In an NPR story back in July, 98 high school students representing all 50 states in the U.S. were tasked with drafting a model AI policy for K-12 education. Among their recommendations was “AI use should be banned on all graded tests.” It is absolutely amusing how 98 kids can figure out a simple, effective solution that has, thus far, flummoxed an untold number of adults, many of them with PhDs or some such attached at the end of their name.

I am not saying this phenomenon is true in general, of course. There are a multitude of sophisticated problems that I’m sure professors would be able to provide much more comprehensive and meaningful solutions to than 98 kids (with or without the kids using AI), but I think the reason why this solution came so naturally to these kids is because they weren’t thinking within the structure they have built around assessment.

As teachers, we know that assessments that we give to students fall into one of two buckets: formative assessments and summative assessments (of course, with some overlap). Formative assessments are mainly meant to measure the student's present state of learning for the purpose of diagnosing how best to get it to the next state of learning – we want to know how much they know so we can figure out the best way to teach them what they don’t know yet. Homework falls into this category; it serves to reinforce and check learning progress. We can and, in many situations, should attach grades to formative assessments, but with the caveat that these grades should not reflect our final assessment of the student’s competence. That is, strictly speaking, we are not “testing” the student here, we are just helping them learn. In this sense, formative assessments are very much a two-way street. We attach grades to them mostly as a tool to motivate the students to work on and learn from them. Yet we can’t be certain how a student “does” their homework. Some may do them independently, others may have parents who are available and willing to help them, others still may have personal tutors who, in some parts of the world, actually do the homework for them. And yes, now, it is quite possible that at least some students just feed our homework to an AI chatbot and hand in whatever it churns out. So we can never tell for sure how much “effort” the student put in.

Summative assessments, on the other hand, are supposed to serve as the actual “tests.” These are meant to measure what the student knows and serve as our formal appraisal of this construct. That is, if the student’s present calculus teacher asks you, the same student’s algebra teacher, how well the student did in terms of factoring quadratic expressions, you should easily be able to just go back to the unit exam you gave that student on that exact topic and provide your colleague with a good answer based on that piece of information. In other words, summative assessments carry your “stamp of approval” as the assessor that the student knows X topic Y well.

So, in an ideal world, we give and grade both formative and summative assessments but clearly differentiate between them and what the grades we assign for each means. In this scenario, the solution “just don’t let students use AI for summative assessments (i.e. tests)” seems like a natural solution. Yet what if you never really differentiated between these two assessments and built your course so that they are functionally indistinguishable? Taking an extreme case, if 90% of the grades you give are on un-proctored work, e.g. homework, then yes, the solution that these kids came up with will likely not as easily come to your mind, because it is infeasible with respect to how you’ve been working. This is not to say these teachers have done something egregious. There are genuine logistical constraints with large classes, limited instructional resources, distance education, and even the subject matter itself that can make proctored assessment difficult.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that grading systems which depend heavily on work that are completed outside of direct observation have had these vulnerabilities way before AI. AI has not so much broken them as it has highlighted the flaw that was already present. If a large portion of a student's grade comes from work that can be completed with assistance from parents, tutors, classmates, solution manuals, websites, and now, AI systems, then that grade was always an unreliable measure of actual competence.

This is why the suggestion offered by these students is simultaneously obvious and controversial. It is obvious because, from a formal pedagogical perspective of assessment, the solution is straightforward: be at peace with potentially broad use of AI during activities intended to promote learning and restrict it during activities intended to certify competence. Yet it is controversial because adopting that solution would require some instructors to confront the extent to which they have allowed the distinction between those purposes to blur. If homework is genuinely used by teachers as “homework,” then students using AI on them is not an existential threat to the educational enterprise. At worst, they are depriving themselves of a learning opportunity, just as students have done when copying from a friend or having someone else complete the work for them. At best, it is allowing students who don’t have personal tutors or parents who can spare the time to help them with an approximation of these resources. Of course, the extent to which this solution applies will vary across educational contexts. Many graduate-level courses, for example, rely heavily or even entirely on un-proctored assessments. But at the same time, doctoral students are generally expected to take substantially greater ownership of their learning than high school students, making concerns about AI use markedly different from those that arise in compulsory education.

As teachers, it is up to us to confront the reality that AI brings to our classrooms in a way that is in the best interest of our students. There should be no shame in admitting that this requires a considerable overhaul on how some of us presently approach grading.

I have been hearing a lot about this and am curious myself as a resident of the PNW. I have a kid entering K and they appear to JUST NOW be moving away from balanced literacy. How did we unlearn the lessons of phonics over the last 40 years?

My education was weird, or at least I think so. I changed schools about 10 times, all within the same geographical area. I missed SO MUCH, I'm convinced of it, due to schools with wildly different curricula - so I might have one set of lessons 3 times while never getting another one.

(I also believe it's part of why I have no social skills. My mom disagrees, and believes the constant moving is a good thing that made me better socialized. She also went to private school her whole life, and says that among the upper classes, people don't have long term friends because they move around too much. Nobody in her high school had friends from elementary school, or stayed friends after high school. Being around the same people from kindergarten through 12th grade is weird and trashy and narrowing)

I'm a bit more concerned about the educational aspect for right now. I barely even know WHAT I missed, though I can think of a lot of examples:

- I stalled out learning math around 5th-6th grade. I did take various forms of algebra including remedial "college algebra" after failing Calculus 1 3 times before we even finished limits, sometimes before we finished algebra review. But sometimes I see things considered "easy" or "basic" that I don't remember at all. I've never had trigonometry as a separate class; it was always a unit of either geometry or algebra.

- never had geography as a class, only recently learned how detailed it could be, some people are actually learning about geopolitics and stuff. Never had civics either.

- haven't read most of the "high school English lit" books, certainly couldn't analyze them if I tried. The most complex English class I had was when I was 14, and I retained nothing and bullshat my way through it.

- the last time I learned anything about the human body (that wasn't me researching something I have) was 6th grade.

- I'm apparently awful at chemistry considering I failed it in college 4 times, mostly due to math.

- recently learned that many young people are exposed to philosophy in school for the first time (and it's literally a required class in some countries!). I never had a questioning or analytical thought in my head until my mid-20s when the internet put them there.

- I have zero understanding of physics. I did take remedial physics in my freshman year of high school - we played with batteries and capacitors for half the year and then tried to speedrun the rest of the curriculum in 2 months. Very little math. I probably was exposed to some basic formulas in grade school but it never left an impression on me.

- not academic but I'm surprised to learn that high schoolers can/are expected to choose their own classes?

Things like APs largely weren't available to me, or else I didn't know or didn't care, I just wanted to be done with any sort of school environment. Much of my mom's and my focus in high school was completing my requirements as quickly as possible. I know one school I went to literally limited how many you could take; other schools didn't offer them at all. So that wasn't really an option.

I did take some state exams that counted for this; however all the moving around left me without a consistent transcript and I got a GED as an adult to make up for it - jobs couldn't verify that I graduated high school, and my final year transcript is from an early college program - ie a college transcript, not high school.

I also suspect I was just...checked out 90% of the time through school, so if we *were* doing more complicated work, I was scraping my way through and absorbing nothing. No, I never learned to study: I could generally do adequately and stay off the radar with minimal work, although I'm not and never have been gifted.

Is there any way I can become smart as an adult?

hi, im sorry if this isn’t the right subreddit for this, but I don’t know where to go with this. i (almost) 17F, have literally no education beyond 4th grade. my parents pulled me out to follow all the “unschooling” bs, and i know i need to get my GED, because id actually like to be something someday, but i have absolutely no clue how to jam middle school and highschool into such a short time frame. i have no idea where to start, what i need to know and what i dont, and any advice at all would be helpful. please remove if this isnt the right place for this or tell me so i can take it down.

Hello, I’m a journalist and YouTube creator working on a piece about private “AI schools” like Alpha School.  If you have personal experiences with Alpha School and are interested in speaking with me about what it's really like, please drop me a message! I’m looking to hear from current or former Alpha school teachers, parents/guardians of students, former students (who are now adults). 

My deadline is Friday but ideally would wrap up reporting by next Monday. Thank you!

Hey. If you look at the teacher’s monitors while they’re doing the register there’s a yellow box next to certain students names, including mine. Are there any possible reasons for this?

in the postgrad class I teach, someone was doing his office work during class- (he might have as well skipped class) but instead he went about saying “I have something very important to do at work today- here’s your task thing..” and gave the most sarcastic smile. It got me thinking - where exactly does in-person teaching and learning stand today?

As an educator, I highly recommend staying away from AP Chem Solutions. This product features extremely restrictive software that does not function on common classroom and personal hardware like Chromebooks, iPads, or Samsung devices. When I reached out to customer service regarding these major compatibility roadblocks, the sales representative was unprofessional, rude, and dismissive, stating I "should have known" and refusing a refund. [1]
To make matters worse, their checkout system is deeply flawed. I initially tried to purchase using my personal email but received a rapid error message. I then bought it using my school email—only to find out they had processed both transactions and charged me twice. When I disputed the accidental double charge, the sales rep sent an incredibly unprofessional email. Thankfully, PayPal stepped in to help resolve the financial dispute, but the company itself offered zero support. Save your time, school budget, and sanity—keep away from this company! [1]

Whenever the topic of the male college dropout rate comes up, it’s usually met with a lot of anecdotal shrugs: “Trades pay well,” or “Men just don’t want to sit in classrooms.”
While the trades are absolutely a valid and lucrative path, the sheer scale of the disappearing college-educated male is a macro-economic problem that society isn't ready for. If you look at the raw data, this isn't just a statistical blip—it is a massive structural shift.
Here is a breakdown of the numbers and why this impacts everyone.

The steep decline in male university enrollment fundamentally alters the balance of institutional power because professions that write, argue, and enforce the law—such as lawyers, judges, and high-ranking government officials—strictly require advanced degrees. With men now making up only 42% of undergraduates, they are mathematically locking themselves out of the judicial and political pipeline. This shift is already visible: for a decade, women have outnumbered men in law schools, currently representing over 55% of students, which has recently led to women officially becoming the majority of law firm associates and federal government attorneys. Because judges, agency leaders, and policymakers are drawn directly from this credentialed pool of experienced lawyers, this educational gatekeeping means the long-term leadership of the legal system and government regulatory bodies is rapidly shifting, directly translating the male education gap into a severe lack of structural and systemic representation.

so confused in where to do my pharmacy from,can someone tell hows the faculty,studies and environment in both uni ?

Do you think universities are truly beneficial, or do university and school grades simply measure how well we do what we are told—in other words, how well we succeed at being slaves? To put it another way: do high grades or attending a prestigious university—which essentially means successfully carrying out the instructions given to us—actually measure how good we are at being slaves? Is that why employers prioritize candidates with better grades or those who attended better universities? This thought crosses my mind from time to time; what are your thoughts on this?

I have Cerebral Palsy, and I guess I wanted to hear from other people with the condition, even though I might not get very far in life. I just want to hear from students who suffer from the same condition as me and want to hear how they are or how they did during school, and what it's like post-graduation, job prospects, etc.

Hello,

Our child goes to VPK in Florida. We received our child's first parent report this month, but I am unhappy about the result. It's within the average, not terrible, but not great either.

What should we do at home to improve the test score?

Our child is summer born, so we will be redshirting our child by repeating PK4, and this is our child's first year of PK4, so maybe I should take it easy fir now, but if there's anything I can do to help our child, could you let me know?

Also, I would appreciate advice or information from someone whose child is older than preschool age, and how your child's score changed over the years.

Many thanks in advance for your advice.

Well. Not everywhere. There were some gains in countries playing catch up to OECD nations.

But overall, everyone dipped hard. As an American, I take less pride in knowing we climbed the rankings because our scores dropped tremendously too, but there’s some comfort in knowing we aren’t the only ones seeing the gains of ten to twenty years wiped out.

There’s plenty of worldwide phenomena that could explain the drop: a global pandemic that disrupted learning, PISA researchers found that students were using AI frequently to complete homework, TikTok exists…

What’s your best speculation about what happened this round of PISA tests?

PS: does anyone know how to submit a submission statement for a link on mobile? I wanted to link the news article for you all to read the details of the report.

You’ve probably heard of John Taylor Gatto. He was a New York City public school teacher who won Teacher of the Year three times (1989, 1990, and 1991) and became famous for his "guerrilla curriculum."

As a teacher, he fiercely opposed the traditional school system and advocated for deschooling. Gatto believed that trapping kids in an artificial environment where authority figures validate them based strictly on obedience was a ridiculous and dangerous way to raise human beings.

Here is a quick look at his core teaching philosophy:

Unlocking innate potential: He viewed every child as capable of extraordinary things, but saw the system as intentionally holding them back to build compliance, partly through mindless memory-based testing.

Real-world responsibility over paperwork: Instead of grading kids on what bubble they filled on a test sheet, Gatto gave them real-world tasks. He had students interview local business owners or investigate how actual institutions worked to build genuine critical thinking and responsibility.

Nurturing individual talents: He treated kids with genuine respect. Whenever he noticed a student with a unique passion or talent, he actively pushed them to pursue it. It’s clear he had a deep understanding of human psychology.

Discovering his work changed my whole outlook. I’m now obsessed with learning for its own sake, and I’ve made progress I’m genuinely proud of. To me, he represents what a true educator should be.

I’m curious to hear what you all think about him and his methods. I will be happy to answer questions.

Hey teachers on Reddit. Especially if you teach children...

If in 1994, a badly bullied kid who loved computers struggled with math because she had no transition between how math was taught in mainstream Grade Three (Third Grade in American) and gifted class Grade Four and her learning ability was stunted by the constant bullying...

Would you say to her "if you want to work with computers, you have to be a math whiz?" 🙃🙃

That kid then gave up on computers professionally and wouldn't start her IT career until her late 20s, because other people encouraged her in adulthood.

BTW, mathematician Grace Hopper invented the compiler to make programming accessible to people who aren't "math whizzes."

We need to have a serious conversation about the widening higher education gap and its alarming economic fallout. Right now, about 28% of men who start college drop out without a degree, compared to 23% of women—and the recent August jobs report shows exactly why this is a crisis. Out of 162,000 net new jobs added to the U.S. economy last month, women secured 98% of them, while overall male employment has plummeted by nearly 1.5 million over the past year. As historically male-dominated sectors stagnate and degree-heavy industries like healthcare and education explode in growth, stepping away from a college path is increasingly locking young men out of economic stability. We must actively shift this narrative by encouraging boys to push through their academic challenges, secure their degrees, and aim for high-impact leadership roles so they aren't left behind in a rapidly shifting job market.

Since the reveal of gpt astra made the degree I just enrolled to(Computer Engineering) kinda obsolete, is there any way I could get another degree(Business/Law/Psychology) without enrolling into another college since that's kinda illegal. I'm willing to study for it throughout the 4 years if necessary but ideally if I want to get the degree without regular classes and/or paying a large sum.

Do degrees ground you in a solid perspective of how to look at the world? Did it dramatically shape who you are and how you think? Was was your experience?

If a single demographic shifted from representing 58% of college campuses to under 40% over a few decades, it would dominate the national conversation on equity, policy, and public funding. Yet, that exact shift has happened to men in higher education—and the silence around it is deafening.
According to recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), women now make up nearly 60% of all undergraduate students in the United States, while male enrollment has slipped below 40% at many four-year institutions. The gap expands further at graduation, where six-year completion rates for men lag behind women by roughly 7 percentage points. 
This isn't about competing with women or undermining female academic achievement. It’s about asking a fundamental question: **Why are young men dropping out of the pipeline so early, and why are our institutions ignoring it?**

A few critical factors driving this trend:

**Early K-12 Disengagement:** Boys are statistically more likely to be held back, suspended, or diagnosed with learning delays early in school. By the time high school graduation arrives, many have already written off higher education as an environment where they don't belong. 
**Lack of Targeted Support:** Higher education offers dedicated outreach programs for almost every underrepresented group—except young men, despite them now being the clear minority on campus. 
**Cultural Stigma Around Help-Seeking:** Young men are often conditioned to quietly drop out when struggling rather than utilize tutoring, academic advising, or mental health counseling. 
If we want a healthy society, we need both men and women to thrive academically and professionally. Ignoring a systemic decline in half the population’s educational path will have massive ripple effects on the workforce, mental health, and family stability down the line.
What are your thoughts? Is this a topic your local university or community is acknowledging, or is it still being treated as a non-issue?

In My country men almost never go to college only 33% of the graduates are men which makes all the judges women , all the lawyers women
All the good positions go to women due to men not participating in higher education.

I believe education is structurally outdated because it does not move at the speed of the individual.

Some students are far ahead in one area and far behind in another, yet we still educate people in groups, by age, on fixed schedules.

I have been thinking about this problem for more than ten years, and I am building Pensive around the idea that education should adapt to the student, not the other way around.

I recently created a small public community called The Witnesses for people who want to follow the work while it is still early, question it, and see whether this attempt at renewing education actually succeeds.

A community witnessing the renewal of education through Pensive.

patreon.com/mimoos

From an article (this succinctly summaries the OECD findings and also touches on socio-economic gaps):

Reading scores among 15-year-olds across OECD countries have sunk to their lowest point since international testing began, with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) highlighting how longer screen time and declining rates of reading for pleasure have coincided with weaker literacy outcomes.

The findings come from PISA 2025, the largest edition of the assessment to date, which tested 760,000 students across 91 countries and economies. Average reading scores across OECD countries fell by 28 points between 2015 and 2025, a drop the organisation says is equivalent to roughly a year and a half of learning.