Here’s what K–12 leaders need to know as they start taking advantage of these resources.

Schools Can Learn From the National Academy for AI Instruction

Through the National Academy for AI Instruction, AFT will train K–12 educators on AI tools to give them the necessary skills to use this technology in their own work. “If we can put the AI tools into the hands of teachers in the right way, in a responsible way, they can set all the digital debt aside and have more time to focus on their students,” says Naria Santa Lucia, the general manager of Microsoft Elevate.

To do this, the academy is building modules and trainings for educators across the country. “We’re developing a teacher fluency literacy track, using the AI framework that’s being developed with the OECD and Code.org,” Santa Lucia says.

Although a framework is being created, the specifics of the National Academy for AI Instruction trainings are still in development. In the meantime, educators can explore Microsoft’s free trainings on its teacher hub, as well as the AI Skills Navigator. Once the academy gets underway this fall, trainings will take place at the AFT headquarters in Manhattan, with plans to expand to the organization’s physical locations across the country.

Santa Lucia indicates that the format will likely continue to shift as time goes on, making it even more inclusive. “We’ll have the brick-and-mortar as an anchor, but we’ll continue other efforts like this in different regions and online,” she says.

Giving more teachers these skills will help to close the growing digital equity gap that AI is creating. Specifically, working with AFT will allow the organizations in the partnership to reach more teachers, even those hesitant about the technology or those in remote parts of the country.

“Every teacher is at the table, so we’ll be able to build on the trust that AFT already has with their teachers,” Santa Lucia says. “With this technology, there’s already a connectivity gap. There’s already a digital gap, but we know that the tool is so powerful and can unlock opportunities for everyone.”

“AI will be another issue of the haves and the have-nots, which our field struggles with mightily,” says Luke Forshaw, the director of professional development services at Cooperative Educational Services in Connecticut. “That goes all the way up and down the system, from resourcing local districts to teacher professional learning, and the impact that that has on communities and kids.”

CoSN’s AI Initiative Helps Schools Build a Foundation

Other organizations, meanwhile, are building their own pathways to bring AI to K–12 education. In some cases, these foundations will allow the AFT’s training to be even more impactful.

“Once those teachers go to an AFT-sponsored AI training and get all that good stuff, they’re going to go back to a real school in a real district,” says Forshaw, who is also a lead trainer for CoSN’s Building Capacity for Generative AI in K–12 Education project. “I want to make sure that there are lots of pathways for teachers get what they need, and that there are lots of pathways for administrators and communities to build the necessary infrastructure to have equitable access for teachers and kids.”

In this way, CoSN’s initiative complements the National Academy for AI Instruction. While the latter is focused on nurturing AI skills in educators, CoSN is trying to bring about a mindset shift in K–12 education.

“In education, we tend to jump on the tools. Teachers are very excited about the tools. This is a much bigger process than that,” says Sherri Kulpa, chief academic officer at EducationPlus in Missouri and a lead trainer in CoSN’s AI initiative. “It’s about thinking beyond just your next lesson plan or your next school year.”

“It’s more about strategic planning with all members of a district leadership team, from your operational leads to your superintendent to teaching and learning officers, so that the system is very thoughtful about the steps it needs to take, and then establishing and maintaining a process to make progress over time,” Forshaw explains.

The Building Capacity for Generative AI in K–12 Education project examines a K–12 organization’s AI maturity levels. To do this, the organization worked with the Council of the Great City Schools to build a tool that breaks down elements of a district into different domains and subdomains, says Pete Just, CoSN AI project director.

“The training is centered on helping school districts onboard generative artificial intelligence, then having a way to measure the effectiveness of their adoption in seven different domains: the executive leadership domain, operational domain, data domain, technical domain, security domain, legal and risk domain, and academic domain,” he says.

“This work isn’t about a one-and-done, ‘I went to the PD and I learned about AI,’” Forshaw emphasizes. “This is a sustained, prolonged effort to help districts comprehensively consider what they need to do benchmark against their current practice and think about how they’re going to track growth and progress over time.”

What Does the Future Hold for AI in Education?

The partnership supporting the National Academy for AI Instruction is slated to last through 2030. As for where the program is going after its planned five-year run, “We’ve been partnering with AFT for a long time, and my guess is it will continue to evolve and iterate, as with all of our partners in the educational technology space,” Santa Lucia says.

Iterations and evolutions will continue to be important as AI proves its power as a force multiplier in K–12 education.

“We’re in tsunami territory here. It’s coming at us. We’re all learning. We’re all trying to be engaged,” Forshaw says. “How does that tsunami of AI accelerate some of the indicators that we’ve already had on the docket or eliminate them?”

“This is going to fundamentally change education, and that’s going beyond the tool,” Kulpa adds.