In an environment where top-down federal regulation demanding rigorous evidence of edtech is unlikely, we must work to leverage market forces for good. To do so, we need to work to find the middle ground between solution providers' natural go-to-market inclinations and revenue obligations and R&D; where do those two intersect? School Systems and Educators. 

Despite the headlines, a few new studies suggest that staff shortages may not be our biggest barrier as students return to school this fall. Instead, the rate of learning recovery post pandemic is threatening to perpetuate persistent (and potentially widened) inequities among students along lines of race and class.

It is our time. It is our season to create our own narrative. It is time for us to define ourselves— we are more than mere babysitters; we're more than mere catalysts. We are what we are. And we are people for the next generation.

While innovation, technology, the state school safety, and larger-scale policy reform may feel disconnected, we must reckon with the reality of how we’ve reemerged from the pandemic.

While private schools saw limited interruptions, some stable, public school districts have used the catalyst of the Covid-19 pandemic to progress personalized learning initiatives and implement more experimental curricula. However, increasingly more public schools are struggling with bare necessities—extreme shortages of bus drivers, food service delivery, and substitute teachers. These operational obstacles are now bleeding over to disrupt instruction.

We cannot let another 20 years transpire before we fully reckon with our city’s digital divide.

Especially as virtual instruction becomes normalized, it is important to establish systems, routines, and procedures that ensure that the quality of instruction can be maintained even if it must be delivered and executed remotely.

I believe that there is no correct answer or perfect choice. Knowing this, I am guided by a simple phrase: trial and error.