AI Strategy & Support
We're not just observing the future of education—we're actively shaping it. That includes advancing an instruction-first, human-centered approach to AI strategy.
Interested in partnership? Let's talk.The Promise of Artificial Intelligence
Effective, real-world instruction is the cornerstone of student success. AI offers educators new ways to make it possible.
We’re focused on human-centered AI integration that strengthens instruction, empowers teachers, and expands access to new possibilities for every student. We understand that by strengthening instructional practices through intelligent tools, we can help teachers deliver even more engaging and impactful learning experiences.
The Need for a Clear Perspective
Why AI, Why Now?
The decisions leaders make today about how artificial intelligence is used in education will define the future for our students. If we stand still, AI could unfortunately widen existing gaps in opportunity. But if we act with purpose, integrity, and courage, we can truly:
- Close persistent opportunity gaps, ensuring every student has the chance to thrive.
- Empower educators to focus on the deeply human work of teaching, fostering positive relationships and tailoring instruction to student needs.
- Bring high-quality instruction to every classroom, not just those with the most resources, setting high expectations for everyone.
- Ensure school systems are on the front lines of preparing students for a future where they are seen and valued for who they are, equipped with essential life skills and confidence.
We firmly believe that educators and system leaders should be at the forefront of this change, actively shaping it rather than simply reacting to it.
Let’s Build Together!
Interested in exploring an AI-focused partnership or pilot? Use the form below to contact our team.
Guiding Principles for AI in Education
AI should help educators enhance the quality of teaching and learning within core instructional priorities and a strong curriculum rather than becoming a separate or isolated focus.
Educators can use AI to foster critical thinking, promote student self-direction, and increase genuine cognitive engagement in new ways. It should not oversimplify tasks or replace intellectual effort.
AI could be like electricity—a transformative, general-purpose technology that can power and amplify work toward systemic goals across contexts. Intentional instructional goals should drive how it is used, not novelty or AI literacy alone.
Teachers are at the heart of impactful instruction and engaging learning experiences. Their expertise and insights are invaluable in shaping effective, user-friendly tools.
Featured Projects
Across our larger body of AI-focused innovation work, we’re pursuing unique pilots anchored to three core principles:
Think deeply: Use AI to unlock—not replace—critical and creative thought
Connect meaningfully: Use data and design to foster connection, not isolation
Learn faster together: Model what it means to adapt with purpose and integrity
Together, these efforts are intended to generate clear, field-facing signals about how AI can be anchored in the instructional routines and learning systems already known to drive results.
School Teams AI Collaborative
Launched in fall 2024, the School Teams AI Collaborative from Leading Educators and The Learning Accelerator was a first-of-its-kind initiative designed to put real educators in the driver’s seat of identifying, refining, and spreading best practices for AI-enabled instruction. It yielded Generative Practice, a synthesis of promising use cases and enabling conditions needed for AI to scale.
MathAI Impact Network
The MathAI Impact Network is a new multi-year, multi-district pilot testing how AI can help school systems strengthen math professional learning and instructional coherence without increasing burden on educators.
Across approximately 26 schools serving grades 3–10, educators are testing how AI-enabled supports can be embedded directly into curriculum-specific math professional learning routines.
Explore AI-Related Stories & Perspectives
What does the future hold when it comes to AI and edtech? We offer perspectives on these topics on our blog and in other media.
Get our new report!
Generative Practice offers a national perspective on how early adopter educators are already using AI in classrooms, the considerations that create greater instructional value, and the conditions needed for the most promising ideas to scale.
AI Design Sprints & Accelerators
Throughout various engagements for a range of audiences, including school system staff, education service providers, and non-profit professionals, Leading Educators is working with Playlab to facilitate AI-powered design-thinking experiences focused on key problems of practice.
Our Learning & Design Journey
Over the past year, we’ve launched and refined an AI strategy deeply rooted in instructional improvement and system-wide learning. Across a growing portfolio of pilots and interactive design projects, we’re drawing from our instructional expertise, our proximity to leading researchers, and our practical experience as coaches and strategists to help educators prepare for new futures.
Summer 2024: School Teams AI Collaborative
A groundbreaking initiative that put leaders and teachers in the driver’s seat, empowering them to identify, refine, and spread AI-enabled instruction to deepen student learning, in partnership with The Learning Accelerator.
Fall 2024: Piloted AI Tools
Created and iterated on AI tools that provide valuable support for lesson planning, pacing, and formative assessment. These pilots involved direct collaboration with district teachers using high-quality instructional materials in both Illustrative Mathematics and ELA curricula.
Discover how these practical AI tools can enhance your classroom planning and assessment.
January 2025: Launched the AI Accelerator
This program provided crucial PLC and coaching support to 23 education and social justice nonprofits, enabling them to pilot, refine, and scale mission-driven AI tools with generous support from the Schusterman and Overdeck Foundations and Playlab.
Now: Thought Leadership & Future Pilots
We are on the road, sharing our learning and actively contributing to the field’s understanding and approach to human-centered AI in instruction.
We’re also continuing our AI co-design efforts, focusing on rural literacy, systemic math supports, and AI skills accelerators.
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