After a summer dominated by artificial intelligence in edtech, a new wave of partnerships is giving districts practical pathways to train staff, set policy, and integrate AI responsibly. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is launching a National Academy for AI Instruction to build educator skills, while CoSN is rolling out a districtwide maturity model and training program to help leaders plan, govern, and measure AI use across systems. Together, the efforts aim to convert curiosity about AI into classroom capacity—without widening the digital divide.
Why now
Educators and policymakers spent the summer sharpening their AI focus. ISTELive 25 featured AI threaded through products and sessions; the White House released America’s AI Action Plan; and AFT announced a multi-partner initiative with Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, and the United Federation of Teachers to bring AI literacy to educators. With many districts drafting or revising AI policies for the new school year, the question has shifted from whether to adopt AI to how to do it responsibly and equitably.
Inside AFT’s National Academy for AI Instruction
AFT’s academy will train K–12 educators on AI tools and practices so they can apply the technology in their own work. The goal, says Naria Santa Lucia, general manager of Microsoft Elevate, is to reduce “digital debt” and give teachers more time for students: “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.”
Key elements taking shape:
- Curriculum design. The academy is creating modules and training anchored in a “teacher fluency literacy” track aligned to an AI framework being developed with OECD and Code.org, according to Santa Lucia.
- Launch and access. Initial in-person sessions begin this fall at AFT’s Manhattan headquarters, with plans to expand to additional AFT sites and online delivery.
- On-ramp today. While specifics of the academy evolve, educators can start with Microsoft’s free resources on its teacher hub and the AI Skills Navigator.
- Equity focus. The academy aims to reach teachers who are hesitant about the technology or working in remote regions—groups that risk being left behind as AI advances.
Santa Lucia underscores the stakes: “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.”
The equity imperative
AI’s benefits could mirror long-standing inequities if training and infrastructure aren’t distributed evenly. Luke Forshaw, director of professional development services at Cooperative Educational Services in Connecticut, puts it plainly: “AI will be another issue of the haves and the have-nots, which our field struggles with mightily.” The academy’s broad reach—and its coordination with district-level planning—will be critical to preventing a two-tier system of AI access and expertise.
CoSN’s systemwide playbook: from tools to strategy
While AFT builds educator skills, CoSN is targeting district readiness through its Building Capacity for Generative AI in K–12 Education project. The initiative helps leaders shift from tool-chasing to coherent strategy, policy, and measurement.
- Mindset shift. “In education, we tend to jump on the tools,” says Sherri Kulpa, chief academic officer at EducationPlus in Missouri and a lead trainer for the project. “This is a much bigger process than that. It’s about thinking beyond just your next lesson plan or your next school year.”
- Whole-system planning. CoSN’s approach brings together operations, academics, data, security, legal, and executive leadership to sequence steps and maintain progress over time, notes Forshaw: “So that the system is very thoughtful about the steps it needs to take.”
- Maturity model. Built with the Council of the Great City Schools, CoSN’s tool helps districts baseline and track adoption across seven domains—executive leadership, operations, data, technical, security, legal & risk, and academics—says Pete Just, CoSN’s AI project director.
- Sustained work, not a one-off. “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 benchmark against current practice and track growth over time.”
The two tracks—AFT’s educator-focused academy and CoSN’s system-level planning—are intentionally complementary: teachers return from training to districts that are building the policies, infrastructure, and guardrails needed for safe, equitable use.
What it means for schools (reader intent: what to do now)
What happened? National partners are standing up two coordinated pathways: AFT’s AI academy to build educator fluency, and CoSN’s capacity-building program to align district governance, infrastructure, and instruction.
Why it matters. Without structured training and districtwide planning, AI adoption risks fragmented pilots, compliance pitfalls, and wider inequities between well-resourced districts and everyone else.
What’s next? The AFT-led partnership is slated to run through 2030, with formats expanding beyond the Manhattan hub to regional sites and online. CoSN’s maturity model and training will continue helping districts baseline, plan, and measure progress year over year.
Quick start for district leaders
- Stand up a cross-functional AI team. Include superintendent/designee, curriculum & instruction, edtech/IT, data governance, legal/risk, security, and school leaders.
- Baseline your readiness. Use a maturity-model lens across the seven domains (leadership, operations, data, technical, security, legal & risk, academics) to identify gaps.
- Phase the work. Start with low-risk, high-value use cases (lesson planning aides, translation, document summarization) with clear guardrails.
- Train with an equity lens. Prioritize schools and educators with less access; pair AFT-style skill building with device/connectivity supports.
- Codify governance. Draft policy on data privacy, model selection/approval, human-in-the-loop review, and classroom transparency to students and families.
- Measure impact. Track workload reduction, instructional quality indicators, student access, and compliance outcomes—then iterate.
The road ahead
Leaders agree that the moment requires urgency and staying power. “We’re in tsunami territory here,” Forshaw says. “How does that tsunami of AI accelerate some of the indicators that we’ve already had on the docket or eliminate them?” Kulpa adds: “This is going to fundamentally change education, and that’s going beyond the tool.”
The emerging blueprint is clear: build educator fluency, align district systems, and treat equity as a design requirement—not an afterthought. With training pathways and planning frameworks now in place, K–12 schools have a practical route to move from experimentation to durable, responsible AI integration.
