Press Category: On the Wire

WASHINGTON, D.C. — CoSN — The Consortium for School Networking today issued the following statement from its CEO Keith Krueger regarding the U.S. Department of Education’s new guidance on education technology and screen time:

“CoSN welcomes the Department of Education’s thoughtful guidance on education technology and screen time. The Department rightly recognizes that decisions about school use of technology are best made locally, with input from educators and families. Just as importantly, the guidance distinguishes between recreational screen time and purposeful uses of technology for teaching and learning. Rather than focusing solely on screen time, policymakers should consider whether technology is being used purposefully to strengthen instruction, expand learning opportunities, support diverse learners, and improve student outcomes.

“This approach aligns closely with CoSN’s Purposeful Education Technology initiative and our longstanding belief that education technology is most effective when it is centered on learning, students are protected online, and implementation is guided by transparent local decision-making. Educational technology should serve clear learning goals, support educators, and be grounded in evidence-based practices that improve student outcomes.” 

“At the same time, schools must ensure that students are protected through strong privacy, cybersecurity, and online safety safeguards while maintaining open communication with families about how, when, and why technology is used. School districts, working closely with parents, educators, and students, are best positioned to determine which technologies meet local needs and support student learning.”

“CoSN provides district leaders with resources to evaluate, implement, and communicate the intentional use of technology in schools. Visit CoSN’s resource center for guidance on developing district technology policies, understanding the differences between educational technology and recreational screen time, and additional tools for education leaders.”

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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STUART, Fla., Aug. 19, 2026 — Classrooms have limited time for one-on-one teacher support, which leaves many students frustrated and sometimes guessing at answers. To help students stay engaged and build confidence, Penda Learning, an award-winning provider of digital science instructional intervention for grades 3–12, has created Cosmos, an AI-powered instructional assistant. Districts can opt to have this new offering enabled within the Penda Learning platform to give students guided support when they get stuck and help teachers see where students need help most. Cosmos, which is patent-pending, was recently named a 2026 CODiE Award finalist for Best AI-Powered Tutoring Solution, further validating Penda’s approach to using AI as an instructional support.

“Cosmos is designed to provide valuable assistance for teachers, especially new, out-of-field, or time-strapped teachers,” said Scott Wenger, Chief Technology Officer at Penda Learning. “The AI can be integrated directly into the flow of instruction, so high-quality tutoring is instantly available within the activity students are completing, improving independence while preserving teacher time for targeted intervention and other instructional duties.”

With Cosmos, students can choose to receive scaffolded explanations, strategic hints, quick summaries, or step-by-step coaching. In all cases, the responses never directly give the answer. Cosmos provides a pedagogical pivot similar to the way teachers guide students. In addition, the responses are aligned to the activity’s learning objectives and science standards as well as with grade-level terminology. And because the Penda platform already included read-aloud and text translation, learners continue to receive that support when using Cosmos.

Guardrails in the form of structured preset prompts protect students from irrelevant responses. The AI also creates dynamic prompts to reflect the specific questions a student might have when working on the activity. Each interaction is time-stamped and saved to a student-facing chat history, enabling learners to revisit prior guidance, reflect on strategies that worked, and build durable understanding over time. The chat history also gives Cosmos context from previous interactions.

Since Cosmos handles routine clarification questions, teachers have more time for deeper instruction, small-group work, and introducing new concepts. In addition, the AI lets teachers see which students requested its help, the specific areas where support was requested, how often students use it, and how AI use may be affecting outcomes. Teachers can then tailor their own instruction and guidance based on the usage data. Cosmos is always off during assessments, and teachers can enable or disable the AI by assignment or individual student.

“Standalone chatbots can give away the answers and shut down students’ learning flow,” said Wenger. “Cosmos is designed to do the opposite, to help students work through the material with guided support that builds understanding without simply providing the answer. We built Cosmos from the ground up to work within Penda Learning, so it fits seamlessly into existing classroom routines and technology environments. For schools and districts that add Cosmos, it becomes a powerful instructional assistant for both students and teachers.” 

To learn more about Cosmos or for a demo of the Penda platform, please visit https://pendalearning.com/ai-automation.

About Penda Learning, A Learning 2020 Company

Award-winning Penda Learning is a leading provider of digital science instruction and intervention for grades 3–high school. Trusted by schools and districts nationwide, Penda delivers engaging activities and assessments handcrafted to NGSS and state standards that combine rigorous science content, purposeful gamification, automation, and actionable reporting to help all students succeed. A two-time CODiE Award winner, Penda was recognized for Best Gamification in a Learning Tool in 2025 and Best Science Instructional Solution in 2026 and was also named to TIME’s America’s Top EdTech Companies 2026 list. Penda is committed to making science learning accessible, effective, and engaging for every learner. For more information visit: https://www.pendalearning.com

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ParentSquare, the leading family engagement infrastructure for K-12 districts, has been named to the 2026 Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. ParentSquare holds the No. 788 spot this year, climbing 174 places from 2025, and joins a list whose past honorees include Microsoft, Meta, Chobani, Oracle, and Patagonia.

Four consecutive appearances on the list track a clear shift in how districts connect with families: away from scattered point solutions and toward one unified foundation for reaching and involving every family. ParentSquare serves schools and districts reaching more than 22 million students nationwide, bringing messaging, websites, attendance solutions, forms, and payments together in one platform, with two-way translation into 190+ languages and powerful tools for achieving 100% contactability.

This year, ParentSquare expanded that foundation with ParentSquare Intelligence, purpose-built AI that helps schools and districts communicate more effectively. ParentSquare Intelligence features analyze communication, engagement, and attendance to surface actionable insights and recommended next steps within the workflows staff already use. Every feature is optional, off by default, and turned on at the district level, so districts stay in control of what they adopt. 

“Being named to the Inc. 5000 for the fourth consecutive year is an honor, and it signals something bigger than our own growth,” says Anupama Vaid, President and Founder of ParentSquare. “Districts are investing in family engagement as core infrastructure, and they are choosing a partner built for schools and designed for families. Our growth means more schools can reach every family, in any language, and that connection is what drives student success.”

“Every company on the Inc. 5000 has a story of perseverance, smart decision making, and a refusal to sit still,” says Mike Hofman, Editor-in-Chief of Inc. “Their growth reflects more than strong financial performance—it reflects creativity, resilience, and the customer focus required to build companies that make a lasting impact. We congratulate all honorees on this significant achievement.”

Inc. will celebrate honorees at the 2026 Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala, taking place October 14 to 16 in Dallas, Texas. For the full Inc. 5000 list, honoree company profiles, and a searchable database by industry and location, visit www.inc.com/inc5000. 

Inc. 5000 List Methodology

Companies on the 2026 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2022 to 2025. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2022. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2025. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2022 is $100,000; the minimum for 2025 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. 

About ParentSquare

ParentSquare is the leading family engagement infrastructure helping K-12 districts nationwide reach every family with an award-winning, all-in-one communication platform. Reaching over 22 million students, ParentSquare helps districts consolidate disconnected tools and outdated communication systems with personalized messaging, websites, forms, payments, attendance solutions, and more—in one easy-to-use platform. With powerful features for achieving 100% contactability, two-way translation into 190+ languages, and purpose-built AI enhancements, ParentSquare empowers districts to invite every family to be involved in their student’s education, no matter their home language or the device they use.

Recognized for growth and innovation by Inc. 5000, GSV 150, and more, ParentSquare was founded in 2011 in Santa Barbara, California. Learn more at parentsquare.com.

About Inc.

Inc. is the leading media brand and playbook for the entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping our future. Through its journalism, Inc. aims to inform, educate, and elevate the profile of its community: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters who are creating the future of business. Inc. is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow leading business publication Fast Company. For more information, visit www.inc.com.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 14, 2026) – CoSN — The Consortium for School Networking today joined other leading education organizations in urging K-12 education technology leaders, district administrators and school communities to make their voices heard after the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proposal to potentially eliminate or alter the E-Rate program was published in the Federal Register, opening a public comment period that will help shape the future of school connectivity nationwide.

For nearly three decades, E-Rate has helped schools provide reliable broadband connectivity that supports teaching and learning, school operations, cybersecurity and equitable access to educational opportunities. Comments on the FCC’s proposal are due by October 13, 2026, with reply comments due by November 12, 2026.

To support advocacy efforts, CoSN, the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition and other partners have launched SaveOurERate.com, a central hub with resources for filing FCC comments, contacting members of Congress and taking other actions to support the program. The coalition encourages schools, libraries, and community members to visit the site, share their stories, and stay engaged throughout the proceeding.

“E-Rate is one of the most successful federal programs supporting K-12 education,” said Keith Krueger, CEO of CoSN. “Today’s schools depend on robust broadband connectivity to deliver instruction, support digital learning, protect against cybersecurity threats and ensure all students have access to the tools they need to succeed. We encourage school district leaders to share their experiences and help demonstrate the critical role E-Rate plays in every community.”

The FCC’s proposal asks whether E-Rate, which has provided affordable broadband to schools and libraries for nearly 30 years, should be terminated or limited to rural areas only. CoSN and its partners believe the program’s success demonstrates its continued value and warn that reducing or eliminating E-Rate would disproportionately affect schools and communities that rely on it most.

K-12 school and district leaders can learn more and take action at SaveOurERate.com. To learn more about the benefits of education technology for K-12 students, visit 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

BALTIMORE, Md. — August 13, 2026 — New Jersey’s Linden Public Schools (LPS) today announced it is expanding its partnership with Concentric Educational Solutions to reduce chronic absenteeism across every school in the district. Building on the results of the pilot program conducted at Linden High School earlier this year, this expansion supports the goal Dr. Perkins and her team set to cut chronic absenteeism by 35% by June 2030.

“We are very pleased with the initial results of our partnership with Concentric Educational Solutions,” said Linden Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Atiya Perkins. “Since the start of this work, we’ve built a system that identifies the real barriers to attendance and helps us strategize how to remove them so impacted students can reconnect to learning. As we move forward, we’re excited to scale that infrastructure to every school in the district and align Concentric’s efforts even more closely with our Show Up and Roar attendance awareness campaign, which is about making sure every Tiger, at every age, knows they belong in their seat and in our schools.”

LPS is a diverse school system serving more than 6,100 preK3–12 students at 11 sites in Union County, New Jersey, that empowers all learners by fostering the development of the critical skills needed for post-secondary success. LPS’s progressive community is dedicated to developing future-ready individuals who embrace challenges, positively contribute to society, and excel in a constantly evolving world.

Concentric Educational Solutions partners with school systems, municipalities, and community partners to combat the urgent issue of chronic absenteeism and reconnect youth to opportunity. Concentric’s unique approach leverages certified members of the community to gather real-time insights from students and families that help school systems respond to student absences earlier, align resources, and address the factors driving disengagement. With the expanded partnership, services Concentric will provide across all LPS schools include:

Home visits by trained, community-based teams to enrolled LPS students, from preK3 through 12th grade, identified as chronically absent or not attending school

Engagement with families through collaborative discussions to identify barriers to attendance at every grade level

Custom ethnographic research from noted scholar and Howard University Professor Dr. Ivory Toldson interpreting the data collected during family engagements and outlining how and why chronically absent students have disengaged from learning

Collaboration with LPS administrators, teachers, and support staff districtwide that turns research into intervention and remediation strategies for the students and families engaged during home visits

Chronic absenteeism, defined as missing 10% or more of school days, has been identified as a major issue nationwide, with research showing that chronically absent students face substantial hurdles with academic recovery. In Linden Public Schools, the chronic absenteeism rate was 23.2% for the 2024-2025 school year, down 3 percentage points from a pandemic-era high of 26.2% in 2022-2023. New Jersey’s statewide rate of chronic absenteeism was 14.4% for the same year.

“Linden Public Schools has shown real courage in taking on chronic absenteeism head-on, and now they are scaling that commitment across their entire district,” said Concentric Educational Solutions CEO Molly Hebert Loyd. “Dr. Perkins and her team understand that reconnecting students to school is relationship work, not paperwork, and that getting a student back in their seat is often the first step toward a much longer path to opportunity. We are honored to grow alongside them and to support every school, every family, and every student across LPS.”

To learn more about Concentric Educational Solutions’ approach to combating chronic absenteeism, visit the company’s website at www.concentriced.org, follow the organization on X, or connect on LinkedIn.

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According to the newly updated report from higher education marketing and research firm Validated Insights, demand for non-nursing positions like medical assistants and dental assistants are in a period of significant growth with too few programs available to train the number of people needed to fill those roles.

“There is a massive market opportunity in entry-level allied healthcare training that much of the higher education ecosystem often overlooks,” said Brady Colby, Head of Market Research at Validated Insights. “Higher education-adjacent providers are proving different training models are effective there, and while Workforce Pell grants may only provide a modest boost initially, it’s a growing public funding source that institutions can tap into while many other funding sources are declining,” he added.

U.S. healthcare education increased to $44B in 2025, up from $39.24B in 2023 and projected to reach $61.4B by 2028. Nursing tuition alone is $8.58B — about 19% — leaving a ~$35B non-nursing residual that receives a fraction of the marketing attention.

The report states, “Within the non-nursing total, the sized segments are meaningful on their own: physician (MD/DO) tuition at an estimated $7B, healthcare e-learning at $5.5B, continuing medical education at $3.35B, and medical simulation at roughly $1.05B. Each is growing — and none of them recruits with anything close to nursing’s share of voice.” It continues, “the large majority of healthcare-education dollars will continue to sit in the non-nursing programs.”

Sixteen non-nursing roles show growth above the 3% all-occupation average:

• Occupational therapy assistant leads (+18%)
• Behavioral/mental-health counselor (+17%)
• Physical therapist assistant (+16%)
• Diagnostic medical sonographer (+13%)
• Medical assistant (+12%)
• Respiratory therapist (+12%)

Numbers for job openings, relatively high wages, and short time to credential fuel the optimism. Medical assistant positions are projected to have 112,300 openings per year, which is more than double any other. Dental assistants are projected at 52,900 openings per year, followed by pharmacy tech (49,000), and behavioral/mental health counselor (48,300).

“Medical assistant and medical assisting roles are growing rapidly inside and outside of the higher education ecosystem in terms of student demand. Therapeutic roles are also a standout. PT and OT, in particular,” added Colby.

According to the report:

• The demand is durable and can weather downturns. Healthcare positions show stability despite being a higher paying role.
• Enrollment and completions have risen fastest in two-year programs and certificate pathways.

College-bound high school graduates are not indicating interest in healthcare majors. It is the adult learners who are expressing intent to study healthcare. CollegeAPP data report that “28.6% of the 38.05M prospective adult learners with active intent to enroll plan to study healthcare.”

Enrollment numbers round out the picture of what is happening in higher education. Community colleges enroll 752,000 students in certificate programs, a 28.3% increase since Fall 2021. Undergraduate enrollment in health professions overall topped 2.0M students in Spring 2026. The fastest growth, however, is at two-year colleges (+7.1%) and in certificates (+10.2%).

This report is from Validated Insights’ recurring series on higher education and training. It is a deeper study into the June 2026 report on skilled trades and allied health, which stated that trade school revenue and job postings had doubled recent estimates. The April 2025 report on the nursing education market predicted 11% annual growth in the nursing market over the next five years.

To receive future reports from Validated Insights, follow Higher Ed News by VI on LinkedIn.

About Validated Insights

Validated Insights is an agile marketing agency specializing in helping higher education institutions achieve and exceed their goals. With a comprehensive suite of services, including digital marketing, paid search, paid social, and web strategy, Validated Insights delivers data-driven strategies and measurable results. The agency’s agile testing approach enables short- and long-term growth through better creative, strategy, media execution and continuous brand building. Validated Insights is the only agency in the higher education space to offer a performance guarantee in KPIs in the first 60 days – and continuous growth beyond that.

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