Closing learning gaps: Why prevention is just as important as the cure

What they told us is well-understood and well-documented, but our survey of K-12 and Higher Education educators from around the world has reinforced it once again. The biggest challenges students face relate to mental health, behavioral issues, issues outside of school, and lack of preparedness (which is often rooted in struggles in students’ early years). What should we make of this?

Educators fight an uphill battle

Visit any classroom and you’ll see firsthand how great teachers can have the most meaningful impact on their students. Every classroom has students who arrive on day one behind, or who are confronted with challenges in their lives outside of academics. Many come from less privileged backgrounds or are dealing with mental health struggles. Many face language barriers or need accommodations for physical or learning disabilities. Teachers in many ways are like doctors, seeking to learn about each of their students, building trusting relationships and giving them personalized treatments and support to help them along their learning paths.

Great teachers are, and always have been, the best way to help every student succeed, and human connection is at the root of effective teaching and learning. Technologies and innovations like artificial intelligence are essential tools in their toolboxes and can help educators do their jobs better, or engage students in new ways, or streamline tasks and save time. The materials and solutions we provide to them should enhance the humanity and the personalization in learning, so educators can help students no matter their starting points.

But educators can’t do this alone.

The cure is important, but so is prevention

Education is a social and societal endeavor. And taking a giant leap forward will require commitment and coordination from across society. Just listen to educators: The blockers that are keeping us all from making significant strides in improving outcomes are deeply embedded in society, or issues that are connected to problems outside of school walls.

Focusing solely on supporting students academically would be like investing in hospitals, doctors and treatments, but not public health campaigns and preventive care like nutrition or clean water.

Educators do an incredible job of supporting their students, and we need to do whatever we can to help students succeed no matter where they are in their learning journeys. So as we think about the future, we also need to support programs that focus on preventing learning challenges from becoming obstacles to student success—in areas like mental health, early literacy, family engagement and more.

These are all areas where we can have an impact with our social responsibility work at McGraw Hill and through partnerships with organizations that are doing this important work. Our relationships with groups like The Jed Foundation, Adopt-a-Classroom, Volunteers of America and Televerde Foundation make a difference, and we will certainly do more.

As we consider how to move education forward around the world, we should listen carefully to what educators are telling us. They need support and innovative solutions to help them do their jobs. But we’ll also need to think of our education systems more broadly, so our students and our schools are set up to succeed.

I encourage you to read our 2025 Global Education Insights Report to hear what educators around the world are saying about what matters most.