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In a piece for Education Week Thomas R. Guskey, a professor emeritus in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky, addresses the challenges school leaders face in securing teacher buy-in for instructional changes. He emphasizes that traditional approaches, such as logical arguments or emotional appeals, often fail because beliefs are deeply rooted in past experiences. To foster meaningful change, he outlines four key strategies: setting realistic expectations for buy-in, providing practical support, creating collaborative opportunities, and facilitating regular feedback on student outcomes. These actions help reshape teachers' experiences, ultimately leading to genuine commitment and lasting reform.

 

Education Week News

HMH Into Reading Texas and ¡Arriba la Lectura! Texas added to the IMRA list

HMH’s newly updated, Into Reading Texas and its Spanish counterpart, ¡Arriba la Lectura!, have been added to the state’s IMRA list as approved ELA materials. The program boasts award-winning literature, Foundational Skills instruction based on the Science of Reading, and an easy-to-implement pedagogy with robust support options.

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Grapevine-Colleyville ISD trustees have voted 5-2 to close Dove and Bransford elementary schools ahead of the 2026-27 school year. The decision aims to save the district nearly $2.7m due to declining enrollment, which has dropped by approximately 1,500 students since 2019, resulting in a funding loss exceeding $10m. Trustee Mary Humphrey, who supported the closures, said: "My decision is about the ongoing success and future sustainability of our entire school district." The closures will lead to the relocation of students to other elementary schools, with Dove's enrollment at 57% capacity and Bransford at 67%.

 

Community Impact Newspaper

Star-Telegram

Northside ISD is set to launch a virtual high school next academic year, driven by a new state law promoting online and hybrid education. Superintendent John Craft expressed excitement about this "new frontier," stating: "This is a new journey, which we're excited about." The district aims to select a vendor for the program, named Northside Connect, and plans to present a proposal for board approval on January 13. The initiative seeks to attract students who are currently not enrolled, including those who travel frequently or have been homeschooled. Craft anticipates gradual growth for the program, which will begin with grades 9 through 12. The Texas Education Agency is developing rules to support the initiative, which is expected to be "cost neutral" for the district.

 

Star-Telegram

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is taking over Lake Worth ISD following five consecutive F ratings for the Marilyn Miller Language Academy. This marks the second Tarrant County district to face state intervention in a year, with Fort Worth ISD previously taken over for similar reasons. Texas law mandates that after a fifth straight F rating, the state education commissioner must either close the campus or take over the district, replacing the elected school board with an appointed board of managers. Commissioner Mike Morath stated, "Lake Worth ISD's low level of student achievement is a long-standing issue, predating the COVID-19 disruptions, and has gotten worse recently." Currently, only 22% of students met grade level on the latest STAAR exam, significantly lower than the statewide average.

 

Star-Telegram

A growing crisis of drivers illegally passing stopped school buses in the U.S., putting children's lives at risk, has prompted a nationwide crackdown using surveillance cameras and artificial intelligence (AI). At the first National School Bus Safety Summit on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., officials revealed over 39m annual violations, with enforcement increasingly driven by BusPatrol, a leading provider of AI-powered stop arm cameras now fitted to 40,000 buses. The technology captures violations, which are then reviewed and forwarded to law enforcement. Lawmakers and safety experts are calling for tougher penalties, public education, and federal legislation, including a national safety campaign, to curb this dangerous behavior. Adam Youssi, supervisor of automated enforcement at Maryland’s Howard County Police Department, said many drivers remain unclear about how to behave near stopped school buses. In response, the county launched a public awareness campaign outlining motorists’ responsibilities, sharing safety graphics on social media and including informational inserts with residents’ water bills.

 

USA Today

KIPP Texas Public Schools has announced the closure of five campuses in Austin and two in San Antonio due to declining enrollment, despite overall growth in charter school enrollment statewide. KIPP's Chief of Staff Jenna Moon said, “The risk associated with not considering closure of these campuses could result in us making staffing reductions that would severely impact student experience.” The closures aim to address predicted enrollment declines and allow the district to “operate smarter and serve our families more effectively,” according to CEO Sehba Ali. KIPP currently enrolls about 32,700 students statewide, but enrollment in Austin has decreased from 3,167 in the 2020-21 school year to 2,642.

 

Austin American-Statesman

Waymo has initiated a voluntary software recall for its autonomous vehicles following an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) into reports of its cars failing to stop for Austin ISD school buses. This school year, there have been 20 incidents where Waymo vehicles illegally passed stopped school buses, averaging 1.5 violations per week, according to an AISD spokesperson. "The main concern is that these autonomous vehicles have difficulty navigating around school buses when students are loading and unloading," the spokesperson said. Despite previous software updates, Waymo received its 20th citation on December 1. Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Peña statedL: "holding the highest safety standards means recognizing when our behavior should be better."

 

Community Impact Newspaper

According to a study by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, students who returned to in-person school during the Covid-19 pandemic experienced significantly lower rates of mental health diagnoses, including anxiety, depression, and ADHD. The research analyzed data from 185,735 children aged five to 18 across 24 counties and 224 school districts in California from March 2020 to June 2021. Pelin Ozluk, the study's author, noted: "Because schools reopened on different timelines across California, this natural variation allowed us to observe differences in mental health trends." The findings revealed that children whose schools reopened were 43% less likely to be diagnosed with mental health conditions by the ninth month after reopening. Rita Hamad, professor of social epidemiology and public policy at Harvard University, emphasized the importance of in-person schooling for children's well-being, arguing that policies "should focus not only on infection control, but also on the mental well-being of children, recognizing that schools are a critical part of their support system.” The study highlights the need for prioritizing safe school reopenings in future public health emergencies.

 

EdSource

Austin's sustainability office, Austin Climate Action and Resilience, has awarded $136,000 in Bright Green Future Grants to 53 local schools for 65 projects promoting climate action. More than half of the recipient schools serve predominantly low-income students, and every city council district is represented among the winners. Funded initiatives include outdoor classrooms, bicycle clubs, rain gardens, school gardens, recycling programs, and tree-planting projects, with grants capped at $3,000 each. Zach Baumer, the office’s director, said the hands-on projects provide lasting educational impact and optimism for the city’s climate-conscious future.

 

CultureMap Austin

Austrian lawmakers have passed a ban on Muslim headscarves for girls under 14, despite concerns regarding its constitutionality. The ruling coalition, supported by the far-right Freedom Party, argues that the ban protects young girls from societal pressures. Yannick Shetty, parliamentary leader of the liberal Neos, said: "This is not about restricting freedom, but about protecting the freedom of girls up to 14." However, rights groups, including Amnesty International, have criticized the legislation, claiming it exacerbates discrimination against Muslims. Austria's Constitutional Court previously deemed a similar ban illegal, emphasizing the state's duty to remain religiously neutral. Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr highlighted the increasing pressure young girls face regarding their attire, while the Greens proposed creating interdisciplinary teams to address cultural tensions in schools.

 

Reuters

The Local

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has announced a partnership with Elon Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) company xAI to integrate artificial intelligence into over 5,000 public schools. The initiative aims to provide personalized learning experiences for more than 1m students through the Grok chatbot, which adapts tutoring to each student's pace, preferences, and mastery level. It follows a recent collaboration with Google to offer free virtual medical consultations supported by AI.

 

ABC News