Richard Culatta, the CEO of ISTE+ASCD, believes school districts are on the cusp of a new phase when it comes to generative artificial intelligence.
Districts on the leading edge of using the technology are now thinking “less about the tools and capabilities of AI and more about what are the ways that AI is being used to change learning,” said Culatta in an interview before the start of ISTE+ASCD’s annual conference in San Antonio, Texas.
Up until relatively recently, districts were struggling to make heads or tails of ChatGPT and other large language models powered by AI.
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But over the past school year, a growing number of districts have been training teachers on AI or encouraging them to experiment with the technology, research shows. The number of districts that trained teachers on generative AI more than doubled from 2023 to 2024, according to an analysis by the research and policy firm RAND Corp., released this spring.
In the fall of 2024, 48% of districts reported they had trained teachers on AI use—up from 23% in the fall of 2023. If districts follow their plans for the current school year, nearly three-quarters will have provided AI training to educators by the fall of 2025, RAND concluded.
It’s been a progression, Culatta said.
“I think schools had to go through this like, ‘wow, what is AI?’ And then [they’re] very tool focused: How do you use it? How do you explain it? How is it safe?” he said. “And then there’s this third phase: ‘OK, now let’s get back to caring about learning and our end goals, but using AI as a tool to do that.’ I think we’re starting to push into that this year.”
How are districts navigating AI as a daily reality, not a sudden gamechanger? And how can organizations like ISTE+ASCD help educators make the most of limited financial resources now that billions in federal pandemic relief dollars have mostly dried up?
In a Zoom interview, Education Week asked Culatta those and other questions. Below are highlights from the conversation, edited for length and clarity.
What percentage of districts do you think are entering this new phase of AI that emphasizes using the tech to bolster teaching and learning?
It’s probably a pretty healthy bell curve. There’s probably 25% of districts that are still “AI. What’s that?” The vast majority are somewhere going, “We know AI is here. We know what it is.” But they are very focused on it as a tool. How do we use it? How do we get the privacy policies in place? A lot of the conversation is about efficiency there.
And, then, we’re starting to see maybe 25% of schools that are now moving on to really saying, “What does learning look like now?” And it’s actually bringing the conversation back to learning with AI as a part of it, right?
What is ISTE+ASCD doing to further that conversation?
I think there are some real critical, what I’d call, AI life skills that people are going to need in order to thrive, in order to survive in the future of work and learning. [For instance], it’s really critical that students know how to use AI to get feedback on their performance.
How do you think schools are adjusting their technology goals to life after COVID relief funding?
The whole industry is being forced to pivot and to make choices about what to sacrifice and what not to sacrifice when you can’t do everything. Sometimes the best innovations come when you have to say, “hey, we can’t do everything. What are the things that really matter?”
We are trying to encourage [educators] to recognize that student experience is the thing that you can’t sacrifice. It’s just an area that has to be prioritized. If kids don’t love coming to school, it’s very hard to have a conversation about anything else.
What do you think about the Trump administration scrapping the federal office of educational technology?
Editor’s note: Culatta led the office during the Obama administration.
It is somewhat baffling that in a world where technology is impacting and changing learning more profoundly than I think I’ve ever seen in my career, that’s the moment when the federal government decides to shut down the office that is really focused on making sure technology is used effectively in learning.
If there was a decision to say, instead of the office of ed tech, we are going to have technology experts embedded across all of the divisions at the Department of Ed.? Cool. I could see that. But that’s not what’s happening. We have created a sort of a vacuum at a moment when that sort of guidance is really critical.
Any ISTE sessions you want to shout out?
There’s going to be some great sessions around this topic of improving the student experience. Now that we have ISTE and ASCD [doing the event] together, we have some rock star leaders who are going to help make sure we’re really thinking about what works for learning.
