This easy reframe changes everything.

 
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Volume 57

"Let's just get this over with."

I was heading into my pilates class when a woman said that right before we walked in together. I laughed, but I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Because the truth is, I feel genuinely grateful every single time I walk through that door. Grateful I can afford it, grateful my body lets me do it, grateful for an hour where I get to just be present. The idea of dreading that, of framing it as something I had to do rather than something I chose, felt so far from where I was standing. And I kept thinking about what life would feel like if that was the default, if everything was just something to get through.

I don't have to be here. I get to be here. I choose to be here.

Turns out there's science behind why that reframe matters. When you shift from "I have to" to "I get to," your brain stops registering resistance and starts registering choice, which reduces stress and increases motivation. This one small shift in language changes the entire experience.

I've been thinking about how much that reframe applies to this work we do in education.

EdTech marketing has always been hard. Sales cycles are long, budgets are tight, and the buying process is unlike any other industry. And it's getting harder. But August? August is one of the most energizing moments of the entire year if you let it be. Back-to-school energy is real, and we get to be right in the middle of it.

EdTech brands are showing up in ways that genuinely move me. Two of our own clients just wrapped major events, and watching thousands of educators give up part of their summer to be there, asking questions, learning from each other, showing up as the passionate lifelong learners they are, I get chills every time.

​I read something recently that has stayed with me from author Mark Manson. He makes the point that what determines your success isn't what you want, it's what you're willing to struggle for. Because everybody wants the outcome. The growth, the deals, the impact. But not everyone is willing to sit with the long sales cycles, the campaigns that flopped, and the grinding unglamorous middle of it all.

That's exactly what separates the people who last in this industry from the ones who don't. Who you are is defined by what you are willing to struggle for. So the question isn't whether this work is hard. It's whether you'd choose this struggle. And if you're reading this, I'm guessing you already have.

So here's the reframe I want to leave you with.

You don't have to do this work. You get to.

And that distinction, small as it sounds, changes everything.

With gratitude,
Elana

 

​How to Create a Content Engine That Fuels Discovery and Engagement​

Most schools and districts have great stories, they just lack a system for making them work harder. This EdWebinar on Wednesday, August 5 at 4pm ET breaks down how to build a content engine that turns a single event, classroom win, or interview into evergreen content, featuring LCG's Elana Leoni, Karen Borchert (Founder and CEO of Alpaca), and LCG's Jordan Moldenhauer.

​Register to save your seat.

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EdTech Good News

More students with disabilities are learning alongside their peers. A new report from the Government Accountability Office finds that the number of students with disabilities in general education classrooms grew substantially over the past decade. Specifically, the number spending at least 40 percent of their school day in inclusive settings rose by 25 percent over a decade. GAO reports the growth was driven largely by the number of students spending 80 percent or more of their day in general education classrooms, with gains showing up in most states.

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Marketing & Education Must Reads

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Education

  • EdWeek Market Brief on Assessment M&A: ETS has acquired ACT, joining two of the biggest names in college and career readiness assessment and reshaping how students' scores connect to postsecondary and workforce pathways.

  • EdSurge on the K-12 AI Policy Landscape: A new AI School Policy Database coded AI policies across 122 districts and schools in 38 states, and found most are neither panicking nor confidently leading, just watching closely and managing uncertainty one decision at a time.

  • Lewis Poche on Vetting AI Tools: With every principal and superintendent asking how MagicSchool stacks up against Gemini or Flint against SchoolAI, Poche breaks down why ISTE's Safe & Purposeful Pledge calls for a real quality-of-evidence vetting process before any EdTech tool gets approved.

  • Edutopia on Neurodivergent Learners: Holly Clark breaks down EdTech tools that support neurodivergent students by offering alternative formats that reduce the heavy text decoding many of these learners struggle with.

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Deep Dive into AI

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Reports

  • TNTP on Building Coherent Instructional Systems: TNTP's Coherence at Scale is an oldie but goodie that makes the case that state leaders are the ones who can stop instruction, intervention, and tutoring from operating in disconnected silos, and offers a practical roadmap for aligning policy and funding so supports actually reinforce each other.

  • JTATE on Educational Technology: What if we've been asking the wrong questions? This editorial argues EdTech research has focused too narrowly on comparing products instead of tackling the much bigger question of how technology is reshaping students and learning.

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Awards

  • Imagine Award by the Promise Fund: The Imagine Award offers $20,000 in flexible funding and a six-month cohort for community-rooted early childhood leaders piloting a new idea. Applications close August 28, 2026.

  • District Administration's Top EdTech Products: District Administration is searching for 2027's top 20 edtech products, including startups; winners get a FETC spotlight, a digital badge, and a marketing toolkit. Apply by October 9, 2026.

  • Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence: Nominations are open for Tech & Learning's Awards of Excellence: Back to School 2026, recognizing products that help students and teachers hit the ground running. Entry is $625, deadline September 4.

 

In Good Company

We love celebrating the wins of the clients and partners who make up our community, here's what a few of them have been up to lately.

  • TCI: Last week, TCI's Back to School Summit brought more than a thousand educators together for a free day of professional development, now in its seventh year, with more than 25 live sessions for social studies and science teams.

  • BoardSync: BoardSync is hosting a free webinar, "AI & Nonprofits: A Practical Framework," on Wednesday, August 5, where the panel will share a practical framework for approaching AI in nonprofit organizations.

  • Canyon GBS: Canyon GBS earned Great Place to Work certification for July 2026–July 2027, with 100% of employees saying it's a great place to work compared to 57% at a typical U.S.-based company.

  • CAST: CAST hosted the annual UDL-Con: International Live Online, bringing together educators, researchers, and designers from 274 organizations and 24 countries for three days of learning across 30+ sessions with 80+ speakers, all united around advancing Universal Design for Learning.

  • TFA: Teach For America's new CEO shared her plans to reinspire belief in public education, tackling the "fatigue" she sees across the system head on.

  • Playworks: Only 13% of districts have fully recovered from pandemic-era spikes in chronic absenteeism, according to new Johns Hopkins research, a reminder of why the kind of school connectedness Playworks builds through play matters more than ever.

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Actionable Guidance for EdMarketers (Powered by The WirED Marketer)

Developing compelling content that really resonates with district leaders is harder than it sounds. Keeping up with their pain points is something that all marketers in K-12 should be doing but rarely have access to.

Here's a snippet of what K-12 leaders and educators are searching for on edweek.org. Like a Google search, this data points to where they're stuck and what answers they're hunting for. Think of it as a small window into the content they need and the questions you could be answering.

In the first half of 2026 the most frequently searched terms were:

  • AI

  • 4-Day School Week

  • Special Education

  • Math

  • Science of Reading

  • Dress Code

  • Homework

  • ADHD

  • School Safety

  • Mental Health

Want insights like this in your inbox every month? Subscribe to The WirED Marketer for more of what's shaping K-12 marketing decisions.

 

Lost? So Was Odysseus. Homer's hero spent ten years trying to get home from Troy, getting waylaid by gods, monsters, enchantresses, and his own crew's questionable choices along the way. This interactive map traces Odysseus's entire misadventure across the Mediterranean, so you can see just how far off course a guy can drift when Poseidon and a Cyclops both have a personal vendetta against him.

Bad Reviews → Better Merch. Back in 2020, someone left the New Bedford Whaling Museum a one-star review calling it the "worst aquarium ever," which is objectively funny since it's never claimed to be an aquarium. Instead of getting defensive, the museum leaned all the way in, and six years later it sells sweatshirts and bags bearing the phrase. Thanks to EdTech marketer Rachel Jordan for the share.

And if you’re still searching for things to entertain you look no further than these Orcas who have learned to pulverize Sunfish for fun or who knows but it’s something we can’t stop watching. (Note: The video contains some profanity)