Pulse #31: Can Students Spot Misinformation?

Principals are most effective when they step beyond the school walls and act as connectors in their communities. Leaders who share their school’s story, build relationships with families and local businesses, and pursue partnerships tied to real opportunities strengthen both trust and access. Strong internal teams make this external work possible.

Students will need strong “durable skills” like empathy, resilience, communication, and ethical reasoning to succeed as AI takes over more technical tasks. A new Acuity Insights report finds that many graduates lack these skills after pandemic disruptions and notes that most long-term job success is tied to human competencies, not technical expertise. The report urges schools and institutions to build these skills intentionally through curriculum, partnerships, and better assessment of non-academic strengths.

Experts urge schools to take a steady, curriculum-wide approach to media literacy that helps students question how information is created and why it spreads. Instead of arguing with students who hold conspiratorial beliefs, educators are encouraged to use open-ended questions, teach the basics of the attention economy, and help students examine their own reactions. The goal is to build habits of critical thinking that hold up even as AI accelerates the spread of misleading content.

A new analysis finds that NAEP’s Grade 8 “proficient” benchmark aligns closely with ACT and EXPLORE readiness scores that predict college success, challenging claims that NAEP sets the bar too high. Kentucky’s longitudinal data offered a clear test case, and the match held across subjects, years, and student groups. The broader message is national: many students aren’t meeting the skill levels they’ll need, and dismissing NAEP’s results only masks the problem.

Federal efforts to roll back IDEA rules and consolidate funding threaten the civil rights law that opened public education to millions of disabled students. Weakening monitoring and accountability would make it easier for states to under-identify, segregate, or deny services, with Black and brown disabled students at particular risk. With more students qualifying each year, protecting IDEA remains essential to ensuring equal access and long-term opportunity.

Pertussis cases are rising across the U.S. in 2025, with Texas reporting four times as many cases as last year and several states already surpassing their 2024 totals. Health officials link the spike to declining vaccination rates, growing non-medical exemptions, and widespread vaccine misinformation. The increase comes with ripple effects for schools, including more health-related chronic absenteeism.

Early findings from a Georgia study show that locking phones away during the school day reduced stress for most teachers, strengthened classroom management, and helped them build stronger relationships with students. Similar early research in other states points to better engagement and fewer behavior issues when devices are stored in pouches or lockers. The flipside is that bans can add stress when teachers are left to enforce them alone, underscoring the need for clear systems and administrative support.

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