💡 In the latest episode of Next Gen Schools, I got the chance to interview Kate Liemandt from Austin Scholar (her newsletter), a current Stanford University student and ALPHA School Alum who goes into detail on what it is like to be a 2-Hour learning student. Check it out here!
⚡⚡ Building Schools That Empower AI Fluent Staff and Learners⚡⚡
This whitepaper argues that artificial intelligence is not simply a new tool to integrate into schools, but a catalyst forcing educators to rethink compliance-based learning, redefine assessment, and prioritize human-centered skills such as discernment, reflection, and ethical judgment. It presents a comprehensive framework for shifting from AI literacy to AI fluency, emphasizing meaningful learning experiences, process-driven assessment, and instructional models that keep humans — not machines — in charge of the narrative, values, and meaning.
The accompanying District Strategy Framework translates the whitepaper’s ideas into a practical, system-level roadmap that district leaders can use to align instruction, assessment, professional learning, policy, and culture around AI fluency and human-centered learning. It outlines concrete leadership moves, implementation phases, classroom shifts, and accountability structures designed to reduce compliance-based work, expand process-driven assessment, and empower teachers and students to use AI transparently, ethically, and purposefully.
For schools, this moment poses a fundamental choice.
We can use AI to make outdated processes more efficient — automating low-value tasks, accelerating compliance-based work, and preserving systems built for a world that no longer exists.
Or we can treat AI as a catalyst that forces us to confront deeper questions:
What learning truly matters in a world where knowledge retrieval is instant?
What human skills become more valuable, not less, in an AI-powered economy?
What kinds of thinking, judgment, creativity, and discernment cannot be automated?
A.J. Juliani
PS - Interested in bringing me in to work with your staff on A.I. Fluency with a purpose, Meaningful and Relevant Learning, and Engagement in the Classroom? Learn more on my speaking page or email me at any time!