1. District Superintendents play the central role in shaping district policy, and Burbio’s Superintendent Turnover Tracker monitors leadership changes nationwide, including resignations, interim appointments, new hire start dates, and where incoming and outgoing leaders are coming from or going to.
New hire announcements surge in the spring, after a peak of resignation and retirement announcements in December and January. Below is the number of districts by region that have announced new Superintendents since March 1, the majority of whom will start this summer:
2. Burbio's K-12 Construction Tracker provides an end-to-end view of school construction and renovation, from early discussions to final fit-out. For perspective, last week alone we added over 250 projects to the database. One categorization allows filtering for CTE and STEM-related construction initiatives. A quick survey of the data reveals the variety of career pathways supported by district construction projects:
- Clover Park School District, WA, is opening the Maritime South Sound Skills Center this fall that will serve 11th and 12th-grade students.
- Nassau BOCES, NY, is reviewing sites for an Advanced Manufacturing Training Center that will include programs in defense and biotechnology.
- Catawba County Schools, NC, is creating an Aviation CTE Pathway that includes hands-on aircraft construction, and is investigating build-out space for the program.
- The Career Institute of Technology, PA, has proposed a $10 million expansion plan to support programming including diesel mechanic technology, aviation and drone technology, dental careers, and emergency medical services.
- South-Western City School District, OH, has just hired an architect to renovate the cosmetology lab at the district's career center.
- Fannin County School District, GA, is reviewing drawings of a soon-to-come Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education facility, which will include programs on construction, healthcare, teaching, arts and entertainment, design and agriculture.
3. Burbio's State-Level Funding Tracker features billions of dollars of continuously updated, state-specific grants for PreK-12 schools. Clients use this data as an opportunity to engage with districts before grants have been awarded. Below are examples of some of the many literacy-focused grants we see:
- In Massachusetts the Partnership for Reading Success Grant supports K-3 literacy.
- In New Jersey, BRIDGE grants assist schools in adopting universal screening tools to inform tier one literacy instruction in grades K-3.
- In Arizona, the Foundation Literacy Coaching Grant funds literacy coaches.
- In Iowa, the Dyslexia Specialist Endorsement Stipend program offers educators a stipend for earning this specific endorsement.
4. Burbio's State Policy Tracker covers policies across state board of education meetings, budgets, report cards, and more. This week we look at AI policies from the 30+ states that have issued them. One of the areas those policies address is how to create "AI-resistant" or "AI-resilient" assignments that require active student thinking. Here are some of the main themes:
- Design assignments around personal experiences, original arguments, or unique data collection that AI cannot authentically produce.
- Emphasize the learning process by evaluating drafts, reflections, process documentation, or handwritten work instead of only the final product.
- Shift to visual and alternative formats such as using charts, graphs, videos, and other formats that are harder for AI to generate.
- Focus on project-based and real-world learning to encourage hands-on, long-term projects that apply knowledge in practical contexts.
- Design open-ended and collaborative tasks that use critical-thinking and group work that require discussion and peer interaction.
- Incorporate teacher-familiar assessments that make AI use easier to spot.
- Use controlled environments to administer “AI-free” assessments without technology so students rely on their own knowledge and skills.