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A number of state and district policies will have an impact on technology use in the K-12 classrooms. This blog runs through recent legal and policy changes in cell phone, social media, and generative artificial intelligence usage for students that…
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This article explains how states rate schools and why one letter or number can obscure far more than it reveals.
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Even without a national right to education, the United States built one of the world’s most ambitious systems to support, count, and understand its schools.
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A governance vacuum has left private groups, not states, effectively deciding which AI tools are considered safe for students.
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Fears about LGBTQ+ teachers lead to underrepresentation by LGBTQ+ individuals in teaching today.
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A look back at the school districts that chose to close their public schools rather than integrate, and what this history means as we honor Juneteenth.
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Do you have questions about teachers? There is a data source for you!
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Research tends to assume a CTE‑to‑career pipeline, yet it’s not clear that all fields follow it.
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Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of NCES requires thoughtful discussions.
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Longitudinal studies are the deep‑rooted work that yields the clearest picture of how learning unfolds over time.
Work with the Field
Beyond our blog and newsletters, Agora shares longer-form work with the field — responses to federal Requests for Information, public comments, capability materials, and the occasional thought piece on the future of education research and data. They live here.
Regional Educational Laboratory Program, 2027-2031: Agora’s RFI Response, January 2026
Agora’s response to IES’s Request for Information on the design of the next round of REL contracts. It lays out concrete ways to make REL work faster, more responsive, and more useful to states and districts: flexible “umbrella” projects that adapt as state needs change, reserved capacity for one-to-four-week rapid-response studies, concurrent rather than sequential peer review, practitioner-focused products instead of 50-page reports, and heavier reuse of existing federal and state data — NCES collections, CEDS, and statewide longitudinal data systems — to cut cost and burden.
Redesigning the Institute of Education Sciences — Agora’s Public Comment · 2025 · Public Comment
Agora’s comment on the federal Request for Information on redesigning IES (docket ED-2025-IES-0844). Drawing on the team’s direct experience running these programs, it argues that strengthening the Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) grant program and Common Education Data Standards (CEDS) technical assistance — and integrating them into agency-wide data governance — would advance all four of IES’s priorities: reducing data-collection burden, making grantmaking more practitioner-relevant, improving evidence dissemination, and delivering more responsive technical assistance to states. All 56 eligible states and territories have used these programs to build longitudinal data systems linking early-childhood through workforce data. Authored by Nancy Sharkey, Ed.D. (former NCES SLDS Program Officer) and Carolyn Grim, Ph.D.
Agora Capabilities Brochure
A short, shareable PDF introducing who we are and what we do — the team’s roots in federal education statistics, our applied-research and technical-assistance services, and how to partner with us.
Where Does Your State Stand on AI in Schools?
State Guidance Published
In Motion
Binding Requirements in place
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Financial Literacy Graduation Requirements-Lookup by State
Graduation requirement — stand-alone course
Graduation requirement — flexible delivery
Pending bill — flexible delivery
Pending bill — stand-alone course
No statewide mandate
Restricted-Use Data Access
NPSAS Projected Data Access Trends
Mission Statement
