Citlali Márquez-Hamil dances during a transitional kindergarten class at First Street Elementary School in Los Angeles, on April 22, 2026. During a recent Education Week webinar, experts discussed California's shift to play-based screeners, including how they work, the risk of student misidentification, and implementation oversight.
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Visual aids help a student learn fractions at New River Elementary School in Wesley Chapel, Fla, on March 26, 2025. In recent years states have passed new legislation or policy requiring teacher training, math screening for students, or automatic enrollment in advanced class—changes that are inspired by other legislation in reading.
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Dr. Sara Bode (far right) high fives Juri Sleet, 4, after she and Crystal Webb, a kindergarten readiness coordinator, talk with Sleet's grandmother, Quintina Davis (left), about the literacy screening they gave Sleet at Linden Primary Care Center at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio.
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Miami Arts Studio students, wearing green shirts for World Mental Health Day, gather around a table where members of the school's mental health club pass out information and give away stress balls and awareness-raising pins on Oct. 10, 2023, at the public 6th-12th grade magnet school in Miami. Youth mental health has become a top policy priority for school, district, state, and federal leaders over the past few years.
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