Game based learning only works when the game cannot be won without the learning. Here is what that looks like in practice, and what it produces. By Julia Rivard Dexter, Co-Founder and CEO, Shoelace Learning, On September 8, 2026, the OECD published the PISA 2025 results. Reading performance across OECD
Game based learning only works when the game cannot be won without the learning. Here is what that looks like in practice, and what it produces. By Julia Rivard Dexter, Co-Founder and CEO, Shoelace Learning, On September 8, 2026, the OECD published the PISA 2025 results. Reading performance across OECD countries fell to the lowest average ever recorded. One in five 15 year olds is now a low performer in reading, mathematics and science, up from 16% in 2022. Reading across the OECD has dropped 28 points since 2015, which the OECD puts at roughly a year and a half of lost learning. In the United States, reading fell 14 points in three years to its lowest level since the country began taking part in 2000. One finding inside that report has not received the attention it deserves. The OECD tracked a behaviour it calls hasty reading: students who move
By Julia Rivard Dexter, Co-Founder & CEO, Shoelace Learning and Dr. Neesha Desai Ph.D. Get access to the full white-paper here. There is a known
There is a risk inside charter schools—and almost no one is measuring it. It’s not this year’s state test score. It’s not even next year’s.
One of the most frequent asks we have from schools is, “Can we assign multiple teachers to a classroom? We co-teacher and need to both
Over the past few months, we’ve been running a beta test on our new feature—the Dream Point Booster. Teachers often tell us that guessing behaviour
We’re excited that it’s finally time to share the long awaited update to our admin dashboard. Our new admin dashboard (still in beta), is a
We have developed a NWEA MAP Score to Shoelace alignment document to help guide you in choosing from our vast assignment library based on their
