Educators Must Help Lead AI in Learning
AI is already sitting in classrooms. Most U.S. high school and college students use it for schoolwork, and the market for AI in education is forecast to soar in the next decade. The question isn't "if," it's "how."
At the AI Summit for Educators co-hosted by Teachers College and StartEd, more than 430 educators dug into that "how," earning CTLE credits through a course from the Digital Futures Institute. The throughline: teachers need a decisive seat at the table so AI serves learning, not shortcuts.
Why teachers must be in the driver's seat
"Educational technologies designed and developed without teacher insight and expertise will never amount to anything more than chocolate-covered broccoli," said Colby Tofel-Grehl, Vice Dean for Teacher Education and School & Community Partnerships at Teachers College. We've seen this before with VR goggles, SMART boards, and 3D printers that promised big shifts but didn't make school new, better, or faster.
The fix is simple to say and harder to do: co-create with teachers. As Tofel-Grehl put it, only through partnership can technology support community, competency, and connection across schools.
Agency, active learning, and the value of struggle
Across the summit, speakers pressed for student and teacher agency with AI tools. There's a real tension between how tools are built and how classrooms actually run. A panel with experts from Google, Turnitin, and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center pointed to practical use cases: spotting patterns in student work, prompting timely feedback, and supporting active reading.
Carey Swanson of Student Achievement Partners helped create a "Guide to Integrating Generative AI for Deeper Literacy Learning" that flags the difference between AI that supports the cognitive lift and AI that replaces it. Her challenge to the field was plain: know the content and pedagogy baked into your tools or risk scaling garbage. Toolmakers share that responsibility too.
Professional learning is the make-or-break
Even with thoughtful products, teachers need time and support to implement well. That was the push behind a new book, Teaching AI Literacy Across the Curriculum, from Irina Lyublinskaya and Xiaoxue Du. They saw a gap: lots of talk about AI literacy, not enough concrete classroom moves for different subjects and ages.
AI literacy means knowing what AI is, how it works at a basic level, and when it helps or hurts learning. Lalitha Vasudevan, Vice Dean for Digital Innovation at Teachers College, highlighted the core idea: bring teachers into the "black box-ness" of AI so they can be intentional with pedagogy. More tools are coming. Scaffolds matter.
Professor of Practice Ellen Meier kept it practical: "We can help our teachers. Give them time, give them the support, give them the professional learning opportunities they need to help students."
Teach "durable skills" for a changing job market
Concern over jobs is real. For New York City Schools, this isn't abstract policy talk. It's economic necessity. Jane Martinez Dowling, Chief of Student Pathways, put it bluntly: the jobs are there, and the city loses if schools don't prepare students with the skills employers keep asking for.
That work starts earlier than most people think. Some parents are asking for career learning and professional skills as early as middle school. Alex Kotran, CEO of aiEDU, sees upside: this is a great moment to be in high school because students will be the most AI-native generation yet-if we set them up the right way.
Pair research with product development from day one
Tech often celebrates "move fast and break things." Academic research moves slower. Students and teachers need both mindsets working together. Build real partnerships with schools. Stress-test products with research methods early. That was the guidance from visiting scholar Edward Metz, who spent two decades at the Institute of Education Sciences, in conversation with fintech leader and Teachers College Trustee George Kledaras.
What you can do this month
- Audit current AI use: Where does it help thinking, and where does it replace it? Set guardrails that keep the cognitive lift with students.
- Co-design with teachers: Pilot one AI-supported routine (feedback prompts, rubric-aligned comments, pattern spotting) and collect evidence.
- Teach AI literacy: Add short lessons on what AI is, how it works in plain language, and when to trust or verify outputs.
- Prioritize "productive struggle": Use AI to scaffold reading, writing, and problem-solving without outsourcing the hard parts.
- Build a PD runway: Give staff time, coaching, and a shared playbook. Treat this as organizational change, not a tool rollout.
- Connect learning to work: Tie projects to real employer needs and "durable skills" like analysis, communication, and collaboration.
- Demand evidence from vendors: Ask for research plans, classroom trials, and impact measures before adoption.
- Create feedback loops: Gather student and teacher input every cycle and adjust. Keep humans in the loop by design.
Key quotes to carry forward
"Teachers are professionals with complex, interlocking expertise." - Colby Tofel-Grehl
"If you don't know the content and pedagogy that's baked into the resources that you're using, you might be scaling amazing things or you might be scaling garbage." - Carey Swanson
"Give [teachers] time, support, and professional learning opportunities." - Ellen Meier
Practical resources
If you're building a school or district plan and want structured, up-to-date learning paths and courses, explore:
Bottom line: AI belongs in classrooms when it amplifies great teaching. That happens when educators set the agenda, PD is real, and research guides product choices. Keep the focus on agency, thinking, and durable skills-and let the tools serve the learning, not replace it.
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