Thought Leadership | Discovery Education

7 Insights About AI from an Award-Winning Technology Teacher

DE Staff — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 20:09:44 +0000

It may sound crazy, but it was a dog named Zelda who cracked the code on teaching AI to five-year-olds.

It all began when Samantha Westerlind, an elementary technology teacher in Cherokee County, Georgia, was contemplating how to best help her young students learn what AI was and how it learns. Concurrently, she and her daughter were also trying to teach their mutt, Zelda, how to sit.

“We just kept giving her the same command, over and over again—sit, sit, sit,” said Westerlind. “And suddenly I realized that training a dog is exactly the same as training an AI, because you give an AI model consistent data and consistent information. It’s just like asking a dog to sit, sit, sit. Eventually it will understand and learn it.”

Good Dog, Good Data: How a Therapy Dog Became an AI Teacher

The experience gave Westerlind an idea. There were therapy dogs at her school, and the counselor who brought them in had mentioned how difficult it was to work with the kindergarten students because they often forgot to practice gentle touch. Could Westerlind use AI to solve this problem?

Westerlind began working with her fourth graders, using micro:bit circuit boards (small programmable devices with an accelerometer that can detect movement along XYZ axes) to build an AI model that could distinguish between good petting (slow, gentle) and bad petting (fast, rough). The students collected movement data, trained the model themselves (making sure they entered enough data to have a 92% accuracy rate), and coded the circuit boards to display a happy or unhappy face depending on the petting style detected.

The kindergarteners and therapy dogs were brought in, and the fourth graders became the teachers and explained the process. The kindergartners wore the micro:bits on their wrists, like watches, and witnessed the happy/unhappy faces in real time. They then adjusted their behavior completely (slowing down if they saw a sad face), with no adult intervention needed.

Westerlind was stunned by the way the kindergarteners self-regulated because the AI gave them real-time, objective feedback. “This session allowed both grade levels to master complex concepts,” she said. “The 4th graders learned about data sets and model accuracy, while the kindergarteners learned that AI ‘knows’ things because we provide it with information over and over again. It moved the technology out of the abstract and into a hands-on experience that improved both digital literacy and student empathy.”

One Teacher. 1,300 Students. A Completely New Approach to AI Education.

Westerlind is doing something rare: teaching elementary students not just to use AI, but to truly understand it. Most recently, she served 1,300 K-5 students, developing cross-curricular programs in coding, robotics, 3D design, virtual reality, and AI. This year she was recognized with a Discovery Education Award for her groundbreaking work bringing ethical, hands-on AI literacy to early elementary students.

“I’ve been an educator for 16 years, and I love what I do,” she said. “I love bringing the world into a classroom in many different forms.”

At right: Samantha Westerlind is celebrated as a 2026 Discovery Education Award winner.

Here are Westerlind’s 8 Insights about AI at the Elementary Level

1. Kids are already using AI, without understanding it.

Westerlind noted that students already understood digital citizenship and knew not to share personal information with strangers online. But the conversational, friendly nature of AI chatbots bypassed all existing knowledge, because it didn’t feel like they were talking to a stranger. It felt like talking to a friend.

“Because AI is so cool, they let their guard down and started giving these AI bots their private information,” she said. Westerlind urges more education, since digital citizenship education hasn’t caught up with AI yet, and young children are the most vulnerable to that gap.

2. Elementary students are more capable than we assume.

A recurring theme is that educators and parents underestimate young children. AI can be overwhelming and confusing to adults, but Westerlind feels that age-appropriate concepts, grounded in the real, physical world, are essential for elementary learners.

3. AI education is being gatekept for older grades. That’s a mistake.

Most district policies and curriculum frameworks start AI education at 6th grade, but Westerlind believes it needs to start much earlier. “It’s so important for the younger grade levels, kindergarten through 5th grade, to have that foundation and understanding,” she said.

4. AI literacy must be built on empathy and ethics, not just functionality.

One of Westerlind’s most compelling arguments is that AI education should start with empathy. This means understanding consequences and caring about outcomes, which leads to more responsible use. The reason the dog-petting project worked well was because kids had a real stake in getting it right and not hurting the animal.

5. There’s a “gatekeeping” problem: teachers say “don’t use it,” while using it themselves.

There’s a contradiction at the heart of current AI policy: schools restrict student use while quietly adopting teacher-facing AI tools. Students notice the double standard, and it breeds either resentment or workarounds.

6. Understanding AI dispels fear.

Westerlind understands that the rapid emergence of AI is frightening to parents. She also feels passionately that understanding AI is the key to dispelling fears, which is why she’s so committed to helping young students better use it responsibly. A great first step in making this happen? Having schools host parent series, so they have firsthand awareness.

7. AI education shouldn’t start with a chatbot prompt. It should start with a question.

According to Westerlind, the dominant model in education right now is tool-first: here is a chatbot, here is how you prompt it, here is what it can do for you. “A student can type in, ‘Make me a unicorn riding a surfboard,’ and it appears, like magic,” she said. But Westerlind insists that curiosity should come first. “It shouldn’t be ‘I inputted a prompt and look, I got something from it.’ It should be, especially for the younger grades, the foundation and understanding knowledge that AI can be so much more.”

Learn more about Discovery Education’s approach to AI

Learn More

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How Has Technology Changed Education?

Maggie Lazur — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 13:14:50 +0000

Key takeaways

Technology didn't just change the classroom- it changed the role of the teacher.
Having devices at school doesn't matter much if students have nothing to work with at home.
The schools doing this best aren't the ones with the most technology, but the ones using it with purpose.

A picture of a classroom taken years ago, before digital technology existed, would have looked quite different from one taken today. You would have seen a teacher lecturing to students who were passive listeners. Today, most students have a device in front of them, the teacher is showing websites and videos on a screen, and a variety of apps and tools are being used to engage students. But it is not the technology itself that represents the real change – it is the actual experience of teaching and learning that has shifted with the help of technological tools.

How has technology changed education over the years?

Learning no longer has to happen at a specific time, in a specific location. A student who missed something in class or needs to hear an explanation more than once can go back and rewatch it on their own schedule. On days when students are homesick or absent, school doesn’t have to stop. Technology makes it possible for students to keep up without falling behind. For students who need more time to process what they’ve learned, finish their work, or are ready to move faster, there are asynchronous learning options that allow them to work at their own pace. And when it comes to content, students have access to more information and resources than any previous generation. This flexibility is something that traditional classrooms simply didn’t have.

The lecture model made sense for its time because there was no easy way for students to find information on their own. But now, any student with a phone can search for an answer in seconds. The challenge today is not getting the information- it’s knowing what to do with it. In a world where there’s more content produced daily than anyone can read, the real work involves helping students think critically about what they find.

How has technology improved education?

Data

Technology has changed how teachers assess student learning. Digital tools can give much more than just a score. They can show which specific skills a student has mastered or is struggling with, helping teachers better focus their instruction. For example, teachers can use data generated from online programs to pull small groups during class and provide targeted interventions to close skill gaps. Technology allows school districts to easily view and use disaggregated student data to strengthen instruction and monitor student outcomes.

Student Engagement

One of the clearest benefits of technology in the classroom is its effect on student engagement. Traditional teaching methods can struggle to hold students’ attention, but digital tools and multimedia resources give teachers new ways to bring lessons to life. Videos, animations, and interactive games can turn mundane topics into something students actually want to explore. When students are more invested in what they are learning, they tend to retain it better and develop a deeper understanding of the material.

Production

Technology has given students new ways to create products to showcase their learning. You might see a second-grader recording a podcast, a middle-schooler editing a video, or a high-schooler building a website or writing a basic program. When students create this way, they learn how to communicate clearly, solve problems, try something, fix it, and try again. The best tech-friendly classrooms give students real work to do and let them figure out how to do it. Learn more about project-based learning and how it works in practice.

Abundance of Resources

The internet offers a wealth of information and resources that were not easily available in the past. Years ago, students had to look up information in encyclopedias (IYKYK!) or visit the library to access specific materials. Today, students have immediate access to virtually any type of resource or content. Using a k-12 online learning platform gives students access to educational websites, digital textbooks, and online libraries and repositories that enrich their learning experience.

Communication

Technology has also changed how schools and families stay connected. Parents no longer have to wait for a report card or a phone call to know how their child is doing. They can instantly check grades, attendance, and messages from teachers in real time from their phone. Being able to get a school update in your home language, or quickly check on your child’s progress during a lunch break, provides parents with a level of access that wasn’t always available. Communication and collaboration among students and teachers also improve with the use of digital tools. Online workspaces make it easy for students to collaborate on projects, share resources, and submit assignments, while providing teachers with a space to give immediate feedback.

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What are some potential downsides to technology in education?

Interpreting Data

While technology in education has the potential to positively impact learning, it also introduces challenges that schools are not always prepared to meet. Having access to data does not automatically equate to better instruction. It requires educators who are trained to interpret it and schools that prioritize using it to support learning rather than sorting students. This new reliance on data demands targeted professional development so that educators can understand what the data is telling them and use it to drive instruction. For example, districts that use online benchmark or diagnostic tools such as NWEA or Renaissance Star receive an overwhelming volume of data for each student. Teachers need guidance on identifying foundational gaps, forming small groups, and engaging students in their own learning.

Digital Citizenship

Schools must also prioritize digital citizenship by teaching students to use technology as a tool that supports their thinking rather than replaces it, reducing overdependence and protecting academic integrity. Students need ongoing guidance on how to critically evaluate online sources, respect others in digital spaces, cite sources appropriately, and safeguard their personal information. In an effort to support this, teachers should incorporate lessons that promote digital citizenship and foster a positive online environment.

Access

While most schools now have computers, tablets, and internet connections available during the school day, those resources often disappear when students go home. A student without reliable internet at home cannot complete online assignments, watch instructional videos, or use the digital tools their teacher assigned. A student without a personal device may have to share a phone with the rest of the family or skip the work entirely. This digital divide often becomes a persistent inequity.

The classrooms of today look nothing like the ones most adults grew up in, and the classrooms of the next decade will likely look different again. The schools doing this most effectively are not the ones with the most devices or the fastest internet. They are the ones where teachers are supported, students are engaged, and the technology serves the learning rather than the other way around.

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How to Plan Curriculum: A 5-Step Guide for School Leaders

Maggie Lazur — Wed, 27 May 2026 18:06:24 +0000

Key takeaways

Curriculum planning is not something you finish; it is something you continuously return to, refine, and improve.
The most effective leaders are intentional ones, making deliberate decisions at every stage of the planning process to create a clearer, more connected learning experience across their schools.
Knowing where your students need to go before your teams begin planning how to get them there is what makes everything else fall into place.

Whether you’re a new curriculum director just stepping into a leadership role or a seasoned administrator with years of district-level experience, you know that the curriculum your schools deliver is the foundation of student achievement. Having the right educational resource or support system in place can make all the difference. At the district level, curriculum planning is the process of determining what students need to learn, deciding the best way to teach it, and determining how the district will gauge student learning. It is essentially the roadmap that ensures learning is intentional and organized, rather than random or disconnected.

While districts set the “what” of curriculum, teachers are responsible for bringing it to life, so your role as a leader is to build the conditions that make that possible. This means establishing a clear curricular framework, supporting teachers in interpreting and prioritizing essential learning, ensuring that materials are accessible and adaptable for all learners, and creating systems for effective assessment.

1. Identify the standards and goals.

Curriculum development is the intentional process of designing learning over time. It is the bridge between standards and daily lessons. Instead of making instructional decisions one day at a time, it lays out materials, activities, and assessments across an entire course so learning can build with purpose, and so each educational resource is used intentionally rather than randomly.

2. Determine the scope & sequence.

Once goals are in place, the next question is: how much ground needs to be covered, and in what order should teachers cover it? Students need certain building blocks in place before they can tackle more complex ideas. Teaching multiplication before students understand long division, for example, helps students progressively build essential skills. A well-organized scope and sequence supports student learning by moving from simple to complex, or from familiar to new. It considers what students learned the year before and what they will be expected to know the year after. Putting that kind of plan together takes coordination across grade levels and content areas, and it is one of the most important things curriculum leaders are responsible for.

3. Use backward design to create student assessments.

One of the most valuable changes a leader can make is encouraging their teams to think about assessment before they start planning lessons. When teachers are clear on what student success looks like from the start, their instruction tends to be more focused and purposeful. Leaders can support this approach by offering professional development, creating shared assessment tools, and building in time for teachers to plan together. For more on designing assessments that drive learning, explore this Adaptive Learning Guide.

It’s often assumed that lessons should be planned first and then figure out how to test students at the end. But using backward design makes it easier to decide how student learning will be measured before ever planning a single lesson. If teachers do not know what success looks like ahead of time, there is no way for them to know what to teach or to be intentional about how to teach it. When assessment is designed first, it becomes easy to determine if the activity is actually helping students get where they need to go by shifting the focus to what students actually need to be able to do, rather than the topics that will be covered. For more on designing assessments that drive learning, explore this Adaptive Learning Guide.

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4. Review for coherence.

Before rolling out any curriculum, leaders need to take a step back and review everything together to ensure it’s actually teaching what the assessments measure. Do assessments actually reflect the goals that were set at the beginning? Misalignment between goals, assessments, and instruction is one of the most common problems in curriculum planning. It’s important to look for gaps, redundancies, and pacing. A well-aligned curriculum can fall apart if something important is never actually taught, if the same concept is taught repeatedly even though it is expected on an assessment, or if too much or too little time is spent teaching a concept.

5. Implement, monitor, and revise.

Implementation is not the finish line. It is actually the beginning of the next phase of curriculum work. As teachers work through a curriculum, it is important to determine if the students are grasping the concepts. Are certain lessons falling flat? Are teachers finding the materials clear and usable, or are they constantly having to fill in gaps? By actively collecting information such as student performance data, observational notes, and anecdotal feedback from teachers, leaders can monitor and address issues as they arise. Tools like this Data-Informed Decisions resource can help make sense of what is being observed in real time. Revisions can take many forms: a lesson that gets reworked, a unit that gets reordered, a resource that gets replaced, or an assessment that gets rebuilt.

Curriculum planning should be a roadmap that guides what is taught, how it’s taught, and how teachers know that students have learned it. When done correctly, it is not a one-time task but an ongoing cycle bringing together planning, teaching, and refining.

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New Teacher Orientation & Onboarding Guide for School Leaders

Michael Healey — Mon, 18 May 2026 18:13:39 +0000

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An Educator’s Guide to Annual Strategic Planning for Schools

Michael Healey — Thu, 14 May 2026 20:05:35 +0000

Key takeaways

Strategic planning should give schools a clear direction by connecting goals to action, budgets, communication, and follow-through.
The most effective strategic plans focus on a small number of meaningful goals that reflect the school’s actual needs, not the latest trend.
Strategic planning for education only works when leaders involve staff, monitor progress, make adjustments, and build on what worked from year to year.

Each school year begins, or at least should begin, with a plan. Some of that plan is usually visible right away. For example, calendars are approved, teacher and student schedules are created, teachers prepare classrooms, and families receive supply lists and annual back-to-school information every summer. But the most important planning often happens behind the scenes, starting long before the first day of school.

For school leaders, this type of planning is not just about organizing the year. It is about setting direction.

That is why planning for schools matters. An effective annual plan helps a district or school stay focused on what matters most, even when the year gets busy, complicated, or unpredictable. It connects goals to action and helps staff understand priorities. It gives families and communities confidence that decisions are being made for a reason and with a specific purpose.

Annual planning is also important because school districts are being asked to manage increasingly complex issues. Districts are thinking about safety, student achievement, attendance, mental health, technology, budget pressures, effective communication, and future readiness. None of those areas can be improved by accident. They require focus, coordination, and follow-through.

A well-designed strategic plan will not solve every problem, but it can help school leaders make better decisions when challenges come up. It gives the district or school a clear guide for what to prioritize, fund, and communicate.

How to Plan and Execute Your Annual Strategic Plan for Your School

Start With Where You Are Now

Strategic planning for education should begin with a clear understanding of where the school is right now. Before setting future goals, leaders need to take an honest look at current strengths, challenges, and opportunities.

This doesn’t have to be a complicated process, but it does need to be based on real information. Review student achievement data, attendance trends, discipline patterns, graduation or promotion data, survey results, staffing needs, curriculum implementation, family engagement, and budget realities. Just as importantly, talk to people and listen to teachers, support staff, students, families, and community partners.

This is also the point where school leaders should be willing to ask the hard question: how can we improve schools in ways that will actually make a difference for students?

Focus on a Small Number of Clear Goals

That question should not lead to a long list of disconnected initiatives. In fact, one of the biggest mistakes schools make in annual planning is trying to do too much. When everything becomes a priority, nothing really is. A better approach is to identify a small number of meaningful goals that align with the district’s mission and your school’s current and future needs.

For example, one school might focus on improving student attendance, increasing student engagement, or strengthening academic intervention systems. Another school might need to focus on curriculum alignment, school culture, or career readiness. Whatever the focus, the goals should reflect the school’s actual needs, not just the latest educational trend.

Once these goals are identified, they need to be written in clear, understandable language. Staff, families, and board members should be able to understand what the school is trying to accomplish without needing a detailed explanation. This is important because a strategic plan should not only be a guiding document, but it should also be a communication tool.

Connect Your Goals to Action

After goals are set, school leaders need to identify the specific actions that will support them. This is where planning often becomes more difficult. It is easy to say a school wants to increase reading scores, improve attendance, or strengthen school culture. The harder part is identifying the specific steps that need to happen in classrooms, grade-level meetings, professional development sessions, schedules, and budgets to make these improvements possible.

For each goal, identify the major actions that need to take place. If the goal is to improve attendance, the plan might include early warning systems, outreach protocols, student support meetings, family engagement, and regular data reviews.

A plan should also be very clear about who is responsible for each action. This does not mean that one person is responsible for ensuring the goal’s success. But someone needs to monitor progress, organize next steps, and make sure the focus does not fade as the school year gets busy.

Build the Budget Around the Plan

The annual budget should also be part of the planning conversation from the beginning. Too often, schools create plans and then later try to figure out how to pay for them. From my perspective, a better approach is to let the priorities drive the budget, not the other way around. When staffing, resources, professional development, and technology needs are integrated into the plan early, leaders can make more informed decisions and avoid spending money on items that do not support the work.

This is especially important when districts are making decisions about instructional materials, technology, and professional learning. A k-12 online learning platform or other digital resource can support teaching and learning, but only when it is connected to clear instructional goals and teachers have the support to use it well. Technology should not be added simply because it is available. It should help solve a real instructional need.

The same is true when evaluating curriculum and resources. If a school is reviewing instructional materials, leaders should consider how those materials support standards, student engagement, differentiation, and teacher implementation.

Involve the People Doing the Work

Thoughtful strategic planning for education also depends on involving staff in meaningful ways. Teachers and staff are much more likely to support a plan when they understand why it matters and how it connects to their work. That does not mean every decision has to be made by committee, but it does mean people should have opportunities to provide input, ask questions, and understand how their role fits into the school’s overall direction.

Communicate the Plan Throughout the Year

Communication is one of the most important parts of execution. A strategic plan should not be introduced once and then forgotten. Leaders should talk about the plan throughout the year in faculty meetings, leadership team meetings, board updates, newsletters, and community conversations. The message does not need to be complicated. It should be consistent and include things like:

Here is what we are working on.
Here is why it matters.
Here is what we have done so far.
Here is what comes next.

That kind of communication builds trust. It also helps schools stay focused when new issues arise. Every school year brings unexpected challenges. A clear plan gives school leaders a way to decide whether a new idea, request, or initiative supports the school’s direction or detracts from it.

Monitor Progress and Adjust

Monitoring progress is another essential part of the annual strategic planning process. Annual strategic plans should include regular, scheduled check-ins, not just one end-of-year review. Depending on the goal, school leaders may choose to review data monthly, quarterly, or at key points throughout the year. The purpose is not to create more paperwork or meetings. The purpose is to see whether the plan is working and make adjustments when needed.

For example, if a school is working to improve attendance, school administrators should not wait until June to review attendance data. They should plan to monitor patterns throughout the year and respond as needed.

Meaningful annual planning also requires honest assessment. If something is not working, school leaders need to say so and adjust. That does not mean scraping the whole plan every time there is a challenge. That does not mean scrapping the whole plan every time there is a challenge. It means being willing to adjust the steps while staying focused on the larger goal.

Reflect Before Starting Over

Annual planning should also include reflection and discussion. At the end of the year, school leaders need to review what worked, what did not, and what work should continue. This should include both data and feedback from the people closest to the work. Teachers, support staff, students, and families can provide valuable insight into whether the plan made a difference.

Reflection also helps schools from starting over every year. Strong planning should be progressive and build from year to year. Some goals may continue. Others may shift. New needs may emerge. But the process should create momentum, not a cycle of disconnected initiatives.

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Turning the Plan Into Progress

Annual planning, in my opinion, is one of the most important responsibilities of school leaders. It helps turn ideas into action and gives staff, students, and families a clearer sense of direction. It is also where real change and improvement begin.

The best plans are not clear, focused, honest, and useful. They help school leaders make decisions, support teachers, communicate priorities, and keep student needs at the center of the work.

For school administrators, the goal of planning for schools should be simple: know where you are, decide where you need to go, and build a realistic plan to get there. When schools do that well, strategic planning for education becomes more than a document. It becomes part of how the school improves, one decision at a time.

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4 Classroom Activities for Earth Day: Small Steps, Big Impact

Dr. Sharon Jones, Ed.D — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 19:44:42 +0000

Key takeaways

Earth Day learning does not require a full unit or complex materials. Short, intentional classroom activities can spark curiosity, critical thinking, and meaningful conversations about sustainability in just minutes.
Hands-on activities help students see themselves as environmental problem solvers. When students explore waste, innovation, ecosystems, and real‑world challenges, they begin to understand how their everyday choices connect to larger environmental solutions.
Earth Day works best as a starting point, not a one‑day lesson. Classroom-ready resources and ongoing student activities help extend learning beyond April 22 and build lasting habits of environmental stewardship.

Earth Day in Action: Small Steps, Big Impact in the Classroom

On April 22, classrooms across the country pause to celebrate Earth Day, a moment to reflect on our responsibility to care for the planet and empower the next generation to do the same. What began in 1970 as a national teach-in about environmental issues quickly became a global movement that highlighted the importance of environmental education in building environmentally responsible communities. Earth Day continues to serve as a reminder that meaningful change often starts with awareness, curiosity, and small daily actions.

Earth Day is an opportunity to engage students in real-world problem solving. Environmental education helps students strengthen critical thinking, build essential life skills, and recognize how their daily choices influence the world around them. When students begin to see themselves as stewards of their environment, they naturally connect science, innovation, and community responsibility in meaningful and lasting ways.

The good news? You don’t need elaborate materials or a full unit plan to begin. Sometimes the most impactful learning starts with a simple, energizing classroom activity.

Classroom Activity 1: “Trash or Treasure?” (Earth Day Warm‑Up)

Time: 10–15 minutes

Grade Levels: 3–8 (easily adaptable)

Materials:

A small collection of everyday items (plastic bottle, cardboard box, aluminum can, food wrapper, paper towel roll, etc.)
Chart paper or whiteboard

Directions:

Place items on a table or display them to the class.
Ask students to quickly sort each item into one of three categories:
- Reuse
- Recycle
- Reduce
Invite students to justify their choices.

Conclude by asking:

What happens to these items after we throw them away?
How could we redesign them to reduce waste?
Why does reducing waste matter?

Why this works:
This quick activity introduces the concept of responsible consumption and waste reduction while sparking curiosity. It also builds a natural bridge to the idea of a circular economy, where products are designed to be reused, repaired, or recycled rather than discarded.

Classroom Activity 2: Explore the Circular Economy Through Innovation

Once students begin thinking about waste and sustainability, it’s the perfect time to introduce the concept of innovation. The circular economy encourages us to rethink how products are made and used, focusing on reducing waste, conserving resources, and designing smarter systems for the future.

A powerful way to extend this learning is through the Generation Innovation: Circular Economy resource from the Discovery Education Environmental Education Initiative.

This resource helps students:

Understand how everyday products impact the environment
Explore innovative solutions to reduce waste
Develop problem-solving and design-thinking skills
See how science and creativity can work together to protect the planet

You can access the lesson and classroom materials here:

Circular Economy: Curriculum Connector

These materials are designed to be standards-aligned and classroom-ready, making them an easy addition to Earth Day lessons or STEM units focused on sustainability.

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Classroom Activity 3: Student‑Led Environmental Challenges and Projects

Earth Day should be a starting point, not a one-day event. Ongoing environmental learning helps students build habits that last a lifetime. Fortunately, there are many ready-to-use activities that make it simple to integrate environmental topics into daily instruction.

The Student Activities collection from the Discovery Education Environmental Education Initiative provides engaging options such as:

Hands-on experiments
Data collection and observation activities
Environmental challenges and projects
Collaborative problem-solving tasks

These activities support inquiry-based learning and encourage students to explore real environmental issues while developing communication and teamwork skills.

You can browse the full collection here:

Discover Student Environmental Activities

Classroom Activity 4: Explore Ecosystems Across America

One of the most exciting ways to build environmental awareness is by helping students understand how ecosystems vary across regions. The Excursion Across America series introduces students to environmental topics through engaging videos and interactive lessons that highlight regional differences in climate, resources, and sustainability practices.

These experiences allow students to:

Explore forests, waterways, and ecosystems across the United States
Learn how communities protect natural resources
Understand the connection between local actions and global impact

The program includes animated videos and ready-to-use classroom activities that show how students can make a positive difference in their own communities.

You can explore the series here:

Start an Excursion Across America

Corporate Insights by ours Partners Nucor & Itron

Nucor

For more than 50 years, Nucor, North America’s largest recycler, has been quietly leading the way in showing what sustainability can look like in action. At the heart of their work is the idea of a circular economy—keeping materials in use instead of throwing them away. Items like old cars, appliances, and even buildings can be recycled into new steel, which is then used to build bridges, schools, and vehicles. And when those products reach the end of their life, the steel can be recycled again, creating a cycle that reduces waste and keeps materials out of landfills. Beyond their operations, Nucor teammates partner with local schools and collaborate with Discovery Education to help students understand sustainability through hands-on activities like can drives and classroom learning experiences showing young people that small, everyday actions can be part of a much bigger solution for our planet

Blakelee Dunkelberg, Corporate Communications Specialist and Luke Johnson, Sustainability Supervisor, Nucor

Designer

Itron

At Itron, the focus is on helping utilities and cities make smarter decisions about how energy and water are used—two resources that are deeply connected to the health of our communities and our planet. In celebration of Earth Day 2026, Itron is offering the Resourcefulness Digital Badge, a free, self-paced learning opportunity developed by global energy expert Michael E. Webber and supported by University of Texas at Austin LBJ School of Public Affairs. Through this online experience, learners build a deeper understanding of the energy-water connection and explore practical solutions to today’s resource challenges, while earning a recognized credential they can add to resumes, college applications, or professional profiles, empowering them to take meaningful steps toward a more sustainable future.

Callie Bendickson, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Itron

Designer

Bringing It All Together: From Awareness to Action

Earth Day reminds us that environmental stewardship begins with education, and education begins with engagement. A simple classroom activity can spark curiosity. A hands-on challenge can build understanding. And the right resources can help students turn ideas into action.

This Earth Day, start small.
Start with a conversation.
Start with curiosity.

Because the future of our planet may begin with one classroom, one idea, and one student ready to make a difference.

Discover great Earth Day materials by visiting the Environmental Education Initiative or logging into Discovery Education Experience and bookmarking the Earth Day channel.

Earth Day FAQs:

When is Earth Day?

Earth Day is celebrated annually on April 22.

What is Earth Day?

Earth Day is a global movement that began in 1970 as a national teach-in focused on environmental issues. It serves as a time to reflect on our responsibility to protect the planet and to empower students through environmental education.

When was the first Earth Day?

The first Earth Day was held in 1970.

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10 Ways to Use AI in the Classroom: A Guide for Educators

Heather Hinde — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:56:34 +0000

Key takeaways

Drafting Partner: Use AI as a personal assistant to quickly draft lesson plans, rubrics, and supportive instructional materials.
Professional Oversight: You are the expert! Always review and adjust AI content to ensure it fits your students' unique needs.
Data Privacy: Stay responsible by protecting student privacy and following your district’s specific AI policies and guidelines.

When using AI in the classroom, it comes down to clear, detailed prompting to get what you want, so you can refine, improve, and customize the materials you request. Below are 10 AI in the classroom examples, with guidance to responsible use that any educator should consider when using AI in the classroom.

10 Ways to Use AI in the Classroom

1. Class Management & Building the Foundation

How it helps:
AI can help you think through systems you may want to implement in your classroom. It can use context from your prompts and chats to suggest routines and expectations based on your descriptions of your students’ needs. Used well, AI can feel like a personal assistant, but keep in mind that it does not remember everything perfectly, so it helps to restate important details as you go.

How to do it:
Stay organized. If you are using ChatGPT, consider creating one dedicated project or workspace for a class, such as “3rd Grade 2026–27,” so you can keep your planning in one place. Start by sharing broad classroom context, such as grade level, class size, language needs, and learning supports, without including private student information. That context can help AI generate routines, supports, and lesson ideas that are more relevant to your classroom.

Responsible Use Guide:
When using AI in the classroom, be mindful of what works best for your students, but don’t share specific personal student data. Keep in mind that AI tools may retain or process the information you enter, so it’s important to follow your district’s policies before using them in the classroom. Also, remember AI is not a tool to use in isolation. You know your students best, and not every AI-generated idea will work given your students’ needs or strategies you have already tried. Reflection and adjustment are key to strong teaching.

2. Substitute Plans

How it helps:
AI can help you create plans for substitutes quickly by organizing schedules, writing clear directions, and suggesting lessons. It helps save time because you don’t need to start from scratch.

How to do it:
Start by sharing your daily schedule, either by typing it out or using voice input. Include routines, expectations, materials, and any other classroom details that would help create a useful draft. Once the plan is generated, review it for accuracy and make adjustments. This can give you a solid starting foundation for your plans. Be sure to handle any student health, medical, or support needs according to school or district policies, and avoid entering private student information into AI tools unless approved.

Responsible Use Guide:
It’s important not to share personally identifiable information. You can avoid this by using students’ initials, and when you print the plans, you can handwrite names or keep a cheat sheet with names and initials in your substitute folder. Another important step is to review for accuracy. Make sure the directions are clear and realistic for a substitute.

3. Parent Communication

How it helps:
Using AI in the classroom can go beyond correcting or generating a newsletter. It can help teachers, administrators, and grade-level teams find the right words when communicating with parents, generate creative ideas to support family engagement, and help explain learning standards to families.

How to do it:
When considering prompts for communicating with families, be specific about the purpose and tone. For example, you might ask AI to create a short, family-friendly survey to gather input on classroom communication or student support.

If you are using Canva, you can use its AI features to translate newsletters into different languages, helping you reach all families. You can also use tools like Copilot or ChatGPT to draft messages, refine tone, or organize your ideas before sending.

When generating emails to a parent, you can start by outlining key points, then use AI to make the message clearer and more approachable.

Responsible Use Guide:
Always take time to review and adjust the message so it reflects your voice and includes any specific details your families need. Make sure all communication protects student privacy and accurately represents your classroom.

4. Grading

How it helps:
Some examples of using AI in the classroom for grading include creating rubrics, exemplars, and structured feedback. It can also save time by clarifying learning expectations for students.

How to do it:
Be specific when prompting. For example, instead of saying “create a rubric,” try:
“Create a 4-point rubric for a 5th-grade opinion writing piece aligned to the Common Core Standards (insert the standards you are covering). Be sure to use clear, student-friendly language.”

You can also paste in a student task or standard and ask AI to generate a rubric or sample response. From there,carefully review the outputs and adjust the language to match what is already in use in your classroom.

Responsible Use Guide:
Remember to review carefully to make sure the standard or objective is broken down in a reasonable way. AI is a support tool, and you may need to make multiple adjustments to your prompts to achieve exactly what you are looking for.

5. Teaching Goals and Feedback

How it helps:
AI can support your professional growth by helping you create, organize, and refine your professional development plan. It saves time and helps you align your goals with your school or district expectations.

How to do it:
You can use AI to help develop your professional development plans. For example, if your school requires SMART goals, you can start by sharing a general goal and asking AI to rewrite it into a clear, measurable SMART goal.

You can also ask AI to help you break that goal into manageable steps. For example:
“Create four check-in points throughout the year to monitor progress on this goal.”

If you’re working with a grade-level team or have shared goals, you can include that in your prompt and ask AI to help differentiate your plan based on your specific role or students.

Other ideas for using AI for professional development include:

Search for relevant PD opportunities
Generate ideas for support I might need
Break my growth into smaller, actionable steps across the year

AI gives you a strong starting point, and then you can adjust it to fit your actual work and expectations.

Responsible Use Guide:
Your professional growth plan should reflect your real practice. Always review and revise so it aligns with your school goals and your students’ needs.

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6. Creating & Locating Instructional Materials

How it helps:
AI saves time and helps you quickly generate materials and find resources. It makes it easier to support multiple levels in a single lesson or target specific skills.

How to do it:
Start with your standard or objective. Then ask for variations of a particular task you are trying to differentiate.

For example, “Create three versions of this math task: below grade level, on level, and above grade level.”

When using AI in the classroom, you can create quick exit tickets, anchor chart ideas, or small group tasks. You can paste a lesson into AI chat and ask it to simplify directions for ELL students or add vocabulary supports. From there, you may need to adjust the wording to match how you teach and what your students are used to.

Responsible Use Guide:
Remember that you are the expert. Review and revise as needed to ensure the generated materials align with your standards and expectations.

7. Lesson Planning – Individual & Whole Group

How it helps:
Using AI in the classroom helps organize your thinking and gives you a strong starting point, especially when you are short on time.

How to do it:
You can ask AI to generate a lesson outline based on a standard or topic. For example:
“Create a 45-minute math lesson on fractions for a mixed 4th/5th-grade class with small group rotations.”

You can share your schedule and ask AI to help structure timing or suggest small-group rotations based on the number of students or their skill levels. If you’re stuck, you may want to ask for multiple activity ideas and choose the one that fits your students best. You can also ask it to generate an intervention that relates to the lesson.

Responsible Use Guide:
Avoid copying and pasting lessons directly. Treat AI-generated lessons as drafts to ensure they align with your curriculum, pacing, and student needs.

8. Data and Documentation

How it helps:
AI helps organize information and quickly summarize patterns. This can support intervention planning and team meetings by helping you see trends you might not notice right away.

How to do it:
Instead of entering detailed student data, summarize trends such as:
“Several students are struggling with multi-step word problems and showing gaps in multiplication fluency.”

Then ask:
“What intervention strategies would you suggest?”

You can also use AI to draft meeting notes to organize your thinking before a data conversation. When working with others, you can record ideas and ask AI to help summarize, group themes, or suggest next steps based on what was discussed.

Responsible Use Guide:
Double-check for accuracy before proceeding. Do not enter student names or private data. Even anonymized data can be identifying if the group is small. Follow district policies to ensure student and staff data are protected.

9. Emails

How it helps:
Emails take time. Documentation takes time. AI helps you get started faster while staying clear and professional.

How to do it:
Ask AI to draft a message and be specific about tone. For example:
“Write a friendly but professional email to a parent explaining their child needs extra support in reading.”

Always revise before sending and add specific details such as context, meeting times, calendar invites, or links.

Responsible Use Guide:
Always review before sending and make sure the message reflects your voice while protecting student and family information.

10. Collaboration

How it helps:
AI can support team conversations, offer neutral ideas, and help turn lessons into multiple classroom projects. It can help teams organize thinking and support systems such as MTSS, behavior, and planning.

How to do it:
Start with a clear team goal. For example:
“We need ideas for improving small group instruction during the math block.”

Then use AI to generate options or questions to guide the discussion. You can also use AI to analyze a lesson and suggest ways it could be adapted across classrooms or to meet different student needs.

Responsible Use Guide:
AI does not replace collaboration. The team makes the decisions. Use your professional judgment together and keep student needs at the center.

Overall, AI is an increasingly used tool in education. When used intentionally and responsibly, it can support teachers and improve efficiency. I hope these classroom examples are helpful as you continue to build your use of AI.

At the same time, it is important to stay grounded in research-based practices. Educational resources provide high-quality, engaging lessons for K–12 teachers.

The post 10 Ways to Use AI in the Classroom: A Guide for Educators appeared first on Discovery Education.

Effective Teacher Evaluation: A Guide for School Leaders

Dr. Becky Cahill — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 17:09:17 +0000

Key takeaways

Teacher evaluation systems should be continuous cycles that provide educators with actionable feedback. Reliance on a singular yearly observation will not move the needle on teacher growth.
An evaluation process will be successful when it is a collaborative effort between teachers and school leaders. Teachers should be equal partners in the process to increase engagement and positive outcomes.
To ensure success, there should be a high correlation between teacher evaluations, professional learning, and identified school improvement goals. Continuity between stated expectations and the evaluation process is necessary.

Research over the last two decades has found that access to a quality teacher is one of the most important indicators for student success. One meta-analysis of recent studies found that teacher competencies can account for increases of nearly 10% in student achievement. Over a 12-year span in primary and secondary education, being taught by an effective teacher will greatly increase students’ chances of success.

To support teacher effectiveness and growth, educators should engage in a robust, ongoing professional learning community. An integral pairing with professional learning is a productive teacher evaluation process. When implemented within a healthy school culture, evaluations can improve instructional practices and increase teacher confidence.

What are teacher evaluations?

Teacher evaluations are the steps taken within a formal process to assess a teacher’s skills and abilities. The elements within an evaluation vary, but they usually focus on a teacher’s pedagogical knowledge, classroom practices, communication, professionalism, and ability to maintain a safe learning environment. The ultimate purpose of any evaluation is to improve classroom instruction. This is not possible if the entire process is one annual observation with limited feedback. Teacher evaluations should be a complete system built to work in tandem with professional development within a school culture of trust.

Similar to an evaluation in any line of work, a teacher evaluation includes an observation(s) of a teacher by a school leader with a formal outcome. In some cases, the outcome is numerical or a categorical label (i.e., 1-4 or Emerging-Proficient-Distinguished). Effective systems will rely on multiple points of data, which might include classroom observations, participation on leadership teams, collaboration with colleagues, or adherence to professional ethics. A school leader will share the process with a teacher, ensure the required elements are completed, and provide feedback to finalize the evaluation. There is a wide range of evaluation systems within the United States, and each has its own level of effectiveness.

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How have teachers historically been evaluated?

Decision-making regarding teacher evaluation systems historically fell to each state, and as such, there were wide-ranging practices. Unfortunately, the majority of these practices included evaluations based on as little as one classroom observation or one teacher meeting at the end of the school year. Teachers might have been asked to produce documentation of their instructional practices; however, there was no focus on the impact of these practices on student learning.

In the late 20th century, falling test scores prompted the federal government to increase its presence through the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and later the Race to the Top initiative (2009). Concerns about declining test scores among international students prompted the government to tie evaluation systems to numerical student results. Whereas in the past a teacher evaluation focused on the individual educator, the new systems expanded to include components measured using specific data (e.g., standardized test scores).

For nearly 15 years, state systems were influenced by these laws and financial incentives from Washington D.C. The results were underwhelming, as it became clear that emphasizing numerical student outcomes could reflect which students are in a class rather than teacher practices. For example, if the same teacher was evaluated on standardized reading scores in a class serving English language learners compared to a classroom of native English speakers, the students’ scores could be drastically different, even though the teacher was the same. Almost immediately, lawsuits were filed by educators around the country over the fair application of these measures in the teacher evaluation process.

The Every Child Succeeds Act (2015) shifted the emphasis from student outcomes to teacher pedagogy and skills. This act also shifted full control of teacher evaluation processes back to the states. To avoid a return to evaluations that rely on a single observation or meeting, it was recommended that new teacher evaluation systems draw on a variety of data sources, including classroom observations, coaching cycles, student growth measures, and teacher-designed professional learning goals.

How are teachers evaluated to support growth?

As each state has developed its own teacher evaluation system over the last decade, there have been strides toward expanding processes to include multiple measures of teacher and student performance. Emphasis has been placed on considering teacher evaluations in teacher recruitment, development, and retention. To support this mindset shift, teachers and school leaders will need to take a positive view regarding the possibility of collaboration. When evaluations are perfunctory, biased, or one-sided, teachers can become disillusioned with the process.

To combat negative stigmas, school leaders should take measures to ensure that visibility and presence in classrooms are parts of the school culture. A dedication to a complete teacher evaluation system will take time and resources. It is critical that leaders invest in the process to demonstrate their commitment to teachers and professional growth. School leaders should block time in their schedule to walk the hallways and visit classrooms informally before any official evaluation steps occur. Teachers will need to acclimate to an environment where adult visitors in their classroom are the norm. Easing the pressure associated with observations and feedback is the foundation needed for later success.

Another necessary step will be clarity within school expectations and evaluation processes. At the district and individual school levels, leaders will need to ensure alignment exists between the stated goals, the evaluation system, and the associated measurement criteria. It would be a mistake to set goals related to classroom engagement without an element of the evaluation process that speaks to this skill set. Teachers will need clear markers for measurement and success.

Within the evaluation process, all parties need to adopt a self-reflective attitude. Feedback from observations and ongoing data collection will provide the basis for conversations about all aspects of teaching and leading. With an understanding of shared goals, a dedication to open communication, a clear evaluation system, and associated professional learning opportunities, schools can make great gains in student understanding.

5 Tips for Making Teacher Evaluations More Effective

1. Make it a Collaborative Process

All staff members should be included in an evaluation system. Regardless of the title or role, the adults in a school building are there to improve the lives of children. It is important to honor their work by recognizing their strengths as well as areas for improvement. Provide teachers and support staff with a voice in all steps of the process.

2. An Evaluation System is a Continuous Process

Any new plans or modifications to an existing evaluation system should include multiple components throughout the school year. There should be classroom observations, formal evaluation reports, informal conversations, and official conferences. Teachers should be given multiple opportunities to demonstrate their skills and to discuss goals and feedback with their evaluators.

3. The Evaluation Process Should Be Supported with Actionable Feedback

Leaders should identify a variety of methods to assess teachers’ skills and areas for growth. With these areas in mind, leaders can share feedback in written and verbal formats. It is imperative that feedback be actionable and include specific details for skill development.

4. Provide Teacher Access to Coaching, Mentors, and Pedagogical Experts

Educators will be expected to use feedback to improve their instructional practices. To support this growth, teachers should have access to human resources as part of their professional learning opportunities. In some schools, this could include content area specialists or instructional coaches. However, all schools have access to effective teachers within their building. Leaders should consider how to tap into supporting teacher leaders.

5. Integration of Professional Learning and Shared Goals into the Evaluation Process

Each school district and individual school should have a clear understanding of the shared goals for a year or a multi-year period. With the goals in mind, feedback from evaluations can be paired with meaningful and timely professional learning. For example, if a school has set a literacy goal based on Lexile levels, any classroom observations should focus on teachers’ practices that support this goal. Then feedback provided at follow-up conversations and conferences can hone a teacher’s understanding for growth. Finally, professional learning should be created in response to real-time needs.

The most effective teacher evaluation system will be one that fits within a school culture dedicated to collaboration. Teachers and leaders working together on school and professional goals will inevitably lead to student growth. Leaders should consider the full picture when implementing observations and evaluations to ensure their integration into the school environment.

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5 Strategies for Improving School Attendance

Maggie Lazur — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 18:58:09 +0000

Key takeaways

Chronic absenteeism doesn't exist in isolation. High absenteeism rates, low academic achievement, and social disengagement are so intertwined that addressing one without the others is rarely enough.
Improving school attendance is most effective when schools start with a deliberate focus on personal engagement, strengthening each student's sense of belonging, purpose, and connection to their school community.
When all school staff, families, and community partners work together around the needs of individual students, schools are better equipped to make real, lasting progress.

While the US Department of Education reports that chronic absenteeism rates are slowly improving following a post-pandemic surge, schools continue to face significant challenges with poor attendance. High absenteeism rates, low academic achievement, social disengagement, and high dropout rates are often so intertwined that it can be difficult to determine which is actually the root cause, leaving school leaders searching for strategies to improve school attendance.

Knowing where to start is a challenge in itself. Improving academic achievement depends on consistent attendance, while social-emotional interventions can take years to show results. Research and resources from K-12 online learning platforms confirm that student engagement is central to student success. Studies show that strategies focused on personal engagement — such as mentoring and building strong home-school connections — have immediate positive effects on student outcomes. For this reason, efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism may work best when schools start with a deliberate focus on strengthening students’ sense of belonging, purpose, and connection.

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5 Strategies for Improving School Attendance

1. Get the Right People in the Room

The first strategy is one of the simplest, yet most overlooked: get the right people in the room. Rather than limiting these conversations to teachers and administrators, invite bus drivers, cafeteria workers, instructional assistants, counselors, and coaches, as these adults often know students in ways the classroom never reveals. Together, your team should build a complete picture of each at-risk student: what they’re good at, what they care about, and who they trust. That knowledge isn’t just background information; it’s the raw material for interventions rooted in personal engagement and genuine connection.

2. Build School-Wide Routines that Create a Culture of Attendance

The second strategy is to build school-wide routines that create a culture of attendance before problems take hold. Schools that wait for absenteeism to surface are already behind. Small, consistent habits built into the school day can shift the culture early.

For students in preschool through second grade, teachers should greet each student by name and check in using visual feelings charts or soft start routines. At this age, feeling seen each morning can be the difference between a child who looks forward to school and one who doesn’t. For older students, morning meetings, advisory periods, and peer-connected recognition programs are natural opportunities to build attendance-focused routines – acknowledging improvement, not just perfection. Across all grade bands, celebrating attendance milestones through announcements or classroom recognition sends a clear message: showing up matters.

3. The Right People in the Building Taking Deliberate Action

The third strategy is perhaps the most personal: the adults in your building taking deliberate action to re-engage students who are losing their connection to school. What often makes the real difference is a single trusted adult who consistently shows up for a student.

Teachers can start small with a check-in at the door, a flexible seating option, or a low-pressure catch-up routine that lets a returning student ease back in without embarrassment. Counselors can offer support and work directly with families to find out what’s getting in the way. The school nurse can address chronic health concerns and facilitate a doctor referral when needed, removing a barrier that no attendance plan ever touched.

Support staff can play a critical role, too. A phone call that feels like a conversation rather than a consequence, or a connection to a local food pantry or family success center, can shift a family’s entire relationship with the school.

At every level, it comes down to the same thing: personal engagement. Not paperwork, not policy — people.

4. Deploy Supports for Chronic Absenteeism

The fourth strategy is for students whose absences have become severely chronic and who need a whole-school response that pulls every available resource around that child and their family.

Administrators should arrange a home visit or virtual meeting as a gesture that communicates urgency without blame. Teachers can modify expectations so reentry feels manageable rather than overwhelming. A simple reentry meeting with a staff member and parent present gives the student a supported way back in. Every severely chronically absent student should have an assigned mentor adult in the building, and a peer buddy on reentry days can make the transition feel less daunting.

When individual efforts fall short, the team must come together formally. A multidisciplinary team should develop a wraparound support plan, and the I&RS team should lead a formal review for long-term supports. When circumstances exceed what the school can handle, such as housing instability, safety concerns, or family crises, referrals to DCP&P, community housing support, or crisis response teams may be necessary. Throughout it all, keep the student included in class or school recognition. It’s a small thing that signals they still belong here.

5. Celebrate Presence

The fifth strategy shifts attention from responding to absence to celebrating presence. Morning announcements, hallway displays, or classroom streak charts tell students that showing up is noticed. Sticker charts and small rewards work well for younger students. For older students, a genuine shout-out from a coach or a note home often lands harder than any certificate.

Celebrate progress, not just perfection. A student who went from missing three days a week to missing one has done something worth acknowledging — and saying so out loud matters.

Figuring out how to improve school attendance isn’t a problem any single strategy, person, or program can solve. But when schools treat attendance as everybody’s business – every adult, every family, every student – things start to change. These five strategies won’t look identical in every building, but the goal behind each one is the same: create a place where students want to show up, feel noticed when they do, and are genuinely missed when they don’t.

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School Budgeting Guide: Strategies for Educational Leadership

Dr. Becky Cahill — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 12:10:19 +0000

Key takeaways

To maximize student achievement, money should be spent in ways that support a school's improvement plan.
School leaders will need to understand where funding comes from and how it can be spent in accordance with federal, state, and local guidelines.
Schools should develop a plan to consider short-term versus long-term spending.

Budgeting is a complex aspect of school leadership that is often considered after instructional decision-making. It is evident that money should be spent to support learner growth and achievement, but what is less clear is how much money each school will have, which funds can be used for different purposes, and how funding will fluctuate in the future.

School budgeting should be an intentional part of planning for each school year, as funds must be clearly earmarked in advance. This will prevent a school from running out of money before the school year ends. In addition to planning for a single school year, leaders should develop a multi-year plan to address larger cost items.

Understanding School Budgeting

In the United States, roughly 90% of school funds are provided at the state or local district. Historically, federal financial support has focused on at-risk or low-income students. These funds are regulated by the title under which they were created, i.e., Title II or Title IX. Each state department of education has its own formula for funding districts; these formulas use different data points to determine how much per-student funding a local board of education can expect to receive.

The remaining funding is determined at the local level and is based on taxes. This can be a combination of property and sales taxes. At the district level, the largest expenditures are payroll (salaries and benefits), instructional materials (curriculum and technology), and operational costs (building maintenance and transportation). Each school district will then allot a certain amount of money to an individual school.

At the local school level, funds received will be used to support instruction. This could include areas such as professional learning, classroom supplies, supplemental curriculum materials, field trips, and staff morale. Individual schools can also supplement their budget with support from a parent-teacher organization, fundraising, business partners, or community donations.

Each school year, there will be numerous requests for financial support. The most important question for each expenditure should be: “Does it support a specific goal of the school?” If the answer is no, the request should be at least postponed, if not outright denied. If the answer is yes, the request should be considered. A fair consideration should include a comparison with other possible solutions.

School leaders will be tasked with making budget decisions ahead of the school year. Working closely with a bookkeeper, the principal or administrative team will create line items in as many categories as necessary. It is a sound practice to create items with specific purposes to avoid spending money that is actually designated for a particular use.

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Receiving and Allocating Funds

It can be helpful to think of an individual school budget planning as a group of buckets. Each bucket will have a source of money. The source is important because oftentimes, there are stipulations on how money can be spent. For example, state money, given to a district and then divided among schools, can often be spent only on items that directly support student learning. This could include materials such as workbooks, supplemental curriculum, or class sets of books. In this instance, state funding would be in a state-instructional bucket.

Funds derived from local taxes might face fewer restrictions. In that case, a leader might have access to a teacher-celebration bucket. These funds could cover drinks and snacks for teachers at a meeting or the cost of lunch during an appreciation week. Another bucket could include purchasing supplies for student incentives. Although items such as those found in a school store can help motivate students, these are not considered instructional and, as such, are usually the responsibility of the individual school. Another high individual cost will be professional development. Although one could argue that ongoing teacher development directly impacts student learning, state funds are often off-limits for meeting these teacher needs. Professional learning is a broad term that can include conferences, webinars, planning days, and the cost of subs for educators attending these events.

Many individual schools benefit from the support of parent-teacher organizations/associations or booster clubs. The additional funding from these types of partnerships can extend beyond the school walls to include areas such as sports fields, playgrounds, and overall campus beautification. Additional money can also be raised through offering after-school programs or selling food items during the day.

When considering the sources for school budget planning, the importance of local funding becomes obvious. Property taxes and the involvement of outside supporting organizations create significant differences between schools based on homeowners’ income levels and the amount of disposable income available to a PTO/PTA or booster club. Essentially, the state will fund districts using a formula that takes only some of the community circumstances into account. It is then the responsibility of a local district or individual school to secure revenue to support school initiatives. This creates a wide disparity between schools within the state and even some within the same district.

5 Tips for School Budgeting

Once a school leader has a clear picture of the money available to spend and the school’s needs and goals, they can begin to create a short-term plan for the year, as well as a long-term plan for more expensive items.

1. Divide spending between departments and individual educators

At the end of each school year, meet with department chairs to create a list of needs for each department. The needs of the department or team should be all-encompassing, but it is best practice to allot a set amount for each teacher as well. This is normally a much smaller amount and should be offered to all educators.

2. Keep up with school spending

A school leader should estimate spending in each area and then meet with the bookkeeper at least monthly to account for money brought in and spent during that period. There are usually general funds available to be reallocated if overspending occurs. Some local school districts encourage building leaders to keep a portion of money in reserve from year to year.

3. Develop a multi-year plan for improvements and initiatives

When considering certain improvements, such as an elementary playground, a school could expect a cost of $100,000. In many instances, it is not feasible to spend this much money in a single year. Rather, many schools will fundraise by sharing a goal with the local community.

4. Understand that even the most effective budget will require support from the parents and families

This reality sheds light on the funding gaps that schools may face. Parents might be asked to provide school supplies, pay for field trips, contribute to class celebrations, or pay to cover the cost of joining a sports team.

5. Make sure the budget matches your schools' priorities

At the end of a quarter, semester, school year, or multi-year plan, it should be readily apparent that the bulk of the school’s spending is allocated to its greatest needs. If a school needs to raise literacy scores, then its largest expenditures should be items or supplies that will support improvement for teachers and students, such as platforms for supporting reading comprehension and literacy instruction.

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Thought Leadership | Discovery Education

7 Insights About AI from an Award-Winning Technology Teacher

Good Dog, Good Data: How a Therapy Dog Became an AI Teacher

One Teacher. 1,300 Students. A Completely New Approach to AI Education.

Here are Westerlind’s 8 Insights about AI at the Elementary Level

1. Kids are already using AI, without understanding it.

2. Elementary students are more capable than we assume.

3. AI education is being gatekept for older grades. That’s a mistake.

4. AI literacy must be built on empathy and ethics, not just functionality.

Learn more about Discovery Education’s approach to AI

How Has Technology Changed Education?

Key takeaways

Technology didn't just change the classroom- it changed the role of the teacher.

Having devices at school doesn't matter much if students have nothing to work with at home.

The schools doing this best aren't the ones with the most technology, but the ones using it with purpose.

How has technology changed education over the years?

How has technology improved education?

Data

Student Engagement

Production

Abundance of Resources

Communication

Explore Educational Technology Resources

What are some potential downsides to technology in education?

Interpreting Data

Digital Citizenship

Access

How to Plan Curriculum: A 5-Step Guide for School Leaders

Key takeaways

Curriculum planning is not something you finish; it is something you continuously return to, refine, and improve.

The most effective leaders are intentional ones, making deliberate decisions at every stage of the planning process to create a clearer, more connected learning experience across their schools.

Knowing where your students need to go before your teams begin planning how to get them there is what makes everything else fall into place.

Explore K-12 Curriculum Resources

1. Identify the standards and goals.

2. Determine the scope & sequence.

3. Use backward design to create student assessments.

Explore K-12 Curriculum Resources

4. Review for coherence.

5. Implement, monitor, and revise.

New Teacher Orientation & Onboarding Guide for School Leaders

Key takeaways

New teacher orientation should help new teachers feel welcomed, prepared, and connected from the start.

An effective orientation provides new teachers with practical information, time to build relationships, and a clear understanding of how the school operates.

Support for new teachers should continue beyond orientation to provide guidance throughout the first year.

What is New Teacher Orientation?

Why is New Teacher Orientation Important?

What Should New Teacher Orientation Accomplish?

Explore K-12 Educational Leadership Resources

New Teacher Orientation Sample Agenda

1. Welcome

2. Introductions

3. Building Tour

4. Technology and Systems

5. Classroom Management

6. Communicating with Families and Students

7. Mentor Time and Planning Time

New Teacher Orientation Checklist

Helping Your New Teachers Start Strong

An Educator’s Guide to Annual Strategic Planning for Schools

Key takeaways

Strategic planning should give schools a clear direction by connecting goals to action, budgets, communication, and follow-through.

The most effective strategic plans focus on a small number of meaningful goals that reflect the school’s actual needs, not the latest trend.

Strategic planning for education only works when leaders involve staff, monitor progress, make adjustments, and build on what worked from year to year.

How to Plan and Execute Your Annual Strategic Plan for Your School

Start With Where You Are Now

Focus on a Small Number of Clear Goals

Connect Your Goals to Action

Build the Budget Around the Plan

Involve the People Doing the Work

Communicate the Plan Throughout the Year

Monitor Progress and Adjust

Reflect Before Starting Over

Explore K-12 Educational Leadership Resources

Turning the Plan Into Progress

4 Classroom Activities for Earth Day: Small Steps, Big Impact

Key takeaways

Earth Day learning does not require a full unit or complex materials. Short, intentional classroom activities can spark curiosity, critical thinking, and meaningful conversations about sustainability in just minutes.

Hands-on activities help students see themselves as environmental problem solvers. When students explore waste, innovation, ecosystems, and real‑world challenges, they begin to understand how their everyday choices connect to larger environmental solutions.

Earth Day works best as a starting point, not a one‑day lesson. Classroom-ready resources and ongoing student activities help extend learning beyond April 22 and build lasting habits of environmental stewardship.

Earth Day in Action: Small Steps, Big Impact in the Classroom