The Hechinger Report

This story also appeared in Mind/Shift When ChatGPT arrived in late 2022, educators quickly asked whether students would use artificial intelligence to cheat, learn or simply get through homework more efficiently. Evidence is beginning to point toward a troubling answer: Many students appear to be completing assignments faster while learning less from them. This conclusion comes from one of the largest studies of how generative AI is changing student behavior and academic skills.

As a former teacher and now school leader, I know nothing is worse than missing the mark with your students. It is both disillusioning and frustrating to know that you are failing to provide them with the necessary tools to drive their own learning. It was this realization that convinced me that something needed to change. We needed to do high school differently.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Ask parent Janina Matuszeski what she has valued most about her twins’ experience in the Cambridge Public Schools to this point, and she is quick to cite the diversity and teacher quality. If there is one area in which the schools have performed less well in serving her children, who just completed eighth grade, it has been math.

Glass doors lead to the light-filled lobby of a redbrick and limestone chapel at one end of a grassy quad, where lectures and receptions were held and students testified about their faith. Original artwork hangs on the walls on the way to the music department, chaplain’s office and recital hall, along with brass “leaves” listing the names of past financial boosters formed into the shape of a tree. This visit to Trinity Christian College, in Palos Heights, Illinois, isn’t real.

For years, policymakers, educators and employers have debated whether career pathways — programs that connect high school students to postsecondary education and careers — actually work. We’ve framed the conversation as apprenticeship versus college, workforce training versus liberal arts and careers versus academics.

Harrison Keller was starting only his second year as president of the University of North Texas last fall when he was abruptly confronted with a big problem. Enrollment was down. And the source of the crisis made it much worse: In the wake of Trump administration moves to deny and revoke visas, deport international students and impose travel bans, 2,800 students from abroad who the university expected to show up had stayed away.

This story also appeared in Mind/Shift OAKLAND, Calif. — It’s a Friday morning at Oakland Unity Middle School, a public charter school nestled between residential buildings in East Oakland, and Austin Razavi is announcing the morning advisory prompt. “I’ll give you 10, 15 seconds to think about it,” Razavi said to the group of 15 mixed-grade middle school boys who had arranged desks into a messy circle.

This story also appeared in Michigan Advance and The 19th BENZONIA, Mich. — Maggie Bacon is seeking men. On a recent Friday, she attached flyers about an upcoming education and training fair to more than 500 pizza boxes, one of the ways she’s tried to persuade men in this northern Michigan town to enroll in college, a certificate program or even just a single course.

In James Bell’s math class at Chapman High School, sophomores are trying to pinpoint exactly where two lines cross. The students in this rural Kansas high school already solved for that meeting point in previous lessons, using graphs and other techniques. But this recent lesson shows them how to use a matrix — a box made up of rows and columns representing a system of equations.

Imagine a student who starts taking college courses while still in high school through a dual-enrollment program. By the time they arrive on campus as a first-year student, they already have credits completed. They are the first in their family to attend a four-year institution. Focused. Capable. Working part-time to help support things at home. They make it through their first year. Then their second. Somewhere along the way, things shift. An unexpected expense. A change in work hours.