Why Images Remain an Important Element of Literacy InstructionWhy Images Remain an Important Element of Literacy Instruction By Shelley Evans-Marshall, MA, with Gladys Rosa-Mendoza The photograph, like the one shown here, is black and white. The subject’s expression is stoic. Mexican artist Frida Kahlo sits crouched on a step outside a doorway. She wears her characteristic Tehuana dress and layered jewelry. Her right hand clasps her left wrist. Her left elbow anchors her leg.

Human judgment remains crucial in a technology-driven education landscape. Academic alignment, specifically, academic standard correlation, is the process of analyzing educational products to determine how well they address a specific standards framework. On the surface, the question seems operational: Should alignment be done manually by subject matter experts (SMEs), or automated through algorithms and AI tools? But beneath that operational decision lies a deeper issue. Ali

What It Really Takes to Build Effective Inquiry-Based STEM Instruction In theory, inquiry-based STEM instruction sounds powerful. We picture students asking questions, testing ideas, building models, and making sense of the world through hands-on investigation. Classrooms feel active. Conversations feel authentic. Learning feels alive. But translating that vision into lessons that teachers can confidently implement on a Monday morning—with real students, real pacing guides, a

When a publishing partner approached us to develop an expanded AP ® product, the request seemed straightforward. But the reality was more complex. They provided an example product from another subject area—an extensive 800-page resource—and asked us to create something similar in purpose but significantly smaller, faster to produce, and within a budget. This was not simply a production assignment. It was a product design challenge. The task required us to conceptualize a new