The 2025-26 School Year in Review, From Your Point of View

This school year, we heard from you, was a mix of hard-won wisdom, growth, struggles and setbacks, and small, sustaining moments of triumph. 

In no uncertain terms, you reminded us that the work of educating and supporting students, both meaningful and demanding, continues to ask a great deal of you. And despite those demands, you—our community of teachers, school leaders, counselors, and support staff—generously shared honest reflections on what works, what’s weighing on you, and how you navigate the murky middle ground.

The “crisis” of diminishing student attention was a hot-button topic, and unease around classroom tech continued to surface, from screentime concerns to ongoing questions about the role of generative AI in learning. Familiar classroom challenges came into view—in particular, unmanageably large class sizes, work refusal, and disruptive behavior. Along the way, one teacher quietly reminded us that among the day-to-day challenges, the good stories in education can slip by unnoticed—unless we make an effort to seek them out.

Through what you shared, liked, and commented on, you let us know what resonated the most for you this year. We pulled eight of those big ideas, tried-and-true practices, and compelling discussions to revisit here in our end-of-year recap of the 2025-2026 school year, from your point of view. 

On Tech, Are We Listening to Teachers? 

With cell phones severely restricted or effectively banned from classrooms, a new target emerged this school year: classroom technology. 

“Get laptops and tablets out of classrooms now,” declared social scientist Jonathan Haidt on X. “It seems ridiculous to have to say this, but digital distraction is terrible for academic performance,” wrote researcher Jean Twenge in The New York Times, adding that 1:1 device programs in schools are “a failure.” Even celebrities like Hugh Grant and Sophie Winkleman joined the chorus, bemoaning the “onslaught of screens from every possible angle.” 

Noticeably absent from these high-profile exchanges? The professionals most heavily impacted by whatever consensus emerges: K-12 teachers. 

More deliberate use and moderation—rather than total elimination—best serves classrooms, including students with disabilities who rely on assistive tech, many teachers said. “People like to point to the worst-case scenario on either side,” said high school English teacher Marcus Luther. “And none of it benefits the messy middle ground that most teachers are living in.” In Shane Blalock’s high school chemistry classroom, for instance, where students study “things that you cannot physically observe, like atoms,” tools like “PhET, Virtual Science Teacher, Java Labs and Chem Collective are invaluable.”

Public figures like Haidt and Twenge help move these conversations into the mainstream, and concerns that schools’ reliance on tech hasn’t declined post-pandemic have merit. But as districts and state houses across the nation begin to examine the role of technology in education, “teacher voice needs to be more at the forefront,” argues Andrew Marcinek, director of information technology at a preparatory school. 

The Demise of Grammar and Punctuation 

This was not a joyful year for the grammarians of the teaching world. “My middle school students won’t capitalize anything even though we’ve been over it a bajillion times,” remarked discouraged educator Caitlin Barlow on X. The laundry list of grammar sins is long, noted teacher Jacqueline McGuire: “Lack of vocabulary, understanding of complex sentence structure, word usage, pragmatics.”

Artificial intelligence, of course, adds another wrinkle. “AI’s smooth sentences, elegant transitions, and rich vocabulary give the illusion of expansive creativity and individuality,” writes Brookings researcher Rebecca Winthrop in a New York Times op-ed. With an assist from AI, kids can skip right over the painstaking process of understanding sentence mechanics, developing rich vocabulary, and mastering the quirks of punctuation. 

In response to this dire state of affairs, many of you told us you’re going back to teaching the basics.

A Pennsylvania district zeroed in on sentence-level instruction—requiring students to speak and write in complete sentences during discussions, warm-ups, checks for understanding, exit tickets, and homework—and saw remarkable improvements in sixth graders’ writing skills. Former high school English teacher Matthew Johnson narrowed feedback to one skill at a time, assigning a short “comma paper” when students struggled with commas, for example, then giving quick feedback and revision time. Joshua LaFleur, a learning specialist, sharpened word choice by having students select a key word from a text—like "temperate" in Shakespeare's Sonnet 18—brainstorm alternatives, and debate which is most precise, discovering that word choice is "highly intentional, not interchangeable."

Student Attention is Surprisingly Resilient

Students’ dwindling attention span captured headlines this year—though you've been saying it's a problem for quite a while. 

“I have been resigned to work around shortened attention spans rather than work to lengthen them,” wrote one teacher in response to high school teacher Cathleen Beachboard’s article on the topic, which garnered 72,000 views on our website. “25 years teaching and I see it big time,” noted another educator, responding to a Washington Post article about the issue. “I get maybe one minute, if I’m lucky, then we have to get into an activity. They cannot pay attention; they cannot follow more than two directions at a time.” 

The attention crisis, as major publications including The New Yorker and The Atlantic identified it, also gained traction among high-profile public figures such as Jonathan Haidt, who proclaimed on X that “the widespread diminishment of the human capacity to pay attention” as a result of a screen-based childhood is more harmful than rising mental health concerns. 

Not so fast, argued psychology professor Daniel Willingham, noting that “the evidence for that is weak.” In fact, there’s little proof, writes science journalist David Adam in Scientific American, that the brain’s “fundamental ability to concentrate has been impaired.” Yes, devices are “degrading [students’] ability to deploy attention effectively,” Willingham writes, making it harder to sustain focus on challenging learning tasks. But “like physical stamina, mental stamina requires exercise,” psychologist Adam Grant posted on X, sounding a hopeful note. “Your attention span isn’t fixed. It increases with practice.” 

That’s where many of you agree with the science—while wishing that circumstances were different. “Yes, building attention is challenging with a class full of students at various levels of attention and stamina,” commented veteran educator Jay S. on our site. But much like coaching runners, “the drills and workouts you provide usually result in Personal Records for runners—and growth for your students.” 

Why Admins Need to Have Teachers’ Backs

In May, Louisiana principal Jared Lamb posted a call to action: “We’ve normalized letting one student ruin learning for 30 others.” When kids misbehave at Lamb’s charter school, administrators remove them from the classroom “so teachers can teach.” 

Lamb’s take went viral, with 8,000 enthusiastic comments across multiple posts. “One student in a class can derail the whole day for the other 28 students, teacher, and aides. Glad to see there's a principal out there realizing there's a problem—and doing something about it,” commented ana.stark1956. “It's not just about making the teacher's life easier,” added Sean Happel in the thread. “It's about fostering a conducive learning environment for the other 29 kids, who DESERVE to have that.”

Handling classroom misbehavior gobbles up hours of teaching time. In a 2024 survey of more than 1,000 Delaware educators, for example, teachers reported losing 7 to 10 instructional hours each month to managing “student outbursts.” Aggravating matters, 60 percent of respondents said they lack support from administration and are often expected to handle misbehavior independently. “I see a lot of people saying ‘just write the student up or send them to admin’,” educator TattedShinobi posted on X. “We aren’t allowed to do that. We have to follow a set of procedures before admin gets involved. I’m on step three of eight, admin does not get involved until step six.” 

Though Lamb clearly struck a nerve, critics such as former principal Adam Voigt pushed back, arguing that he oversimplifies “complex problems like student behavior,” and that teachers “deserve a better level of discourse.” 

Still, Lamb’s viral take had thousands of teachers applauding. “Teachers rarely ask for help. If they do, you know they need it,” commented Jporter82. “I did it today, and I was backed by my vice principal,” commented bowsergrammaof8. “It’s a great feeling when they have your back.”

Inside the Growing AI Backlash 

Artificial intelligence will become “part of how work is done,” proclaimed former Google CEO Eric Schmidt to a room full of University of Arizona graduates this spring. Loud boos rained down from the crowd—a response echoed by graduates from California to Florida. 

The negative sentiments aren’t limited to the class of 2026. In a nationwide survey of Gen Z students by noted psychologist Angela Duckworth, 74 percent use a chatbot at least once a month—but 79 percent say they’re concerned the tool negatively impacts their development. “Many think it’s not good for them,” Duckworth told us this year, “and many worry it’s making them lazy and stupid.”

Teachers are uneasy, too. Across our channels, you worried about how AI—and its ability to solve problems, summarize texts, and gin up essays—alters students’ relationship to learning. “How do we help students find and retain a sense that the work of learning is the whole point, and the knowing of the thing—while terribly useful—is the least important part of the whole enterprise?” writes educator Laura T. on a recent Teacher2Teacher forum. 

Complicating the picture, teachers feel woefully unprepared to face these questions. In a national survey of over 2,000 K-12 teachers, 82 percent reported not receiving formal guidance on how to apply AI to their instruction, especially around grading, feedback, and one-to-one support. This lack of guidance makes it hard to know what AI should—and shouldn’t—be used for. “The technology moves so fast,” high school teacher Ray Yanek told Ed Week, that without guidance, “we, as the teachers, are going to be so far behind that 8-ball.” 

The challenge of this moment, MIT researcher Justin Reich told us in an interview last fall, isn’t how kids should use AI, it’s how to make sure they retain the ability to think critically and make decisions for themselves. “It could be true that the most important thing schools can do right now is continue doing the things they’re already good at doing,” Reich said.

Classrooms Are Crowded—Can We Talk About Seating?

Whenever we publish articles about classroom seating plans, as we did in August and March, you message us in droves about a hugely vexing issue: class size. 

"Lovely idea, BUT find a school that actually has rooms large enough for 34 desks + 5 large tables," commented Jane Schuster on our Facebook page. “It is unfortunate that teachers have to plan for 34 students in a classroom,” noted Ted Czarnecki. “Teaching and learning could be so much more effective and rewarding with smaller class sizes.” 

The urgent and systemic need to reduce class size in order to improve instructional effectiveness—and let’s be real: sustain teacher well-being—cannot be ignored. When Education Week surveyed nearly 6,000 educators on the topic of teacher morale, 51 percent said smaller class sizes would significantly improve it. The ideal class size, teachers overwhelmingly agreed, is 19 kids—even though most clock an average of 25 to 31 students. 

Some states are making inroads. After lengthy negotiations, the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools agreed to reduce class sizes across the grade span. New York City has a five-year plan to limit classes to 20 students in kindergarten through third grade and 25 in high school, as reported by Chalkbeat. Meanwhile, other states are inching towards similar goals. Michigan’s State Board of Education passed a resolution in 2025 urging the state to mandate capping class sizes at all grade levels.

In the meantime, many of you described how you’re making the most of the space you have. Educator Susan Jane Craine Long experimented with a cluster layout for her eighth-grade class which has “FAR too many students for the size of the room.” She placed one high-performing student, one low performer, and two from the middle in each cluster. “The kids LOVED it! Work improved amazingly!” With a similar can-do attitude, Kristen Anderson tried Tyler Rablin’s seating plan for her class (which has 32 desks), reporting back on Facebook, “I have a pretty small room, and it's a pinch, but I've done it now for three weeks and love it.” 

We’re Teachers, Not Magicians 

The problem of student work refusal, you told us this school year, is as acute as ever. 

“I have about five boys spread throughout several classes who just won’t do anything and are okay with an F,” commented exasperated teacher AJ Johnson when we reposted a high-performing 2024 article about work refusal this spring. “I have students, quite bright ones, who are happy just coasting. It’s so frustrating to see,” added Sophie Jameela Handy on Facebook. “I tell parents: These grades do not reflect your child’s intelligence. They reflect the work your child chose to do,” said educator Sean Scullin. 

Among the more than 450 comments the article amassed, we found candid insights into how work refusal manifests inside classrooms. As early as kindergarten, educator Dawn Waters Truesdale “regularly [has] students who refuse to do work.” In middle school, apathy is the “biggest problem,” adds educator Leigh Ann Harris, and “no professional development has addressed this.” And while some kids disengage quietly, others “disrupt the entire class,” notes special education teacher Alicia Beachem. Closely tied to the issue is the increasing volume and complexity of students’ behavioral and mental health needs, which teachers lack the time or expertise to respond to. Simultaneously, external factors—lack of sleep, work or home responsibilities—are often in direct competition with motivation and engagement, notes high school biology teacher Sarah Latimer, though she still works hard to make her lessons “understandable, interesting, and relevant.” 

One piece of the puzzle that’s often left out is the role of reciprocity—teachers aren’t magicians, after all. “I grow very weary of this mentality that reflexively assumes problems with behavior or academic achievement are always a result of something a teacher or school is doing wrong,” wrote high school teacher Ted Harris, quickly garnering over 1,000 likes on Facebook. “It’s as if the professional discourse has forgotten that learning is a reciprocal act.” 

Right Now, Let’s Find the Wins

Teaching is hard, and if you blink, you might miss the good stuff. “Sometimes it’s just a look on their face,” says middle school teacher Susan Yergler. “You can see that, at least in this moment, this student is focused. They are trying.”

High school teacher Marcus Luther developed a quick daily practice of flagging those small special moments before they slip by unnoticed, marking them on a calendar at the end of the school day. It’s a simple habit that, when we posted about it on our social channels, stopped the scroll for thousands of educators. “This is brilliant,” commented high school teacher Krista Gypton. “I have a daily gratitude practice and it has made such a difference in my life,” added natalieg717 on Instagram.

Noticing and naming what’s going well—a strategy rooted in research on positive psychology—can be a powerful lever for well-being, according to cognitive scientist and Yale professor Laurie Santos. Our brains are wired to detect the negative—an evolutionary instinct that protected our ancient ancestors, yet this practice is “training your attention” to find the bright spots, Santos noted on a recent episode of our podcast, School of Practice. This shapes the lens you bring to your work, which can make a big impact.

The hard conversations about what’s not working in schools should remain front and center, but it’s also worth “stepping into opportunities to share what is good about our work,” says Luther on our Teacher2Teacher forum. In that spirit, we'll get the ball rolling: “My middle school just put on its first-ever school musical, and it was a success!” educator Debra Wilson shared. Meanwhile, in high school English teacher Jimmy Click’s classroom, a previously “horribly anxious” student bravely gave a speech at the end of the semester and “delivered it perfectly.”