Our team’s time in Ireland has been filled with thoughtful conversations about assessment, accountability, and what makes high-performing education systems work. But between school visits and stakeholder meetings, they, of course, found time to enjoy the local scenery. One theme keeps coming up: strong education systems are built on policies and structures. They're also built on relationships, connection, and trust.

Too often, teacher PD lives in: ➡️ Slides ➡️ Workshops ➡️ One-off sessions What if professional learning looked different? ✔ Embedded in real teaching ✔ Driven by inquiry ✔ Designed for continuous growth Explore how TEL2 is helping districts transform instruction.→ Let’s talk about what this could look like in your schools. ncee.org/tel/

Every week, our team is in the field alongside school and system leaders who are committed to strengthening their practice and creating better opportunities for students. This week, we're celebrating the latest #NISLNext for School Leaders cohort in partnership with the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools! Bringing together leaders from Snowline Joint Unified School, Colton Joint Unified School District, Alta Loma School District, Mt. Baldy Joint Elementary School District, and Victor Elementary School District, this cohort is building connections across district lines and strengthening their capacity to lead meaningful change. We're proud to be part of their leadership journey.

NCEE’s global benchmarking framework asks how well education systems prepare people for life. By looking at data from early childhood through adulthood, we identified systems that successfully balance academic achievement with future-ready life skills. Our evaluation includes: ⚖️ Student well-being: Measuring curiosity, a sense of belonging, and the quality of relationships between students and teachers. ⚖️ Real-world success: Using adult competency data to track how literacy and math skills translate into higher wages and economic opportunity. ⚖️ System efficiency: Identifying jurisdictions that deliver world-class results while spending their budgets more effectively. “Our methodology reflects a more human-centered and economically grounded view of education.” -Tracey Burns, NCEE’s Chief of Global Strategy and Research Learn more about the high-performing systems: ncee.org/top-performing-coun… #GlobalHighPerformers #FutureOfEducation #EducationResearch #EconomicOpportunity #EducationPolicy

In Wayne, Indiana, the Learning Progressions Design Team is grappling with what it means for their Learner Profile to influence students' learning experiences across the district. As the conversations progressed, the questions expanded. They began asking about classroom use, student agency, assessment and grading, educator workload, accountability, equity, districtwide consistency, professional learning, and whether this work will become an enduring shift or another initiative that eventually fades. Bringing learning progressions to life requires learning and change from adults, leaders, schools, the district system, and ultimately students. The design work continues, and we are honored to walk alongside the district team throughout the process.

There’s so much we can learn from how schools around the world approach teaching and learning. NCEE's Jackie Kraemer shares five takeaways from her visits to schools in Shanghai. ncee.org/five-things-i-notic…

A forest in Wisconsin. A student business in Illinois. An environmental investigation in Oregon. Local history in Iowa. The projects look very different. But across them, students are investigating, making decisions, solving problems, working with others, and contributing to their communities. Explore the StoryMap to see how rural educators are preparing young people to continue learning throughout their lives and connecting schools with the broader communities around them.→ storymaps.arcgis.com/stories…

Our latest Designing Systems that Work sessions brought leaders together to examine what’s working, wrestle with where greater alignment is needed, and turn big ideas into practical decisions for their schools and students. There’s no one-size-fits-all roadmap for this work. Lasting system change has to reflect the strengths, challenges, and aspirations of the community it serves. We’re proud to be doing this work alongside Colton Joint Unified School District.

🌐 Why are some countries doing a better job supporting their most disadvantaged students? 🌐 What roles do teachers, student belonging, health, and other supports play? 🌐 And what could the U.S. learn from their approaches? NCEE's Chief Global Strategy & Research Officer Tracey Burns spoke to New Jersey Spotlight News. It’s an accessible, thought-provoking look at what the numbers can—and can’t—tell us about building stronger education systems. Read the Q&A: njspotlightnews.org/2026/09/…

Two days. Two timely conversations about the future of education. 📊 Oct. 14 | Education at a Glance 2026 We're teaming up with OECD Education and Skills to dig into new global data on teacher shortages and what the findings mean for the U.S. 🔗 bit.ly/4ytSKAB 🎓 Oct. 15 | Pathways, Not Pitfalls NCEE and The Aspen Institute Education & Society Program will explore what it takes to make career-connected learning a feature of the education system, connecting strong academics with real-world learning and pathways beyond high school. bit.ly/4dcobH6 Both webinars begin at 11 a.m. ET. Save your seat for one or join us for both.

Education leaders in Colton Joint Unified School District are stepping out of the day-to-day, learning alongside one another, and thinking about how their system can better support every learner through Designing Systems That Work. You hear a room buzzing with conversation. We hear questions being asked, ideas being challenged, and colleagues working through what meaningful change might look like. We’re excited to keep learning alongside these #EdLeaders as they turn ideas into action.

"We cannot allow AI to become the newest version of an old divide, where some learners are invited to shape the future, while others are simply taught to function within it. The answer is not less AI. It is higher expectations for human beings." From #UNGA - @drvickip speaking at the Education Futures Forum As global education leaders gathered this past week, we were proud to be among those committed to advancing #SDG4 and reimagining what's possible for the future of learning.

Through Insights to Impact, we explore what it means to be an assessment-literate educator. That includes: ✔️ Choosing the right tools for the right questions ✔️ Using data to personalize instruction ✔️ Helping students make sense of their own results From interpreting scores to building agency in teachers and learners, discover how I2I empowers educators to turn assessment into action → ncee.org/from-insights-to-im…

There was a mystery at the Natural Resource Center in Butte Falls, Oregon: the frogs had disappeared. Ben DeCarlow turned to his students. They collected data, conducted field research, analyzed what they found, and ultimately helped their community better understand what was happening in the local ecosystem. There was no predetermined answer they were working toward. Students weren’t simply learning established knowledge; they were creating it. Explore the story: storymaps.arcgis.com/stories…

The dominant narrative in the U.S. has long been that a four-year college degree was the surest path to economic security. And while it remains a powerful engine of opportunity, that narrative is beginning to shift. For education leaders and policymakers, the growth of apprenticeships is a signal that the architecture connecting high school, postsecondary education, and work is changing. We appreciated seeing NCEE’s work included in this look at how apprenticeships are gaining ground in the U.S. usa-update.com/why-apprentic…

💬 Is mastering academic content enough anymore? 💬 What if well-being isn't separate from achievement, but one of the conditions that makes achievement possible? 💬 What becomes uniquely human in the age of AI? 💬 What does it really mean to prepare students for democracy as well as the workforce? As conversations about Portraits of a Graduate continue across the country, Developing Agency for Life and Work offers a research-backed framework for cultivating lifelong learning, adaptability, and purpose so every learner can contribute meaningfully to work, community, and civic life. ncee.org/blueprint/

This finding from PISA has our attention. Students who said someone in their family asks at least once a week about what they did in school scored significantly higher in science. At the same time, PISA found that family interest in learning has declined in many countries. The new results also raise questions about digital distraction, AI, and how we’re supporting teachers to navigate all of it. Taken together, this is a story about how we design ecosystems for learning. The strongest education systems recognize that learning happens everywhere. They work intentionally with families and communities and invest in highly capable educators. If schools can’t do this work alone, who else needs to be at the table? @AP 🔗 apnews.com/article/pisa-test…

Introducing Global Dispatch, a new monthly look at the ideas, research, and developments shaping education and economies around the world. Created for education leaders, policymakers, researchers, and others working to shape the future of education, Global Dispatch draws on evidence and experiences from education systems worldwide to explore what’s changing, what we’re learning, and what questions we should be asking next. Read it here and get the Global Dispatch delivered straight to your inbox. ncee.org/global-dispatch-sep…

From AI bans to managing new tools with intentionality, @drvickip reflects on how we can help young people use technology to think further, create more boldly, ask better questions, and solve problems that were previously beyond their reach. Watch the clip 👇and catch the full webinar Thriving in a Complex World when it works for your schedule. ncee.org/thriving-in-a-compl…

Superintendents and system leaders rarely get protected time to learn, yet they’re expected to navigate unprecedented complexity. A few moves that matter: 📚 Learning alongside peers, not alone 🧠 Grounding decisions in research, not just urgency 🔁 Building habits of reflection and systems thinking NISL NEXT for System Leaders creates space for leaders to strengthen their own leadership while simultaneously strengthening the systems they lead. See how NISL NEXT creates space to grow → ncee.org/nisl/