Cecilia Retelle Zywicki

We’re moving into an education world where credentials matter less than outcomes.

A school name or diploma no longer tells the full story on its own. What families increasingly want to understand is something much more practical:

What can students actually do when they leave?

Evaluating education today means looking beyond labels and asking better, more meaningful questions:

- What skills are students building year over year?

- Are they solving real problems or primarily completing assignments?

- Do they graduate with certifications, portfolios, or tangible experience they can point to?

- Can they explain what they’ve learned and apply it in new or unfamiliar situations?

Programs like Career & Technical Education (CTE), project-based learning, internships, and other skills-focused pathways tend to make outcomes more visible. They connect learning to application and help students see how their education translates into real-world capability.

But for many families, these outcomes aren’t easy to find or compare.

They’re often buried behind marketing, scattered across websites, or reduced to test scores that don’t capture the full picture of student readiness.

As education continues to evolve, the most important question is whether the environment prepares them for what comes next.

Is school choice really a one-time decision?

It’s often treated that way.

1. Pick a school
2. Commit
3. Hope it fits for the next 13 years

But learning doesn’t work like that.

Children grow.
Interests change.
Needs evolve. Academically, socially, and emotionally.

The education paths that work best are the ones designed with flexibility in mind. Paths that allow families to adjust as a child develops and as new opportunities emerge.

That might mean moving between:

- traditional classrooms
- project-based learning environments
- Career & Technical Education (CTE) pathways
- hybrid or alternative models

Lifelong learning doesn’t start after graduation. It starts much earlier, when students are taught how to adapt, explore, and respond to change as they grow.

Flexibility is what allows confidence to grow over time.

And that’s why flexibility matters just as much as choice itself.

As AI becomes more embedded in education, the most valuable skills are becoming more human.

- Creativity
- Empathy
- Communication
- Critical thinking

As we move into the second half of this decade, these skills are becoming just as essential as technical knowledge.

The schools that are preparing students best are intentionally creating environments where students learn to collaborate, ask meaningful questions, solve real problems, and better understand themselves.

That kind of learning shows up in many forms:

1. Project-based learning

2. Arts and creative programs

3. Discussion-driven classrooms

4. Career & Technical Education (CTE) pathways

5. Small, relationship-centered learning communities

This brings a new challenge for families.

These skills don’t show up neatly in rankings or test scores. They’re harder to quantify, harder to compare, and often harder to find unless you know what to look for.

So the question families are increasingly asking is: "Will this environment help my child develop the skills they’ll need in a rapidly changing world?”

In an AI-driven future, helping students strengthen what makes them human is the work that will shape education, and opportunity, for the next decade and beyond.

What’s the biggest frustration you’ve had looking for school info online?

Almost every parent I talk to says the same thing: it shouldn’t take this much searching to understand your options.

AI-driven personalization is one of the most important education shifts we’ll start to see take shape in 2026.

At its best, it allows students to learn at their own pace, in ways that reflect their strengths, interests, and individual needs. That’s a meaningful change from how education has traditionally been designed.

For decades, learning systems were built around averages.

Same curriculum, same pacing, same expectations. Regardless of how a student actually learns.

AI has the potential to change that.

It can help identify where a student is struggling, where they’re excelling, and what types of support actually move the needle for them. In theory, that’s a powerful step toward more responsive, human-centered learning.

But there’s an important reality we can’t ignore.

Personalized learning only works if families know it exists, and know how to evaluate it.

Many schools already offer adaptive programs, individualized pathways, or AI-supported tools.

The challenge is that parents often don’t know how to find this information, how these tools actually work, or whether they’re a good fit for their child.

At LearningSpring, the goal isn’t to promote one model of learning over another. Every child is different, and every family defines “fit” differently.

Our goal is helping parents understand what options are available and how to make decisions based on what their child needs.

The future of education is more personalized than it has ever been.

The responsibility now is making sure families can actually navigate that future.

The most meaningful work is often the work you do for people you’ll never meet.

That idea has stayed with me throughout my career, and it’s a huge reason I’m building LearningSpring.

Most of the families who will use the platform won’t know my name.

They won’t know the hours spent unpacking state policy, analyzing programs, or designing tools that make school decisions easier.

What they will feel is confidence. And what they’ll have is support as they navigate one of the most important decisions they’ll ever make for their child.

If LearningSpring helps even one family feel more equipped, that’s enough for me.

Making an impact doesn’t require being seen.

It just requires making the path clearer for the people who need it.

AI is increasingly shaping what students learn and how they engage with learning.

We’re moving away from static lessons and toward more responsive, adaptive experiences, including:

- Practice that adjusts in real time
- Feedback that explains why a student missed something
- Support that meets students at their current level rather than a fixed grade-level pace

For many students, this can be transformative. It helps those who get lost in one-size-fits-all instruction feel seen, supported, and capable of progress.

But it also introduces a new challenge.

Some families will know which schools are using AI tools thoughtfully and effectively.

Others won’t know these tools exist at all, or won’t know what questions to ask to evaluate them.

As AI becomes more embedded in learning, access won’t just be about availability of technology. It will be about visibility, understanding, and trust.

Families need clear, plain-language information about how AI is being used in classrooms, what it supports, and whether it aligns with their child’s needs.

That’s the gap we’re focused on closing at LearningSpring, helping families understand not just that innovation exists, but how it shows up in real learning environments.

Happy New Year everyone!

What are your goals for 2026?

Going into 2026, I still have the same goal:

Make education information easier for families to find, understand, and use.

Here’s to a new year focused on better support for every family.

As the new year is knocking on the door, the educational landscape is shifting.

From AI advancements to alternative pathways, there's a lot going on.

From your perspective, what do you think will be the biggest education trend this year?

What should families be paying closer attention to?

The jobs students will have ten years from now may not even exist yet.

That reality should change how we think about education today.

As industries evolve faster than ever, the most valuable skill a student can develop is the ability to adapt and to take what they know, apply it in new ways, and continue building skills over time.

Traditional credentials still matter. But on their own, they’re no longer enough.

What matters just as much is whether students are learning how to:

- Think critically
- Solve real problems
- Build new skills as the world changes
- Adapt when the path ahead isn’t linear

This shift is why we’re seeing growth in Career & Technical Education (CTE), project-based learning, apprenticeships, and other skills-focused pathways.

These programs connect learning to real-world application earlier, helping students understand not just what they’re learning, but why it matters.

For families, however, there’s a real challenge.

These opportunities aren’t always easy to find. Information is often buried in course catalogs, program descriptions, or school websites that don’t clearly explain outcomes or pathways.

Future-ready learning only works if families can see what’s available and understand how it prepares their child for what comes next.

The future belongs to students who know how to learn and adapt.

The responsibility now is making sure families can find the environments that help them do exactly that.

The numbers are in.

And they reveal a real gap between school choice on paper and school choice in practice.

A new national study from researchers at Tulane University’s REACH Center and Brown University’s Annenberg Institute analyzed the early impact of universal voucher programs across the country.

The findings are important because they shed light on what families are actually experiencing.

Here are a few takeaways that matter:

1. Private-school enrollment has increased only modestly, about 3–4%.

Even with broad eligibility and funding expansion, the overall shift is smaller than many expected.

2. Most of the growth is concentrated in smaller, lower-tuition schools.

This matters because it suggests that expansion isn’t creating the type of universal access policymakers often talk about.

3. Many voucher recipients were already in private schools before the policy expanded.

So a significant share of funding is subsidizing existing choices, not necessarily opening doors for new families.

4. Tuition is rising faster in voucher states.

This aligns with what many families are already feeling: programs may grow, but affordability does not automatically follow.

Taken together, the study highlights something I’ve seen repeatedly:

More funding doesn’t automatically create more access.

For families, access depends on having clear information on costs, capacity, eligibility, deadlines, and fit.

Without that, even the most expansive programs leave many parents navigating in the dark.

Choice only works when the information is transparent enough for every family to use.