STEM

Quantum physics education at the high school level is often limited, if offered at all. To bridge this knowledge gap, a program in Texas has made quality quantum physics instruction more accessible to students and educators alike. 

Quantum for All is a national pilot led by the University of Texas at Arlington. It wrapped up its fifth annual camp in June, welcoming new and returning students and educators to learn and explore hands-on quantum physics. 

While the program has far exceeded expectations according to its principal investigator, its future is uncertain since the nearly $1 million National Science Foundation grant that funded it ended this year.

According to physics educators, learning about quantum physics exposes students to careers and fields they might not have otherwise considered and also helps them develop critical thinking skills they can apply beyond the classroom.

“It's really important for our youth to have an appreciation for science, specifically quantum, and how it is applicable in their lives, how they can use it in the workforce, and what jobs they can get from it,” said Karen Matsler, Quantum for All principal investigator and a professor at UT Arlington. “We need to stay ahead of the pack when it comes to other countries and technology and security. We don't have a choice, in my opinion.”

The Quantum for All summer program serves around 40 teachers and 40 to 60 students in a typical year. Most of the students are in grades 9-10, and the teachers come not only from physics but other disciplines as well.

The first week of the two-week program is dedicated to professional learning, where teachers work through the quantum physics concepts and projects they will be teaching students the following week.

Students join the camp during the second week and educators work in small groups to co-present lessons. This helps split the workload and makes it less intimidating, Matsler explained. They're learning through watching other teachers and by watching the kids, she said.

Because of the prominence of quantum across several fields, teachers from different backgrounds such as art and math are encouraged to participate.

“The program gave me the opportunity to try these lessons in a low-risk environment, and also gave me hands-on lessons that weren't just math driven,” said Meghan DiBacco, an Advanced Placement physics teacher at Jordan High School in Texas. DiBacco added that the program helped her become a leader in her classroom.

To be mindful of educators' already heavy workload, Matsler focused on incorporating quantum physics education into curriculum areas that teachers are already covering. That way the professional learning helps them modify what they’re doing — not add to it.

The program’s format of professional learning followed by direct practice is what sets it apart from other professional learning resources, said Jaime Govea, the physics lead at Mesquite High School. Govea, who is participating in the program for a second year, said it provides a much needed resource for educators like him who otherwise had little guidance on how to meet state standards for science.

“I think what Dr. Matsler’s program has done is fill in the gaps that the state has left behind,” said Govea.

The program doesn't just forge confident teachers but also confident students, points out Robin Griffith-Yates, associate principal of the STEM Academy at Arlington’s James Martin High School, which hosted the camp. Her favorite part of the program, she said, is the open house on the last day where parents see the projects students have been working on.

Griffith-Yates said students are as excited to share what they’ve learned with their parents as their parents are to get a glimpse of what their child has been working on. She noted that students become more confident in their knowledge and can easily explain topics in quantum that had intimidated them at the beginning of the week.

“In order to teach something like this, bringing it to something that students use every day and are familiar with, I think, really does help to build that confidence and build that knowledge so that they are willing to try it and talk about it,” said Griffith-Yates.

Matsler said she and her team will start looking for private and philanthropic funders in hopes to continue the program next summer.

The U.S. Department of Education sent a “Dear Colleague” letter on Tuesday to district and state leaders encouraging and guiding them on how to integrate artificial intelligence in schools through existing federal grants. 

The letter signed by U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said that grantees may use federal funds to use AI to enhance high-quality curriculum tools, high-impact tutoring, and college and career pathway advising.

The department briefly also outlined its principles for responsible AI use in schools. Those principles affirmed that AI K-12 initiatives should be educator-led, ethical, accessible for those with disabilities, transparent in the way new tools are rolled out, and in compliance with federal data privacy laws.

The department’s new AI guidance comes at a time when the future of federal oversight of ed tech and K-12 cybersecurity policies remains unclear, given that the Trump administration shuttered the Education Department’s Office of Educational Technology in March and has continued to move toward its plan to dismantle the agency.

On Monday, the Education Department also published a proposed rule in the Federal Register regarding its priorities for using discretionary grant programs to support AI use in schools. The public comment period on the regulatory proposal is open until Aug. 20. 

Under the proposal, those seeking federal grant funding for AI projects in schools would need to include a focus on at least one of the following goals:

• Embed AI literacy skills into classroom lessons to ultimately improve students’ educational outcomes.
• Provide educators with professional development in foundational skills for computer science and AI with instruction on how to responsibly use new technologies.
• Partner with states or school districts to offer high school students dual enrollment credentialing opportunities for postsecondary or industry-recognized credentials in AI. 
• Support and develop evidence for appropriate ways to integrate AI into education.
• Use AI to support services for students with disabilities.
• Tap into AI to improve teacher training and evaluation
• Use AI tools to reduce time-intensive administrative tasks

Meanwhile, over 400 school district leaders sent a letter to Congress last week asking for lawmakers to restore federal leadership for K-12 cybersecurity and ed tech.

The letter, led by the Consortium for School Networking, pointed to funding cuts at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency that led to the discontinuation of K-12 cybersecurity programs offered through the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center. The move, they wrote, consequently took away “critical threat intelligence, incident response, and coordination services that many school systems depend on to protect against ransomware and other attacks.”

OET’s closure also left a major hole in guidance for states and districts on key issues such as responsible AI use, digital design, digital access and cybersecurity strategy, the letter said. The district leaders also called for Congress to reinstate staffing for the office. 

CoSN CEO Keith Krueger said district technology leaders are increasingly worried that AI will be used for cyberattacks against schools. He added that the demand for more K-12 resources to protect schools from cybersecurity threats is “incredible.”

For instance, the Federal Communications Commission in November 2024 received $3.7 billion in requests for federal funds to help protect district networks. The applications were for a $200 million FCC cybersecurity pilot program.

But the bottom line, Krueger said, is that if the Trump administration fulfills its promise to close the Education Department, “who exactly is going to help school districts with cybersecurity, for instance, or AI?”

Some 67 tech companies and associations have signed a pledge supporting the Trump administration's goal of making artificial intelligence education accessible to all students, the White House announced June 30. 

Each signee, according to the pledge, promised to “provide resources that foster early interest in AI technology, promote AI literacy, and enable comprehensive AI training for educators.” 

Just a day after the pledge was announced, the Senate struck down a "Big, Beautiful Bill" provision that would have put a 10-year moratorium on states imposing AI regulations. Opponents of the moratorium argued that a pause on legislative guardrails would threaten children’s safety online. 

The “Pledge to America’s Youth: Investing in AI Education” signals Trump’s priority to establish public-private partnerships as a key part of rolling out the president's executive order on AI in K-12, said Sara Kloek, vice president of education and children’s policy at the Software & Information Industry Association.

Companies that signed the pledge, which include Google, IBM, MagicSchool, Meta, Microsoft, NVIDIA and Varsity Tutors, are expected to release more detailed plans on their commitments, Kloek said.

As they do so, Kloek said, she is hopeful that more companies will step up to work on the initiative with education stakeholders like educators, parents and students. 

SIAA, which also signed the pledge, said it would create a working group among its corporate members to develop strategies for transparently disclosing how AI tools are used in the classroom. “These best practices will help companies communicate to the K-12 community, parents, and students about AI’s use in school environments and equip them to responsibly use it,” SIIA said in a statement. 

In a statement, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon shared excitement that “so many organizations” had signed the pledge. 

“It is clear there is a lot of energy about AI and how it can be used responsibly in education,” McMahon said. “The resources and tools that have been pledged through this initiative will help our teachers and learners leverage AI in classrooms and communities across America.”

Meanwhile, senators voted overwhelmingly — 99-1 — early July 1 to strip a proposed AI moratorium, before Republicans narrowly passed the full reconciliation bill on the slimmest of majorities, 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance providing the tie-breaking vote. 

The House version, which was approved in May, would impose a 10-year moratorium on state regulations for AI. The House and Senate must now work out their differences in the legislation before it can go to Trump for signature. 

AASA, The School Superintendents Association, signed onto a June 27 letter with over 140 other groups opposing the AI moratorium in the House version. 

In a June 30 statement, AASA said the moratorium would protect “tech and AI more than students and children.”

“This provision would wipe out virtually all existing and future state AI laws, giving AI companies exactly what they want: no rules, no accountability, and total control,” AASA said. “As organizations working on the frontline of the consequences of AI development with no guardrails, we know what this would mean for our children.”

Despite persistently low math test scores nationwide, most states are still not doing enough to prepare educators to effectively teach math, according to a state-by-state policy analysis released Tuesday by the National Council on Teacher Quality.

Fewer than half of states — 21 — provide clear guidance for teacher preparation programs on what should be taught in core math content areas such as numbers and operations or algebraic thinking, NCTQ found. And only 13 states use a “strong or acceptable” math licensure test and require passage for all elementary teachers.

Only Alabama earned a “strong” rating from NCTQ for its strategy to improve math instruction. Alabama, in fact, was the lone state to show an increase in average 4th grade math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress between 2019 and 2024. 

“You can’t improve math outcomes by focusing on just one piece,” said Eric Mackey, Alabama State Superintendent of Education said in the NCTQ report. “Real progress happens when your standards, assessments, instructional materials, coaching, and teacher preparation all point in the same direction. Alignment isn’t the finish line — it’s the starting point.”

NCTQ, a nonprofit research and advocacy group, highlighted Alabama’s 2022 Numeracy Act, which requires every elementary school to hire at least one math coach. NCTQ also cited similar state legislative initiatives like the Kentucky Numeracy Counts Act, which invests in math education, and Louisiana’s Act 260, under which grade 4-8 math teachers must complete a 50-hour numeracy course.  

To strengthen math instruction, NCTQ recommends that states and districts prioritize:

• Establishing detailed math standards for teacher preparation programs.
• Reviewing teacher preparation programs for strong math instruction.
• Implementing a thorough elementary math licensure test and require passage for credentialing of elementary teacher candidates.
• Requiring districts to choose high-quality math lessons and materials and helping them implement the curricula.
• Offering professional learning opportunities and consistent support for teachers to continue providing effective math instruction.

According to NCTQ, only four states require districts to pick their core math curricula from a list vetted and approved by state officials. Some 22 other states provide a list of suggested math curricula that districts can opt into. That leaves almost half of states without any guidance for which math curriculum materials districts should use, NCTQ said.  

NCTQ’s findings follow the January release of disappointing 2024 NAEP scores, which showed falling or stagnant average math test scores for grades 4 and 8 compared to prepandemic levels. 

Not only did math scores struggle to see gains nationwide during and since COVID-19, but the gender gap in STEM also reopened during the same period. The gap — considered to be eliminated in 2019 — showed signs of reemergence as boys’ enrollment in 8th grade algebra rebounded to pre-pandemic levels by 2024 while girls’ enrollment still lagged behind 2019 rates, according to recent data from assessment provider NWEA. 

Education experts have attributed a lack of foundational understanding in math to inadequate teacher training in the subject, as well as a decline in certified teachers in classrooms. The situation is further compounded as funding for professional development and instructional coaching roles dries up with the end of federal COVID-19 emergency money.

A new study of math completion patterns in Texas students found minor differences in academic success between those who took calculus versus those who took statistics. The researchers from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute concluded, however, that creating equitable access to advanced math pathways is a greater priority than which specific pathway is taken. 

Collecting data from over 5.2 million Texas public high school graduates from 2003 through 2020, the study focused on the roughly 178,000 students who took either AP calculus AB (equivalent to one semester of college calculus) or AP statistics between 2015 and 2020. 

Decades of research shows a strong link between the math courses students take in high school and their postsecondary outcomes, the report’s authors write. Among the correlated outcomes are a higher likelihood of attending a four-year college, majoring in and persisting within a STEM field, and attaining higher long-term earnings.

The most recent data on high school math course completion from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that only about 16% of students completed calculus in high school in 2019, and only 40% finished a precalculus course.

The Fordham report suggests many students take calculus not because the course is crucial in developing skills for future academic and professional success, but rather because passing it “has become a signal of elite ability” and the standard of academic rigor in college admissions.

Participation in both regular and AP statistics increased dramatically between 2003 and 2020, and statistics skills are often more applicable to the current job market than calculus skills, according to the study.

The report focused on data from public schools in Texas and utilized the state’s longitudinal data system, the Texas Education Research Center. TERC contains data on every public school student going back decades, including their demographic characteristics, standardized test scores and high school courses taken.

Based on TERC data, the study found that between 2003 and 2019, the percentage of schools offering AP calculus AB declined from 60% to 52%. Meanwhile, the percentage of schools offering AP statistics remained relatively constant at just above 30%.

Overall, the report found no statistically significant differences between AP calculus AB and AP Statistics students in regard to their probability of attending any college or four-year institution or completing a bachelor’s degree. However, AP statistics students are roughly 2 percentage points more likely to attend a private four-year institution. Meanwhile, AP calculus AB students are 6 percentage points more likely to enroll in a selective institution.

Regardless of whether students choose to take calculus or statistics, the report points out that expanded access to advanced math in general has the strongest potential impact on student achievement and future outcomes. Students who complete higher level math courses in high school tend to have better postsecondary educational outcomes and earnings, the report states. 

The researchers' main goal with this study is to ensure that expanded pathways do not come at the expense of rigor, equity or economic mobility. The study highlights that a non-calculus pathway can be rigorous and effective, but it must be supported by strong standards, curricula and assessments.

Researchers also recognized that diversifying these pathways is not enough to close equity gaps. Higher-income, White and Asian students are more likely to enroll in these courses than their peers, the study found. The report points out that the real equity challenge is not about calculus versus statistics, but rather ensuring that students from all backgrounds have access to rigorous advanced math.

To achieve this, the report recommends starting earlier and thinking bigger through actions such as investing in middle school algebra pipelines, supporting teacher capacity, and confirming that students and families understand their options.

The report emphasizes that the discussion shouldn't be framed as a choice between options. Instead, schools should focus on providing students with quantitative reasoning skills aligned with their intended pathways, which may include both calculus and statistics when relevant.

The pandemic reopened the gender achievement gap between girls and boys in STEM subjects, and the divide continued to widen once students returned to in-person schools, especially after 2022. The setback undid decades of progress to close the gender gap, which was considered eliminated by 2019, according to data released Tuesday by assessment provider NWEA.

In 8th grade algebra — a gateway course to more advanced courses and STEM opportunities — enrollment for girls and boys dropped by 2022. But while boys' enrollment rebounded by 2024 to pre-pandemic levels, girls' enrollment continued to lag behind 2019 levels. 

The STEM gender gap is likely "not simply a shift in average," but rather a redistribution of performance that favors boys' achievement, per NWEA. Recovery efforts should include helping girls catch up, and addressing why boys are pushing ahead while girls are falling behind, the research said.

The findings are consistent with those in other English-speaking countries and demonstrate the pandemic's impact on academic performance for boys and girls "was not an equal opportunity hitter," according to NWEA's Tuesday statement.

“These trends are concerning, especially since decades of progress in closing those gaps between boys' and girls’ achievement in STEM skills were, essentially, wiped out in four years,” said Megan Kuhfeld, director of growth modeling and data analytics at NWEA, in a statement.

The research unveils a relatively understudied impact of the pandemic, which has been shown to widen gaps in other areas as well. 

For example, while the pandemic negatively impacted the achievement of almost all student subgroups, gaps for students of color worsened in 2022, the first National Assessment of Educational Progress following the pandemic showed. 

Black students particularly fell behind in math when compared to their White peers. Black students saw a 13-point decrease, almost three times the size of the decline for White students, who dropped by 5 points. 

More recent average NAEP results for math and reading, released in 2025, show little to no academic ground gained since the pandemic slide.

Even before NAEP hinted at widened achievement gaps, data from Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills assessment released in February 2021, when COVID-19 was still at its height, showed that Black and Hispanic K-1 students were especially struggling.

Gaps between high and low-poverty districts also widened due to the pandemic. However, an analysis released in February by the Education Recovery Scorecard showed that, by last year, the federal pandemic aid dollars helped to cut down the gap between high and low-income districts by about a month of classroom instruction, on average. 

Regarding the latest data released by NWEA, Kuhfeld said that the research doesn’t show why the STEM gaps widened between boys and girls. 

In fact, part of the data illuminates that boys at the bottom of the achievement scale are also struggling. "Even though average scores show higher overall achievement for boys, the lower tail of the distribution highlights that some boys are struggling more in math and science," the findings say. 

The researchers suggest monitoring participation in key STEM milestones by gender over multiple years, rather than within a single year; providing targeted support for students; and taking a closer look at classroom dynamics and instructional practices that may be impacting the gaps.

Students at North Carolina’s new gaming and robotics elementary school — believed to be the first of its kind. — will be exposed to the two disciplines in their math and science classes as well as through extracurricular activities.

Foust Gaming and Robotics Elementary School opened its doors on Jan. 6, welcoming students and staff after three years of construction as the public school renovated its building and revised its curriculum to accommodate the new programming, thanks to a $300 million bond measure approved in 2020.

While Foust is believed to be the first to focus on this type of programming at the elementary school level, high schools across the U.S. have embraced esports in recent years.

A Pew Research Center survey found that 85% of teenagers play video games, and while they're clearly a form of entertainment, research shows they also foster the technical and academic skills necessary to succeed in STEM careers.

“Students have grown up in this technology age, so gaming and robotics is something that they're accustomed to. But now it's about peeling back the layers and showing them the integral parts that go into what makes a video game, what makes a robot work the way that it works,” said Foust Elementary Principal Kendrick Alston.

Foust Elementary is part of Guilford County Schools and serves 173 students in Pre-K through fifth grade, according to the latest numbers provided by the district. Through Legends of Learning, a program that helps teachers create curriculum through games, students will learn basic design of gaming. Once they reach grades 3-5, they will be able to design and code video games as well as learn about the creative components like visual art, narrative writing and music that go into video games.

The school aims to be intentional about what the experience looks like for students, Alston said. The younger grades will receive foundational education like learning the basic components of a video game, which so they will build on those things as they continue through the upper grades, he said.

The elementary school is partnering with University of North Carolina at Greensboro, which has an esports gaming lab, in identifying the game design curriculum and adapting lessons to the elementary school level.

The collaborative aspect of robotics and gaming is one of the main skills Alston envisions students developing, along with creative thinking. Alston said the school expects an increase in student attendance and performance, as the new programming could make school more appealing for students.

“We have to figure out how to make school more engaging for them so they have opportunities to participate in more creative thinking type activities," Alston said. "That gives us a chance to really tap into something that a student may not show in the traditional academic world, per se.” 

Indeed, the interest in gaming is showing up at higher levels of education. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, a total of 27,051 students participated in esports in the 2023-24 academic year. And over 200 colleges and universities are affiliated with the National Association of Collegiate Esports, many of which offer scholarships.