Educators are challenging long-held beliefs on how students learn and are making changes to reshape education.
Education is evolving, and educators are questioning the traditional learning systems. Modern leaders are focusing on preparing students for their futures while exploring systems that bridge learning and real-world experience. This shift includes discussions of new technology platforms and artificial intelligence, as well as how to change the curriculum to improve test scores, graduation rates, and career preparation.
Educators are asking questions that challenge long-held beliefs about student engagement, whether measurable outcomes are the only ones that matter, whether technology improves learning, the importance of human relationships, and whether students are being prepared for the modern world. Some of the biggest changes aren’t connected to technology, but to the culture of education.
Student agency has become a focal point as educators move to give them a greater voice. There are also shifts toward building stronger relationships in education and with the community as a whole. As AI helps expand access to learning, educators are also reconsidering foundational skills.
Giving Students a Voice
Traditional education systems were built on compliance and standardization and designed to scale with student populations. To maintain certain standards, students often have to wear uniforms and meet specific educational goals. What is often overlooked is that students have varied experiences in the system, and communities may have different needs. What works in one school doesn’t necessarily work in another, and schools must adjust to make education more effective.
“A lot of programs are looking at: do you change the attendance rate, do you change the graduation rate, do you change the literacy rate? But if you have literacy and you feel absolutely no sense of purpose, it doesn’t really matter that you can read well,” says Laura Easley, executive director at ReGEN.
ReGEN is an education-focused organization that works with communities to redesign learning environments through what they call co-creation. Students, educators, parents, and caregivers help build a new system focused on students’ needs and the community’s priorities.
Including students’ voices in their education is key to building a system that works for them. Adults and policymakers may make assumptions that don’t fit their reality. A student may meet all their academic milestones but still feel unmotivated or disconnected from the learning process.
“The students know what they need. No matter where I am, the students are the only people who are students in their school right now. Even if the teacher graduated from that school, that was some time ago,” Easley adds.
Modernizing education systems should center, she argues, on community-defined outcomes. The traditional education system is misaligned with what modern students need to have a successful future.
“We have to prepare them for the world of 2050, not the world of the Industrial Revolution.”
Motivation and Connection Matter
Access to information doesn’t necessarily guarantee a student or adult learner will be motivated to learn it. They need motivation and the willingness to keep learning after failure. Community can help boost their self-confidence and give them the emotional support they need.
“80% is mindset. You can’t motivate people: they need intrinsic motivation. They also have to believe that they can go through this process, because learning is hard,” says Ekaterina Arlt-Kalthoff, the founder and CEO of elevateHER Academy.
elevateHER Academy is an education and entrepreneurship organization founded in 2020. The academy has a three-part engagement model that includes human connection, peer community, and gamified AI tools.
Today’s educators face several challenges that make teaching harder. Shorter attention spans coupled with digital devices make it difficult to keep students engaged. The traditional lecture-based, information-heavy approach isn’t enough to hold modern students’ attention. The three-part engagement model helps combat short attention spans, and AI tools provide 24/7 support.
“We customized some GPTs with our information and gave them to the entrepreneurs, so even if someone gets stuck at 11 pm, they don’t have to wait for the mentor the next day. We gave them names, so it’s like a friend,” Arlt-Kalthoff adds.
Failure is also a part of the process at the academy. Arlt-Kalthoff believes that teaching students how to fail is essential.
“In Germany, people hate to fail. It’s hard work to show them that failing is part of this learning process, and if you don’t fail, you can’t learn.”
Relationships Can Change Whether Students Stay Engaged
Relationships are an important part of the education experience. They can fuel motivation, which supports persistence even when students face failure. Building supportive relationships in education can make students more likely to ask for help, keep going after failure, pursue long-term goals, stay enrolled, and attend class regularly. When students feel connected to the school community, they are more likely to earn a degree.
“Relationship before rigor really does matter in a learning environment. You can’t buy a relationship. Kids don’t care what you know until they know that you care,” says Jerell Hill, Dean of Counseling and Guided Pathways at Los Angeles City College (LACC).
Hill’s philosophy is “Relationship Before Rigor.” Data show that students with strong relationships with faculty are retained at a 90% rate, compared with 45% of those who aren’t. He is also using AI to help tutor students who can’t afford private tutors.
“If you’re in a rural or impoverished area, see AI as a tutor that doesn’t sleep. Now you don’t have to spend $3,000 on your MCAT or your SAT. Now you can get that for free. That’s a big equity lever that levels the playing field,” Hill adds.
LACC’s Guided Pathways program focuses on a data-driven, relationship-first model that is positively affecting student outcomes. The program is connected to the LA workforce and industry needs. For example, it found that LA had 900 radiology tech vacancies while the program had 345 students.
Hill also supports student voices, stressing that they need to understand why they are pursuing a higher education. Connecting education to future opportunities can improve students’ commitment to their courses.
“Having students have student voice and elevated choice gives them the autonomy to discern their why. Oftentimes kids in poverty are going to school for a better life — their why is really clear. But it becomes layered and nuanced when the why is for different reasons.”
Returning to Foundational Skills
Though technology may be at the center of some education reforms, others focus on revisiting skills that previously had a high priority. Handwriting is one example of a foundational skill that is resurging because of scientific data, after being eliminated in many schools.
“The neuroscience has shown that when pencil is put to paper, the reading centers are stimulated. There’s all this cross-hemisphere communication going on in the brain. And that’s not evident when you are keyboarding,” says Beverly Moskowitz, the President of Real OT Solutions.
Moskowitz is an occupational therapist with 50 years of experience who noticed a serious gap in handwriting instruction. The “Size Matters” program is an evidence-based solution she designed to teach students to focus on consistent letter size.
“When you focused on letter size versus letter form, the kids caught on really quickly. When you give kids the concrete, exacting strategy, they get it, and when you teach them the rules, now you’ve empowered them to self-monitor,” Moskowitz adds.
A doctoral study from Temple University confirms the neuroscience behind this approach. Handwriting affects the brain differently than typing on a keyboard. It is an important learning tool that many education systems are reinstating.
“The removal of instruction in handwriting was misguided. Now it is coming back. Cursive has been eliminated, but that’s coming back too. 27 states have now mandated cursive.”
Final Thoughts
Education leaders who advocate for changes in school systems understand that new technology doesn’t mean every older learning technique is obsolete. They focus on using innovations and traditional skills supported by data. AI innovation and other modern tools can work alongside foundational practices, creating a supportive environment for students to learn, evolve, and embrace their futures.
