Students Who Struggle: Defined

Every school has students who “struggle with math,” but what does that truly mean? In my book, Teaching 6-12 Math Intervention, I define students who struggle as “any student who consistently finds it difficult to understand, engage with, or succeed in mathematics courses.” These are the students who enter math classrooms already convinced they will fail. They carry math anxiety, foundational skill gaps, or repeated experiences of failure that compound into a belief that they “just aren’t math people.”  

Sometimes, they act out, check out, or quietly withdraw. Other times, they appear to comply but are completely lost. It’s not that these students are incapable; it’s that they are stuck in cycles of confusion, fear, and disengagement that make learning math feel impossible.  

Why We Need to Intervene When Students Struggle with Math

When students struggle repeatedly with math in any grade, it becomes a gatekeeper, preventing them from advancing with their peers, keeping them from feeling like confident mathematicians, or placing them into intervention pull-out groups, branding them with the “low group” tag. Even though Algebra 1 might be the most notorious gatekeeper, each and every grade level prior to Algebra 1 plays a role in either closing or opening the gate to success and achievement in mathematics. The reason Algebra 1 carries all the pressure is because it is the final gate to higher academic achievement and success. When students pass Algebra 1, they unlock the gate to higher-level math courses which are needed for high school graduation and college acceptance.  

Knowledge is power, but more specifically, math is power. When we can help students succeed in math at all grade levels, we literally change their educational trajectory. It sounds ridiculous, but as educators, we know it’s true.

So how do we stop this gatekeeping? Before we can jump to action, we must first understand on a deeper level why so many students are struggling with and failing math at such high rates. We must understand the gatekeeping cycles of mathematics.

The Gatekeeping Cycles of Mathematics

There are three cycles that make up the gatekeeping of mathematics, and we can think of these cycles as gates. These gates are in the way of increasing outcomes for students who struggle with math in our current education system. There is a student gate, a teacher gate, and a systemic gate. Some students are stuck behind one gate, repeating the cycle over and over again, and some students start within one cycle and get flung around, only to be met with another gate as they find themselves stuck in yet another cycle.

• Student Gate: Math trauma and math anxiety create fear around engaging in math. Students carry these experiences with them, affecting participation, content retention, and confidence.
• Teacher Gate: Teachers, often unconsciously, lower expectations based on diagnostic data resulting in endless remediation rather than grade-level learning. Implicit bias can shape who gets called on, who gets placed in remedial courses, and who feels they belong in advanced mathematics courses.
• Systemic Gate: Structural practices such as deficit labeling (“low kids”) and tracking into remedial classes disproportionately impact students of color, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities. These practices limit students’ access to grade-level content and advanced coursework, perpetuating cycles of underachievement.

From Juliana Tapper’s, Teaching 6-12 Math Intervention (Tapper, 2025): The Gatekeeping Cycles of Mathematics: Made up of a Student Gate, Teacher Gate, Systemic Gate 

Be a Math Gatebreaker

While the gates I’ve identified paint a bleak picture, there is hope. You can become a math gatebreaker. To be a math gatebreaker is to help any student who struggles with math recover their mathematical confidence, find academic success, and achieve at high levels in mathematics; thereby breaking the gates that have held them back. There are three areas of focus for administrators to guide their staff in becoming gatebreakers instead of gatekeepers at all levels of K-12 education.  

#1 Just In Time Intervention

There are two models of math intervention: "Just in Case" and "Just in Time."  

• Just in case fills all the holes students have, just in case they missed them in prior grade levels.  
• Just in time fills the gaps that are needed for success with immediately upcoming grade-level content.  

Intervention should not mean endless and pointless remediation. Support your teachers in using a "just in time” approach to intervention that fills gaps within the context of grade-level learning instead of wasting their time learning prior grade-level standards that are not essential for grade-level success.  

#2 Focus on Essential Grade Level Content

When you adopt a just in time approach to intervention, your teachers cannot get through the entire curriculum. You must help them understand what is essential for their grade level and what is okay to skip, and then encourage them to skip it (this is very hard for math teachers). Using a resource like Student Achievement Partners Focus by Grade Level is a great starting point.  

#3 Make Content Accessible

This is made up of two parts: what we teach and how we teach it. First, help teachers understand what to teach. When our schools are filled with students who struggle with math and we hand our teachers a newly adopted, high-quality curriculum, it can feel overwhelming and out of reach. The truth is that high-quality curriculum cannot contain prior grade-level standards or content, but the reality is that our students need a scaffold in order to reach the grade-level content in the curriculum. You must allow teachers to create a just in time intervention plan to adequately scaffold to grade-level content because they will not find this in their textbooks.  

Secondly, encourage your teachers to explore how to teach students who struggle. While the math world is currently heavily focused on inquiry-based instruction, I believe the key to becoming a gatebreaker in mathematics is explicit instruction. My Math Wars Method®, outlined in my book as well as my digital PD program, combines elements of gradual release of responsibility, formative assessment, and meaningful collaboration to create an effective, explicit instruction model that boasts an average 46% increase in daily student engagement and 20% higher course pass rates within one semester of implementation.  

I hope this post has provided insight into why students struggle with math and how you—and your staff—can become a math gatebreaker and change the educational trajectory of the students who need it the most. For more tips, strategies, and activities, grab a copy of my book, Teaching 6-12 Math Intervention: A Practical Framework To Engage Students Who Struggle.

References

National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). Mathematics Performance. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved 6/5/24, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cnc.  

Schachter, R. (2013). Solving our algebra problem: Getting all students through algebra I to improve graduation rates. District Administration, 49(5), 43-46.

Tapper, J. (2025). Teaching 6-12 Math Intervention: A Practical Framework To Engage Students Who Struggle. Routledge.

U.S. Department of Education. (1997). Mathematics equals opportunity. [White Paper prepared for U.S. Secretary of Education, Richard Riley, ED 415-119]. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED415119.pdf 

Related Resources

• [Article] To Get Algebra 1 Right, Rethink What Comes Before: Gain an overview of the key predecessor skills for Algebra 1 and learn about the importance of instructional coherence.
• [Webinar] How to Equip Students for High School Math Success: In this panel discussion, learn what the research says about key Algebra 1 predecessor skills and how middle schools can provide targeted instruction.
• Acceleration Toolkit: Get proven strategies and digital resources to close learning gaps, accelerate student growth, and implement targeted interventions in math, reading, and language arts.

Walking away from the ExcelinEd National Summit on Education last month in New Orleans, I found myself reflecting on one word that surfaced repeatedly in conversations, keynote addresses, and breakout sessions: grit.

Grit—sometimes referred to as "the right stuff," mettle, tenacity, or as Elvis Presley famously called it, Taking Care of Business—is a concept that resonates deeply with me. As an elder millennial who grew up in the pre-cellphone era, grit wasn’t an abstract idea; it was a way of life. I had to ring doorbells to find friends, navigate neighborhoods with street smarts, understand the value of a firm handshake, and figure out how to bail myself out of trouble when things didn’t go as planned. In other words, I had to problem-solve. Looking back, that might be the most valuable durable skill I ever developed.

Why Grit Matters

Grit is what propels us forward when circumstances are challenging and the odds seem stacked against us. It’s the ability to use what we have at our disposal—our intellect, creativity, and resilience—to overcome obstacles. Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and father of Stoicism, described this inner strength as the “inner citadel”—a fortress within each of us that keeps the lights on and the engine running, even in the darkest moments.

In education, grit is not just a personal trait; it’s a critical component of success for students. It’s what enables them to persist through rigorous coursework, adapt to new learning environments, and rise to challenges that prepare them for life beyond the classroom. But grit doesn’t develop in isolation. It thrives in environments where expectations are high and support systems are strong.

The Power of Expectations

Reflecting on grit and the idea of expectations, I’m reminded that students expand and contract based on the goals we set for them. When the bar is set high—and when effective supports are in place—the sky truly becomes the limit. Conversely, when we lower the bar, innovation falters, determination has no place to grow, and self-respect becomes void of causal experiences. In short, we nix the grit.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush touched on this in his morning address at the ExcelinEd summit. He emphasized that the absence of expectation doesn’t just reduce a student’s academic potential; it robs them of the opportunity to be tested, to rise to the occasion, and to develop that essential quality of grit. Without challenges, students never discover what they’re truly capable of.

Durable Skills and Career Readiness

Looking ahead to the Career and Technical Education (CTE) initiatives sweeping the nation, grit becomes even more relevant. Today, more than 40 states have adopted frameworks for college and career readiness, signaling a shift toward preparing students not just for tests, but for life. The conversation around durable skills—those intrinsic qualities that transcend content knowledge and enable students to prosper and pivot—is louder than ever.

Durable skills include communication, critical thinking, adaptability, and, yes, grit. These skills form the connective tissue that links academic learning to real-world success. They’re what employers seek, what communities need, and what students must cultivate to thrive in an unpredictable future.

At ExcelinEd, I walked away proud of the role Edmentum plays in this movement. Our career-focused offerings for grades 6–12 are the most comprehensive on the market. And with our recent acquisition of MajorClarity, we’re better positioned than ever to help districts—large and small—answer the question: “What’s next?” Now that many states have established a portrait of a graduate, we can provide the tools and pathways to make that vision a reality.

So, What Can We Do as an Education Community?

The conversations at ExcelinEd made it clear: we have both an opportunity and an obligation to act. Here are three critical steps we can take:

1. Keep Expectations High

High expectations are the foundation of student success. When we believe in students’ potential and set ambitious goals, we create an environment where grit can flourish. This means:

• Challenging Curriculum: Offer rigorous coursework that pushes students beyond their comfort zones.
• Support Systems: Pair high expectations with scaffolding—tutoring, mentoring, and resources that help students succeed.
• Growth Mindset: Encourage students to see setbacks as opportunities for growth, not as failures.

Keeping expectations high signals to students that we believe in their ability to succeed. It fosters resilience, builds confidence, and prepares them for the demands of college, careers, and life. When expectations are low, students disengage; when they’re high, students rise.

2. Provide Opportunities to Explore Meaningful CTE Pathways

CTE programs are no longer optional—they’re essential. They give students a chance to connect learning with real-world applications, explore careers, and develop durable skills. To make CTE meaningful, districts should offer:

• Diverse Pathways: Offer programs in high-demand fields like healthcare, technology, and skilled trades.
• Industry Partnerships: Collaborate with local businesses to provide internships, apprenticeships, and hands-on experiences.
• Personalization: Use tools like MajorClarity to help students identify interests and align them with career pathways.

CTE pathways empower students to envision their future and take actionable steps toward it. They bridge the gap between classroom learning and workforce readiness, ensuring students graduate with both knowledge and practical skills.

3. Embrace the Grit

Finally, we must recognize that grit is not just a buzzword—it’s a life skill. Schools can nurture grit by:

• Creating Safe Spaces for Failure: Allow students to take risks without fear of punishment.
• Celebrating Perseverance: Highlight stories of resilience and determination in the classroom.
• Modeling Grit: Educators should share their own experiences of overcoming challenges.

Embracing grit means valuing effort as much as achievement. It’s about teaching students that success is rarely instant—it’s earned through persistence, adaptability, and hard work.

A Call to Action

ExcelinEd reminded me that education is not just about imparting knowledge; it’s about shaping character, building resilience, and preparing students for a world that demands adaptability. Grit, high expectations, and meaningful pathways are not separate ideas—they’re interconnected threads that weave the fabric of student success.

As we move forward, let’s commit to creating learning environments that challenge, support, and inspire. Let’s ensure every student has the opportunity to discover their inner citadel, rise to the occasion, and take care of business—not just in school, but in life.

About the author

With over 15 years in education, Tatiana Ciccarelli currently serves as National Solutions Director, Florida and New York, at Edmentum. Prior to this position, Tatiana was a Senior Strategic Consultant at NWEA, a division of HMH, where she supported the assessment and solution leadership teams to develop coherence among assessment, curriculum, and instruction in large scale accounts. A native New Yorker, Tatiana is from a long line of school leaders and educators, and brings that generational passion for learning into her work today.
 

At this fall's meeting of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) Career Readiness Collaborative, Michael Pflug, Program Coordinator for Teaching & Learning Services at Texas Region 10 Education Service Center, shared a simple reframing that's stuck with me ever since: 

Instead of asking students, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” he asks, “What problems do you want to solve?” 

It’s a small shift in language, but it opens up entirely different conversations. Students aren't locked into job titles they've heard of or careers their parents understand. Instead, they're connecting their interests and strengths to real-world challenges—and from there, discovering pathways they might never have considered. 

This reframing captures what I kept hearing throughout the conference: we know middle school career exploration matters, we know the kinds of tools needed to support it, but implementing those tools in ways that actually transform student outcomes remains elusive. The gap isn't in what to do, it's in building the integrated systems that make career exploration meaningful rather than just another box to check. 

Why Middle School Is the Critical Window 

Research shows students start narrowing career options between ages 9 and 13—long before most receive formal guidance—and confirms that this is when students rule out entire fields based on assumptions like “that’s not for people like me.” 

ACTE's research identifies middle school as when "career guidance activities directed at junior high school students had the largest effect on career decision-making and understanding of careers." Yet the conference revealed a troubling gap: according to ASA and Education Strategy Group's 50-state analysis, only 20% of states collect data on middle school career exploration quality, just 16% include it in accountability plans, and a mere 8% have a strong ecosystem of organizations supporting the work. 

Missing this window has real costs. One student shared how years on a health sciences track—following parental footsteps—ended with a late pivot to engineering. The change saved time and money, but only because exploration happened early enough to redirect. 

The Implementation Gap 

There’s a persistent gap between what state policy intends and how it’s enacted in schools—especially in middle school career exploration, where requirements are often minimal or inconsistent. Students and teachers frequently experience these policies differently than intended. Too often, career exploration feels like box-checking rather than impactful learning. 

Yet, across conversations at CCSSO, one point was clear: middle school is the right place to double down on active exposure and authentic experiences. Why? Because this is the window when students begin ruling out entire career fields, often based on assumptions rather than actual interests or abilities. 

Several systemic challenges surfaced:

• Fragmented Implementation: Schools may know what tools they need, but without integrated systems, those tools remain isolated activities rather than part of a coherent student journey.
• Student Voice and Visibility: Students often don’t recognize career readiness activities embedded in their curriculum. Without explicit connections and reflection, these experiences fail to shape decision-making.
• Parent Influence: ASA research confirmed parents are the number one influence on career decisions—far surpassing teachers and counselors. But parents often guide based on yesterday’s workforce. States like Pennsylvania and Vermont are addressing this through individualized career plans and Personalized Learning Plans, creating natural engagement points for families.
• Community Partnerships: As Michael Pflug reminded us, today’s sixth graders are tomorrow’s local workforce. Schools that build intentional connections with regional employers—through mentorships, project-based learning, and authentic exposure—help students see real pathways and keep educators responsive to evolving labor market needs.
• Durable Skills Gap: Research shows employers consistently value problem-solving, communication, adaptability, and teamwork—skills that endure across decades of technological change. Yet most career exploration stops at interest inventories without explicitly embedding these competencies into learning experiences.
• Data Blind Spots: Most states track high school indicators like concentrator completion and credential attainment, but few measure the quality or impact of middle school career exploration. States such as Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Texas are signaling a shift by incorporating career readiness into accountability systems, but for many, this remains an unmeasured priority. 

The takeaway? Tools alone aren’t enough. What’s needed is a comprehensive ecosystem—one that makes exploration explicit, portable across grades, and connected to both academic learning and real-world opportunities.

Moving Forward: From Tools to Ecosystems

Career exploration isn’t a single activity; it’s a system. Schools need comprehensive career exploration systems that help students see the connections between their interests, potential pathways, and their academic learning. Here’s what that system needs:

• Start Early and Integrate Broadly: Build intentional, cross-content career exploration, including explicit focus for grades 6–12.
• Make Connections Explicit: Help students see how classroom learning links to real-world possibilities.
• Engage Parents and Communities: Provide families with up-to-date career information and create authentic employer partnerships.
• Track Progress Over Time: Use portable documentation like Personalized Learning Plans so students can set goals and reflect across grades.
• Empower Students with Data: Pair academic measures (Lexile, Quantile) with strong support systems to foster growth mindsets—not limit aspirations.
• Focus on Durable Skills: Embed problem-solving, communication, and adaptability throughout exploration—not as standalone “soft skills” units but as the connective tissue between learning and application.

The Invitation

Michael Pflug’s question wasn’t just a clever reframe. It was a challenge to all of us: Are we preparing students for job titles—or for lives of purpose and possibility? The answer depends on whether we build the ecosystems that make exploration meaningful, measurable, and transformative.

Jen Perry is Senior Manager of Learning Design at Edmentum where she focuses on pedagogical best practice for K-12 curriculum. With over 30 years’ experience spanning teaching, administration, and program management in diverse educational and community settings, she is currently focusing on integrating durable/employment skills and executive function into K–12 curriculum, aligning learning design with evolving workforce and policy needs.

As author of “Building Workforce-Ready Students: A Developmental Approach to Durable Skills for College and Career,” Jen’s work emphasizes integrating durable skills alongside technical competencies to support long-term student success. She has contributed to published research on alternatives to detention, developmental assets for youth, and chronic absenteeism. Jen has presented nationally and internationally for translating brain science and research into actionable strategies that advance student engagement, workforce readiness, and policy alignment.

To learn more about building powerful career exploration systems that start in middle school, explore these Edmentum solutions and resources:

Career-Connected Learning Toolkit 

A free resource kit that includes practical guides, templates, on-demand webinars, and more to help schools create career exploration and technical education pathways for all students.  

MajorClarity 

Edmentum’s career exploration platform for grades 6-12 that helps students connect their interests to real-world pathways through interactive career “test drives,” micro-credentials, and work-based learning tools, giving educators insights to guide planning and track student readiness. 

Exact Path  

Our personalized learning solution helps students build foundational skills essential to future success. Using Lexile and Quantile measures to tailor instruction in reading, language, and math, it empowers middle schoolers to close skill gaps and connect their learning to future opportunities. 

For schools serving K–5 learners, the IMRA designation offers something that has become increasingly important to leaders and teachers alike: a solution that is adaptive, aligned, and effective in classrooms, small groups, and intervention settings. 

Key Benefits for Texas Educators

• Diagnostic data that identifies math needs early and helps teachers see where each student is in relation to TEKS
• Adaptive learning paths that support purposeful instructional decisions
• Scaffolded instruction that builds numeracy, place value understanding, and operational fluency
• Research-supported impact for emergent bilingual students and those with IEPs

Exact Path’s IMRA 25 Approval Reflects the Strength of Its Research Base

At Mathis ISD in Texas, students in grades 3–8 made measurable gains in math after using Exact Path, including growth for multilingual learners and students receiving special education services. Additionally, the diagnostic’s strong correlation to STAAR gives Texas educators a reliable indicator of student readiness throughout the year.

Other States Report Similar Growth With Exact Path:

• Florida students in grades K–10 recorded double-digit percentile gains in early math
• Virginia districts saw gains of 0.30 to 0.45 standard deviations in grades 3–8, with especially strong outcomes for students with IEPs

With approval through IMRA, Exact Path gives Texas educators a solution they can trust to meet the state’s expectations for high-quality instructional materials that accelerate growth and deliver a strong math foundation for all students. 

Texas districts ready to move forward are invited to request a quote and learn about bringing Exact Path to their schools.

At first blush AI literacy may sound complicated, but the core concept is simple: AI technologies shape our environments, so AI literacy is about teaching students to understand their world. Unfortunately, only 18% of high school students currently have access to comprehensive AI education, according to AI4K12. 

How can we help students understand, evaluate, and use artificial intelligence, ethically and effectively? If schools can answer this question with a clear plan, they’ll give learners a chance to thrive in the economy of the present and future, and equip them with the mindset to shape a better society. 

Why is AI Literacy Critical?

AI literacy is fundamental to workforce readiness and civic engagement. Teaching it explicitly includes much more than addressing time-sensitive concerns about cheating or information literacy (though those are important factors). Being AI literate gives students access to knowledge and marketable skills, as well. 

Workforce Readiness

You may have heard that "AI won't replace humans, but humans who use AI will replace those who don't," which accurately reflects economic and workforce trends. 

According to the OECD report, Skill Needs and Policies in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, AI is expanding the set of jobs at risk of automation; at the same time, it creates a massive demand for workers who can complement these tools. The modern economy values distinct human skills—creativity, complex problem-solving, and emotional intelligence—enhanced by technical fluency.

This shift is echoed in the EdSurge article, Teaching Creativity and Durable Skills in an AI World. The article highlights that durable skills like collaboration and critical thinking are becoming the currency of the future workforce. AI literacy is the bridge that connects these soft skills to modern tools. We are moving from an educational model that rewards "knowing the answer" to one that rewards "asking the right question" (a skill now technically formalized as prompt engineering).

Critical Thinking and Informed Engagement

Our students are growing up in an information ecosystem flooded with AI-generated content. From "deepfake" videos to hallucinated facts in search results, the line between reality and fabrication is blurring. And the urgency is increasing:

“Digital literacy elements and teaching should start at the same time students are on any digital platforms,” said Carmalita Seitz, managing director of online learning and digital innovation at ISTE+ASCD, in K-12 Dive. 

Children encounter algorithms from an early age and educators must teach these young students that not everything they see online is real. Without the skills to discern human-created content from AI-generated noise, students are vulnerable to manipulation. Teaching them to question why a YouTube video appeared in their feed, for example, is a civics lesson for the 21st century.

Ethics and Safety 

Perhaps the most significant risk is the "black box" nature of AI. Students often use tools without understanding the data privacy costs or the inherent biases in the systems. In Education Week, Jennifer Vilcarino and Lauraine Langreo note that unguided AI use can lead to a loss of critical thinking and human connection. Explicit literacy instruction is the necessary safeguard.

Furthermore, access to AI technology and the requisite education is already a widening gap on its way to a true crisis. Amit Sevak is CEO of ETS, warns in a Hechinger Report op-ed that without consistent standards, we risk a new digital divide. If only students in affluent districts or with tech-savvy parents learn to leverage AI, the opportunity gap will widen significantly.

What Are the Core Components of AI Literacy?

What exactly does AI literacy look like in the classroom? We can think about it in three steps: Understand, Evaluate, and Use.

1. Understanding AI

AI is not magic; it is math. It is prediction based on patterns.

In Education Week’s guide, AI Literacy, Explained, experts emphasize the need to teach technical concepts simply. Students should understand that a Large Language Model (LLM) like ChatGPT is essentially a sophisticated autocomplete. It predicts the next likely word based on the massive amount of training data it has consumed. It does not "think," "feel," or "know" like a person does. Understanding this distinction is important to prevent overreliance.

2. Evaluating AI

Once students understand how AI works, they must learn to judge its output. In Edutopia, Rachelle Dené Poth writes about guiding students to develop AI literacy, and specifically focuses on spotting misinformation.

Because AI predicts patterns rather than retrieving facts, it often "hallucinates"—stating falsehoods with absolute confidence. An AI-literate student knows to treat AI output as a draft, not a source of truth. They ask the ethical questions: Whose voice is missing from this training data? Just because we can automate this task, should we?

3. Using AI

Finally, students must move from consumers to creators. The Profile of an AI-Ready Graduate shared by ISTE+ASCD CEO Richard Culatta outlines roles students can adopt, such as "The Researcher" who uses AI to synthesize vast amounts of text, or "The Problem Solver" who uses it to brainstorm ideas. This shifts the dynamic from AI doing the work for the student, to the student working with the AI to achieve a higher standard of work.

What are Strategies for Building AI Literacy?

Here are four practical strategies to introduce AI literacy. 

1. Clear Guidelines and Open Discussion

The most effective way to combat the fear of cheating is to discuss AI use openly and provide guidelines. Dr. Samuel Mormando, director of technology, innovation, and online learning for the Garnet Valley School District in Glen Mills, PA, shares a “red light, yellow light, green light” strategy for developing AI guidelines on summative assignments:

• Red Light: Tasks where AI is forbidden because the goal is to build fundamental human muscle (e.g., initial brainstorming, in-class writing).
• Yellow Light: Tasks where AI can be used for feedback or ideation, but not content generation.
• Green Light: Tasks where AI can be used as a co-pilot (e.g., coding assistance, editing).

By using this transparency, we teach students to make executive decisions about their own learning tools.

2. The "Sandwich" Method 

When used for assignments, this strategy sandwiches students’ work around AI use to keep students as the cognitive driver while benefiting from the strengths of AI:

• Step 1 - Performed by the Student: The student plans the essay, creates the outline, and drafts the thesis.
• Step 2 - Performed Using AI: The student uses AI to generate counter-arguments, suggest vocabulary, find relevant sources, or critique the draft.
• Step 3 - Performed by the Student: The student fact-checks the AI’s suggestions, synthesizes the feedback, and writes the final polish.

This approach leverages AI’s efficiency without eliminating critical thinking. In fact, students can develop new skilled by interacting with the information pulled in by AI. 

3. Cross-Curricular Connections

ISTE’s Simple Starters for AI Literacy provides ideas to bring AI literacy into all subjects:

• History: Have students interview a "historical figure" via a chatbot, then grade the AI’s accuracy against primary source documents.
• English: Analyze AI-generated poetry. It often rhymes perfectly but lacks emotional depth. Why? 
• Early Childhood: You don’t even need screens. Writing for ASCD, Dr. Nneka McGee suggests "unplugged" pattern recognition games. Have kindergarteners sort objects by complex rules to understand how training data works.

4. Using AI for Differentiation

Teachers can model AI use by using it to support diverse learners. Education Week surveyed teachers about the ways they’re using AI to save time, including rewriting complex texts at different reading levels and generating scaffolded discussion questions. When students see you using AI to make learning more accessible, they learn that technology is a tool to enhance learning for all, not just a shortcut.

Next Steps

AI literacy is about preparing students to use our most powerful technology safely and effectively. If you’re in the classroom, start small: begin a discussion about algorithms, critique AI-generated content, or survey students about their endeavors with AI. Getting a discussion started is a necessary first step. 

If you want to go deeper with Edmentum Courseware, watch this spotlight video of our Foundations of Artificial Intelligence course. This two-semester high school course, designed to improve college and career readiness, teaches students how to:

• Identify data types, interpret and analyze data, and create a database
• Train and evaluate a classification model as they explore machine learning types
• Examine datasets and address data bias in models
• Interpret AI reasoning, domain knowledge, system design and services, and the ethical and responsible development and use of AI 

When Denise Handlon first moved into the lead role managing the credit recovery program at Avon High School (AHS) in suburban Indianapolis in 2009, students were able to test out of certain lessons if they scored high enough on a pretest. But Handlon found this wasn't always predictive of the level of mastery the district desired on end-of-course exams, so it later revised the policy to ensure that students would complete the work for priority credit recovery units rather than skipping them.

The decision is just one of the many ways in which AHS has improved its credit recovery program over the years to align with local needs and ensure that students who take courses for credit recovery have the same high learning expectations as those taking the courses in an original credit setting. The district has succeeded in this effort even as the program has grown in size. The number of credits awarded in 2024–25 was 940, up from an original number of 80 when it was a fledgling program.

“I hate to say it’s become tougher, but I think it has,” reflects Handlon, online education director for AHS. “We want to make sure there’s integrity to the program. We’re not going to just ‘gift’ a student a biology grade that other kids worked hard for. Students in credit recovery have to do the work. For some kids, this is the only diploma or degree that they’re going to get, and it needs to mean something.” 

This emphasis on ensuring rigor is important to consider in the context of post-pandemic trends, in which national graduation numbers have risen, even as test scores and college admission numbers have declined—suggesting that some graduates may lack the skills of pre-2020 students. Yet, AHS has maintained a graduation rate of 97 percent (well above the state median), while credit recovery teachers enforce high standards and take proactive steps to prevent cheating and other shortcuts. Impressively, 90 percent of Avon High School graduates are employed or enrolled in postsecondary education a year after graduating, with over 75 percent going on to attend a two- or four-year institution. 

“Schools that lower expectations aren’t doing kids any favors,” Handlon remarks. “If you let them cheat or you give them too much help, then they don’t think they’re capable of doing the work. But when they get through a challenging course that at first felt near impossible, they realize: ‘Oh, I’m smarter than I thought.’”

A Level Playing Field

Handlon attributes much of the success of AHS’ credit recovery program to a mix of deliberate district policy, the hands-on work of teachers, and the use of high-quality curricula. The high school’s online education learning lab seats up to 60 students, and three teachers provide one-on-one support—one for math and science, one for English and fine arts, and Handlon herself for social studies and career and technical courses. This teacher-supported implementation model is a critical best practice for successful online credit recovery (OCR), as determined by multiple research studies and recommended in Edmentum’s OCR guidance. 

While many students in AHS’ credit recovery program have previously failed classes, the program also includes new students who need to earn credits in AHS-specific courses, honors students retaking a class to improve a grade, homebound students, and students in other alternative settings. 

Nationally, credit recovery programs have occasionally come under fire for lax standards, with some districts awarding students an entire semester’s worth of credits in a single day or placing students into “quickie” credit recovery courses and pressuring teachers to revise failing grades to boost graduation rates. These headline-grabbing cases illustrate how implementation practices can dramatically skew outcomes—and why it is important for districts to bring just as much care and rigor to credit recovery programs as to original credit settings. 

Handlon has observed occasions where schools fail to establish policies and practices to protect academic integrity—such as allowing students to progress through tests without oversight or requirements about pacing or not assigning proctors for exams—and feels that it not only puts schools at risk but also hurts students. Students in those settings won’t master their coursework, and they’ll still be on an uneven playing field compared to peers. 

To pass credit recovery courses, AHS students must complete all tutorials for a required amount of time, fill out guided notes completely, and score 80 percent or higher on all quizzes before they can take the post-test. Unit exams and final exams must be taken on locked-down computers with monitoring software that blocks cheating websites. AHS uses Edmentum Courseware for its digital curricula. Courseware’s settings and features equip the school’s faculty and staff with tools to track every lesson, module, quiz, and assignment in real-time through AHS’ gradebook system—allowing teachers to intervene immediately when students fall behind. 

“Kids have immediate knowledge of where they stand,” Handlon notes. “Counselors and parents can look and see what is going on. That was something that definitely evolved over time, but it ultimately makes everyone more accountable.”

Creating Connections

Behind Avon High School’s sparkling graduation numbers are countless stories of students who found their way back onto the path toward success in the online learning lab. Handlon remembers one student who was on the verge of a semester-long suspension before he transferred into her program and thrived. 

“I said, ‘Give him to me,’” Handlon recalls. “He took the rest of his courses, and we got him onto the graduation stage. He did the work, and the format worked for him. I still get messages from him on Facebook, thanking me.” 

Handlon said those same words—Give him to me—about another student who was close to dropping out. She provided the student a dose of “tough love,” letting him know how close he was to failing out of school. Ultimately, the boy went on to join the military, and he invited Handlon to his graduation open house. 

Another memorable student, a football player, intentionally sat directly next to Handlon’s desk and worked with her to get his grades up for college. “I know you’ll make me stay on task,” he told her. Years later, Handlon received an invitation to his wedding. 

“I think one key to what makes the program work is the relationships with the kids,” Handlon says. “One of my former students cuts my hair now. I’ll be in her salon, and she’ll tell people she wouldn’t have graduated if it weren’t for me. That’s not completely true, but it’s so great to see the victories of the kids you really did help get there.”  

Read Next:

• Inside the Indianapolis Public Schools Mastery Model of Credit Recovery
• Back On Track with Credit Recovery: How Pasco County Schools Creates Impact

About the author

Calvin Hennick has written for Scholastic Instructor, EdTech Magazine, The Boston Globe, and dozens of other publications. His debut memoir, Once More to the Rodeo, was named one of the Best Books of the Year by Amazon. He began his career as a middle-school English teacher with Teach For America.

There is a well-documented science of literacy. And if you want to understand the fascinating science of how children learn to read, you must use a comprehensive approach that prioritizes compilation of ever-changing evidence rather than reliance on a singular source.  In other words, read it all!

Understanding the science of reading is crucial to supporting our youngest readers. Literacy attainment is strongly associated with overall academic achievement, economic well-being, civic involvement, health, and social participation. But while some children seem to learn to read quickly and without obstacles, about 30-40% of kids end up needing more explicit assistance.

So, how do we help the kids that struggle? After all, tens of thousands of studies have been published in cognitive psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience on the science of reading and not all come to the same conclusion.

Let’s summarize the research.

According to the National Reading Panel, there are 5 main components to the science of reading:

• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension

Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words.

Phonics is the instruction on how combinations of letters link together to form letter-sound relationships and patterns.

Fluency is something that is achieved when you can read words, phrases, and sentences correctly, with speed, and with expression.

Vocabulary is knowing what words mean, how to say them, and how to use them correctly in context.

And lastly, comprehension refers to the ability to process and understand what you are reading.

The evidence suggests that reading should be taught based on these 5 main pillars. So, I guess it’s not just “Hooked on Phonics” anymore!

Scarborough’s Reading Rope is also a theory that draws from the science of reading, albeit with a slightly different reading component breakdown. The main components of the reading rope are A) word recognition, which comprises phonological awareness, decoding, and sight recognition, and B) language comprehension, which consists of background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge. To become a skilled reader, these components must be woven together like threads into a singular rope, while the skills developed become increasingly strategic and increasingly automatic.

All these components represent a small portion of the evolving science of reading. But when these evidence-based concepts are applied within reading instruction, 95% of students learn to read proficiently. It’s clear that to improve reading literacy, we must look to the science.

At Edmentum, we develop our curriculum to align with the science of reading.

Adapted from an article that originally appeared on StrongMind.

What Are Industry-Recognized Credentials?

An industry-recognized credential is a nationally portable, third-party, exam-based certification that employers in a specific field accept—or even require. Students can earn IRCs independently of a particular course or institution, in high school or at any point in their careers.

What Are the Benefits of Industry-Recognized Credentials?

While most states define career pathways that guide students toward specific fields, those pathways don’t always translate seamlessly across the country or into immediate employment after graduation. IRCs, on the other hand, are transferable and stackable—students can build a portfolio of credentials that signal verified skills to employers regardless of state. Additionally, research studies have begun to demonstrate the connection between IRCs and higher employment and earnings rates. For example:

• Recent research in Virginia showed that adults who completed a stacked credential were 4 percentage points more likely to be employed than non-stackers and earned about $375 more each quarter.
• Illinois state research with CompTIA found that students who earned a certification had slightly higher employment rates and substantially higher wages than their noncertified peers.

How Are States Incorporating Industry-Recognized Credentials into K-12?

Accountability: Most states now include the attainment or administration of IRC exams in their Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) accountability plans, recognizing these credentials as reliable indicators of postsecondary readiness. 

Graduation Requirements: As of 2025, at least 10 states have incorporated IRC attainment as an optional component to meet high school graduation requirements. States with career-related diploma endorsements may include credential attainment related to a career pathway as a requirement.

Funding levers and incentives: Most states also offer full or partial reimbursement of exam fees, reducing cost barriers and expanding student access. A growing number of states tie incentive dollars to credential attainment:

• Ohio: Through the Innovative Workforce Incentive Program (IWIP), schools receive $725 for each student who earns a credential in a high-demand career field.
• Florida: The CAPE Industry Certification Funding program provides bonus dollars to schools and offers educator stipends, from $25–$100, when students earn approved credentials.

How Can Schools Identify High-Value Industry-Recognized Credentials?

States typically maintain their own lists of approved IRCs for accountability and funding. Always confirm with your state’s approving entity that a given credential counts toward your goals, whether that’s accountability points, funding, or both.

It's also important to note that credentials are not all created equal. Higher value credentials are often weighted by the state to recognize the importance of the rigor, demand from employers, or association with a high-need field. Explore the most commonly requested IRCs per Career Cluster by employers nationally here.

Learn more about how your state identifies and incorporates credentials into its education system by checking out Advance CTE’s 50-state dashboard.

How Does Edmentum Support IRC Preparation?

Industry-recognized credentials offer students a portable, credible signal of skills that employers understand and may even require. They complement state pathways, strengthen accountability outcomes, and unlock funding opportunities, all while giving learners flexible, stackable proof of what they can do throughout their careers. Edmentum offers career pathways aligned to the skills and topics covered on relevant certification exams, enabling students to build their knowledge and confidently demonstrate the abilities required to succeed in high-demand careers. Additionally, we provide a range of certification preparation courses to help students prepare for industry-recognized credentials exams. 

Edmentum’s partnership with Trade Prep, Powered by Interplay, reflects this national movement by bringing immersive, job-ready training for in high-demand skilled trades directly to students. Learn more here.

That’s why we’ve upgraded Tutorials into Exact Path + Standards Mastery, combining the Tutorials instruction teachers love with powerful, K-12 diagnostics, personalized learning paths, state-standards-aligned formative assessments, deep practice item pools aligned to state test rigor, and growth and proficiency reporting—all in one platform. 

Keep the instruction you trust. Gain the tools you’ve been missing. 

When you move to Exact Path + Standards Mastery, you’re not abandoning what works, you’re amplifying it. You retain the engaging Tutorials Learn Its and Review Its you already use and add the power of:

• Top NCII-rated, K-12, diagnostics to predict state testing performance and empower precise targeted support.
• Assignable, standards-aligned formative assessments, practice, and digital lessons to accelerate grade-level achievement and test readiness.
• Evidence-based, personalized learning paths to fill skill gaps and help all students access grade-level content.
• Year-round, district-to-classroom growth and standards proficiency insights to power data-driven instruction.
• One easy-to-use platform for growth, proficiency, virtual tutoring, course credit, and career learning.

If you’re currently using Tutorials and wondering what to expect when you upgrade to Exact Path + Standards Mastery, here’s what won’t happen:

You won’t lose the content you love.

All of the engaging Tutorials lessons and videos you rely on are being carried forward into Exact Path + Standards Mastery, alongside 10,000+ additional standards-aligned review lessons. You’ll keep what works and gain so much more.

You won’t pay more for what you’re using today.

When your district upgrades to Exact Path + Standards Mastery, your current pricing and licensing structure will carry over. You’ll maintain cost stability while accessing a more powerful, future-ready solution.

You won’t be left on your own.

Your Edmentum team will guide you every step of the way, from planning your timeline, to setting up pilots and training your staff. You’ll have the same level of support you count on today, ensuring a smooth transition and continued success.

What Makes Exact Path + Standards Mastery Great?

Districts are choosing Exact Path + Standards Mastery as their next-generation, K–12 accelerated achievement solution because it delivers unmatched effectiveness at driving growth. 

Exact Path is the most effective K–12 solution for accelerating learning and achieving measurable growth. Backed by ESSA-aligned research, it delivers consistent results across assessments, district sizes, and student groups, including multilingual learners and students with IEPs:

• Accelerated Growth for Diverse Learners: A recent ESSA tier 2 research study showed students completing recommended usage of Exact Path saw up to 11 percentile points gain on the Renaissance Star Math assessment—across multilingual learners, students with IEPs, and underrepresented demographics.
• Significant Gains Within the First Year: Another rigorous study demonstrated students achieved up to 17 percentile points gain in mathematics and 12 percentile points in reading on the NWEA MAP Growth assessments in the first year of implementing Exact Path.
• Predictive Outcomes on College Readiness Assessments: Recently published 2025 linking studies showed the Exact Path Diagnostic accurately predicts student outcomes on the SAT and ACT exams up to two years early. 

The addition of Standards Mastery extends this proven foundation with real-time formative assessment, state-test–aligned practice, and systemwide proficiency reporting that connects every measure of growth, proficiency, and readiness in one ecosystem.

Instruction That Adapts, Engages, and Accelerates

By combining adaptive diagnostics with assignable, standards-aligned instruction Exact Path + Standards Mastery drives continuous growth, helping teachers act faster and keep every student on track for grade-level success:

• Diagnostic-driven learning paths to accelerate students back to grade level
• Formative assessments and independent practice to drive instruction and year-round test readiness
• Assignable, targeted instruction to review, reteach, and reinforce grade-level concepts
• Actionable, district-to-classroom reporting to drive instructional coherence at every level.

One Powerful Platform

Districts no longer need to juggle multiple systems for assessment, practice, and targeted instruction. Exact Path + Standards Mastery brings it all together on a single platform designed to simplify management and strengthen outcomes systemwide.

For schools upgrading from Apex Courses to Courseware, this upgrade means even more: a single sign-on ecosystem that unifies growth, proficiency, virtual tutoring, and course credit in one seamless experience. 

Built for flexibility, backed by research, and designed with educators in mind, Exact Path + Standards Mastery delivers what every district needs most: a reliable, connected system to identify needs, drive outcomes, and measure achievement with precision.

A Planning Guide to Support Your Continued Success

We’ve already helped many Tutorials customers upgrade to the enhanced Exact Path + Standards Mastery experience. To plan your next steps, you can log in to your Tutorials account to explore detailed upgrade information available right from your dashboard or connect with your partnership manager for support. Wherever you are in the process, we’re here to ensure a smooth, successful transition. 

Their goal is simple yet ambitious: to ensure all students have access to grade-level content that prepares them for college, career, and life. 

What Are HQIM? 

HQIM are full-course or comprehensive curricular programs that meet key criteria:

• Alignment to college- and career-ready standards.
• Evidence-based student outcomes.
• Coherence and usability with well-structured scope and sequence.
• Support for teachers, including built-in scaffolds, assessments, and implementation guidance.
• Instructional design that considers the needs of all students, including multilingual learners and students with disabilities. 

These materials are meant to replace or improve upon fragmented or outdated curriculum and are increasingly prioritized in state-level curriculum adoption processes. 

Why HQIM Matter 

Research has shown that using HQIM can significantly improve student outcomes. When implemented with fidelity, HQIM empower teachers to focus on delivering high-impact instruction rather than spending time sourcing or modifying materials. They provide a shared instructional vision, promote coherence across classrooms and grade levels, and ensure students are exposed to rigorous academic content. 

State-Level Adoptions and Momentum 

Many states are leading the way in promoting the adoption and effective implementation of HQIM. For example:

• Texas has launched the Texas Home Learning (THL) initiative and is piloting the Bluebonnet adoption, which promotes vetted HQIM across core subjects.
• Louisiana and Tennessee have developed HQIM rubrics and approved materials lists to support districts.
• Colorado, Massachusetts, and California are also investing in high-quality materials through grants, curriculum review processes, and professional learning supports. 

These movements signal a systemic shift toward ensuring access to high-impact instruction for all students. 

The Implementation Challenge 

Even with high-quality materials in hand, many districts struggle to implement HQIM in ways that actually improve classroom instruction. According to the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET), successful implementation hinges on a supportive schoolwide infrastructure that connects curriculum to instruction through aligned systems and sustained professional learning. 

Key pillars of effective implementation include:

• Shared Vision and Leadership: School leaders must communicate a clear purpose for the curriculum and create structures that support collaborative, curriculum-driven instruction.
• Content-Focused Professional Learning: Teachers need consistent opportunities to build expertise in the curriculum through job-embedded learning, planning, modeling, and reflection.
• Coaching and Feedback: Instructional leaders and coaches must use walkthroughs and observation data to provide teachers with timely, actionable feedback aligned to HQIM.
• Aligned Goals and Evaluation: Curriculum, instruction, teacher development, and evaluation systems should all reinforce the same instructional priorities and outcomes. 

Without these foundational supports, the potential of HQIM may not translate into meaningful improvements in classroom practice or student learning. 

A Major Barrier: Students Not Ready for Grade-Level Work 

While HQIM raise the bar for instructional quality, a key challenge persists: many students are not ready to engage with grade-level content. As the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) highlights, significant learning gaps—especially in the continued wake of COVID-19—leave students struggling to access the rigorous demands of HQIM. 

This disconnect can lead to frustration, disengagement, and widening achievement gaps. Teachers often find themselves needing to supplement or differentiate without the right tools to do so effectively. 

Bridging the Gap with Curriculum-Aligned EdTech 

To fully realize the promise of HQIM, schools need instructional support systems that help all students reach the bar set by grade-level materials—particularly those who are behind. The right edtech tools can make the difference. 

A strong curriculum-aligned edtech system should:

• Begin with high-quality assessments that pinpoint where each student is in their learning journey.
• Offer clear, actionable data that informs instructional planning and tracks growth over time.
• Provide individualized skill-building support that complements the grade-level curriculum and accelerates learning.
• Be inclusive and adaptive, with built-in supports for multilingual learners, students with disabilities, and others who require scaffolding.
• Support instructional coherence by aligning intervention efforts with core instruction, so students catch up without getting off track. 

This kind of system doesn’t replace HQIM, it makes them work better by ensuring every student is equipped to engage meaningfully with the material. 

Maximizing Learner Success When Using HQIM with Edmentum 

Edmentum is dedicated to maximizing learner success by complementing and enhancing Tier 1 core high-quality instructional materials (HQIM). While HQIM provide a vital foundation for effective instruction, evidence shows their impact is strongest when combined with targeted, evidence-based supplemental supports—and that’s where Edmentum’s solutions play a critical role. 

Our research-backed tools work seamlessly alongside HQIM to close skill gaps and accelerate student growth. For example, Exact Path delivers adaptive diagnostics and personalized learning paths tailored to individual student needs in math, reading, and language arts. A quasi-experimental study conducted in South Carolina found that schools using Exact Path alongside HQIM achieved significant gains on the SC Ready assessments in both ELA and Mathematics. Moreover, schools where students completed over 100 Exact Path skills saw higher percentages of students meeting or exceeding expectations compared to schools not using Exact Path. 

In addition, Standards Mastery equips educators with curriculum-aligned formative assessments and flexible test prep resources, offering real-time insight into students’ progress and proficiency. This enables teachers to make timely, data-driven decisions and provide targeted instruction that reinforces HQIM. 

A Unified Platform Built for Intervention 

Maximizing success also means giving teachers the tools and structure they need to act with confidence. Edmentum offers a unified platform designed to streamline intervention and support differentiated instruction—especially critical when implementing HQIM. Instead of juggling disconnected programs or scouring the internet for supplemental resources, educators can rely on a single, research-based system built to work. 

This uniform approach simplifies instructional planning, eliminates guesswork, and ensures consistency across classrooms and schools. Teachers gain access to a trusted set of strategies, data insights, and student-ready content—all in one place—making intervention not only more effective, but also more efficient. 

We also help schools reduce assessment time and accelerate access to instruction. Exact Path’s adaptive diagnostics—and seamless integrations with tools like NWEA MAP and Renaissance Star—deliver precise skill data faster and immediately place students on personalized learning paths so students spend more time actively learning, not testing. 

By combining actionable data, targeted supports, and easy-to-implement tools, Edmentum empowers educators to meet every learner where they are and move them forward—beyond the limitations of “teaching to the middle.” And with real-time progress updates, families remain engaged in their child’s learning, equipped with meaningful insight to support growth toward grade-level goals. 

Moving Forward to Academic and Instructional Excellence 

HQIM represent a major step forward in the pursuit of academic success for all students and instructional excellence. But materials alone are not enough. Students must be equipped with the skills and supports they need to engage meaningfully with rigorous content. 

Together, Edmentum and HQIM form a powerful partnership, bridging the gap between where students are and where rigorous curriculum expects them to be and ensuring every learner has the support they need to succeed. 

Read about schools combining HQIM and Exact Path to drive outstanding results:

• How York School District 1 (SC) Combines HQIM and Exact Path to Serve Every Student: “We are very intentional with the tools that we use,” says Elissa Cox, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching & Learning. “We stay laser focused on what will help students grow, and we’ve seen incredible results.” The district has invested heavily in HQIM and uses Exact Path to personalize for students and close learning gaps. In fact, they chose to adopt Exact Path districtwide after a pilot demonstrated outsized growth gains compared to the district's previous tool. “Change is hard, but we showed our teachers side-by-side results and the impact was undeniable,” she says.
• How Furman Middle School Combines High-Quality Teaching with Targeted Intervention: “Our kids are really on fire for learning,” says Principal J. Tanner Curry. As a school leader, he focuses on balancing teacher-led instruction at the core, strong Tier 1 curriculum as a resource, and Exact Path as the connective tissue that helps every student access the learning. Summarizing the school's approach, he says "It’s just back to the basics of good old-fashioned, high-quality teaching and learning."

References: 

https://www.nasbe.org/the-unrealized-promise-of-high-quality-instructional-materials/ 

https://www.niet.org/research-and-policy/show/policy/high-quality-curriculum-implementation 

Key details

• Application window: Opened October 3; closes December 3, 2025
• Funding available: 15 grant opportunities totaling $500M+
• Grant terms: Vary by program; Awards begin March 2026; many are multi-year
• Focus areas: Strategic Planning; Curriculum & Instruction; Educator Training; More Time; Innovative School Models

Let’s dig into a few of these funding opportunities:

Virtual Hybrid Program Accelerator

Initiative Area: Innovative School Models

Following the passage of SB 569 (2025), which streamlined regulations for virtual/hybrid programs in Texas, this grant helps schools build flexible, high-quality models that meet students where they are. These campus-level awards will support the design or expansion of virtual and hybrid learning with up to $230,000 each.

Allowable funding uses: Program design, professional development for effective virtual instruction, personalized learning and instructional programming, and related materials.

Additional Days School Year Planning and Execution Program (PEP)  

Initiative Area: More Time

District-level funding to plan and implement high-quality additional learning time by either redesigning the calendar (full-year model) or building a robust summer learning program. 30–36 districts are expected to be awarded up to $200,000–$600,000.

Allowable funding uses: technical program design, professional development, instructional programming, and other learning materials.

Navigating Excellence Through Targeted Support (NEXT)

Initiative Area: Innovative School Models

Intensive, holistic supports to boost math and reading outcomes, tier-one, supplemental, and operational supports for F-rated campuses that are not federally designated for support. Funding may be spent on various activities to support student learning, but requires the adoption of an IMRA-approved HQIM in ELA and math, plus a math supplemental curriculum.

Allowable funding uses: Math supplemental and HQIM adoption and implementation, tutoring and personalized learning supports, program design, professional development, and progress monitoring supports.

Eligibility, Program Commitments, and Documentation  

Before applying, review each grant’s program commitments and eligibility to ensure the fit is right for your school or district. You can find full details on TEA’s LASO page. 

How Edmentum Aligns to LASO Funding 

Virtual/Hybrid (SB 569): Turnkey TEA-compliant virtual program featuring TEKS-aligned curriculum, Texas-certified virtual teachers, program design, and PD for high-quality virtual instruction.  

Additional Day School Year Planning and Execution Program (More Time): Summer/extended-year academic programming, diagnostics, personalized learning, progress monitoring, and staffing support. 

NEXT (Innovative School Models): IMRA-aligned HQIM support, math supplemental curriculum, tutoring (high-impact/TSI), and data-driven personalized learning.   

Please reach out to our dedicated Texas team to learn more about how Edmentum can meet your grant and education needs. 

Last week, I had the pleasure of joining a panel at EdTech Week with Jason Bass, Edmentum’s SVP of Courses and Career, along with TNTP President Crystal Harmon and ClassWallet CEO Jamie Rosenberg, to discuss a topic that’s front and center for educators, policymakers, and communities alike: how career-connected learning (CCL) creates a future in which all students can become thriving, successful citizens.

The Urgency and Promise of Workforce Readiness

Career-connected learning—often referred to as career and technical education (CTE), which may refer specifically to the curriculum and courses, rather than the overall program for college and career readiness (CCR)—is rapidly gaining traction across the country. Nearly every state has passed legislation supporting career pathways, signaling a broad consensus that workforce readiness must be reimagined. But while the momentum is clear, the challenge remains: how do we ensure that access keeps pace with innovation? 

It’s not enough to envision a future where every learner is prepared for both college and career. We must make that vision real—locally, accessibly, and at scale.

Insights from the Field: Funding, Flexibility, and Expanded Access

In our session, education leaders, innovators, and pioneers discussed how technology, flexible funding, and cross-sector collaboration are reshaping the future of college and career readiness. The conversation offered a compelling blueprint for designing inclusive, future-ready systems that bridge education and economic mobility.

We began with a foundational question: what does it take to move from intention to implementation? While policy support is strong, the reality on the ground is more complex. Panelists emphasized the need for strategic infrastructure, community engagement, and alignment between state agencies, districts, and families. Implementation of CTE programs demands more than funding—it requires intentional design and a commitment to access and opportunity.

As the discussion progressed, we examined how career-connected learning can serve all students—not just those pursuing immediate employment. Citing Edmentum’s partnership with America Succeeds, Jason and I emphasized the importance of early exposure to career options, durable skills like communication and problem-solving, and employer-aligned experiences. These elements help students make informed decisions and prepare for lifelong success, whether they’re headed to college, a career, or both.

CTE funding emerged as a critical enabler. Crystal shared insights on ESEA waivers, which offer districts flexibility in meeting federal requirements while pursuing innovative pathways, while Jamie highlighted the transformative potential of Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), which allow families to direct resources toward career-focused learning. Vouchers and other flexible funding models also enable scalable, personalized solutions. But clarity is essential—districts and families must understand how these mechanisms work, so they can make informed decisions.

Pictured from left to right: Jason Bass, Edmentum; Jamie Rosenberg, ClassWallet; Tatiana Ciccarelli, Edmentum; and Crystal Harmon, TNTP. 

Designing for Impact: Alignment in Exploration, Technology, and Academics

Another key theme was the balance schools must strike between offering diverse options and providing adequate guidance and academic rigor. Jason and Crystal discussed strategies like advisory systems, integrated curricula, and mentorship to help students navigate choices and align them with long-term goals.

Technology is also playing a pivotal role in expanding access to skilled trades. Jason shared how immersive tools—virtual trade prep, simulations, AR/VR—are breaking down barriers regarding cost and scalability. These innovations bring hands-on CTE experiences to classrooms, connecting students with mentors, certifications, and job opportunities. Technology, he noted, is not just a tool—it’s a gateway.

Economic mobility remains a core challenge for career-connected learning. Academic success alone isn’t enough, especially for students from low-income backgrounds. Programs must lead to credentials with labor market value, be clearly communicated to families, and align with employer needs to ensure students gain real opportunity.

I was excited to contribute insights on the impact early career exploration can have on college- and career-bound students. In many districts, conversations about career pathways don’t begin until high school, but by then, students’ personal experiences—especially around money, jobs, and finances—can narrow their sense of possibility. That’s why it’s essential to engage learners earlier, ideally by middle school, to help them discover opportunities within their own communities, understand how to pursue professional goals locally, and explore meaningful paths that lead to long-term prosperity.

Simply put, it is never “too soon” to engage learners in what is possible for their future and consider the embedding of durable skills into daily instruction and conversation a best practice.

Looking Ahead

As the session closed, panelists reflected on the importance of measurement. Success must be defined by clear metrics—participation, completion, employment outcomes—and used to refine and improve programs. Measurement is not just about evaluation; it’s also about evolution. By learning from what works, leaders can build systems that grow stronger over time.

Career-connected learning is evolving rapidly, driven by innovation, policy, and public demand. But realizing its full potential requires more than enthusiasm—it demands action. The tools are in place. Now it’s up to leaders, educators, and communities to design systems that deliver on the promise of opportunity for every learner. 

Whether you're a district leader, policymaker, edtech entrepreneur, or funder, the future of education is career-connected. And the time to act is now.

About the Author

With over 15 years in education, Tatiana Ciccarelli currently serves as National Solutions Director, Florida and New York, at Edmentum. Prior to this position, Tatiana was a Senior Strategic Consultant at NWEA, where she supported the assessment and solution leadership teams to develop coherence among assessment, curriculum, and instruction in large-scale accounts. A native New Yorker, Tatiana is from a long line of school leaders and educators, and brings that generational passion for learning into her work today.

Our belief: those days are over. 

We are thrilled to announce our acquisition of MajorClarity, a powerful tool that translates students' career discovery into actionable academic plans and postsecondary opportunities. With the combination of MajorClarity and Edmentum Career, we can now equip and empower your district to deliver on comprehensive college and career readiness (CCR) as an attainable goal for every student. 

This unified solution seamlessly brings together:

• Career Discovery
• Academic Planning
• High-Impact career pathways
• Work-Based Learning
• Post-Secondary Planning

The result? The only scalable, end-to-end CCR solution across K-12.

Our goal is to help you address the pressing, persistent challenges associated with postsecondary readiness, and do so in a way that helps you engage every learner throughout the process. Studies show that a majority of Gen Z students have little awareness of postsecondary options beyond paid work or a four-year degree—such as associate's degrees, certifications, internships, and apprenticeships. Furthermore, fewer than 30% of high school students feel "very prepared" to pursue any of the postsecondary options they are considering.

The combined MajorClarity and Edmentum Career solution directly confronts these issues by guiding students through the full sequence:

1. Identifying their interests.
2. Learning about aligned careers through interactive experiences.
3. Connecting interests to district courses through academic planning.
4. Build technical, durable, and academic skills with high-quality curricula and certification prep.
5. Make postsecondary decisions with college and technical school exploration, scholarship search, and college app and tracking. 

“[The MajorClarity] platform will combine with our robust Edmentum Career solution to transform school districts’ vision of what they want to achieve, combined with their knowledge of what their curriculum and programs can support, into an actionable, sustainable system to ensure every learner is set up for postsecondary success,” said Jamie Candee, Edmentum President & CEO. 

Relevance Drives Engagement

Edmentum Career already features over 180 CTE semesters with embedded durable skills, aligned to 57 multi-year pathways across grades 6-12. By starting career exploration early, students gain the opportunity to discover their interests—and just as importantly, what they don't like—and then stack learning experiences over their secondary years.

Research consistently proves the value of this approach:

• Engagement and hope increase as students participate in more CCL opportunities.
• Absenteeism decreases when students are more engaged.
• High school graduation rates and future earnings improve when students "concentrate" by taking at least three courses along a specific CTE pathway.

This acquisition strengthens our ability to help you drive engagement.

“MajorClarity helps students make the connections between their interests, their academics, and the career they want to pursue. That’s a strong foundation from which engagement and outcomes follow,” adds Candee. 

By focusing inclusively on both college and career readiness—as exemplified by models like Virginia’s 3E accountability framework and Indiana’s Graduation Pathways model—we eliminate the need for "college-ready" and "career-ready" to operate on separate tracks. The unified MajorClarity and Edmentum Career solution is specifically designed to address districts’ work toward these objectives, eliminating fragmented systems and bringing scalable, cost-effective, and comprehensive college and career readiness together.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

I am a current MajorClarity customer. What does this mean for me?

First and most importantly: Your MajorClarity access will not change. Continue to log in and use MajorClarity the same way you always have. 

You will continue to receive support through your existing points of contact with the MajorClarity team, who have now joined Edmentum. In addition, you’ll receive the strong customer support edmentum is known for. If you have immediate questions, you’re encouraged to reach out directly to team lead Alexa Herrera. 

Many MajorClarity customers already partner with Edmentum for digital curriculum, intervention, virtual instruction, or other solutions. If you’re new to Edmentum, you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about our K-12 solutions to accelerate growth and achievement for all students, including how you can streamline comprehensive college and career readiness by combining MajorClarity with Edmentum Career. 

I’m new to MajorClarity. What does this product do for school districts?

MajorClarity connects vision to action, building a scalable, future-ready college and career readiness program. It unifies career assessment, personalized discovery, academic and post-secondary planning, and work-based learning tools into a single, cohesive experience.

The tool is built on an intuitive framework designed to support the entire student journey, providing powerful data and management tools for administrators and counselors. Briefly, MajorClarity includes the following components:

Discover: Help students answer, “What do I want to do?”

MajorClarity uses personality and learning style assessments to generate "fit scores" for students across nearly 70 different career paths. From there, students can choose to explore more deeply and engage in interactive "test drives"—comprised of video interviews and related activities—to explore careers aligned with their interests. Even better: students can continue to refine their fit score by individually rating career experiences as they complete their test drives. Students who complete a test-drive are 189% more likely to select an aligned course plan!

Guided by career recommendations, students then use the planning tools to build 4- or 6-year learning plans mapped directly to your district's specific programs of study and graduation requirements.

Launch: Help students answer, “Am I ready for what’s next?”

Students can explore all postsecondary institutions in the U.S.—thousands of 4-year, 2-year, and technical schools—to gather critical information on programs, affordability, admissions, and graduation trends.

They will also access a work-based learning hub that seamlessly connects them with employer opportunities. It also features micro-credentialing to help students pre-qualify for competitive opportunities, along with integrated resume and cover letter builders.

And for those who are pursuing higher education, college application management tools enable students to track applications, prioritize deadlines, and securely request transcripts and letters of recommendation through integrations with the Common App and Parchment.

Administrator and Counselor Tools

Administrators and counselors can easily review completed career plans, drill into student pathways and test drives, and create private notes associated with student portfolios. They can also use secure tools to communicate with students and guardians. 

School and district analytics enable leaders to capture data trends on popular careers, pathways, and clusters to inform master course planning, budgeting strategies, and resource allocation. And, with customized reporting, districts can monitor program usage, track application statuses, and follow students' individualized learning plan progress.

Watch a full 14-minute demo of MajorClarity to learn about its student portfolios, assessments, academic planning features, career exploration, postsecondary exploration, and more. 

I’m new to Edmentum. What is included in Edmentum Career?

Edmentum believes in comprehensive career-connected learning for grades 6-12 that prepares students to graduate high school ready for both college and career, not one or the other.  

Through Edmentum Career, students explore career options beginning in 6th grade and deepen learning with full pathways, including more than 180 online CTE semesters that feed into 57 multi-year pathways. Through an exclusive partnership with America Succeeds, a wide range of durable skills essential for high-impact career sectors—including skills associated with communication, leadership, fortitude, and problem solving—are embedded into the curriculum. 

A capstone helps students connect their learning to meaningful preparation for internships and workforce experiences. This is a critical step to ensure learners are ready to apply their skills in workplace settings. 

Edmentum Career customers can also add on Edmentum Career: Trade Prep Powered by Interplay, which provides immersive, job-ready training for nie in-demand skilled trades: Appliances, Building Maintenance, Clean Energy, Electrical, HVAC, Multi-Family Maintenance, Plumbing, Residential Construction, and Solar. Programs feature expert-created content with videos, immersive field-like 3D simulations, and built-in assessments, and students earn an Interplay Job-Ready Certificate at the culmination of each program.

What other products does Edmentum offer?

Edmentum’s programs—consisting of K–12 curricula, assessments, and instructional services—are designed to propel academic growth, test readiness, and graduation success rates everywhere learning occurs. They help districts:

• Provide first-time credit, credit recovery, and expanded course options
• Drive growth with assessments, supplemental learning, and intervention
• Utilize virtual services for flexible instruction, tutoring, and wraparound support

Learn about all of our products here. Some of our most popular products include:

• Courseware: Digital curricula featuring 500+ courses for grades 6-12, across all core subjects, CTE, AP, and electives. Courseware is used for original credit, credit recovery, and expanded access.
• Exact Path: Diagnostic-driven learning paths and powerful teaching tools to scale interventions in K–12 math, reading, and language arts and empower educators to reach all students through personalized instruction.
• Exact Path Standards Mastery: Standards-aligned formative assessments and practice in math, ELA, science, and social studies for grades 3-12 to drive core subject proficiency and test readiness.
• EdOptions Academy: Virtual, human-centered instruction that combines best-in-class K–12 learning technology with state-certified teachers to provide sustainable, in-district programs.
• Virtual Tutoring: Intensive K–12 virtual tutoring that closes learning gaps and propels academic growth with program flexibility to target and support unique student needs.

I’m ready to learn more about bringing Edmentum’s solutions to my district. Where should I go?

Head straight to our get a quote page and fill out the form with your information. A member of our team will be in touch to support you! 

Elissa Cox, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching & Learning in YSD1, has been a driving force behind this approach. “We are very intentional with the tools that we use,” she says. “We stay laser focused on what will help students grow, and we’ve seen incredible results.”

Tier 1 First: Doing the Core Work Well

YSD1 has invested deeply in high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) as the foundation of its teaching and learning framework. The district uses HMH’s Into Reading for grades K-5, McGraw-Hill’s Study Sync for grades 6-8, and HMH’s Into Literacy for grades 9-12. 

But Cox is quick to note that even the most highly rated materials are not enough on their own.

“You have to keep in mind that any product is only 70 to 80% aligned to your standards,” she says. “When you’re designing lessons or planning units, you start with your indicators and standards in mind. Then you look at which tools—and often multiple tools—will help deliver that instruction.”

This mindset has shifted teacher practice in powerful ways. Rather than teaching straight from the textbook, YSD1 educators collaborate around standards-first planning, flexibly group students based on data, and integrate small-group and differentiated instruction into daily lessons.

“It’s tough work, but when you get a teacher or grade level doing it really, really well, it’s important to give them time to collaborate and share what’s working, both within their building and across the district,” says Cox.

From Pilot to Districtwide: Choosing Exact Path for Tier 2

Three years ago, YSD1 faced a challenge: Middle school growth had plateaued, and the district needed a better way to address unfinished learning. That’s when they piloted Exact Path, Edmentum’s personalized instruction tool.

“Even in a short pilot period, we could see that Exact Path was having a greater impact than our previous tool,” Cox recalls. “We ran the numbers, and the return on investment was clear.”

Armed with that data, the district made the bold move to adopt districtwide licenses and phase out the competing platform. “Change is hard, but we showed our teachers side-by-side results and the impact was undeniable.”

Each building was given flexibility to determine its “entry point” for implementation. Some schools wove Exact Path into WIN time, some used it during flex periods, and others integrated it into small-group Tier 1 instruction.

“We focused on helping teachers and principals see the value and take ownership,” adds Cox.

Building Buy-In: Professional Learning and Engagement

Early on, not every teacher was comfortable with the tool’s rigor— particularly in math.

“At first, teachers worried that Exact Path was too hard for students,” Cox explains. “We had to build teacher confidence and show that it was aligned to the depth of knowledge students truly need.”

Professional development became a cornerstone of implementation. The district invested time in helping teachers unpack standards, interpret Exact Path reports, and use the data to guide reteaching and small-group work.

To keep students motivated, YSD1 introduced schoolwide and grade-level trophy challenges. Winning classes and schools celebrated their success, which added a layer of friendly competition and drove consistent usage.

“Doing those challenges really amped up everyone’s competitive side,” Cox says. “It made Exact Path something students looked forward to rather than just another assignment.”

Results You Can See—and Feel

By the end of the first year, three schools—Hunter Street Elementary, Jefferson Elementary, and York Middle School—had already seen meaningful growth. Encouraged by those results, the district went “all in” during year two, setting weekly usage targets and continuing to build capacity.

The payoff was tangible:

• Jefferson Elementary moved from a “good” to “excellent” school rating.
• Hunter Street Elementary maintained its excellent rating while improving growth scores, especially in ELA.
• Harold C. Johnson Elementary is poised for a major accountability rating jump, based on its most recent data.

But Cox points out that the impact is not just in the numbers.

“We’ve had teachers from across our state as well as a group from Montana come and observe our classrooms,” she says. “They’ve listened to third graders speak directly to the standards they mastered and the ones they were still working on. Those students could articulate their own data and talk about their goals. That’s the kind of student agency we want for every child.”

More Than Intervention: A Comprehensive Approach

Today, Exact Path is used with students in grades 2–10. It is not just a Tier 2 intervention, but a part of YSD1’s overall teaching and learning framework. 

Teachers review progress weekly, form skill-based groups, and provide targeted reteaching. At the high school level, Exact Path also plays a key role in content recovery, allowing students to reengage with priority skills in real time instead of waiting for summer school.

“As a teacher, it’s often difficult to know exactly how to reteach or what resource to use,” Cox says. “Exact Path has been a game changer because it gives teachers that clarity and saves time.”

This structured, multi-tiered system of support is especially critical given that 75% of YSD1 students enter kindergarten not ready. “Closing that gap is urgent work. Exact Path allows us to target skills precisely and accelerate learning so students can catch up.”

A System, Not a Single Solution

Cox is adamant that YSD1’s success comes from clarity and alignment rather than chasing the next shiny tool.

“We’ve been very clear: Exact Path is our growth tool, MasteryConnect is how we measure achievement, and our HQIM are for content delivery,” she says. “That focus keeps everyone on the same page and makes it easier to see what’s working.”

This clarity has reduced tool fatigue, streamlined professional learning, and created a sense of shared ownership among teachers and principals. It’s also helped the district tell its story to the wider education community.

For Cox, the takeaway is simple: When a district finds a model that works, it should lean into it.

York School District One has built a balanced system that starts with strong Tier 1 instruction, layers in targeted Tier 2 supports, and puts students at the center. 

Related Reading: How Furman Middle School Combines High-Quality Teaching with Targeted Intervention

It’s not a matter of simply moving lessons to the virtual environment; it’s also about helping students develop the mindsets, habits, adaptability, and self-awareness they’ll need to truly thrive in adulthood.  

Julia Doke and Peyton Wacker, both longtime CTE teachers, have deep expertise on making CTE both accessible and effective in a virtual learning environment, and they shared some tips with us.  

Making Skills Real, Relevant, and Applicable 

Julia Doke has nearly two decades of teaching experience in a wide array of subject areas. “I am passionate about building strong relationships, connecting lessons to real life, and helping students achieve those ‘light bulb’ moments of understanding” she says. 

Although it’s important to show students the relevance of what they’re learning, Julia feels that the key to student engagement also requires real-world application.  

“In today’s workplace, professionals must research, communicate, and collaborate through digital platforms, often with colleagues across the country or even globally. By learning in an online environment, students gain valuable practice in these essential skills, preparing them to confidently navigate the digital demands of the modern workforce and excel in whichever career path they choose.” 

Her students take on projects that bring business and technology concepts to life. They create mock companies, design marketing materials, and analyze data. These experiences, she says, turn abstract ideas into concrete skills, helping students to really see their potential in future careers.  

What Julia loves about providing CTE courses through online instructors is how it:

• Prepares learners for both college and the workplace.
• Gives middle and high school students opportunities to explore career pathways that might not otherwise have been accessible.  
• Expands course availability without the limitations of staffing or scheduling, enabling learners to explore a wide range of fields early on.  
• Builds lifelong skills in areas like communication, financial literacy, and goal setting.
• Helps students identify career directions aligned with their interests and strengths.  

Building Confidence and Direction 

Peyton Wacker, now in her 14th year as a CTE teacher, spent eight years in a traditional classroom before transitioning to online instruction, giving her a front-row seat to the benefits of digital flexibility.  

“I believe that meeting students where they are and making them feel valued creates the foundation for them to reach their fullest potential. Above all, I enjoy showing students how the skills they’re learning today can create opportunities for their future.” 

She enjoys teaching CTE courses online because it empowers students to learn at their own pace while also gaining opportunities to earn state and national certifications in pathways that can prepare them for the future. Her students develop technical skills, such as resume writing and navigating the job search process, but also essential logic, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills that they’ll need in the workplace. 

Determining What Realistically Fits Each Student’s Interests 

Peyton believes that a valuable part of helping students prepare for the future is giving them the insight and room they need to figure out what they truly enjoy and what wouldn’t actually be a good fit.  

“I like to call this ‘forward failing,’ because even if a course or experience shows a student what they don’t want to pursue, it helps them shift direction early, saving time and opening the door to new opportunities for their future.” 

To keep students engaged, supported, and on the path to success in an online setting, she focuses on providing:  

• High-quality, personalized feedback so students know what they’re doing well and where they can improve.  
• One-on-one sessions to support students who need additional guidance and to make sure they feel confident with the material.  
• Video demonstrations of tasks and activities, giving students a clear, step-by-step model they can revisit at their own pace.  

The shift to online learning has expanded what’s possible for CTE, and educators like Julia and Peyton are leading the way, making virtual classrooms a lever for not just success in the workforce, but also a lifetime of adaptation and growth. We’re excited to see how this work opens doors that have long been closed for students around the world. 

In an educational landscape that demands flexibility and choice, Edmentum equips your district with virtual learning that is scalable, human-centered, and pedagogically sound. Learn how our state-certified teachers can increase your offerings with CTE courses, plus core, AP® and more. Explore virtual learning with Edmentum. 

Below are some current grants that offer funding to help schools modernize curriculum, scale intervention programs, engage more students, and improve overall instructional quality. 

California

The Federal Public Charter Schools Grant Program (PCSGP)

Start-up funding for new and expanding California public charter schools that need help covering the costs of planning and implementation. Applications due December 5, 2025.

21st Century Community Learning Centers Supplemental Funding

Supplemental funding available to current CCLC grantees that are expanding or enhancing community learning and after-school programs for K-12 students at high-poverty schools. Applications due October 31, 2025.

Connecticut

Interdistrict Cooperative Grant Program 2026-27

Supports collaborative projects that address racial, ethnic, and economic isolation while improving student achievement. Eligible applicants include boards of education, Regional Educational Service Centers (RESCs), and nonprofit organizations. Applications due January 23, 2026.

Delaware

Bridge to Practice

Helps districts improve early literacy instruction by bridging evidence-based practices with classroom implementation. The funding can be used for professional learning, coaching, and tools that help teachers effectively apply Science of Reading principles. Applications due November 14, 2025.

Massachusetts

Early College Planning Grant

Supports partnerships between school districts and colleges in designing or expanding Early College programs that empower students—especially those who are historically underrepresented in higher education—to earn college credits while still in high school. Applications due October 31 and November 7, 2025.

Career Connected Learning — Program Development Grant

Helps districts build programs that connect student learning to real-world experiences. This grant supports career exploration, credentialing, and collaborating with local businesses in an effort to prepare students for high-demand jobs. Applications due December 1, 2025.

CTE Partnership Program Planning and Implementation Grant

Supports partnerships among districts, higher education institutions, and employers to give students better access to high-quality CTE pathways. Funds can support planning and implementation phases for new or growing programs. Applications due November 7, 2025.

Michigan

2025-26 Out-of-School Time (OST) Grant Program

Funds before-school, after-school, and summer learning programs for K-12 students. School districts, nonprofits, tribal organizations, and other community-based groups are eligible to apply. Applications due November 18, 2025.

Minnesota

AP and IB STEM and Math Grant

Helps schools expand access to rigorous coursework in STEM subjects, with the goal of increasing student engagement and participation, particularly among underrepresented student groups. Applications due December 5, 2025. 

Texas

LASO Cycle 4

Multiple initiatives are combined into one streamlined application. Districts can apply for funding and in-kind support to accelerate learning, build strong teacher pipelines, and improve instruction systemwide. Applications due December 3, 2025.

TX Regional Pathways Network (TRPN) Grant

Supports partnerships between K-12 districts, local industries, colleges, and universities to help students build career pathways in high-demand fields. Funds help with program design, student credentialing, and program coordination. Applications due November 7, 2025.

Washington, D.C.

FY26 D.C. Comprehensive Literacy Development Grant – K-12

Funds support improvements in literacy across Washington, D.C. schools, with a focus on helping local education agencies provide professional learning to teachers, expand evidence-based intervention, and ultimately strengthen reading instruction. Applications due November 13, 2025.

Looking for more guidance on grant opportunities? Our Funding Toolkit brings together grant listings, planning resources, implementation tools, and practical tips to help you turn your instructional priorities into fully funded programs that drive lasting impact. 

Addressing Gaps in Course Access

For some Pennsylvania districts, staffing shortages and enrollment limitations restrict course availability. Many districts rely on virtual options to help fill those gaps, particularly in specialized areas like world languages, Advanced Placement®, and career and technical education. 

Lake-Lehman School District in northeastern Pennsylvania recognized the need to stay competitive to keep students within the district. By expanding access to virtual courses, they were able to align content with in-person instruction while also filling staffing gaps with Pennsylvania-certified virtual educators. This approach not only preserved core offerings but also opened the door to electives like forensics and marine biology that didn’t fit a traditional schedule. As Tracey Liparela, assistant to the superintendent, explained, “Some of the kids will do all their core academic content face-to-face, but they want to take the forensics class, or the marine biology class…we can offer them the cyber platform, so it’s awesome.”

Creating Personalized Graduation Pathways

Virtual learning has also become a lifeline for Pennsylvania students who need credit recovery or a nontraditional path to graduation. With students now having multiple ways to meet requirements, it’s no longer a one-size-fits-all path. 

Selinsgrove Area High School is one example of this success. With online courses, students who were previously off track were able to earn the credits they needed to graduate whether at home or in the school. The district also uses courses to support unique student circumstances, giving learners multiple avenues to graduation. “We are always looking for ways to better individualize learning in the school,” says Selinsgrove hybrid teacher Matthew Lehman. “The goal is always to get students to graduation on time, whether that is through credit recovery, alternatives to the classroom setting, or the full cyber school approach.” 

Supporting Rural Communities

Access and equity are often top concerns for rural schools. Jefferson-Morgan School District (JM) reimaged what was possible in a small community by developing a locally run virtual learning program to expand course access and retain students. The program serves a range of learners, from homebound elementary students and high-performing high school athletes who need flexibility.  

By offering flexible formats including live, asynchronous, and blended options and providing built-in support, JM created a sustainable solution that increased student retention, expanded opportunities, and strengthened connections within the school community. 

Superintendent Dr. Brandon Robinson noted, "Some students want to work asynchronously and just pop in for tutoring. Others need a teacher in front of them every day. Edmentum allows us to serve both—without compromise. There’s not any situation we can’t handle through our brick-and-mortar and our partnership with Edmentum.” 

Looking Ahead: Virtual Learning’s Staying Power 

As leaders like yourself continue to navigate challenges such as staffing shortages, evolving student needs, and an increased focus on college and career preparation, virtual learning is vital in ensuring equity and access and will remain an essential strategy for providing flexibility and personalized instruction to students, no matter their circumstances or location. 

Building Flexible, Future-Ready Virtual Programs in Pennsylvania

Edmentum partners with Pennsylvania schools and districts to deliver high-quality virtual learning programs. Whether you're looking to enhance your current offerings or build a flexible virtual program, Edmentum helps create solutions that last and deliver results. 

Five Ways EdOptions Teachers and Instructional Methods Engage Students

Flexibility, experience, and consistent communication help our teachers connect to students from all walks of life. Below are five ways EdOptions Academy teachers help students stay engaged and set our virtual courses apart:

1. Teachers are state-certified and trained to teach in a virtual environment.

EdOptions Academy teachers are held to the same standards as traditional teachers regarding education, experience, licensure, and state certification. Our hiring process includes a series of interviews, verifications, background checks, and training in virtual instruction methods to ensure that EdOptions Academy students are working with the best teachers possible. 

All of our teachers have teaching experience, including expertise in virtual instruction. We recognize that virtual learning comes with its own challenges on top of those that all educators face, and we make sure that our EdOptions Academy teachers are well-prepared and supported by a team that maintains their high instructional integrity.

2. EdOptions Academy teachers meet directly with students

One of the best things about traditional classrooms is the opportunities for students to organically bring up questions to their instructors and work through challenging concepts together. Outside of live lessons, EdOptions Academy teachers offer office hours where students know that teachers are available to answer questions, talk through assignments, or simply chat with them. We also offer departmental "live help" hours where students can access a content area expert to ask in-the-moment questions as they work through their coursework.

During these different live sessions, our teachers work within a secure virtual classroom that is equipped with multimodal, interactive tools. The ability to collaborate, chat, and speak to each other further elevates these interactions to be more personal and productive for students. These strategies also turn live sessions into reliable opportunities to truly build relationships.

3. EdOptions Academy teachers use multiple communication channels.

Everyone has preferences when it comes to communication. Some of us could talk on the phone for an hour; some are prompt texters; some would rather do everything over email, and some crave more face-to-face interaction. 

EdOptions Academy teachers recognize that acknowledging these different communication styles and needs is even more important in an online learning environment. They make a point of reaching out to students right away to find out their communication preferences, setting up a regular cadence to touch base, and discussing the best way to get hold of one another for questions, feedback, and concerns. 

Ultimately, most EdOptions Academy students and teachers communicate via phone, video conference, email, text, and collaboration tools available within the course curriculum.

4. EdOptions Academy teachers work as a team.

Virtual courses should never be a lonely experience for students, and the same is true for virtual teachers. EdOptions Academy teachers work closely and collaboratively with one another, sharing problem-solving challenges, testing new ideas, and participating in professional development sessions—just like traditional teachers! 

Our faculty works in content area and grade band teams led by experienced instructional leads who provide extra resources, coaching, and support. EdOptions Academy teachers have a built-in professional learning network, and it shows: the majority of our faculty have stayed with Edmentum for four years or longer, and they achieve a 97% success rate with students.

5. EdOptions Academy teachers provide data reports to parents and students.

Parents and other caregivers are a critical part of the education equation. EdOptions Academy teachers work hard to keep them in the loop about students’ progress in online courses. Teachers send out weekly progress reports that include details like:

• Current grades
• Course end-date reminders
• Recommendations concerning student pace, progress, and performance,
• Remediation or interventions as needed for parents/guardians to review

These reports are a great way to ensure that caregivers, students, and teachers are all on the same page and to allow educators to quickly address any red flags before students fall behind.

Are you interested in learning more about the student experience in EdOptions Academy courses? Check out this video from Instructional Lead Kelli Norwood to hear about how EdOptions Academy teachers work with students on a day-to-day basis or take a look at the Top Six Ways a Virtual Program Can Improve Student Achievement.

“I’m not a program person,” he explains. “Standards-based teaching and learning, to me, is the heartbeat of education. The external resources are the arteries and veins—they carry the lifeblood of learning. However, everything flows through the state standards, the state testing blueprint, and the skills our kids most need.”

That belief came with Curry into the role, but he also recognized that FMS had a history of using Exact Path, which helps teachers provide personalized math and reading support for every student. Before Curry arrived, the data showed that the school had the potential to demonstrate progress with respect to student growth on the state report card. That told him there was room to build consistency and long-term success.

“Furman has always had a knack for bringing home those trophies,” Curry notes, pointing to the Exact Path rewards that students earn for mastering skills. “Our students have found themselves in the lead county-wide more times than I can count—before I joined, and just as much since. It’s proof of the drive that runs deep here.”

Curry admits that he needed evidence first before he’d be fully on board with the school’s use of Exact Path: “At first, I was a reluctant adopter of Edmentum, as an educator who is often skeptical of technology use in the classroom,” he recalls. “But then I watched how our teachers, who were experiencing achievement and growth, leaned into it. I saw how they used the platform to move students from one MAP interval to the next, and it was hard to argue with that kind of progress.”

Building Standards-First Instruction 

Curry’s philosophy is clear: strong Tier 1 instruction comes first.

“Our philosophy at Furman is state standards first―not programs.” he says. “Instructional planning is a team effort. Our administrators, instructional coach, math coach, and four interventionists work right alongside our teachers, embedding themselves in core classes as added support. Because we implement ability-grouping in ELA and math, those supports shift with the needs of each class. Together, we build instruction on the solid ground of the state standards, the priority skills, and the state testing blueprint. That’s where the heartbeat of real learning begins.”

He often explains it with an analogy. “The heart is Tier 1 instruction—that’s what keeps everything alive. The arteries and veins are represented by our adopted curriculum, the textbook, Exact Path, [other supplemental solutions and outside resources], and the interventionists we’ve embedded in classrooms. Those supports help circulate learning through the whole system. But without the heart—strong Tier 1 teaching—nothing else can keep the body going.”

And at Furman, that Tier 1 instruction follows a simple framework called the “Tribe Three,” named after the school’s mascot:

1. Gradual release of responsibility: “I do, we do together, you do together, you do on your own.”
2. Assessment: checking students’ understanding before they go home.
3. Response: giving immediate feedback or support so they’re ready for the next lesson.

“Again, it’s nothing profound,” Curry says. “It’s just back to the basics of good old-fashioned, high-quality teaching and learning; the pulse that sends mastery flowing through the classroom, through the supports we’ve embedded, and all the way to our students.”

Additional Support and Tier 2 Intervention

South Carolina has encouraged districts to adopt Tier 1 curriculum from state-approved lists of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM). While those materials can provide a strong foundation, Curry emphasizes that students will always need additional support beyond what a textbook can provide.

At Furman, Exact Path has become essential for additional support aligned with the South Carolina College and Career Readiness (SCCCR) standards. Students start their day at 8:00 a.m. with a grab-and-go breakfast and head straight to their first period class, where they spend 25 minutes working on Exact Path lessons. Later, during an extended third period, they get another 25 minutes.

“It works really well,” Curry says. “The kids get targeted intervention and support through Exact Path, while our teachers can pull small groups and work closely with them, too. Those two daily intervention times act like extra arteries in the system, carrying learning to every corner of the school and keeping the heartbeat of instruction strong.”

Each student has a weekly requirement: four trophies in ELA and two in math, due every Sunday night (trophies in Exact Path are awarded when a student has demonstrated competency on a skill, based on a progress check―ensuring the student’s progress is productive). The trophies students earn from this weekly assignment count as a homework grade. 

“That was something our 7th-grade team piloted before my arrival, and we’ve moved forward to make it a schoolwide initiative,” Curry adds.

This year, teachers took it a step further by using Exact Path's library of teacher resources to assign lessons aligned to the standards taught that week. 

“It’s another way to keep the heartbeat of learning strong,” Curry says. “Students get an extra chance to work toward mastering the content by Sunday night. The goal is for them to have that concept solid in their hearts before we move on to the next skill—keeping the flow steady from one week to the next.” 

Students are also required to master one skill per week in ELA and math, also for homework grades.

Partnering on Solutions to Increase Success

Curry’s biggest breakthrough came after looking closely at student data. He recognized that some Algebra 1 honors students were intentionally underperforming on their MAP tests to get assigned to lower-level paths (and therefore making it easier to complete their weekly assignments).

“I called our Edmentum Partnership Manager, Mary Jane Britt, and asked to set up a meeting,” Curry recalls. Because the data was clear and accessible, they were able to review it and explore some options. 

“The solution was simple but powerful,” he says. They added a grading floor after the MAP assessment, meaning students’ pathways would remain at the middle school level. “It was like adjusting the flow in the system,” Curry adds, “keeping the learning arteries strong so the heartbeat of true mastery could reach every student.”

The change worked. 

“We found almost instantly that our students were being challenged, they were working at or above grade level.” Curry shares, “Our fall 2025 MAP data suggests the practice of intentional underperformance has largely diminished—likely due to the grading floor combined with schoolwide efforts to promote MAP growth and Exact Path trophies as part of our quarterly competitions. It’s like seeing the system pulse correctly now.”

Now, the school is studying the correlation between trophies earned since January, skills mastered, and outcomes on state testing.

The “Tribe Challenge” Promotes Healthy Competition

Curry knows middle school students need more than grades to stay motivated, which is why Furman built on its identity as the “tribe” to launch what they call the “Tribe Challenge.”

“Every third-period class competes quarterly on student attendance, discipline, achievement, and student progress,” Curry says. “And one of those key areas is meeting the minimum number of trophies. We reward the classes that meet all of those criteria.”

The approach has created a sense of healthy competition. 

“I’ve been very impressed with the quality of work,” Curry says. “Even this morning I went into a 6th-grade class. Students were working on intervention. It’s age-appropriate in presentation. It looks and feels right for middle school.”

Highlights: Grading Floor and a Focus on Priority Skills

Two successes stand out most from last year, Curry says.

“The grading floor was a huge success,” he explains. “We couldn’t continue to push trophies if these kids were earning trophies for skills they mastered four or five years ago. That change made a big difference.”

The second was the use of custom courseware for content recovery. Without federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to support summer school, Furman Middle School needed another strategy to help students get back on track.

“We were able to identify priority skills and standards and assign those as a unit of study,” Curry adds. “So students weren’t just going through a platform to earn credit for the standards they did not master or the work they did not submit. We put an emphasis on the state priority skills, so that come testing time, they’d been exposed more than once to the ‘heavy hitters.’”

That emphasis paid off in promotion rates, both to the next grade level and into high school.

Continuing Success Through 2025-26 and Beyond

Furman has started the new school year with momentum. Students recently completed MAP testing, and teachers are already planning pathways.

“Our kids are really on fire for learning,” Curry says. “They’re excited about what they’re doing in Exact Path. It hasn’t become a chore. They’re actively working and motivated to get these trophies. They see their progress. They know it’s meaningful.”

For Curry, that’s the balance that matters most: teacher-led instruction at the core, strong Tier 1 curriculum as a resource, and Exact Path as the connective tissue that helps every student access the learning.

Each spring, Pasco County Schools (PCS) in Florida hosts a “Turnaround Awards” banquet to celebrate graduating seniors who have found academic success after a rocky start to their high school careers. 

One student’s freshman year was marred by a house fire and a subsequent period of homelessness, recalls Larry Porter, supervisor of resiliency and behavior in the district’s department of Curriculum and Instruction. As a result, the student failed some of her core classes. But with the help of PCS’ comprehensive, rigorous credit recovery program, she was able to get back on track―and she started college this fall. 

“[The student] had a number of challenges, but she was resilient,” describes Porter, who is on the team that oversees the district’s credit recovery program. “She specifically mentioned a teacher who worked in the credit recovery lab with her. She talked about how important it was to be able to access credit recovery to give her a path forward after her freshman year.” 

PCS kicked off its credit recovery program more than a decade ago. The program started with 9th graders, but the district hadn’t yet established a record of helping students get back on track. Many of those first students didn’t see the purpose of credit recovery, so district leaders aimed their efforts at seniors who needed the credits to graduate. The value of the program soon became obvious to students in all grades, and Pasco County Schools now offers course recovery as early as middle school to help students meet promotion requirements. 

Students, Porter says, see the credit recovery program not as an easier way to graduate but rather as a lifeline that ensures that a few missteps won’t derail their entire academic careers. 

"We’re not trying to create a fast lane to graduation,” Porter explains. “We’re trying to create an alternative lane for the students who need it. Every year, students talk about how credit recovery gave them the opportunity to make up for mistakes they made when they were 14 years old.” 

Credit Recovery in Action

Around 2,400 students—out of a total of approximately 100,000 in the district—participate in Pasco County Schools’ credit recovery program each year. In summer 2025 alone, high school students recovered more than 3,700 semester courses. While most of these are students who have previously failed a course, the program also serves students with special circumstances, such as those who are hospitalized or homebound. Rather than waiting until students are at serious risk of not graduating, district officials try to target students as early as possible. In fact, if students fail even one unit in a core course, they can immediately access the district’s online learning platforms to make up the material in a process the district calls “grade replacement.” 

“Years ago, we would wait until students had tons of courses to make up, and it would become overwhelming,” Porter remembers. “Now, we get in front of kids as soon as they get off track. That’s something we’ve improved over time.” 

Typically, students are grouped together by subject area for their credit recovery periods, and teachers in credit recovery labs provide just-in-time support as students make their way through online instructional materials. The program is based on content mastery rather than seat time, and students can test out of certain parts of courses. The district locks down assessments to prevent students from completing them at home, ensuring that students demonstrate their content mastery in a controlled setting.

“We work really hard to make sure those labs are tight, in terms of implementation,” Porter says. “A certified teacher signs off on all of the grades, and the grades are reviewed by the school counselor and the assistant principal. Whenever something doesn’t look quite right, we work to support the site and make sure they are following procedures.”

Although students in credit recovery have previously struggled with the material, many thrive in the self-paced, supportive environment. 

“The teachers who run the labs have become masters at engaging these students,” Porter notes. “There are some really strong teachers who support these labs, and they excel at both providing support and monitoring students to keep them on track.” 

An Impact Beyond Measure

The graduation rate at Pasco County Schools hovers over 95 percent. That is well above the state’s 2023-24 average of 89.7 percent, and it is also a significant increase from the district’s 81.4 percent graduation rate in the 2016–17 school year. Porter credits much of that success to the district’s credit recovery program.

“It has had a large impact,” Porter reports. “We have seen a significant number of students who really did not have a traditional path forward to graduation. Without credit recovery, they wouldn’t have had options to get back on track. Again, we have 2,400 students participating in credit recovery, and each one of them is likely to have made up a course or a credit. That gives you a sense of the meaningful impact that has had for so many of our kids.”

Beyond the numbers, Porter sees the impact of credit recovery in students like those recognized during the Turnaround Awards. Nationally, credit recovery programs have sometimes been dismissed as pipelines meant to push students through the system and inflate graduation rates rather than encourage real learning. Porter, however, sees Pasco County Schools’ credit recovery program as a rigorous, meaningful second chance—and he has seen the impact of that second chance firsthand. 

“We find that the kids who are successful in our program also do well with the options they have after graduation,” Porter remarks. “It’s not one type of student. Some of them go to college, and some enroll in trade schools. They graduate with options, and they take advantage of those options.” 

“These are students who made mistakes when they were very young, and this is a way for them to find success,” Porter adds. “Once they’re engaged in the credit recovery program, they tend to do really well. You never know what a student can accomplish when given a chance.” 

About the author

Calvin Hennick has written for Scholastic Instructor, EdTech Magazine, The Boston Globe, and dozens of other publications. His debut memoir, Once More to the Rodeo, was named one of the Best Books of the Year by Amazon. He began his career as a middle-school English teacher with Teach For America. 

Today, we’ll look specifically at three different approaches that are discussed frequently and sometimes used interchangeably: personalized learning, differentiated instruction, and individualized learning. When you consider the name of each, these approaches may seem to be the same, but each serves a distinct purpose in supporting students.  

What they have in common is a focus on placing students at the center of the learning process. Each approach has its own unique goals, benefits, and practical elements, and understanding the distinctions can help teachers make more intentional choices about instruction. Let’s break down each one together: 

Personalized Learning  

Personalized learning refers to an approach, or philosophy, in which students are active participants in their own learning. In other words, students have a say in what—and how—they learn.   

In an article for ISTE, Dale Basye, author of Personalized Learning: A Guide for Engaging Students with Technology, puts it this way:   

“Personalized learning involves the student in the creation of learning activities and relies more heavily on a student’s personal interests and innate curiosity. Instead of education being something that happens to the learner, it is something that occurs as a result of what the student is doing, with the intent of creating engaged students who have truly learned how to learn.” 

Personalized learning looks different in different classrooms and different schools, and that’s the whole point. By drawing on students’ interests, educators can tap into each student’s learning style, helping them become metacognitively aware of how they learn best. This awareness fosters self-advocacy and more effective, independent learning. 

In practice, personalized learning might mean students have choices about the books they read, the projects they design, or even the way they demonstrate their understanding. One student may write an essay, another may create a video, and another might design a digital presentation—all while addressing the same learning goal. Rather than passively receiving information, they become partners in the process of discovery. 

Differentiated Instruction 

Unlike personalized learning, differentiated instruction is more of a teaching strategy than an educational philosophy. Differentiated instruction also refers more to classes or groups of students rather than solely on individual students.   

The Center for Teaching and Learning at Stanford defines it this way:   

“Differentiated Instruction (DI) is fundamentally the attempt to teach differently to different students, rather than maintain a one-size-fits-all approach to instruction.” 

 With differentiated instruction, students are often working toward the same learning goals, but they’re given multiple pathways to reach them. In an article for Understood, a nonprofit organization that supports and advocates for students that think and learn differently, special education teacher Ginny Osewalt explains:   

“Flexible groups are at the heart of differentiated instruction. The same students are not in the same group for every activity or assignment. Each student is moved around according to abilities. Teachers design their lessons around the needs of each group. For example, one group might write a paragraph after listening to a reading, while another group puts on a skit. A third group might create a poster or an art project to show what they’ve learned. Students may read books on topics that are closely matched to their reading levels.” 

The essential idea is to differentiate instructional methods, content, and learning activities to match students’ differing interests and learning profiles, so that all students can access and engage with the material effectively. Differentiation can show up through the content that’s delivered, the processes students use to make sense of it, or the products they create to demonstrate their understanding.  

This approach recognizes that no two classrooms are alike and no two learners bring the same skills or background knowledge. By building differentiation into lesson design, teachers can make sure that every student has an entry point into the material while still feeling challenged. In this way, differentiation provides varied pathways so all students can succeed, rather than expecting all students to fit into a particular mold. 

Individualized Learning  

Individualized learning primarily addresses the pace of student learning, and in some cases, its sequence, so that each student is able to have their individual needs met and develop skills at the level they require.  

According to InstructionalDesign.org, created by Greg Kearsley and Richard Culatta, individualized learning “refers to learning experiences in which the pace of learning is adjusted to meet the needs of individual students. In other words, individualized learning focuses on the question of ‘when’ students receive a learning activity. In individualized learning, all students go through the same experience, but they move on at their own individual pace.”  

You can think of individualized learning as falling under the umbrella of personalized learning, as we came to understand it earlier, because it's responsive to the personal needs of each student.   

Often, individualized learning is most visible in adaptive learning platforms, which automatically adjust to give students more practice on concepts they struggle with while also allowing them to move quickly through skills they’ve already mastered. This prevents learners from feeling held back or left behind, and in the process, builds their confidence.  

Learn more: Exact Path’s normed, adaptive diagnostics pinpoint students’ discrete skill gaps and demonstrate growth in math, reading, and language arts. Diagnostic-driven learning paths enable individualized intervention for all students, leading to growth.  

Connecting the Three Approaches 

Taken together, these approaches highlight three interconnected aspects of student-centered education. Personalized learning offers a philosophy and vision, differentiated instruction provides practical strategies for managing classroom diversity, and individualized learning guarantees that pacing and mastery are addressed in ways that make students feel seen and understood.  

Understanding the distinctions and overlaps between each allows teachers to intentionally combine these strategies to meet students where they are and empower them to take ownership of their learning. When thoughtfully implemented—and regularly assessed for effectiveness—the result is a classroom where every student has the opportunity to thrive.  

Exploring Our Tools 

Technology can play a crucial role in bringing personalized, differentiated, and individualized learning to life. Digital platforms make it easier for educators to tailor instruction, track student progress, and provide flexible learning paths that meet each learner’s needs.  

Edmentum offers a variety of products and services that support these approaches. Our solutions include adaptive learning tools, online curriculum and tutoring options, and assessment platforms that help teachers implement individualized pacing, differentiate instruction across groups, and provide opportunities for students to explore their personal interests, strengths, and needs. Learn more about our products: 

• Exact Path: Diagnostic-driven learning paths and powerful teaching tools to scale interventions K–12 in math, reading, and language arts. Exact Path empowers educators to reach all students through personalized instruction.
• Exact Path Standards Mastery: Standards-aligned formative assessments and practice in math, ELA, science, and social studies for grades 3-12 to drive core subject proficiency and test readiness.   
• Targeted Skills Instruction: High-impact K–12 virtual tutoring, aligned to personalized learning paths, closes learning gaps and propels academic growth with program flexibility to target and support unique student needs. 

Teachers are swimming in data these days. They are flooded with assessment scores (interim, formative, and summative), exit tickets, assignment grades, behavior logs, and attendance records.  

But here's the thing: having all that information doesn't automatically lead to better outcomes.  

Real educational magic happens when educators know how to analyze what the data is saying and share it in ways that help students grow. There are practical strategies for turning those overwhelming data points into meaningful conversations that strengthen your relationships with students, parents, and administrators. 

Digging Into the Data 

Teachers are like detectives gathering clues by collecting different types of evidence, not just test scores, but also demographic information along with student performance data. Teachers should also collect data on behavior, engagement, and how students feel about their learning. 

Before data can be shared effectively, teachers need to understand what it's telling them. The U.S. Department of Education has a five-step framework that takes the guesswork out of data analysis:

1. Setting the Stage: Ask questions like “What do I want to know about student performance? What data do I need to answer the question? What information do I have available?”
2. Examining the Data: Once you know the questions you want to answer and have collected multiple data points, it is time to dig in. As you examine the data, ask, “Are there any patterns in the data? Can I make any observations about the data?” Make sure your observations are free from assumptions or inferences.
3. Understanding the Findings: Look for data points that are easily actionable and can make a difference in student performance, such as ensuring basic student needs are met before instruction. Ask “What are possible reasons for the patterns?”
4. Developing an Action Plan: Develop SMART goals that will improve student outcomes. Ask "What are the next steps to address the issue?”
5. Monitoring Progress and Measuring Success: Student performance should be monitored to ensure adequate progress. This monitoring must also ensure that any interventions put in place are effective. Ask "How will I know if the action plan is effective? Are there additional strategies we need to implement?” 

When digging into the data, it can be easy to look at one bad assessment result or one good assignment score and jump to the conclusion that you’ve identified the problem or solution. Instead, take a step back and look for patterns over time. Are your students consistently struggling with word problems but excelling at computation? Is there a particular time of year when engagement drops? These trends tell a richer story than any single data point.  

Also, keep in mind that all data has limitations. For example, standardized assessments on different scales cannot be used to track growth over time. 

Talking Data with Students  

Now that you have dug into the data, it’s time to share data with students. The goal isn’t just to show students the numbers; it’s to engage them with data in ways that make it personally meaningful and move them toward growth.  

Make it Meaningful: Know what students care about. How do the numbers help them achieve their goals? Why should they care? Interview students or assign an interest inventory. Some students are extrinsically motivated by rewards such as trophies and school bucks; others are intrinsically motivated by how the data helps them achieve their goals and dreams.  

An example: instead of saying to a student, “Your Lexile level is 980,” you might say “Your Lexile level improved 30 points and you are getting closer to range needed to successfully complete the medical assistant program.” In this second case, the feedback is about the student getting closer to their goal, which makes the learning meaningful. 

Build a Growth Mindset: How you present information can support growth. When you frame it through a growth mindset lens, you reinforce the idea that learning and improvement are continuous processes. Remind students that their brains are like muscles, becoming stronger with practice and effort. Teachers should strive to foster a growth mindset, helping students believe their skills and intelligence can develop over time. As Stanford University notes, “when students have a growth mindset, they are more likely to challenge themselves, believe that they can achieve more, and become stronger, more resilient and creative problem solvers.” 

An example of growth mindset feedback is "You've improved your problem-solving skills by 15% since the beginning of the year, and here's what we're going to work on next.” Instead of saying only "You got a 70% on this test,” you are now providing feedback about the student’s learning journey and not the destination. 

One strategy for promoting a growth mindset and getting students involved in data chats is to get your students involved in tracking their own progress. Give them data journals or let them create their own charts. When kids can see their growth visually, something clicks. They start to own their learning in a way that's exciting to see. And here's a key phrase to keep in your back pocket: "You haven't mastered this skill yet." That little word "yet" is like magic; it tells kids that struggle is temporary, and growth is always possible. 

Model and Celebrate Effort: Teachers can also model effort and how improvement or expertise comes from practice. It is important to celebrate effort and improvement along with achievement. The ultimate goal is to see improvement on assessment scores or assignments; but along the way, it’s equally important for students to learn about persistence and hard work so they can achieve growth. 

Bringing Parents into the Data Conversation 

Talking about data with parents is also important. These conversations can sometimes feel intimidating, especially when discussing student performance. The key is making these conversations collaborative, not just informational. Conversations with parents can be opportunities to create powerful partnerships that contribute to student success. Sharing data with parents allows a window into the classroom as well as an opportunity to understand their child’s strengths and needs. These conversations also give the teacher insight into the child’s life outside of school. By working together, all parties have a fuller picture of the student.  

Begin with Strengths: One tip is to start every data conversation with what's students’ strengths or what’s going well. Parents need to hear what their child is doing right before you dive into areas that need work. Then, when you do share concerns, put everything in context. Help parents understand how their child's performance aligns to grade-level expectations, so they're not left wondering if their child is way behind or right on track. 

Make Data Actionable: It is important to make any data you share with parents easy to understand and actionable. Provide parents with specific tools and strategies they can try at home while keeping in mind each family has its own unique needs. After providing information to parents, it is vital to make this collaborative relationship and data sharing an ongoing process. Teachers and parents have now become a team with the end goal of student progress.  

Keeping Your Administrator in the Loop 

School administrators are accountable for data in their schools and districts, but they do not have the opportunity to understand the full perspective of students or classrooms without your support. When sharing data with your principal or other administrators, think of yourself as telling the story of your classroom. They want to see both the big picture and the details, but they also need to understand your thought process behind the numbers. 

It may be helpful to use the U.S. Department of Education’s Framework and SMART goals above to guide your discussion. Administrators love seeing that you're thinking systematically about student progress and that you have concrete plans for moving forward. 

Administrators appreciate teachers who are proactive about communication. Don't wait for your administrator to ask how things are going, including both celebrations and concerns. Show administrators that you’re not just identifying problems; you're actively working to solve them.  

When data becomes a regular part of how you operate, rather than something scary you pull out for evaluations, everything changes. The Department of Education puts it well: “using data strategically to guide decisions and actions can have a positive effect on education practices and processes."  

The data tells part of the story, but your expertise provides the context that makes it meaningful. Balance those test scores with what you observe about student engagement, cultural factors, and individual circumstances to create solutions. When teachers, students, parents, and administrators work together with shared information and common goals, that's when data becomes a powerful force for helping kids succeed. 

About the author 

Elizabeth Tricquet has over two decades of experience in education. In her current role as Lead Learning Designer at Edmentum, Elizabeth is passionate about developing effective, high-quality resources for students and teachers.   

Elizabeth has worked at Edmentum since 2016 in a variety of positions including Content Designer, Assessment Specialist, and Learning Designer. She has worked on a variety of products including Exact Path, Study Island, and Benchmark Assessments.   

Prior to working at Edmentum, Elizabeth had nearly 10 years of experience in the classroom teaching grades 1, 3 and 4 with a focus on helping struggling readers and students with learning difficulties. While teaching, Elizabeth earned her National Board Certification for Early and Middle Grades Literacy. She then worked at the Florida Department of Education's Test Development Center as an ELA Content Specialist. During that time, Elizabeth worked on state-wide summative assessments.   

When Cara Hachmeister, graduation and alternative services coordinator for Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS), tells parents that their child will be participating in the district’s credit recovery program, they sometimes panic: Does this mean my child is not going to graduate or go to college?

“But credit recovery doesn’t mean a student failed everything and they’re barely graduating,” Hachmeister clarifies. “Students take credit recovery for all different reasons. Maybe they got a C-minus in a class, and for a certain college, they need that grade to be higher. Some students are more comfortable working with our specialists. Credit recovery can bring really positive opportunities.”

Sometimes dismissed as a last-ditch effort to bail out failing students, credit recovery has evolved into a powerful, flexible tool to help all learners succeed. Credit recovery is especially useful in districts like IPS that focus on rigor, relevance, and support, as it helps in defining program goals and expectations far beyond mere seat time. In fact, Hachmeister says that credit recovery programs can serve as an important counterweight to traditional grading practices that are based on what she calls “tissue box points,” doled out to students who sit quietly, do their homework, and generally behave as expected. 

“We know that happens,” Hachmeister elaborates. “Definitely, a student can fully know the content and still fail. So, if a student has taken Algebra 1 twice already, and they can pass the end-of-semester test, we’re seeing that the student knows the content, even though they failed the course. We’re looking for mastery.” 

Beyond “Sit-and-Get”

Indianapolis Public Schools offers its credit recovery program at all four of the district’s traditional high schools, as well as through alternative programs for students in the other school settings. In addition to helping students make up credits or improve their grades, the program provides an avenue for district newcomers to take core courses that weren’t required in their previous district. 

Students in IPS earn thousands of credits each year through the credit recovery program. At Arsenal Technical High School, the district’s largest high school, students earned 1,200 credits in one recent semester—about one credit for every two students enrolled. In 2024, the district’s graduation rate was 87.5 percent, up from 81.5 percent the year before. Statewide, graduation rates reached record highs, as chronic absenteeism inched downward, a good combination of positive trends. 

Before placing students in credit recovery, the district gives them an opportunity to try to earn credits in a more traditional setting. 

“When a student fails a course, we try to put them in summer school, or we do a backtrack course,” Hachmeister explains. “If they fail again for whatever reason, they’re enrolled in credit recovery. We have labs with specialists, and students have that credit recovery time on their schedule. The good thing is that students can work ahead in multiple classes, and even though credit recovery is only one class period on their schedule, they’re often earning more than one credit in a semester.”

During their credit recovery blocks, IPS students access coursework through the self-paced online platform, Edmentum Courseware—learning through video tutorials and interactive lessons, and then demonstrating their knowledge through quizzes and end-of-unit assessments. Courseware allows teachers to set pacing timelines within the platform and require students to complete units before certain deadlines to ensure that they are progressing through their coursework, rather than cramming at the end of the term. 

Students who are older than 18 and have work or family responsibilities are given the flexibility to complete the coursework on their own, but most students participate in the program through credit recovery labs where they can ask questions, collaborate with peers, and receive support from specialists. Hachmeister shared that this combination of learning online and receiving in-person support from district staff helps make students active participants in their own learning.

“We’re not just saying, ‘You failed the class; here’s a computer, go log on, and let us know when you’re done. It’s not ‘sit-and-get’ content. We want it to be interactive. We want it to be meaningful. We want to make sure that they're engaged and that they’re earning credits they can be really proud of.”

Flexibility with Rigor

Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach to credit recovery, Indianapolis Public Schools tailors its program to the specific needs of individual students—or, in certain cases, entire classes of students. Depending on demand, students in a credit recovery classroom may all be working on different material, but schools try to group students working on similar content when possible.

“It really depends on the school and the class,” Hachmeister explains. “Biology is a class where we end up using a lot of credit recovery. If we can chunk biology and create one whole section of students who need biology credit recovery, then we love for teachers or lab specialists to run it as one class. The students can all watch the videos together, and they can work together in more of a blended-learning model. And teachers can do the lab component, so they’re still getting some of the hands-on activities they would get in a traditional classroom.” 

Nationally, credit recovery programs have sometimes battled the perception that they are less rigorous than when courses are taken for original credit—or even a mere formality that allows some districts to push students to the high school finish line without the skills they will need to succeed in college or the workforce. But Hachmeister notes that students in credit recovery have already sat through traditional classes and, therefore, have already put in the required seat time. What they need from the program, she says, is not simply more hours at a desk, but rather a structured environment to help ensure that they master the content. 

“There are unit activities; there are discussions,” Hachmeister describes. “Our lab specialists are very hands-on. I love when I see groups of students working together. They collaborate, talk about their answers, and even argue with each other about the content. They’re not just going in and taking a multiple-choice test over and over until they pass it. We’re creating these authentic environments where students are learning the same things they would learn in a traditional classroom.”

About the author

Calvin Hennick has written for Scholastic Instructor, EdTech Magazine, The Boston Globe, and dozens of other publications. His debut memoir, Once More to the Rodeo, was named one of the Best Books of the Year by Amazon. He began his career as a middle-school English teacher with Teach For America. 

Challenges with the teacher pipeline have led to persistent shortfalls in hard-to-staff areas including special education, math, and science. Career and technical education (CTE) and language arts, likewise, are among the subject areas with the most total vacancies nationwide, or with positions filled by those teaching out-of-certification. 

These challenges are significant, but there are solutions designed to help. Strategic use of virtual instructors ensures students have access to the courses they desire, taught by certified teachers, while also alleviating a number of burdens faced by on-site educators working in understaffed schools. 

Here are six ways virtual teachers address staffing needs:

1. Expand Course Offerings & Specialized Learning Opportunities 

Districts often struggle to staff specialized classes such as CTE, AP, and world languages with qualified teachers. This scarcity of qualified instructors can result in limited course offerings and diminished learning opportunities for students. 

Virtual teachers provide a practical solution to fill these hard-to-staff positions, ensuring students receive high-quality instruction from a state-certified teacher of record. 

Virtual learning also allows a district to offer more course options than they may have been able to on-site. Flexible virtual options don’t require you to first meet class-size requirements or navigate additional course schedules. 

Schools can now teach specialized subjects like robotics, coding, and digital marketing thanks to robust resources and qualified teachers. This not only allows students to explore their interests and passions but also prepares them for the ever-evolving job market—factors that, in turn, help districts retain critical enrollments. 

Not only can districts offer more courses, but they can also offer expanded learning opportunities tailored to individual student needs. Whether it's intervention to get back on grade level or engaging opportunities to advance learning, virtual educators can deliver targeted instruction, accommodating specific instructional needs to maximize individualized growth. 

2. Keep Students on Track for Graduation 

Delivering a promised path to graduation is critical, but what happens when you lose a chemistry or world language teacher and find yourself unable to fill the position?  Virtual teachers can help keep learning on-track. 

Virtual learning with a dedicated, highly specialized teacher can be a quick-turn solution to keep doors open and students learning without undermining the quality of curriculum and instructional practice. 

The versatility of virtual instruction also helps you bridge gaps across your campus. Missing an upper-level high school English teacher in two of your buildings? While you continue your search for a local teacher, one virtual educator can support both needs with the benefit of virtual and intentional scheduling. 

3. Enhance Instructional Capacity with Scalable Solutions 

While schools across the nation battle staffing gaps, veteran educators are asked to do even more. 

It’s no surprise that teachers continue to struggle with burn out and feelings of fatigue. Ensure classroom teachers receive the equitable support they need to succeed by safeguarding their time or expanding their capacity to do their jobs well.  

Instead, consider how virtual instruction can offload an entire class, by way of a state-certified teacher stepping in, or providing targeted support and intervention through a virtual tutoring option that increases the capacity of the classroom teacher. Both options can help alleviate major pain points and allow your educators to reconnect with the passion, spark, and excitement of education that brought them to the teaching field initially. 

Additionally, managing fluctuating enrollment demands can be a daunting task for district administrators. However, virtual instructors provide a scalable solution to meet these dynamic needs with ease. 

By harnessing the power of virtual teaching resources, districts can swiftly adapt to accommodate increased enrollment without sacrificing the quality of education. This agility ensures that all students receive a positive and enriching learning experience, irrespective of changes in the student population. 

E-learning solutions provide a seamless platform for virtual teachers to engage with a larger number of students simultaneously. Teachers can create a community and encourage interaction among students in remote learning using virtual classrooms, discussion boards, and collaborative projects. 

4. Address Teacher Absences 

Long-term teacher absences don’t have to disrupt the flow of learning or impact students' educational journey. Instead, with the strategic integration of virtual teachers, schools can ensure uninterrupted learning experiences. 

A dedicated virtual teacher can be a reliable partner, stepping in to fill the gaps created by long-term teacher absences. Supported by on-site staff, they leverage direct instruction, one-on-one conferences, and small group interactions, ensuring students remain actively involved in their learning. Virtual educators can lead whole-group instruction or complement a long-term sub’s efforts with added content area expertise—whatever is necessary to ensure learning is uninterrupted. 

Through virtual solutions, instructors go beyond traditional teaching methods, embracing technology as a powerful tool to enrich the educational experience. By blending interactive content, real-time assessment, and collaborative learning opportunities, virtual teachers create a vibrant and dynamic learning environment that sparks students' curiosity and inspires a lifelong love for learning. 

5. Alleviate Student Scheduling Conflicts 

Students may experience timetable clashes when they aim to register for several classes that are provided at the same time, deal with job or family obligations, or engage in out-of-school activities that overlap with standard school timings. 

Virtual teachers can alleviate these conflicts by providing flexible scheduling options. Students can take online classes to add to their schedules, so they can do more subjects, work, or activities without limits. 

By offering virtual classes, students have the opportunity to expand their learning beyond the constraints of traditional bell schedules. This flexibility allows them to pursue their interests and passions without sacrificing their academic progress.  

Virtual teaching resources can also be a great asset for students who have part-time jobs or family obligations. These students often struggle to balance their responsibilities and schoolwork, leading to stress and burnout. However, with the option of virtual classes, they can create a schedule that works for them. They can attend their job or take care of their family during the day and then access their online classes in the evenings or weekends. 

6. Provide Additional Support with High-Impact Tutoring

Compelling research strongly supports the impact of tutoring, but at least a third of school leaders say they don’t have the staffing or scheduling capacity to provide the necessary tutoring to meet student needs. 

Virtual teachers can provide the necessary expertise, consistency, and teacher-student relationships without the logistical constraints of in-person staffing, allowing schools to match students with the right certified educators regardless of location. This benefits students by providing them with the high-quality, individualized instruction they need to make significant academic gains.

Integrate Virtual Teachers in Your District with Edmentum’s Instructional Services 

Simply put, virtual teachers are an essential part of modern education systems. They bridge staffing gaps by expanding learning opportunities, meeting enrollment demands, and managing staffing gaps smoothly. 

EdOptions Academy, virtual, human-centered instruction from Edmentum, combines our best-in-class curriculum with state-certified virtual teachers to give every student a front row seat to learning. Our program offers personalized learning with over 500 courses in core subjects, AP, electives, and career and technical education. Options include flexible, anytime, anywhere virtual learning or synchronous instruction that keeps students in the building while delivering instruction aligned to your specific bell schedule. Edmentum also provides a robust approach to high-impact tutoring and intervention, taught by the same certified teachers who deliver virtual instruction across subjects. 

Check out our Virtual Instruction Toolkit for resources to help you plan for your virtual instruction needs. 

Here are four foundational questions every leader should ask when evaluating their current intervention program or considering a new one:  

1. Are we truly seeing growth, and can we prove it? 

The right tool should accelerate academic growth across diverse student groups, not just show activity or completion. It should also make it easy for educators and leaders to track that growth with meaningful reports tied to research-based usage goals. 

Can you connect program usage directly to student improvement? Can you see the impact at the classroom, school, and district level? If not, it might be time to rethink what “effective” really means. 

2. Will this solution engage students for the long haul? 

Short-term engagement is easy to manufacture. But the real test is whether students stay motivated over time, especially in multi-year implementations. Are the lessons developmentally appropriate across K-12 and personalized to individual learners? Do students see themselves reflected in the content, characters, and voice? 

If every student gets much the same experience regardless of grade level, ability, or age, that’s a red flag. Long-term learning requires more than just logging in. It requires students to want to come back. 

3. How much instructional time are we losing? Is it worth it? 

Diagnostics and placement tests are necessary. But if they’re eating into days—or weeks—of instructional time, it’s worth asking: are they efficient enough? 

Assessment should be accurate and reliable, but also time-conscious. The best solutions provide the information educators need without taking over the calendar. Every day spent testing is a day not spent teaching, and students who need intervention can’t afford to lose that time. 

4. Is our solution the best value for the learners we need to serve? 

Intervention should be powerful, yes—but also flexible. Are you paying only for the students you need to serve, or are you locked into bulk pricing? Are you stuck with additional vendors to support tiered intervention or credit recovery? 

The most valuable programs adapt to your ecosystem and budget, not the other way around. It’s not just about spending less, it’s about getting more from what you do spend. 

The Bottom Line: Greater Possibilities Are Available 

Students deserve interventions that do more than just “work.” They need programs that work better. That means proven growth, real engagement, instructional efficiency, and smart, scalable value. 

If any of these questions gave you pause, you're not alone. More and more school and district leaders are re-evaluating the tools they’ve used for years; they’re asking, what else is possible? 

At Edmentum, we built Exact Path to reflect these very priorities. Designed to grow with your students and support educators at every step, it offers a thoughtful, research-driven approach to intervention that respects time, celebrates progress, and drives meaningful outcomes. Backed by several ESSA-rated studies and proven effective across assessments and student groups, it delivers some of the strongest results available—at a price that makes sense for schools.  

Take a closer look at Exact Path and see how it can support your goals for student success.