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| May 5, 2026 |
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| (Peshkov/Getty Images) |
School superintendents are getting bombarded by unsolicited marketing emails and calendar invites from education technology companies leveraging AI. Wading through the email slog is exhausting and disrupts more important work, according to Wendy Birhanzel, superintendent of the Harrison School District in Colorado Springs. "It's just a lot of energy drain that goes towards responding to this, in my opinion, instead of being focused on providing what students really need," says Birhanzel. The email slam also makes it tougher for superintendents to identify quality products. The International Society for Technology in Education has developed an index to help educators navigate the multitude of options. Smart Take: I feel these superintendents' pain. My inbox is slammed by story pitches and press releases from many of the same companies. That's tough enough to manage, but the other problem -- which Birhanzel points out -- is that many companies don't do their homework before reaching out. Their messages and pitches don't make sense for schools, or in our case, the publications and audiences we serve.
How can you get in front of the right eyes and make sure your message cuts through the noise? Relationship and patience. It's not about schmoozing or gifts. It's about respecting people's time and needs. The PR reps and marketers who get our attention are the ones who have invested time getting to know our readers and our content. They know what kinds of stories to pitch and tailor their messages accordingly. These are the folks we go to again and again.
I imagine that superintendents work a lot the same way. -- Kanoe Namahoe, SmartBrief Education
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| (Future) |
Andrew Marcinek, author of "Teaching Digital Kindness," compares the current wave of lawsuits against social media companies to the Big Tobacco reckoning, highlighting the burden on schools to manage the fallout. Marcinek advocates for intentional technology use in education, emphasizing the importance of AI literacy to prepare students for the workforce. "Schools need to lean in and have conversations around AI," Marcinek says. "If you're not, you are doing your school community a disservice."
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| (Westend61/Getty Images) |
Twenty-nine percent of school district recruiters say policies to limit student cellphone use during school hours can help teacher recruitment, up from 20% in 2024, according to a survey from the EdWeek Research Center. "Classroom disruption, rather than pay alone, is at the top of the list for burnout and resignations from candidates I chat with -- especially among first-year teachers," says Chimere Stephens, senior director of recruitment for New York City public schools.
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Top stories from last week's newsletter
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| (ISTE+ASCD) |
Congratulations to Typesy, Kahoot!, and EasyTech by Learning.com who have officially renewed their ISTE Seal, proving their ongoing commitment to high-quality, research-backed edtech. To learn more about the Seal and how these tools support student learning and educator development, visit https://iste.org/seal. |
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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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| Product announcements appearing in SmartBrief are paid advertisements and do not reflect actual ASCD + ISTE endorsements. The news reported in SmartBrief does not necessarily reflect the official position of ASCD + ISTE.
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