Congratulations on your new role Program Manager, CTE at Contentra. CTE has evolved significantly over the past several years. What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen in how organizations are approaching Career & Technical Education? One of the most significant shifts in my experience has been in how broadly people now understand who CTE serves. CTE is no longer just an alternate route for students deciding whether to attend college. It serves high school students as

Something we’ve enjoyed most about launching the Contentra blog is the opportunity to share the conversations we’re having every day with publishers, curriculum developers, and editorial teams. Over the past several months, we’ve explored a wide range of topics from academic alignment and assessment to literacy, science, social studies, and educational publishing. A few articles featured stories from our own team and the lessons we’ve learned along the way. While the Contentr

Inquiry Is More Than Asking Questions Inquiry has become one of the defining features of modern social studies instruction. Across the United States, standards increasingly emphasize skills such as asking questions, evaluating evidence, analyzing sources, and engaging in civic reasoning. This shift has helped move classrooms beyond memorizing dates and facts. Instead, students are expected to think like historians, geographers, economists, and informed citizens. But there is

Congratulations on becoming Contentra’s new CEO. What initially brought you to Contentra, and what excites you most about this next chapter? Education has been at the center of my career from the very beginning. Before moving into educational publishing and services, I was a teacher, and that experience continues to shape how I lead today. Teaching taught me that success is never about one individual. It comes from building relationships, listening carefully, solving probl

Educators spend a lot of time talking about engagement. In curriculum meetings, professional development sessions, and product reviews, I often hear a version of the question: How can we make this more engaging? Proposed solutions often involve adding games, increasing student choice, incorporating technology, or creating more interactive experiences. In other words, increasing the entertainment factor. While there is certainly a place for all of those things, maybe we’re act

Science education has changed dramatically over the last decade, especially with the rise of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Some states adopted NGSS completely. Others revised it, adapted parts of it, or kept their own science standards entirely. That has created an important conversation in education: Should schools teach NGSS or focus strictly on state science standards? The reality is that both approaches offer valuable benefits—and both come with challenges