In 2025, education leaders face complex challenges that demand focus, alignment, and innovation. Asking the right questions — about fundamentals, assessments, readiness, educator support, and system alignment — can guide decisions that improve outcomes and prepare students for an uncertain future.

Dear educators and leaders,

As the school year begins, so does a fresh opportunity to reflect, reset, and realign. Having worked across classrooms, school systems, and now at ETS, I’ve seen how asking the right questions often leads to the most meaningful change.

Here are five I hope we’ll all keep front of mind this year:

1. Are we putting enough focus on the fundamentals?

Reading and math aren’t just subjects — they’re the gateways to all future learning. Without them, science, history, and even digital literacy become steeper climbs. Recent declines in national scores should serve as more than a data point; they’re a wake-up call. Are we prioritizing high-quality instruction, early interventions, and consistent support so that every student builds the foundational skills needed to thrive — no matter where they start?

2. Are our assessments helping students — or just checking boxes?

Assessment, when designed and used well, is a tool for empowerment. It can pinpoint where a student is excelling, where they need support, and how their learning is progressing over time. But when reduced to a compliance exercise, it risks becoming little more than a label. Are we ensuring our assessment systems provide actionable insights for teachers, drive targeted instruction, and help students see and celebrate their own growth?

3. What does “readiness” really mean today?

The world our students are stepping into is more complex — and less predictable — than ever before. College, career, and life readiness can’t be viewed as separate lanes. It’s about equipping students with the academic grounding, durable skills, adaptability, and civic awareness to succeed in multiple pathways over a lifetime. Are our programs and partnerships reflecting that integrated vision of readiness?

4. How can we better support educators?

Teachers are navigating unprecedented challenges: unfinished learning, shifting standards, new technologies, and rising needs among students. Yet they continue to show up, innovate, and inspire. Support must mean more than appreciation — it requires reducing unnecessary burdens, investing in professional growth, and giving educators the resources, trust, and time they need to do their best work. How can we lift the profession while also lightening the load?

5. Are we aligning our systems to serve students — or just maintaining old structures?

Our education system often moves in silos: K–12 separate from higher education, curriculum disconnected from assessment, and academic learning detached from real-world application. True alignment means creating seamless transitions from high school to college, from classroom learning to workforce skills, and from assessment data to instructional action. Are we willing to redesign systems around students’ needs — even if it means letting go of long-standing structures?

At ETS, we’re asking these same questions — and we’re committed to doing that work in partnership with you.

Wishing you a purposeful and powerful year ahead,

James Lane, Ed.D.
Managing Director, K–16
ETS