DENVER – October 30, 2026 -- Eight Arkansas school districts will design outcomes based contracts (OBCs) in which at least 40% of a contract's value depends on agreed student results, for instructional interventions starting in the 2027-2028 school year. The Center for Outcomes Based Contracting and Forward Arkansas announced the cohort.

PHOENIX – October 30, 2026 -- Kelly Hermann, vice president of Accessibility and Student Affairs at University of Phoenix, co-presented two sessions at the WCET Annual Conference, focusing on audit-ready accessibility documentation and cross-functional governance in digital learning.

WCET, the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies, covers practice, policy and advocacy for digital learning in higher education. The three-day conference ran Oct. 14-16.

WHITTIER, Calif. – October 30, 2026 -- Healthcare education must shift toward critical thinking, clinical judgment and interpersonal skills as AI spreads through care delivery, according to Tamara Rozhon, EdD, Provost of Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCU).

Singapore – October 30, 2026 -- Singapore Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon told judges that the closer artificial intelligence comes to exercising judgment, the greater the need for restraint, and that human judgment must stay central to the administration of justice.

PHOENIX – October 30, 2026 -- University of Phoenix, Boise State University, Johns Hopkins University and the Medical University of South Carolina will present a joint session on implementing the Digital Education Council AI Literacy Framework at the AAC&U Conference on AI and Higher Education, held Oct. 28-30 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Raleigh – October 30, 2026 -- The North Carolina Community College System has seated a 10-student Student Innovation Council to feed student input into technology and service decisions across its 58 colleges. The Council held its first working session Oct. 20 at Lenovo's global headquarters in Morrisville.

BOULDER, Colo. – October 29, 2026 -- Creative Educators Network (CEN) will host a Nov. 11 benefit in Boulder to fund 30 Colorado public educators at the inaugural Colorado Educators Summit, held during the Sundance Film Festival, Jan. 27-29, 2027.

The event, called The Power of Story, starts at 6:30 p.m. at eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St. Tickets cost $65. All proceeds go to the Summit, which coincides with the festival's first edition in Boulder.

Düsseldorf – October 29, 2026 -- Germany scores 5.1 out of 10 on the Educate to Empower Index, a measure of how well schools balance new technology with traditional learning tools, according to a study commissioned by Epson. The result reflects a gap between classroom hardware and its teaching value: 59% of surveyed teachers and 67% of school IT leaders say investment in digital devices and applications moved faster than schools could find sensible pedagogical uses for them.

IRVINE – October 29, 2026 -- Seventy percent of K-12 parents worry their children are not learning future-ready skills, up 17 points from 2023-24 and 63% higher than in 2020, according to the 23rd Annual Speak Up Report from education nonprofit Project Tomorrow.

The 2026 Speak Up Research Project gathered input from more than 95,000 students, educators, administrators and families in rural, urban and suburban schools.

Wiesbaden – October 29, 2026 -- Procter & Gamble has awarded a total of €6,000 to three Hessian school teams at the 20th P&G MINT Award, plus a €500 special prize for an inclusive project.