Edtech Insiders

The AI backlash in education is no longer coming from the sidelines. Alex Sarlin examines a surprising shift from the American Federation of Teachers. Just a year after partnering with OpenAI on a major AI training initiative for educators, the union is now calling for stricter limits on AI chatbots and screen time in schools. What changed? Alex explores why concerns around student well-being, screen use, and AI adoption are reshaping the conversation AND what this shift signals for the future of AI in education. Listen to the full Week in EdTech episode here: https://lnkd.in/gKGZWJ5c #EdTech #AIinEducation #FutureOfLearning #K12

Are AI layoffs really about AI? Ben Kornell argues that the conversation isn't just about automation… It's also about how companies are responding to pressure for efficiency, growth, and profitability. As organizations cut roles and ask remaining employees to do more, the pace of change is accelerating far faster than previous technological revolutions. Society may not have enough time to adapt before the effects are felt across the workforce. Listen to the full Week in EdTech episode here: https://lnkd.in/gKGZWJ5c #EdTech #AI #FutureOfWork #AIinEducation

AI can do a lot of things. The more important question is: What can people do with AI? Lisa Gevelber, founder and leader of Grow with Google, shares how initiatives like the Google AI for Education Accelerator are helping hundreds of colleges and universities learn from one another as they navigate AI adoption. Her perspective is simple but powerful: The future isn't about what AI can do on its own… It's about helping people build the skills to use AI effectively. In the full conversation, we discuss: • Why AI fluency is becoming an essential workforce skill • How Grow with Google is helping millions build practical AI skills • The growing role of AI credentials and certificates • How universities are integrating AI learning for students, faculty, and alumni Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gSp_i6Rb #EdTech #AIinEducation #FutureOfWork #HigherEd #LifelongLearning

Higher education doesn't suffer from a lack of innovation. According to Noah Pickus, Head of Global Strategy and Partnerships and Senior Advisor to the Provost at Duke University, the bigger challenge is that promising ideas often stay isolated, trapped in individual institutions, pilot programs, or local contexts. Noah explains why higher education needs stronger ways to share, scale, and adapt successful innovations so they can have a broader impact across the sector. The question isn't whether good ideas exist. It's how we help them travel. Listen to the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/gKGZWJ5c #HigherEd #EdTech #Innovation #FutureOfLearning

This week in EdTech, Alex Sarlin and Ben Kornell cover: • The growing backlash against AI and screen time in schools • The AFT's evolving position on AI in education • Why i-Ready is facing parent criticism despite strong efficacy data • The new federal Education Freedom Tax Credit and its implications for school choice • How education savings accounts could reshape edtech business models • New research showing AI's potential to help students catch up academically • Guided practice as a promising framework for AI-powered learning • Survey results suggesting executives expect significant AI-driven workforce reductions • Anthropic's rapid growth and the evolving generative AI landscape Plus, special guest: • Noah Pickus, Head of Global Strategy and Partnerships and Senior Advisor to the Provost at Duke University, on the Future Universities Alliance and reimagining higher education for a rapidly changing world Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gKGZWJ5c #EdTech #AIinEducation #FutureOfLearning

AI can explain almost anything. But it can't make a student show up. Daniel Halper of Step Up Tutoring explains why human tutors remain such a powerful part of the learning equation. While AI can provide incredible support, tutors bring something different: accountability, motivation, engagement, and real human connection. When a caring person shows up every week, students are more likely to stay engaged, build confidence, and keep learning. Listen to the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/gKd2rr2y #EdTech #AIinEducation #Tutoring #FutureOfLearning #EducationInnovation

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: Applications are now open for a new Request for Proposals from the K-12 AI Infrastructure Program. This RFP focuses on developing open-source Gold Standard datasets, evaluations and benchmarks to improve AI in math education. We’re funding resources that focus on three critical use cases: 1) adaptive learning experiences and feedback for students; 2) lesson and instructional planning for teachers; and 3) teacher coaching. With an opportunity to earn grants of up to $2 million, this program seeks to improve AI model performance, particularly in math learning and teaching. Learn more about the RFP at https://lnkd.in/gxPt5JZR Please share with your networks: Amber Oliver, Matthew Gee, Patrick Methvin, Pavani Reddy, Sara Allan, Joanna Cannon, Kumar Garg, Lewis Leiboh, Nikkie Zanevsky, Kysie Miao Jensen, Britte Haugan Cheng, Jeremy Roschelle, Ulrich Boser, Frank Vahid, Tyler Sussman, Sandra Liu Huang, Michael Belinsky, Kyla Wilkes, Nader Khalil, Peter Bull, Joshua Lotstein, Nancy Poon Lue, Rene Kizilcec, Susanna Loeb, Justin Reich

High-impact tutoring works. The challenge is making it available to every student who needs it. Samantha Brown Olivieri, CEO of Step Up Tutoring, shares a bold vision: making effective, one-on-one tutoring the default, not the exception. After delivering more than 250,000 hours of tutoring, Step Up is exploring how human connection, AI support, and policy change could help bring high-impact tutoring to far more students nationwide. Listen to the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/gKd2rr2y #EdTech #AIinEducation #Tutoring #FutureOfLearning #EducationInnovation

AI may change how tutoring is delivered… BUT relationships are still what drive learning. Ben recently spoke with Samantha Brown Olivieri and Daniel Halper of Step Up Tutoring, about how they're using AI to strengthen tutoring without losing the human connection that makes it effective. Their approach isn't about replacing tutors. It's about helping more students access high-quality support by giving tutors better tools before, during, and after each session. We dig into: • Why relationships remain the foundation of effective tutoring • How AI can coach and support tutors instead of replacing them • The opportunity to turn federal work-study into a national tutoring corps • How AI helps align tutoring with district curricula and student needs Listen to the full episode here:  https://lnkd.in/gKd2rr2y #EdTech #AIinEducation #Tutoring #FutureOfLearning #EducationInnovation

I've admired Ben Kornell and Alex Sarlin's work at Edtech Insiders for a while, long before I had the good fortune of hearing Ben throw out crazy ideas to drive growth & scale at a Step Up Tutoring Board meeting (thank you James Halper for always bringing together the best people!) What sets them apart: they refuse to filter the conversation through a single lens. Their last year-end roundup, for example, pulled 20 voices into one conversation - VCs, platform leaders at Google and YouTube, policy leaders at Digital Promise, AI educators like Amanda Bickerstaff, frontier edtech operators. That kind of perspective-stitching is what higher ed needs today. The sector is being squeezed across financial, regulatory and pedagogical fronts at once, with record closures, federal funding contraction, a growing faculty mistrust of AI, and a genuine reckoning about the value and outcomes of higher education. Jesse Victoroff and I have written about each of these on Mission to Margin throughout the year. This week, we teamed up with EdTech Insiders to lay out what the new bar actually is for edtech serving colleges and universities, and what most pitches are still missing. More here: https://lnkd.in/dTRnAFYj