What’s Ahead for K-12 Schools in 2024: 6 Trends to Follow

Being a teacher or school administrator in the current landscape is no easy job. Under intense pressure from schools, districts, politicians, and parents to focus on student wellness and safety as well as learning, K-12 staff certainly have their work cut out for them.

For those trying to build exceptional, effective schools and enable student success, it’s critical to stay ahead of the trends in this space and make strategic decisions accordingly.

If you’re looking to build a happy school community, take note of these six current and future trends in K-12 education.

1. Enhanced School Security Measures

School safety is essential, but it’s also a complex and emotionally charged subject. While there’s some evidence that both violent and non-violent crimes are decreasing in public schools, teachers and administrators are still charged with protecting hundreds—even thousands—of kids each day. It’s a responsibility that must be taken seriously.

This has been a topic of interest for some time, but current trends in how we approach school security are pushing districts to use more proactive measures than the reactive measures of before. The goal is to spot early warning sides in kids who need extra help before behavior escalates to the point of danger.

These measures include a very intentional focus on mental health supports and social-emotional learning, which seek to help students feel supported and emotionally safe at school—and, hopefully, more likely to reach out for the help they need.

These and other evidence-based strategies, which demonstrably improve student behavior and school climate, are the key focal points of forward-thinking staff right now. Some example initiatives include stronger reporting systems, conflict prevention, and increased funding for school counseling programs.

2. Strengthened Cybersecurity Protocols

Another key area of security for today’s schools comes from the cyber world. Bad actors are always looking for new and novel ways to exploit systems rich with personal data that can easily be stolen and exploited, and many have discovered that school systems are woefully behind on implementing the cybersecurity measures that more visibly tech-forward institutions (like private corporations) have already embraced.

In this context, it’s not terribly surprising that Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report found a 258% year-over-year increase in cybersecurity incidents in the education sector in 2023.

Legislators are taking note of this troubling trend; in 2023, the Biden administration announced initiatives to help protect students’ private data.

Individual schools and districts should take note, too, by implementing what cyber protections they can. This includes leaning on risk management frameworks and making technology investments backed by notable certifications and compliance programs, such as GDPR and SOC2 Type 2.

interviewstream, as an example, has achieved compliance with both. Our GDPR compliance regarding personal identifiable information (PII) and SOC2 Type 2 certification ensures that we have established and follow strict information security policies and procedures. This certification encompasses the security, availability, process integrity, and confidentiality of our customer data.

3. Impact of Education Savings Accounts (ESAs)

Education savings accounts (ESAs) are government-backed, tax-protected savings accounts for parents who want to set aside funds for their children’s education. Although often focused on saving for higher education, many states also allow ESAs to help fund K-12 expenses like tuition, tutoring, therapies, and textbooks.

This means that legislators and advocates for school choice programs, such as tuition vouchers, can leverage ESAs to help fund families’ choices to send their children to private schools rather than assigned public schools. We’re currently seeing a movement in support of school choice for reasons focused on parents’ rights; likewise, a movement in opposition to these programs cites concerns over private and public fund usage.

Educators and admins should keep a close eye on how programs like these are developing in their states and be prepared to adapt to related budget changes accordingly.

Finding operational cost savings to defend against changes in funding is a good, proactive idea. For example, administrators can decrease their spending on recruitment by leveraging video interviewing software and interview scheduling tech to simplify the process and reduce expenses; they can also go paperless, reduce vendor usage, or even rent out facilities when not in use.

4. AI Governance in Education

The AI chatter is everywhere—and education is no exception. Significant topics of note include ethics and the responsible use of AI, which range from concerns around data privacy to algorithmic bias and more. Many schools are awaiting governance and regulatory frameworks that might help guide their AI usage and policies.

Artificial intelligence may present some frustrations to educators concerned with plagiarism or students’ efforts, but there are opportunities for other AI applications to help schools operate more efficiently and gather insights from their operations.

Additionally, AI literacy is likely to become a requirement for student (and educator) success; the push in this direction can be seen clearly in 2023’s Artificial Intelligence Literacy Act.

For the most part, while awaiting more specific guidelines and trying to stay ahead of the curve, schools should focus on balancing human intuition and oversight with the efficiency drivers presented by AI. Suppose your team is using hiring technology from interviewstream, for instance. In that case, you’ll find the platform’s AI Recruiting Assistant to be a good balance of these priorities: helping you recruit more efficiently, without losing the human touch you’ll need to succeed.

Pro-Tip: there’s a new AI feature coming to interviewstream soon that school districts using interviewstream are pretty excited about– reach out to your Customer Success Manager or schedule a demo to learn about it.

5. Advancements in Student Achievement

In the post-COVID era, many educators have expressed concerns about learning gaps and declining student achievement triggered by the pandemic. While these poor results were clear in the data over the last few years, there’s now some evidence that student performance is beginning to rebound in many communities, particularly in math scores.

For example, many districts in Tennessee have seen large improvements in post-pandemic education recovery—and legislators have thanked pandemic programs like ESSER funds for making it possible. Programs that improve educator effectiveness, student progress reporting, and attendance have all helped affect this change.

Especially as pandemic-era programs like ESSER expire, it’s essential for schools to maintain public support and help build trust in their boards and staff among local communities to enable these initiatives to continue. Fostering student success takes a village.

This is a big ask when about 1 in 2 Americans say they believe public K-12 education is “generally going in the wrong direction.” Hiring exceptional teachers, and then building positive relationships between those teachers and their students’ parents, is an important way to mitigate these negative perceptions.

6. Professional Development for School Districts and Boards

All of these conditions put a lot of pressure on educators as the front-line representatives of their schools and districts. It shouldn’t come as a shock, then, that teachers’ job satisfaction is at a historic low and turnover is high.

An important way to keep teachers happy—and retain them for the long term—is through fostering professional development opportunities. This is key not just for the educators themselves, but for those in a position to impact teachers’ quality of life: school board members and district administrators.

Many state associations, technology providers, and professional organizations have begun offering training and ongoing education for these groups. Consider exploring them for your district to see if you can help spark positive change and instill greater trust across your staff and local community.

Building a Bright Future

All of these trends—from a spotlight on student safety and success to school choice, AI, and professional development—are key development opportunities for schools and districts that want to set themselves up for a brighter, more impactful future.

Staying ahead of these K-12 education market trends, and adapting accordingly, takes active involvement in professional organizations, attentive reading of trade news, and keeping a pulse on the happiness of staff and your local community. Be proactive in finding this information and thinking through how you can integrate it into your practices—because if you wait for the ideas to come to you, you’re going to fall behind.

At interviewstream, we want to help nurture happier, more successful districts, boards, schools, teachers, and students. If reaching more candidates for your open roles, streamlining your screening processes, or improving your onboarding programs might help facilitate your ability to innovate, schedule a demo with us! We’ll be happy to show you how our platform can drive you forward.

About The Author

Monique Mahler is the CEO of interviewstream. She is an avid researcher of facts, a self proclaimed marketing geek, and an equestrian in her spare time.