When it comes to putting artificial intelligence to use in a school district, what do K-12 systems need from vendors?
This is a tricky question to answer as many educators are just beginning to explore where and how the emerging technology can be used. But Los Angeles Unified School District’s recent leap into AI is offering a first look at some of the priorities that rise to the top for administrators.
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho pulled back the curtain on his thinking around artificial intelligence and the ongoing demands he has for vendors during a panel discussion hosted by LEGO Education during the annual International Society for Technology in Education conference in Denver.
He sees AI as one tool that districts can use to support students and teachers and lift some of the burdens on a school system that get in the way of instruction. The technology can also bring the plethora of data at a system’s disposal to productive use, the superintendent said.
“We are data rich,” Carvalho said of school districts. “Data rich, but use poor.”
His comments come three months after the major California district announced the launch of an AI-powered “learning acceleration platform” that functions like an AI assistant. Known as “Ed,” the chatbot was created in partnership with AllHere.
Carvalho laid out his vision for how the tool is meant to help educators, families, and students from the start of their day. It can wake students up in the morning, tell them what will be covered in first period class, list the meals and snacks being served at school that day, and let them know when the bus is getting close to their home, he said.
For alerts or messaging to parents, it can adjust to not only their primary language, but their reading level, he said.
We force [companies] to all play in the same sandbox using the same data.
From the district perspective, the features he described aim to help with two longtime challenges that many school systems face — chronic absenteeism and personalized learning.
By recognizing “micro trends” over multiple years, AI can help identify early when district personnel should intervene to make sure a student comes to school and quickly get teachers information on student learning that can help shape their instructional plans, Carvalho said.
“I’m so tired of waiting a year to get [information] that help me improve students lives,” he said, referencing state standardized tests, which can take months to deliver scores to teachers.
“We have so much data, why not use that in AI… to improve the education acquirement for students?”
Requirements of Companies
But to make this vision come to life, Carvalho said he had a number of expectations that companies needed to meet.
Join Us for EdWeek Market Brief's Fall In-Person Summit
A big one was interoperability and forcing companies with different products and interests to come together to create one experience for students. He pushed for a single sign on, he said, so students don’t know whether they are in one product or another. All they know is that they are working with Ed.
Carvalho also said he expected all vendors to agree to their terms of data usage. Protecting data privacy is a top priority, he said. But so is ensuring all companies had access to all the district’s relevant data.
“We force them to all play in the same sandbox,” he said, “using the same data.”
