Press Category: On the Wire

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 14, 2026) – CoSN — The Consortium for School Networking yesterday filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opposing its proposal to potentially terminate or materially reduce the E-Rate program. CoSN urged the Commission to instead preserve and modernize E-Rate, emphasizing that reliable, secure broadband remains essential to teaching, learning, and school operations and that decisions about how technology is used in the classroom should remain with educators, school leaders, and families.

CoSN emphasized that E-Rate’s success connecting schools should not be mistaken for evidence that its work is complete. Broadband is a recurring expense, network equipment must be maintained and replaced, and schools’ connectivity needs continue to grow. At the same time, CoSN urged the FCC to maintain a clear distinction between broadband infrastructure policy and instructional policy, arguing that decisions about classroom technology use are best made by educators, administrators, locally elected school boards, and families.

“E-Rate has been successful because it has provided schools with the reliable connectivity they need to serve students and educators,” said Keith Krueger, CEO of CoSN. “That success is not a reason to pull back. As technology becomes more deeply integrated into teaching, learning, and school operations, schools need networks that are not only fast and reliable, but secure and resilient. The FCC should build on what works by preserving E-Rate and modernizing it to meet the needs of today’s schools.”

As part of that modernization, CoSN urged the FCC to make appropriate cybersecurity products and services permanently eligible for E-Rate support and to support reasonable redundant or backup connectivity where needed for network resilience. The filing argues that the FCC’s Cybersecurity Pilot is an important step, but network security is an ongoing need that must be directly addressed by the E-rate program.

CoSN notes that technology is integrated into assessments, accessibility tools, individualized interventions, curricular materials, communications, and other routine school functions. The filing points to the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) as an existing federal framework for protecting students from harmful online material while preserving local responsibility for instructional decisions.

CoSN remains focused on ensuring K-12 education technology centers on student learning, protects students online and is guided by transparent, local decision-making. To learn more about CoSN’s Purposeful Education Technology initiative, visit: www.cosn.org/purposeful-edtech

Read CoSN’s full comments here.

About CoSN

CoSN, the world-class professional association for K-12 education technology leaders, stands at the forefront of education innovation. We are driven by a mission to equip current and aspiring K-12 education technology leaders, their teams, and school districts with the community, knowledge, and professional development they need to cultivate engaging learning environments. Our vision is rooted in a future where every learner reaches their unique potential, guided by our community. CoSN represents over 2,000 school districts and 14 million students and continues to grow as a powerful and influential voice in K-12 education. www.cosn.orgwww.cosn.org

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WHAT: A no-cost webinar hosted by ClassDojo for Districts featuring a live look at new communication tools for the 2026–27 school year, including expanded capabilities for middle and high schools. A Louisiana district leader will also share firsthand strategies for building and measuring two-way family engagement across 42 Title I schools.

WHEN: Thursday, October 29, 2026, at 2:00 PM ET

WHO:

• Vin Russo, Product Marketing Lead, ClassDojo
• Ray Lyons, Head of Product, ClassDojo
• Mary Helen Downey, Community Engagement Coordinator, Rapides Parish Public Schools, Louisiana

REGISTER: https://team-classdojo.zoom.us/webinar/register

SAN FRANCISCO, CA | October 14, 2026 — Maintaining strong family engagement becomes increasingly challenging as students transition from elementary to middle and high school. For district leaders, creating consistent, two-way communication across schools and grade levels is essential to keeping families connected.

On October 29, ClassDojo for Districts will host Inside ClassDojo for Districts 2026–27, a live webinar showcasing new communication capabilities and practical strategies for strengthening districtwide family engagement.

The session will feature Mary Helen Downey, Community Engagement Coordinator at Rapides Parish Public Schools in Louisiana, who will share how her district transitioned to a unified communication system across 42 Title I schools serving students from Pre-K through high school. Downey will discuss how district leaders use engagement data to measure whether families are reading and responding to messages and how they work to sustain family connections as students advance through grade levels.

Attendees will learn:

• What’s new in ClassDojo for Districts for 2026–27, including communication tools for middle and high schools
• Practical strategies for implementing one communication system across multiple schools
• How districts can measure family engagement and gain visibility into two-way communication
• Ways to maintain strong family connections as students transition into middle and high school

The webinar is designed for superintendents, district communications leaders, principals, family engagement teams, and technology leaders. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required. A recording will be shared with registrants following the event.

To register, please visit: https://team-classdojo.zoom.us/webinar/register

About ClassDojo

ClassDojo is on a mission to give every child an education they love. Used in 95% of U.S. schools, ClassDojo helps teachers and families build stronger school communities through everyday communication. ClassDojo for Districts is a unified communication and engagement platform that brings everyday classroom updates and districtwide messaging into one seamless experience, helping families feel connected, students stay engaged, and school culture grow stronger. It’s built with privacy at its core and available to districts at no additional cost. For more information, visit ClassDojo for Districts.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — October 8, 2026 — CoSN — The Consortium for School Networking today announced the release of Purposeful Technology, Powerful Learning: You Can’t Ban Possibility, a new book by CoSN Board Chair Stacy Hawthorne, Ed.D., CETL®, that examines how K-12 school districts across the country are using education technology purposefully to enhance teaching and learning.

Drawing on stories from 13 school districts in communities large and small, urban and rural, Purposeful Technology, Powerful Learning explores how educators are using technology to address real-world challenges, create new opportunities for students, and support learning in ways that would otherwise not be possible. Each chapter pairs a district’s story with peer-reviewed research, documented outcomes, workforce alignment, and practical implementation guidance designed to help other school systems adapt and replicate successful practices.

“As debates about screen time and technology use continue across the country, we risk losing sight of an important distinction: not all screen use is the same,” said Stacy Hawthorne, CoSN Board Chair and author of the book. “This book is built around a simple idea that purpose matters. The educators and students featured in these pages started with real challenges and used technology to create opportunities that otherwise would not have been possible. Those are the stories I wanted parents, educators, and policymakers to see.”

 

“This book offers an important reframe of the screen-time debate, moving the conversation from the quantity of technology students use to the quality of learning experiences technology makes possible,” said Keith Krueger, CEO of CoSN. “The stories documented here show that successful technology initiatives begin with a learning challenge or opportunity, not a device. They also demonstrate how thoughtful implementation, strong instructional practices, and clear guardrails can help technology become a powerful tool for teaching and learning.”

The book highlights examples including:

• Students helping develop district policies governing the use of artificial intelligence.
• A rural district bringing robotics, 3D printers, and virtual reality to students across a 1,200-square-mile community.
• Educators using virtual reality to help emergent bilingual students engage with complex science concepts.
• Students on four continents using technology to write, rehearse, and perform music together.
• Students using maker labs to design, print, engrave, and build real-world projects.

The release comes as states and communities continue to examine policies related to technology use in schools. Rather than framing technology as inherently positive or negative, the book focuses on the conditions under which technology can support meaningful and transformative learning experiences.

The launch of Purposeful Technology, Powerful Learning is part of CoSN’s broader work to help educators, district leaders, and policymakers make informed decisions about the role of technology in K-12 education. CoSN’s Purposeful Education Technology initiative provides additional resources, research, and toolkits designed to demonstrate what effective technology use looks like in practice and help education leaders implement technology in ways that advance learning, protect students, and respond to the needs of their local communities.

Learn more about Purposeful Technology, Powerful Learning and CoSN’s Purposeful Education Technology work at www.cosn.org/purposeful-edtech.

About CoSN

CoSN, the world-class professional association for K-12 education technology leaders, stands at the forefront of education innovation. We are driven by a mission to equip current and aspiring K-12 education technology leaders, their teams, and school districts with the community, knowledge, and professional development they need to cultivate engaging learning environments. Our vision is rooted in a future where every learner reaches their unique potential, guided by our community. CoSN represents over 2,000 school districts and 14 million students and continues to grow as a powerful and influential voice in K-12 education. www.cosn.org

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DENVER, Colo – October 13, 2026 – On October 1, 2026, the Treasury Department issued clarifying guidance and critical deadlines for states to stand up their federal Education Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC) programs. If a state misses the February 15, 2027 deadline to submit its perfected list to the IRS, it effectively prevents any organization in that state from qualifying as an SGO for 2027. LearningSpring is a turnkey solution for states that assumes the administrative, oversight, and fraud-prevention workflows and eases the paperwork burden they face while compliance deadlines loom.

Opting In Doesn’t Mean Being Ready

A state may have opted in to the EFTC, but that does not mean its program is ready and operational. For states to be EFTC-ready, there are several dependent steps, with the states ultimately responsible for certifying SGOs before submitting their perfected lists to the IRS. 

Existing SGOs may already have the organizational structure, tax-exempt status, and scholarship administration processes in place; however, they still need to submit documentation proving they meet federal EFTC requirements and applicable state requirements.

New SGOs have a longer path to compliance by first establishing governance and bylaws, before obtaining tax-exempt status. Once they have their nonprofit designation, they still must develop scholarship administration procedures and secure approval in the states they intend to operate.

States need time to receive applications from SGOs, verify their qualifications, and approve their scholarship application and awarding process, documentation, and compliance procedures. Once that process is complete, states must submit their final perfected lists of SGOs to the IRS by February 15, 2027.

“The U.S. Treasury Department has stated that states face a significant paperwork burden in compiling and submitting their perfected SGO list. This is only the tip of the paperwork iceberg. Treasury estimates states will invest 6,500 hours, or about 10 hours for every SGO a state certifies. However, as new SGOs apply, change status, or lose approval, that burden will grow, which makes having a third-party partner solution like LearningSpring absolutely essential,” said Cecilia Retelle Zywicki, Co-Founder and CEO of LearningSpring. 

“There are only four months until the date when states must submit their perfected list of SGOs to the IRS. Given that many SGOs will be bogged down in paperwork of their own, states may have mere weeks to review every SGO’s application. This bottleneck is one reason why having a compliance infrastructure partner like LearningSpring is so essential,” she added.

LearningSpring’s Unified Program Infrastructure supplies states with:

• Scalable infrastructure while preserving account-level control and oversight
• Fraud prevention, due process, and duplicate-award safeguards
• Built-in compliance controls
• Fair, documented path to approval for SGOs
• A unified platform serving families, schools, and providers
• An Education Freedom Wallet^®  

“With LearningSpring, states don’t need to create new infrastructure to participate in the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC) program. LearningSpring provides the solution states need to compile their SGO lists, meet federal deadlines, and manage SGO applications and scholarship compliance,” Retelle Zywicki added.

About the Education Freedom Tax Credit

To date, 30 states have opted in to the EFTC, which allows families to apply to SGOs for scholarships that can be used to pay for qualified education expenses. The states’ responsibilities are to approve SGOs, to take reasonable steps to prevent fraud and abuse, and de-duplicate awards; processes that are made easier and more accurate with LearningSpring. The EFTC programs are funded by donors who can receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 for individuals and $3,400 for married couples filing jointly when they contribute to an approved SGO. This tax credit is the first of its kind, allowing taxpayers to redirect dollars from their federal tax liability to a Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) of their choosing. Find more information on the October 1, 2026 Treasury Department press release.

The Education Freedom Tax Credit is also known by several other names such as the Federal Education Tax Credit and the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit.

About LearningSpring

LearningSpring is The School Choice Management Platform that helps states, schools, families, SGOs, and providers run modern education freedom programs with clarity and accountability. It unifies school discovery, eligibility, applications, payments, and compliance, enabling partners to operate their Education Freedom Tax Credit on a single platform. LearningSpring’s solutions, including the School Choice Marketplace, Education Freedom Wallet^®, Federal Tax Credit Management, and complete School Choice Management for States, help families find their best-fit learning options, help schools and SGOs steward scholarships responsibly, and help states deliver transparent, auditable programs. Create a free family account, claim a school profile, and learn more at https://learningspring.com.

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WHAT: Three days of no-cost live sessions for K-12 superintendents, assistant superintendents, curriculum and instruction leaders, principals, and literacy specialists interested in sustaining and scaling effective literacy instruction.

WHEN: Tuesday, October 13 – Thursday, October 15; 12 PM – 1PM ET

 REGISTER:  https://events.lexialearning.com/event/science-of-reading-week-fall-2026/register

Boston – Oct. 1, 2026 – Education leaders are currently searching for the best ways to turn decades of literacy research into lasting classroom impact. Building on the national conversation sparked by TIME’s recent profile of Dr. Louisa Moats, creator of the award-winning Lexia LETRS professional learning program, the new Science of Reading Week brings educators and leaders together to resolve that challenge. 

The three-day event will be moderated by Dr. Amanda McCaleb, senior manager of Lexia’s LETRS Coaches program. “TIME’s feature on Dr. Louisa Moats, reflects a growing national focus on the research behind effective reading instruction,” said McCaleb. “Science of Reading Week moves that conversation forward by examining what meaningful implementation looks like in schools and classrooms. Attendees will engage with education leaders as well as literacy experts such Dr. Marisa Ramirez Stukey, the Chief Academic Officer of The Reading League.”

The sessions will cover:

• Practical strategies to evaluate literacy evidence and identify what works
• Proven approaches for sustaining implementation and supporting educators
• Insights from leaders who are putting literacy research into practice
• Strategies for using data to strengthen literacy decisions
• A framework for building a literacy system that can be explained, defended, and scaled

Each live session will take place at 12 p.m. ET.

Tuesday, October 13

Prove What Works

In this session, McCaleb will speak with Stukey and one of Lexia’s senior education advisors, José Viana. The three will explore how district leaders can evaluate research, third-party validation, and student outcomes to determine what truly drives literacy growth. Attendees will leave with strategies for assessing literacy evidence, asking better questions, and making research-backed decisions they can confidently defend.

Wednesday, October 14

Sustain What Works

This session will feature Priscilla Gossett, the principal of Madison Park Middle School in Arizona, and 

Lisa Silva, the ELA instructional coach at MTSS Interventionist Chocowinity Primary School in North Carolina. McCaleb and Lexia Senior Education Advisor Dr. Octavia Gray-Essex will join the two school leaders to discuss how implementation quality, educator support, leadership alignment, and responsible use of data sustain literacy gains over time.

Thursday, October 15

Scale What Works

Dr. Tiffany Truitt, the instructional coordinator of secondary English at Isle of Wight County Schools in Virginia, and Jennifer Kellison, the instructional specialist of academic interventions at SD 27J in Colorado, will join McCaleb. They will explain how connected systems help districts unify instruction, intervention, multilingual learner support, professional learning, data, and AI-enabled insights into one coherent approach. Attendees will learn how the districts are reducing fragmentation and creating literacy systems that are easier to explain, defend, and scale.

There is no cost to attend these live sessions, but registration is required. For more information, please go to https://events.lexialearning.com/event/science-of-reading-week-fall-2026/summary.

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Media Contact:

Charlotte Andrist, Nickel Communications

charlotte@nickelcommpr.com 

Media Inquiries Only: 770-310-5244 

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