Expert Perspectives


FCC logo, E-rate tag icon, text says Deadline for Comments Feb. 13 Read Why Participation is Crucial

FCC E-rate Change Would Be Huge Boost to Districts' Cybersecurity Funding, Efforts

K–12 school systems are trying to fend off an increasing number of cyber threats with limited IT resources, and they need all the help they can get. Allowing schools to use federal E-rate funding for cybersecurity services such as next-generation firewalls, distributed denial of service protection, and intrusion detection and prevention would go a long way toward solving this challenge — and K–12 stakeholders should make their voices heard on this critical issue, immediately, says a Funds For Learning executive.

Get More Math logo and THE Journal logo with screenshot from Get More Math website on tips for spiral review and math retention

Rethinking How We Teach Math: Three Tips for Better Long-term Retention

Students need to learn not only math shortcuts, processes, and formulas — they also must learn the underlying concepts behind them. Students need a deeper conceptual understanding of math so they can transfer their knowledge to new contexts and are less prone to making mistakes. They also need more time for learning math in school and more focus on long-term retention.

Sample fraction math problem illustrating why math schema is more important than skills alone, and THEJournal.com logo

Schools Must Adopt the Science of Math

With so-called learning loss from the pandemic continuing to harm students, schools can't just return to normal methods of teaching math. Fortunately, researchers have a strong understanding of how people learn math, just as they did with the now widely accepted science of reading. However, that understanding is taking too long to filter into classroom instruction.

4 Considerations for Tutoring in the Wake of NAEP

How can district leaders best mobilize the tutoring infrastructure they’ve invested in over the last 18 months?

Why Educational Institutions are Prone to Ransomware Attacks (and What They Can Do to Protect Themselves)

Ransomware is the most significant information security threat in the education sector, and K–12 schools and colleges and universities are both targets.

5 Common Ed Tech RFP Mistakes That Make It Less Effective

The request for proposal, or RFP, process can be daunting and can include dozens of pages of documents, as required by law. Two ed tech leaders who have received hundreds of RFPs share best practices and 5 common pitfalls in education RFPs to help K-12 schools and administrators streamline the process, save time, and in some cases, even save money.

These 5 Proven Methods for Teaching Foundational Literacy are Vital to Overcoming Pandemic Losses

While addressing the needs of all students (especially after a global pandemic) could never boil down to a common formula, educators as well as families and tutors must rely on proven methods for teaching foundational literacy skills, says a literacy instruction expert from ReadingPartners.org, who offers five key elements that every literacy learner needs.

Logo for Expert Viewpoint about maximizing school 1:1 devices

What's Next for 1:1 Devices: Strategies for Maximizing Purchases and Learning Outcomes

With more ed tech being underutilized than not in K-12 schools across the United States, an education researcher from Logitech offers methods for evaluating ed tech hardware tools and strategies for using them after purchase, paving the way for better returns on ed tech spending and more positive impacts on student achievements.

Leveraging Zero Trust to Reduce Cyberattacks in the Education Sector

Zero trust provides an architectural approach to address the need for a unified security solution in today’s fragmented space. Zero trust brings explicit control to the IT environment where all devices and entities must be known — authenticated and authorized; their behavior must be explicitly allowed; and their actions must be understood and monitored. These principles are in stark contrast to what most organizations follow today.

Why Providing Proof of Skills Is Essential for Students' Future Success

A longtime educator and expert in Competency-Based Education teaching models argues that there is a significant misalignment between the vehicles through which students communicate what they know and can do and the opportunities available in the workforce, and he says K-12 education should be implementing skills tracking, which would fix the issue for both students and employers.