PowerSchool today released findings from its 2024 Education Focus Report for the 2024-2025 school year. The report offers an in-depth analysis of the key challenges and innovations currently shaping the U.S. education landscape going into the 2024-2025 school year. Drawing from a national survey of 1,620 educators, alongside 12 focus groups and 12 interviews engaging over 75 district leaders, teachers, parents, and students, the report provides critical insights into the evolving needs and priorities of the education community.
eSchool was given a sneak peek into the data in Denver last month when PowerSchool’s VP of Education Strategy, Ryan Imbriale (left) hosted a panel featuring K-12 educators, which included:
- Pati Ruiz, Senior Director of Edtech and Emerging Technologies, Digital Promise
- Addison Davis, Partner and Education Consultant, Strategos Group
- Susan Moore, Director of Technology, Meriden Public Schools (CT)
Click below for a snippet:
Download the report here
Below is an overview of some of the key insights & learnings stemming from the report:
Educators see benefit of personalized learning, but traditional beliefs are getting in the way:
- PowerSchool found education leaders see competency and mastery-based learning as key to improving student engagement and outcomes. However, educators said changing traditional beliefs about what education looks like is the #1 hurdle to implementing more personalized learning models, showing that many leaders recognize the need for personalized learning but struggle with how to shift traditional views.
Educators are open to new technologies like AI, but still in a “wait and see” mode:
- 70% of district leaders believe AI can enhance teaching and learning— up from 53% in 2023 and 60% of school leaders and educators believe AI can enhance teacher practice and development.
- Despite the increased excitement on AI in the classroom, only 8% of respondents are using AI in classrooms and only one in five district leaders reported that their school system is developing guidance on AI.
- Many districts are in a “wait and see” mode, looking to early adopters and third parties for guidance on how to safely and securely implement AI technology.
Staffing, hardware purchases, tutoring programs and teacher salary increases are the top four initiatives education leaders plan to financially deprioritize this school year:
- When education leaders were asked which initiatives they would consolidate or stop entirely in the 2024-2025 school year, staffing (45%), purchasing new hardware (30%), tutoring programs (25%) and teacher salary increases (22%) came up as the top four areas to financially deprioritize.
Caregivers want more personalized communication:
- Enhancing communication and engagement between schools and homes is vital for student success, but caretakers are busy and must navigate a complex stream of information about their child’s education daily.
- PowerSchool interviewed caregivers about their experience communicating with schools and found they would like more personalized and streamlined notifications from schools about schedules, policies, and key milestones, ideally all through one tool, not many.
- They also said they are rarely asked about communication preferences. For example, some shared they receive texts for one child and emails and physical mail for another child, but their schools did not invite input on what is best for them.
Disengagement and lack of family support are top reasons for decline in student attendance:
- When it comes to attendance, seven in 10 educators agree that student attendance has been a significant challenge in their school system since the pandemic with disengagement, lack of family support and mental health issues called out as the top three reasons.
Teachers don’t believe the “one teacher, many students” model is working for students:
When exploring the modern education workforce, PowerSchool found that teachers are seeking better work/life balance, professional development, and intuitive technology.
- The key thing leaders said must be addressed to make the teaching profession more sustainable is “Reducing teacher, student intervention, and parent communication workloads.”
- And when asked what teaching model schools were following, over seven in 10 responded that the “one teacher, many student” model is the mainstay, even though nearly two-fifths of educators (36%) said the “one teacher, many students” model is not working for students.
- PowerSchool also found that the top three things adding to teachers’ workloads were:
- Disruptive behavior
- Student intervention planning
- Parent communication and engagement
