R&D Capacity
Insights
Most states and school districts conduct virtually no education R&D to generate and test solutions in a timely way. Congress can change that.
How Investment In Education R&D By Texas Policy Leaders Could Spur Economic Growth
Insights
Texas has a rich history as a leader in innovation. State policy leaders could help it have an even richer future as a leader in R&D education.
Assessing ChatGPT’s Writing Evaluation Skills Using Benchmark Data
Insights
We tested ChatGPT’s default model’s performance for providing summative and formative feedback on student writing using two benchmarks for automated writing evaluation.
Highlights From SXSW EDU 2024
Insights
SXSW EDU featured insightful sessions on ed tech, data literacy, assessments and more. Access highlights and listen to audio from some of the top panels on our website.
How Keystrokes Could Curb ChatGPT Plagiarism
Insights
New research, ed tech platforms, and teaching techniques are emerging to prevent ChatGPT plagiarism.
Best Practices for Data Science Competitions in Education
Insights
Best practices for competition management and key decision points on how to create and launch smoothly running competitions that will result in innovative, high-quality solutions.
Does The Heilmeier Catechism Need A 2.0? Reflections From ARPA Experts
Insights
The “Heilmeier Catechism” is a series of eight questions that guide the selection of “high-risk, high-reward” programs and continue to serve as an effective framework for assessing innovative program ideas.
8 Amazing Panels At SXSW EDU 2024 You Don’t Want To Miss
Insights
SXSW EDU is right around the corner. Be sure to add these amazing panels from many of our partners to your conference schedule. They'll cover hot issues in ed tech, data literacy, assessments and more.
Now That ChatGPT’s Been Introduced, It’s Time To Fine Tune It
Insights
ChatGPT may not be capable of offering large-scale, actionable insights for teachers but the potential is there with more fine tuning.
Models and Ecosystem to Facilitate Breakthrough Innovations
Insights
Across government, philanthropy, nonprofit, and private sectors, leaders have experimented and found great success in a number of models designed specifically for generating breakthrough innovations.
ARPA Education Pilot: Unpacking Public Reflections
Insights
Calls to establish a National Center for Advanced Development in Education (NCADE) are resounding, with momentum building around the recent introduction of the New Essential Education Discoveries (NEED) Act in the U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 11, 2023.
Metacognition And The Future Of AI?
Insights
The more AI comes to resemble general intelligence, the more it requires metacognition – both for users and the bots.
Education Equity Requires Hard Truths About Race and Assessments
Insights
Baked in biases are pervasive in the way that assessments are crafted. Measurement justice is needed to counter culturally-biased assessment practices. There is no better time to improve the approach to assessments than now as technology continues to transform learning.
Debunking The ‘Learning Styles’ Neuromyth
Insights
While the learning style concept encompasses a range of theories that try to explain the different ways individuals learn, science does not back up improved outcomes based on people’s personal preferences on how to receive information.
Lessons on ARPA “Failures”
Insights
As the ARPA approach to R&D grows in popularity, it’s a good time to take stock of the model. This column will explores what makes the ARPA model unique and transformative – as well as what we can learn from them and apply more broadly.
Vote For These Proposals In SXSW EDU’S 2024 PanelPicker
Insights
Community voting for SXSW EDU 2024 is now open until August 20 — during this window, everyone can vote on which proposals should make it onto the final program for next year.
Leveraging AI to Create Moonshots in Literacy
Insights
There’s been much ado about ChatGPT and its impact on academic writing. If this thing can write essays all on its own, will students ever write again?
Creating a Custom Chatbot To Give Evidence-Based Education Advice
Insights
The advancement of Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI chatbots like ChatGPT has generated significant interest, making headlines around the world.
Houston, We Have a Math Problem – Inclusion of Data Science Could Be Part of the Cure
Insights
Math and reading scores post-COVID from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are in—and as we expected the news isn’t good.
How I Joined a Kaggle Competition as a High Schooler
Insights
There are many remarkable things about the field of computer science, from the rise of social media to the power of machine learning. But one overlooked aspect is the degree to which young people can jump into computer science and compete at the highest level.
Math Misconceptions: Mapping Major Math Misunderstandings
Insights
Educators and researchers have spent decades studying learners’ ideas, errors, and misconceptions, but the use of that knowledge has not yet permeated the classroom.
A Breakthrough In Better, Cheaper, And Faster Education R&D
Insights
An unprecedented grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to OpenStax at Rice University will facilitate the education R&D needed to develop new tools for teaching and learning.
5 Questions With WiKIT’s Natalia I. Kucirkova
5 Questions
Evidence of learning is key to the successful development of new edtech tools and platforms. Prof. Natalia I. Kucirkova of WiKIT discusses efforts to leverage the collective expertise of those in the education community to ensure that children worldwide can use technologies that genuinely enhance their learning.
Six Tips for Building and Managing Engaging Online Communities
Guides & Resources
Anyone can create a Slack workspace or Google Group, but sustaining or growing a generative, respectful online community requires careful planning and regular attention.
How the Next ESRA Reauthorization Could Build State and Local Education R&D Capacity
Insights
Most states and school districts conduct virtually no education R&D to generate and test solutions in a timely way. Congress can change that.
5 Questions With Zarek Drozda of Data Science For Everyone
5 Questions
Data Science For Everyone is working to ensure every student becomes data literate and has access to the resources and educators they need to build marketable data skills that can advance their lives and careers.
How Investment In Education R&D By Texas Policy Leaders Could Spur Economic Growth
Insights
Texas has a rich history as a leader in innovation. State policy leaders could help it have an even richer future as a leader in R&D education.
5 Questions With Alvin Irby of Barbershop Books
5 Questions
Alvin Irby of Barbershop Books discusses how adults can help children from underrepresented communities build their reading identity and develop a love of reading that can translate into academic gains.
Assessing ChatGPT’s Writing Evaluation Skills Using Benchmark Data
Insights
We tested ChatGPT’s default model’s performance for providing summative and formative feedback on student writing using two benchmarks for automated writing evaluation.
5 Questions With Short Answer’s Adam Sparks
5 Questions
Tools like ChatGPT are changing writing instruction, literacy initiatives, and science of writing research in previously unimaginable ways. Teacher Adam Sparks of Short Answer weighs in on what these changes mean for learning advances and how teachers are adapting their instruction.
Highlights From SXSW EDU 2024
Insights
SXSW EDU featured insightful sessions on ed tech, data literacy, assessments and more. Access highlights and listen to audio from some of the top panels on our website.
How Keystrokes Could Curb ChatGPT Plagiarism
Insights
New research, ed tech platforms, and teaching techniques are emerging to prevent ChatGPT plagiarism.
5 Questions With Teaching Lab’s Sarah Johnson
5 Questions
A provider of educator coaching and professional learning, Teaching Lab recently launched the Coherence Innovation Studio to fund forward-looking ideas, tools and platforms that push education forward.
Best Practices for Data Science Competitions in Education
Insights
Best practices for competition management and key decision points on how to create and launch smoothly running competitions that will result in innovative, high-quality solutions.
Does The Heilmeier Catechism Need A 2.0? Reflections From ARPA Experts
Insights
The “Heilmeier Catechism” is a series of eight questions that guide the selection of “high-risk, high-reward” programs and continue to serve as an effective framework for assessing innovative program ideas.
8 Amazing Panels At SXSW EDU 2024 You Don’t Want To Miss
Insights
SXSW EDU is right around the corner. Be sure to add these amazing panels from many of our partners to your conference schedule. They'll cover hot issues in ed tech, data literacy, assessments and more.
5 Questions With RPPL’s Stacey Alicea
5 Questions
Stacey Alicea of the Research Partnership for Professional Learning, shares her thoughts on the value of teacher professional learning now and its potential to improve the field in the future.
Now That ChatGPT’s Been Introduced, It’s Time To Fine Tune It
Insights
ChatGPT may not be capable of offering large-scale, actionable insights for teachers but the potential is there with more fine tuning.
5 Questions With Journalist Benjamin Herold
5 Questions
Journalist Benjamin Herold writes about how the promise of the American Dream and equitable education has unfolded for five families in his new book, Disillusioned.
Models and Ecosystem to Facilitate Breakthrough Innovations
Insights
Across government, philanthropy, nonprofit, and private sectors, leaders have experimented and found great success in a number of models designed specifically for generating breakthrough innovations.
ARPA Education Pilot: Unpacking Public Reflections
Insights
Calls to establish a National Center for Advanced Development in Education (NCADE) are resounding, with momentum building around the recent introduction of the New Essential Education Discoveries (NEED) Act in the U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 11, 2023.
5 Questions With Presidential Candidate Jason Palmer
5 Questions
Palmer's presidential campaign aims to pull America out of conflict by offering a different, positive, optimistic vision of how we can work together to reinvent and rebuild the American dream.
Metacognition And The Future Of AI?
Insights
The more AI comes to resemble general intelligence, the more it requires metacognition – both for users and the bots.
Education Equity Requires Hard Truths About Race and Assessments
Insights
Baked in biases are pervasive in the way that assessments are crafted. Measurement justice is needed to counter culturally-biased assessment practices. There is no better time to improve the approach to assessments than now as technology continues to transform learning.
The NEED Act Introduced In The House
News & Press
The NEED Act will establish a National Center for Advanced Development in Education (NCADE) as a fifth center at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). NCADE is modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Debunking The ‘Learning Styles’ Neuromyth
Insights
While the learning style concept encompasses a range of theories that try to explain the different ways individuals learn, science does not back up improved outcomes based on people’s personal preferences on how to receive information.
ESRA Is Moving in the Senate – And It Has Major Problems
News & Press
The proposed reauthorization of ESRA does not authorize the establishment of the National Center for Advanced Development in Education (NCADE), an informed-risk, high-reward R&D model with immense potential.
Lessons on ARPA “Failures”
Insights
As the ARPA approach to R&D grows in popularity, it’s a good time to take stock of the model. This column will explores what makes the ARPA model unique and transformative – as well as what we can learn from them and apply more broadly.
Vote For These Proposals In SXSW EDU’S 2024 PanelPicker
Insights
Community voting for SXSW EDU 2024 is now open until August 20 — during this window, everyone can vote on which proposals should make it onto the final program for next year.
Leveraging AI to Create Moonshots in Literacy
Insights
There’s been much ado about ChatGPT and its impact on academic writing. If this thing can write essays all on its own, will students ever write again?
Creating a Custom Chatbot To Give Evidence-Based Education Advice
Insights
The advancement of Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI chatbots like ChatGPT has generated significant interest, making headlines around the world.
What Do Teachers Know About the Science of Learning?
Guides & Resources
In the past several decades, cognitive psychologists and other learning researchers have performed
thousands of studies on effective learning and teaching practices.
Houston, We Have a Math Problem – Inclusion of Data Science Could Be Part of the Cure
Insights
Math and reading scores post-COVID from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are in—and as we expected the news isn’t good.
How I Joined a Kaggle Competition as a High Schooler
Insights
There are many remarkable things about the field of computer science, from the rise of social media to the power of machine learning. But one overlooked aspect is the degree to which young people can jump into computer science and compete at the highest level.
The World is Changing Fast. Students Need Data Science Instruction ASAP.
News & Press
In K-12 schools, students are facing an onslaught of emerging technologies — new developments arrive by the day — and yet we’re still teaching many of our core school subjects as if our daily lives are unchanged by these tools.
Improving Education Through Developing State and Local Research and Development
News & Press
As the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee considers reauthorizing the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA), it should leverage this opportunity to build the capacity of states.
Parents Are Partners in Social Media Regulation
News & Press
But a growing body of research has linked social media to harmful behaviors among children, and the platforms have shown an inability to address the issue.
Math Misconceptions: Mapping Major Math Misunderstandings
Insights
Educators and researchers have spent decades studying learners’ ideas, errors, and misconceptions, but the use of that knowledge has not yet permeated the classroom.
Public Prize Competitions: What You Need To Know
Guides & Resources
It can be difficult to bring people together and get them focused on a single idea. This is where competitions can be a game changer.
How To Write an Op-ed: A Step By Step Guide
Guides & Resources
Better yet, think of the formula as a flexible template for making an effective argument in print—one that you personalize with your specific style, topic and intended audience in mind.