Tracy Smith, Ed.D.

"Education, like democracy, has long been a work in progress. But that progress has come by remaining fixed on our fundamental ideas, not questioning them because of our own failures to reach them—and certainly not replacing them with something else." time.com/5891261/early-…

Jalen Hurts, bestselling author ✅ “Better than a Touchdown” is officially a New York Times bestseller

The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) affirmed today that dyslexia, a reading disability, is entirely unrelated to a person's intelligence or cognitive potential.

Daniela Amodei, president of Anthropic, just said that human skills - EQ, communication, empathy, curiosity - will matter MORE as AI gets smarter. Not less. She’s right. Knowing those skills matter doesn’t mean your team knows how to use them WITH AI. That’s the gap. Companies are rolling out AI tools and wondering why adoption is patchy. Why the team is resistant. Why only one person is actually using it. It’s not a technology problem. It’s a trust problem. And trust between humans and AI has to be built, exactly the way trust between humans gets built. Low stakes first. Curiosity before performance. Relationship before results. That’s what I do. fortune.com/2026/02/07/ant…

Parkland leader upholds importance of diversity and equity in education mcall.com/2026/03/16/par…

The only thing "Better Than a Touchdown," reading with QB1 🥹

On #InternationalWomensDay and throughout #WomensHistoryMonth, PSEA celebrates the generations of remarkable women educators, leaders, and advocates whose achievements and sacrifices shaped our past and continue to inspire the future of public education. 💜💪

“We're seeing class sizes reduce across the state so teachers can give more personalized, professional, highly-qualified attention to kids... We're seeing libraries bounce back in schools where previously they had been cut due to a lack of funding.” bit.ly/40gkpp7

Happy #ReadAcrossAmericaDay! 📖🧡 Studies have shown that reading reduces stress, and that reading just 20 minutes a day adds up to reading 1.8 million words per year. It’s also the fastest way for children to grow their vocabulary. #RAA2026

“The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.” ― B.B. King

Reading more is associated with a longer life: + 20% reduction in risk of mortality + Books were protective regardless of gender, wealth, education, or health + Books were more advantageous for survival than newspapers or magazines A chapter a day keeps the doctor away.

Greetings from the frozen northeast.

The last two years of adequacy funding have provided resources enabling students in the Lehighton Area School District to show remarkable academic progress in both early literacy and early mathematics.

If your child becomes a reader, about 80% of the educational job is already done. That's our honest assessment, based on many of us working in education for over three decades. Everything else is secondary. Most parents think science education is important. Yes, it is. But if you can't read the biology textbook, you're not going to learn biology. Reading is the meta-skill that enables all other skills. History requires reading. Science requires reading. Even math increasingly requires reading as it becomes more sophisticated. The child who reads voraciously will figure out everything else. The child who doesn't will struggle with everything.

Thank you to caregivers for all that you do. Please don't forget to take care of yourselves, too. Happy #NationalCaregiversDay to all. 💛💚

📄 New from PPC: Half of PA’s children rely on Medicaid or CHIP for quality health coverage. Our latest fact sheet breaks down enrollment, trends, and why strong investments matter. Read here: papartnerships.org/report/fact-sh…

We must continue to invest in our public schools until every student, in every community, has the resources they need to learn and thrive. @repmikeschlossberg

A simple message with big meaning: "I am somebody." We are grateful to Rev. Jesse Jackson for helping teach generations of children to believe in themselves and in one another. Thank you for being part of our neighborhood. 💛💚

Students deserve properly funded public schools. The evidence from investments over the last few years is clear: when we properly fund our schools, students excel. @RepSchweyer

Non-citizen voting in US elections is extremely rare. Reviews like CEIR (2025) found isolated cases, e.g., 16 in Michigan's 2024 election out of 5.7M votes (0.00028%). Brennan Center (2016) reported 30 incidents in 23.5M votes (0.0001%). Heritage Foundation logs 68 cases over 40+ years. Some studies claim higher rates (5-13%), but they're criticized for flawed methods. Overall, no evidence of widespread occurrence.