Reading and math test scores in some school districts inched higher last year.
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As public schools across the country race to adopt artificial intelligence tools in classrooms, one Wisconsin district seeing strong academic gains is moving in the opposite direction.
In the state’s Fond du Lac School District, students have limited access to AI on school devices, principals are expected to spend more time in classrooms and teachers and administrators regularly meet to analyze student performance and adjust methods to reteach weak areas. Principals and counselors even walk neighborhoods and knock on doors when students repeatedly miss school.
The strategy appears to be working. Between 2022 and 2025, Fond du Lac’s math and reading scores improved significantly, according to the latest Education Scorecard report released last week. “Four or five years ago, we had three of our 14 schools exceeding expectations on the state report card,” Superintendent Matt Steinbarth tells Forbes. “Last year, 13 of 14 schools either exceeded or significantly exceeded expectations.”
That improvement is even more notable when compared with what’s been happening, on average, nationwide. The new Education Scorecard analysis found math and reading achievement remains depressed nationwide. Researchers argue the trend began in 2013 with the rollback of the No Child Left Behind Act, a law enacted under President George W. Bush aimed at increasing schools’ accountability through required annual standardized reading and math tests for students. The decline was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Eighth grade reading scores are now at their lowest point since 1990. But buried inside the bleak national data were just over 100 districts improving faster than their peers.
Many of those districts share something in common: a focus on literacy, instructional consistency, teacher coaching, accountability and human connection.
“The idea that there is some magical singular practice or policy or tool that, if we could just find it, would be like flipping a switch and then we could solve all the education problems is very seductive to people,” says Rachel Canter, director of education policy at the Progressive Policy Institute and founder of Mississippi First, a nonprofit that helped push successful literacy reforms in that state. “But change always takes time.”
Here are five things many of the fastest-improving districts have in common—and what parents may want to look for in their own schools.
Improving districts emphasized structured literacy and “science of reading” instruction across entire school systems, not just in individual classrooms. That’s instruction based on scientific research about how the brain learns to read. It’s a structured approach that teaches kids to sound out words using phonics while emphasizing vocabulary and comprehension.
In Idaho’s Kuna Joint School District, teachers, principals, district leaders and even school board members underwent science-of-reading training to align instruction. Several districts also adopted standardized reading curricula across grade levels instead of allowing schools to use widely different approaches.
“When school districts think about aligning their system from the very top all the way down to the classroom, they get better results because there’s an intentionality there,” says Canter.
Principals act as instructional leaders, not just administrators.
Fond du Lac created “Teacher on Special Assignment” roles to handle many behavioral and administrative responsibilities that often pull principals away from academics. Steinbarth says principals now participate in weekly recurring language arts “data-driven instruction” meetings where teachers analyze assessments and adjust lessons in real time.
“This isn’t a one-off,” Steinbarth says. “This is a system that we really developed and built.”
Tennessee’s Johnson City Schools expanded from one instructional coach to 19 over two decades, while other districts reorganized coaching around specific content areas like math and literacy.
“Training is an investment in the future,” says Canter. “But after that first push, then the question is can you sustain that investment by retaining those teachers for the long haul?”
In many districts, that investment is reinforced by tighter accountability systems. Steinbarth says Fond du Lac’s partnership with the University of Virginia’s Education Leadership Program created an “accountability loop” for principals and district administrators.
Many districts rely on regular reviews of student performance and comprehension to identify problems early.
Teachers meet regularly in collaborative teams to review student progress and plan interventions. In Fond du Lac, principals participate in 70-minute instructional meetings focused on how students performed on specific standards and skill areas.
The emphasis, Steinbarth says, is “constant reflection and adjustments.”
Students have to show up to learn. Some districts hired attendance specialists or partnered with community groups. Others introduced technology-free days to encourage more direct student engagement. Or, like Fond du Lac, sharply limited student phone access during school.
Fond du Lac principals and counselors also sometimes walk neighborhoods and knock on doors to encourage attendance. “They will go right to the house, knock on the door, and say, ‘I can hear the TV, somebody’s in there, please come to the door. It's so important that [the student] is at school today,’” Steinbarth says. “We’ve gone that extra mile to build a relationship.”
The districts posting some of the strongest post-pandemic recoveries don’t necessarily look the most futuristic. But many are intensely focused on foundational skills, strong teaching and consistent support systems — exactly the kinds of human-centered strategies that may matter even more in an AI-driven world.
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