As artificial intelligence gains traction across nearly every industry — including public education — it’s easy to get swept up in the promise of smarter tools, faster workflows, and predictive analytics. For school and district leaders, the appeal is obvious: AI offers the potential to do more with less.
But here’s the hard truth: AI won’t fix a broken culture.
Then, even the most advanced AI solution will only amplify dysfunction.
It’s time to shift the conversation from “How can we use AI?” to “How can AI serve and support our teachers?”
That may sound like a small distinction, but it’s actually transformational. AI is not a strategy — it’s a tool. It’s a powerful tool, and even a tool that can help create strategy, but it is still just a tool. And like any tool, its effectiveness is entirely dependent on the specific systems and culture where it is doing its job.
If we want AI to make a real difference in public education, we have to lead with proactive intention. We must prioritize culture, clarity, and professional growth — and then allow AI to accelerate what’s already working.
In every district we partner with, we’ve seen the same truth play out: culture is the operating system that determines whether any program or initiative takes root or gets rejected.
In a healthy culture — one grounded in shared purpose and professional growth — AI can be a force multiplier. It can reduce administrative burden, elevate human connection, and support differentiated and personalized professional development.
But in a culture of fear or compliance, AI becomes just another layer of noise. Another mandate. Another reason for burnout. That doesn’t drive meaningful change and improvement — it’s erosion.
So before implementing any AI solution, we need to ask:
Because if we don’t start there, we’re not optimizing — we’re just automating dysfunction.
To be clear, I am not saying leaders should not touch AI until they fix their systems and culture. On the contrary, AI is actually a great tool for this very thing.
Hopefully, by this point, you already know about the myriad of ways that AI helps to automate repetitive tasks for things like meeting summaries, routine communication, or data entry, so I won’t bore you with what you already know.
Here are three ways leaders can specifically use AI to create or enhance a strong, supportive culture that leads to sustainable change and improvement:
Rather than focusing solely on student outcome data, start leveraging tools that help connect educator growth to student success. Platforms like GroweLab make it possible to track professional growth through role-specific competencies in real time—ensuring that professional learning actually leads to results. AI tools are adept at analyzing complex datasets and can help leaders glean key insights into trends and opportunities in a matter of minutes. But again, this is only possible in a system that is measuring the right things in the first place and prioritizing inputs like educator skills as part of the data-set so that AI can provide insights that go beyond the hamster wheel of student gap analysis.
Leaders often feel like they are an island or that it’s too time-consuming to seek advice or guidance from trusted sources. That’s why we trained the AI-powered chatbot in GroweLab with over a decade of engage2learn expertise, allowing school and district leaders to ask questions and receive research-based, context-aware guidance in seconds. Whether you’re designing a staff training, planning an HQIM initiative rollout, or navigating resistance to change, the chatbot provides just-in-time support grounded in e2L’s proven frameworks.
[include image of GroweLab]
The best part is, if for some reason the AI-powered chatbot doesn’t get you the answers you are looking for, leaders can instantly click to connect with an expert e2L coach who has real-world K–12 leadership experience.
Using AI as a thought partner is one way that this tool can enhance a culture of collaboration in a learning organization. Accessing the 1,000s of years of educator experience captured in GroweLab and being able to ask the right questions and then share back ideas and exemplars with peers to 10x a culture of collaborative problem-solving.
Recently, engage2learn partnered with El Segundo USD in California and Kent School District in Washington to help both districts create professional competencies that both scaffold for teachers how to use and think about AI and ensure the use of AI aligns with district priorities. Now, instructional leaders have provided teachers with thoughtful guidance, and teachers have the support and clarity to implement AI to increase fidelity and effectiveness. You can read more about both partners here and here.
At engage2learn, we believe the promise of public education always lies in people—not platforms, algorithms, or artificial intelligence. Educators do their very best work when they feel empowered, trusted, and supported to grow, and it’s our job as leaders to help them do their best work. AI can and should be part of the solution, but only if it is used to amplify what matters most: relationships, relevance, and results.
The smartest investment in AI isn’t in another dashboard or data stream.
It’s in using the technology to create more opportunity and space for educators to do what only humans can do: connect, coach, and lead with empathy and purpose.
Let’s build systems where culture comes first — so AI can do what it does best: support the people doing the most important work in the world.
engage2learn can help you design the system and action plan around your school or district’s implementation of AI tools, ensuring all your team and tools are focused and aligned on achieving measurable results fast.
Learn more about the Annual Systems Action Plan, GroweLab, or schedule a consultation with engage2learn today!