Blog | Getting Smart

Project-Based Learning

7 Real-World Issues That Can Allow Students To Tackle Big Challenges

Michael Niehoff

Mar 22, 2018

STEM & Maker

Our Future Coders are in Our K-12 Classrooms Today

Guest Author

Mar 11, 2018

Personalized Learning

Talking Math: 100 Questions That Help Promote Mathematical Discourse

Guest Author

Jan 8, 2016

Three middle school students reading books at a round table in a school library, viewed from above.

EdTech

20+ Free Online Libraries

Guest Author

Nov 20, 2012

EdTech

Quick and Easy Summer Math Practice? 5 Free Multiplication Apps to Try On-the-Go

Mary Ryerse

Jun 3, 2017

Leadership

Voiceless Collegiality: When Getting Along Gets in the Way of School Leadership

Guest Author

Aug 13, 2026

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This podcast highlights developing trends in K-12 education, postsecondary and lifelong learning. Each week, Getting Smart team members interview students, leading authors, experts and practitioners in research, tech, entrepreneurship and leadership to bring listeners innovative and actionable strategies in education leadership.

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Smart Lists

Smart List: 50 Advocacy Organizations Making a Difference

Getting Smart Staff

Jan 31, 2017

We are excited to recognize these 50 great policy and advocacy organizations. These are the groups putting students first, illuminating the path to change and leading the most pressing conversations.

Whiteboard covered in colorful sticky notes organized under "Themes" and "Ideas" during a collaborative brainstorming session.

Equity & Access

12 Shifts to Move from Teacher-Led to Student-Centered Environments

Kyle Wagner

May 21, 2024

Kyle Wagner observes 12 fundamental shifts that can take a classroom from being a teacher-led experience to an engaging student-led one.

Ed Policy

Exploring Policy From the Ground Up: Illuminations from the Da Vinci Network

Guest Author

Aug 4, 2026

What does it look like when a school is genuinely designed around the lives learners are living, not the regulations they must comply with? In this new piece from Sarah Bishop-Root and Lindsy Ogawa, the Da Vinci Schools network in California shows how policy can be a tool for possibility and a source of fragility at the same time. Through the story of Da Vinci RISE and its students, this piece offers education leaders a grounded, human-centered lens for understanding the gap between what our best schools are trying to do and what our systems are designed to support.

Career & Technical Ed

Core Plus Explore: How Embedded Career Relevance Improves Engagement in Foundational Courses

Guest Author

Aug 27, 2026

What if the answer to student disengagement lived inside the curriculum itself? A new partnership between Edmentum and Roadtrip Nation embeds short, unscripted career exploration interviews directly into core high school courses, connecting algebra, biology, and English to real professionals and real possibilities. With data showing fewer absences, greater relevance, and students discovering careers they never knew existed, this model reframes a familiar question: school is not just preparation for graduation. It is preparation for possibility. Education leaders will want to see how this approach works, and what it signals about the future of instructional design.

	Beginning	Piloting	Implementing
From Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery	BeginningFrom Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery Beginning	PilotingFrom Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery Piloting	ImplementingFrom Fixed Standards to Competency-Based Mastery Implementing
From One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning	BeginningFrom One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning Beginning	PilotingFrom One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning Piloting	ImplementingFrom One-Size-Fits-All to Adaptive Learning Implementing
From Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry	BeginningFrom Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry Beginning	PilotingFrom Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry Piloting	ImplementingFrom Prescribed Knowledge to Innovation & Inquiry Implementing
From Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning	BeginningFrom Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning Beginning	PilotingFrom Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning Piloting	ImplementingFrom Subjects as Silos to Transdisciplinary, Real-World Learning Implementing
From Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities	BeginningFrom Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities Beginning	PilotingFrom Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities Piloting	ImplementingFrom Schools as Self-Contained to Schools as Embedded in Communities Implementing
From Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment	BeginningFrom Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment Beginning	PilotingFrom Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment Piloting	ImplementingFrom Standardized Testing to Meaningful Assessment Implementing
From Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets	BeginningFrom Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets Beginning	PilotingFrom Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets Piloting	ImplementingFrom Institutional Ownership of Student Data to Student-Controlled Learning Wallets Implementing

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