Nearly 1,000 San Francisco Unified parents, teachers, and community members signed a petition demanding limits on AI tools in classrooms. It targets Amira Learning, an AI reading program used with elementary students, and calls for banning generative AI and chatbots on student devices entirely. Organizers cite privacy risks like stored voice recordings and worry about students growing dependent on the tool. A company funded study shows reading gains, but that hasn't slowed the pushback. Los Angeles Unified already banned student AI use, and San Francisco's petition suggests parent skepticism is spreading past one district.

Chronic absenteeism peaked at 28% nationally in 2022 and still sits at 22.6%, well above the roughly 15% rate before the pandemic. New research pushes back on the idea that families are simply checked out, pointing instead to health issues, transportation gaps, and family instability as the real drivers. Interventions built around warning letters and compliance are aimed at the wrong problem, and money keeps going toward fixes that don't align with the root causes. Districts need to address those barriers directly instead of just tracking the numbers.

New York's Board of Regents voted to move ahead with replacing Regents exams with a competency-based graduation system, even though officials admit key details are still unresolved. Current ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders will be the first classes affected, and districts still don't know how they'll measure proficiency in subjects like English and math under the new framework. The state is asking schools to prepare with less than a year before the shift lands for the 2027-28 school year. EdTrust-New York has already called for a pause, and the gap between the timeline and the guidance schools have leaves districts building high-stakes graduation measures on the fly.

A new study of roughly 400 microschool students across 27 schools found academic growth kept pace with national norms from fall 2025 to spring 2026, with more than half exceeding expected growth in reading and 47% doing so in math. That's notable given nearly half the students had special learning needs, 28% had mental health needs, and 14% had a chronic medical condition. As microschools keep drawing families looking for alternatives for kids with challenges, the data offers early evidence that smaller, flexible settings can deliver comparable results. Researchers caution the study is small, but it's a signal worth watching as more families consider the option.

Districts that rolled out cellphone bans this year may be seeing enforcement slip as the school year goes on, according to new findings from the Brookings Institution. Researchers point to students finding workarounds and teachers growing less consistent about enforcing the rules over time. For districts treating the ban as a one-time policy rollout, the findings are a reminder that early momentum doesn't guarantee it sticks.

📤 Found Pulse K-12 helpful? Share it with a colleague so they can keep a pulse on education too.