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| December 16, 2025 |
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Happy Tuesday, and welcome to ISTE Solutions Network SmartBrief.
It was a toss-up today for the top news slot. Congress' push for children's online safety clearly will affect edtech companies. But the battle between the federal and state governments over the regulation of AI affects education, too.
Scroll down to the Policy section to read more about the latter.
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| (Kevin Carter/Getty Images) |
A US House subcommittee last week advanced the Kids Online Safety Act, COPPA 2.0 and more than a dozen other bills aimed at protecting children online by sharing child safety measures with the FTC, restricting targeted advertising to minors, strengthening privacy protections, increasing parental controls and providing more transparency in data practices, among other issues. However, Democratic members and the Center for Democracy Technology have raised concerns about a preemption clause that could override stronger state laws. The bill's next stop is the full House Energy and Commerce Committee.
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SmartTake: The incredible speed of advances in online technology and AI is creating fast and furious dilemmas for educators, legislators and parents. Keeping children safe is paramount, but rushing to solutions risks missing conflicts among rules and reality. "What is clear is that 2026 will not be a quiet year. With the House advancing a narrowed and heavily preemptive KOSA and COPPA 2.0, the Senate holding the line on duty of care, and Big Tech executives lobbying to shape the details, a bruising conference committee clash is all but guaranteed," Anthony Kimery, the former editor-in-chief and co-founder of Homeland Security Today, writes.
"And if Congress deadlocks, the burden will shift to the FTC, state attorneys general, and judges -- institutions already struggling to navigate the collision of children’s safety, free expression, privacy, surveillance, and platform power."
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Career-centered learning, the integration of artificial intelligence and high-dosage tutoring are among the trends shaping education as we come to the end of 2025, Edmentum CEO Jamie Candee writes. She highlights the success of the Career Academies of Decatur in Alabama, where students earn certifications in fields such as welding and health care. Candee also discusses the careful approach schools are taking to AI, focusing on AI literacy and support, as well as administrative tasks and curriculum alignment, ensuring AI is supporting rather than replacing teachers.
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Nearly all US states fail to integrate AI literacy with computer science education, according to a report from Code.org and CSforALL. Only four states -- Colorado, Ohio, North Dakota and Virginia -- include AI in their computer science standards, and none require AI and computer science to graduate. The report notes that 60% of public high schools offer foundational computer science courses, but only 6.1% of students participate.
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Memphis-Shelby County Schools has unveiled a real-time safety center housed in a former elementary school, featuring 18 televisions and 30 computers to monitor live footage from campuses. The initiative, motivated by a 2021 school shooting, includes AI-enhanced cameras designed with Bosch to detect weapons and unsafe behavior.
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Noor Shammas, instructional technology coordinator at Naperville Community Unit School District 203 in Illinois, emphasizes the importance of human-centered AI in education, focusing on enhancing instructional practices and student learning rather than replacing educators. Shammas highlights the use of AI to personalize learning, such as creating social stories for students, and the importance of intentionality in integrating technology.
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A recently signed executive order from President Donald Trump seeks to create a single federal policy framework for AI that would preempt any state laws that might hinder innovation, calling for a legal fight against any state AI laws that "unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce." While hoping to achieve "global AI dominance," the order also requires measures related to child safety, copyright protection and anti-censorship. |
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SmartTake: The states are not embracing the executive order; Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D.-Minn., is not alone in dubbing it "dangerous, and most likely illegal." A lack of federal response to AI during the past year is what prompted many states to spend considerable time and effort creating their own guardrails in the first place. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is moving forward with the state's rules, confident that they will work in harmony with the federal government's larger competitive concerns.
Some other thoughts across the spectrum about AI guidance and regulations:
AI companies "understand the greater good" despite their profit motives, Education Secretary Linda McMahon says, suggesting that "they are developing a good base of use for their product, while at the same time not infringing on the responsibilities that they have to the nation, because after all, they have kids, too." She says an AI best practices kit will soon be in the works.
Congress is "two steps behind" in regulating AI. Some are homing in on the US' ability to be a dominant player in AI, while others want to ensure ethical use. In reality, about five AI-related companies have been controlling most of the country's tech decisions, former US Rep. Jim Langevin, co-founder of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, said on the AI Explained podcast.
Educators need to be at the forefront of any ed-related AI decisions. "Once we understand the things that AI can and can't do, we can start thinking about the types of tasks that AI could and should not be doing," Prado Yenda Prado, a research analyst at Digital Promise, says.
We need to teach morality first. Cyberbullying, disinformation and deepfakes and other abuses often "do not stem from innate malice, but from a lack of moral guidance adapted to the digital age. We are educating young people who are capable of manipulating technology, but sometimes unable to gauge the human impact of their actions. ... [The trivialization of offensive or inappropriate content] blurs moral boundaries. ... The mere absence of malicious intent in content creation is no longer enough to prevent harm," write Nadia Naffi of the Universite Laval and Ann-Louise Davidson, the Innovation Lab director and professor for Educational Technology and Innovation Mindset at Concordia University.
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The Federal Trade Commission has announced plans to take action against Illuminate Education over a significant data breach in 2021 that compromised the personal information of more than 10 million students. Three state attorneys general have already imposed fines and security mandates on the company. However, parents and students have faced challenges in seeking accountability, with a federal lawsuit dismissed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
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| (Theo Wargo/Getty Images) |
Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland are introducing Lumi Story, an AI-powered storytelling platform backed by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, to enhance literacy and academic skills. The platform, which supports over 50 languages, is designed to enhance literacy and support academic growth by allowing students to creatively develop stories and characters using AI technology.
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AI projects are being developed to automate the process of detecting errors in students' math assignments, a task that traditionally requires teachers to manually review students' work. Companies such as Eedi Labs are leading efforts to train AI algorithms to predict and identify student misconceptions in math, potentially enabling real-time correction by teachers.
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In the past three years, DeForest (Wis.) Area School District students have consistently outperformed the state average on the ACT, though it still struggles with achievement gaps among students in several demographics. To address areas needing improvement, DeForest schools have implemented multiple intervention strategies, including the Fastbridge monitoring tool to identify needs and tailor interventions, a schedule for those interventions, professional development and new curriculum.
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Kim Hicks, director of the English as a second language program at Southwestern Jefferson County Consolidated School in Hanover, Ind., highlights the need for foundational literacy instruction beyond second grade, especially for English-language learners. Hicks shares the success of using Readable English, a phonetic system, to help middle schoolers decode English, thereby improving their reading proficiency and overall academic performance. Hicks emphasizes that literacy instruction should not have an expiration date and advocates for allowing all students to become successful readers.
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Top stories from last week's newsletter
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| About ISTE Solutions Network |
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| The Solutions Network a member-based community that aims to 1) connect innovative solution providers to one another to learn, explore, and share best practices, 2) engage with the ISTE/ASCD member community to gather feedback and increase the impact of high-quality learning solutions, 3) engage in thought leadership conversations and 4) provide benefits for the annual ASCD + ISTE conference, where approximately 16,000 educators, decision-makers, and vendors convene. This community is made up of edtech companies of various sizes that are interested in engaging with each other and with ISTE to discuss Edtech’s role in teaching and learning, industry trends, and solve common challenges. Members of this network can benefit from connecting with industry experts and thought leaders, as well as from gaining key buyer information and insights.
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| Mirrors would do well to reflect a little more before sending back images. |
Jean Cocteau,
poet, playwright, writer, filmmaker, artist |
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