As the year draws to a close, I’m always mindful of the clients who trust us, the investors and grantmakers who support them, and the journalists and policymakers who tell their stories and translate their ideas into action. I’m appreciative of the educators and school, district, and institutional leaders who are doing the work that we all write and talk about. But most of all, I’m grateful to be surrounded by my always selfless, often idealistic, hardworking, and wicked smart W/A colleagues. Especially the unsung heroes that help to make it all happen: our fellows.

Each year, we have the privilege of welcoming two cohorts of fellows who come  from a wide range of academic backgrounds and lived experiences. They are met with high expectations from day one and contribute meaningfully across our portfolio.

At a time when work-based learning is widely recognized as essential—but paid, high-quality opportunities are hard to come by—we’re proud that our fellowship has always been paid, remote-friendly, and designed to support long-term career readiness. Over time, it’s also become our most meaningful talent pipeline. 

We’re excited to open the door to our next cohort in the new year! Applications for the next cohort of W/A Fellows are now open. Know someone exceptional who’s got a passion for education? Send them our way.

Last Friday, the negotiated rulemaking committee convened by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to craft rules governing Workforce Pell reached consensus, opening the door to a significant expansion of allowable uses for federal student aid.

ED will now move forward with implementing the program to meet the July 1, 2026 deadline outlined in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. While ED plans to have a process in place for determining what programs are eligible for Workforce Pell by July 1, the Department acknowledged that it will likely take time for states to approve eligible programs. ED is hopeful that programs will be “up and running and moving in 2026-27.”

Former North Carolina Gov. James B. Hunt, Jr. was an advisor to Wireless Generation, an early—and massively influential—W/A client. From him, we learned much about the world of policy and politics, met our dear friend and long-time colleague Gov. Bev Perdue, and caught a first-hand glimpse of his life of purpose and service.

With good reason, Mr. Hunt is considered one of the most dominant figures in North Carolina politics of the 20th century, died on Thursday at his home in Lucama, North Carolina. Mr. Hunt was the longest-serving governor in the state’s history, and is remembered for making North Carolina a bastion of moderation in the American South and his commitment to education.

As lieutenant governor, Mr. Hunt worked with Republican Gov. Jim Holshouser to make North Carolina the first state with full-day kindergarten. Then, during his four terms as governor, Mr. Hunt advocated for teacher pay raises, smaller class sizes, and standardized testing. Mr. Hunt created the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and served as its first board chair. He also championed the Start Smart initiative, designed to help prepare children to start school, which earned the prestigious Innovations in American Government Award from the Ford Foundation and John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

At the end of his political career, Mr. Hunt founded The Hunt Institute. Based in Durham, North Carolina, The Hunt Institute honors the legacy of its founder by empowering policymakers to deliver on equitable education reform.

We’re excited to share that registration is now open for the 2026 Solutions Summit, co-hosted by ISTE+ASCD and Whiteboard Advisors, taking place alongside the ISTELive + ASCD Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida.

A limited-time early registration discount is now available. Use the code EARLY2026 at checkout to receive $50 off your registration until January 31.

The Solutions Summit will be held on Sunday, June 28, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will bring together education technology leaders, innovators, and experts for a day of learning, collaboration, and connection. Designed specifically for edtech company leaders, this is a space to share best practices, workshop new ideas, and engage with peers who are shaping the future of teaching and learning.

Why Attend? The Solutions Summit offers an unparalleled opportunity to:

Speaker Nominations Now Open: We are also accepting speaker nominations for the 2026 Solutions Summit. If you or someone in your network has insights to share on building high-impact edtech solutions, we encourage you to submit a nomination.

Rooted in the experiences of nine public higher education systems, a new course sharing guide from the National Association of Higher Education Systems (NASH) offers insights into the rationale for course sharing and considerations for developing, implementing, and scaling course sharing.

This week, researchers at Harvard's EdRedesign Lab released a landmark study that finds pairing students with caring adults who connect them to personalized support services (e.g., tutoring, mental health resources, food assistance) improves test scores, graduation rates, and earnings well into adulthood. 

Why it matters: Initiatives like improving teacher quality, reducing class sizes, and expanding tutoring have all been shown to improve outcomes, but research suggests that pairing those investments with empathetic, human connection is what unlocks lasting gains.

Check out W/A Jobs, which features 3,261 career opportunities from 312 organizations across the education industry. A few roles that caught our eye over the past week:

Happy holidays! Whiteboard Notes will return to your inbox on January 9, 2026. 

Anything you hope we’ll cover more of in the new year? Let us know.

— Julia Pasette-Seamon, Associate Editor, Whiteboard Notes