🛝 Teachers Lack Resources, Visa Fees Shortages, History Warns on AI Rush

Welcome to Playground Post, a bi-weekly newsletter that keeps education innovators ahead of what's next.

This week's reality check: While 1 in 4 teachers can't get basic classroom supplies, new visa fees are about to make hiring even harder. Meanwhile, an MIT researcher is pointing to decades of edtech failures as a warning about rushing AI adoption.

💎 Data Gem

An average of 17% of students per district are chronically absent, but districts without in-house mental health or behavioral support see absenteeism jump to 34% — according to Frontline Education's K-12 Lens 2025 report.

New Gallup Poll: 1 in 4 Teachers Don't Have Necessary Resources, Support Staff

More than 1 in 4 U.S. public school teachers lack basic materials or staffing support needed to do their jobs effectively, according to a new Gallup-Walton Family Foundation report.

The "people resources" gap is especially acute. 

Two-thirds of teachers report not having enough teaching assistants, aides, or paraprofessionals. Another 62% say they lack adequate mental health resources or special educators.

The impact on job satisfaction: 77% of teachers with adequate resources report being satisfied at work, versus just 44% of those without.

Jessica Saum, a special education coordinator and 2022 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, explains the downstream effects: "The paras are typically doing some of the hardest parts of those jobs with the least amount of education and training," leading many to leave education altogether.

On the materials side, the gaps persist even in wealthier schools. 

Teachers in schools where less than 25% of students qualify for free lunch were just as likely to report furniture shortages as those in high-poverty schools. 

But the technology divide still remains - teachers in low-income schools were significantly more likely to report inadequate laptops (34% vs. 18%) and printing resources (43% vs. 28%).

One in three teachers said the process to order materials is "very" or "somewhat difficult" - suggesting the issue isn't just funding, but procurement systems.

The staffing and resource gaps present opportunities for companies that can help districts do more with constrained budgets. 

But the survey data also suggests that solutions need to address both supply (getting resources to schools) and process (making procurement easier for teachers).

H-1B Visa Lawsuit Alleges $100K Fee Will Worsen Teacher Shortages

President Trump's $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas is facing a lawsuit from education groups who argue it will exacerbate teacher shortages by making it financially impossible to hire international educators.

Teachers with H-1B visas aren’t uncommon. Texas public schools currently employ about 500 teachers with H-1B visas.

Global Village Academy Collaborative, which operates language immersion charter schools in Colorado, said it would cost up to $500,000 to hire world language teachers for the 2026-27 school year under the new policy.

Before the proclamation, H-1B visa fees were typically around $7,300 per applicant, often lower for cap-exempt districts. 

The jump to $100,000 represents a 1,300% increase. The impact will hit high-need subject areas hardest. 

North Carolina faced 2,155 teaching vacancies at the start of the 2025-26 school year and officials worry the fee will make filling those positions even harder.

The lawsuit argues the fee violates constitutional limits on presidential authority, but even if exemptions are granted, the process invites "selective and arbitrary treatment." AASA, The School Superintendents Association, is lobbying to get K-12 education qualified for exemptions.

There's also a compounding problem - a recently proposed federal rule would prioritize H-1B visas for higher-paid positions. Since teacher salaries are "relatively low" compared to tech workers, districts could face additional hurdles in the visa lottery system.

For education innovators, this creates pressure to develop alternative solutions for filling specialized teaching roles - particularly in world languages, math, science, and special education where international hiring has been most common.

What Past Edtech Failures Teach Us About AI in Schools

An MIT researcher who studies education technology history has a sobering message: rapid adoption of new digital technologies has never produced durable benefits for students.

For nearly two decades, educators taught millions of students to evaluate websites using the CRAAP test (currency, reliability, authority, accuracy, purpose). 

Students were told to avoid Wikipedia and trust .org or .edu domains.

The first peer-reviewed study showing effective web evaluation methods didn't come until 2019. 

It revealed that the commonly taught techniques were "demonstrably ineffective" and that experts actually used a completely different approach called "lateral reading."

The lesson? 

There is a cottage industry of consultants, keynoters and 'thought leaders' traveling the country purporting to train educators on how to use AI in schools. These approaches have about as much evidential support today as the CRAAP test did when it was invented.

But AI is different in one critical way. 

The researcher calls it an "arrival technology" - it doesn't wait to be invited into schools through adoption processes. It crashes the party and starts rearranging the furniture.

The recommended approach: humility, experimentation, and assessment. Schools should acknowledge that current AI practices are "best guesses" that may prove wrong in four years. 

The research suggests education companies should approach AI integration differently than previous edtech waves. Products that acknowledge uncertainty, support local experimentation, and help schools assess outcomes may gain more traction than those promising immediate transformation.

⚡️More Quick Hits

This week in education:

Civil Rights Data Collection resumes — Education Department restarts CRDC with modified categories, affecting how districts report discipline and gender data

Texas STAAR overhaul faces skepticism — State's shift to three exams per year draws pushback over testing burdens and limited teacher input

Multilingual learner services targeted — Program cuts and federal restructuring erode supports for 5M+ English learners as hiring and professional development stall

States approach open enrollment — K-12 Dive explainer shows 2025 legislative activity around open enrollment policies and participation patterns

🔎 Worth Checking Out

Monthly roundup of resources you might like:

• State of Computer Science 2025 — State-by-state tracking showing 32 states now require high schools to offer CS courses and 12 mandate CS for graduation.

• K-12 Lens 2025 — Report showing teacher shortages declining to 66% of districts (down from 81%), but persistent gaps remain in special education and substitute roles

• Universal Connectivity Imperative — Data on the "homework gap": 84% of students have school devices in class, but many districts no longer allow take-home access

• National AI in K-12 Survey — Full survey data showing declining public support for AI tools across multiple use cases.

To stay up-to-date on all things education innovation, visit us at playgroundpost.com.