BREAKING: Eight children, ranging in age from 1 to 14 years old, were killed in a Louisiana shooting, police say. cbsn.ws/4tQ7FlM

KNOWLEDGE IS THE FOUNDATION OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION   Only 22% of America’s 12th-graders are proficient in mathematics and only 35% in reading, according to NAEP’s 2024 national sampling.  Our nation’s average scores have reached their lowest levels in 20 years.   America must strive to improve.  Today, we can take proactive steps to enhance our children’s academic growth by leveraging AI as a tool in the education process.     Our teachers are already embracing the use of AI to improve K-12 academic performance.  2,700 schools participated in the K-12 AI Workshop I hosted with Zoom Communications on January 16, 2026.  The White House Presidential AI Challenge (K-12) has participants from all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico and Washington DC.      Access to the classical studies is now instantaneous, because of AI - literature, science, art, philosophy, mathematics, and history - Humanity’s entire corpus of information is available in the comfort of your home.     AI provides a personalized experience, adaptive to the needs of each student.  Our children can develop deeper critical thinking and independent reasoning abilities, plus boost their analytical skills and problem-solving capabilities by using AI as a tool.   The biproduct - a more well-rounded lifestyle for our children – freeing up time for being with friends, family, playing sports, and developing interests beyond school.  But we must balance our tech optimism with caution.  The safety of our next generation is always paramount.   Shouldn’t teachers use AI to deliver the most current, accurate knowledge to your child?  And if private tutoring isn’t an option, shouldn’t technology empower students to strengthen their weaknesses at home?

It's not just phonics: Schools have failed to teach reading because they ignore 50 years of findings in cognitive psychology that reading depends on general knowledge. ED Hirsch has been banging this drum for a long time but Ed Schools shut their ears because the whole idea was unromantic & had a vaguely right-wing aroma. Now he joins with Dan Willingham to make a strong case that kids can't read if they don't have the background knowledge that makes sense of the rarer vocabulary, allusions, and understandings that allow us to read between the lines - which all reading requires. educationnext.org/rediscover…