Hopeful Futures and Emerging Frontiers

July 22, 2024

Message From CEI President and CEO Rebecca Holmes

From CEI’s July 2024 Newsletter

CEI President and CEO Rebecca Holmes

Greetings from the midst of a Colorado summer, where I find myself spending equal time reflecting on last school year and prepping for the next.  I’ve long believed that how we end a school year is as important as how we launch one, so I was thrilled that the CEI team had the honor of closing out the 2023-24 school year with 21 of CEI’s district partner teams at our Hopeful Futures convening in June. Hopeful Futures supported teams of school and district leaders across our social emotional development, career-connected learning, and school and district improvement projects to end the year feeling inspired, motivated, connected, and valued. As we look ahead, I’m inspired by our shared priorities of increasing relevance, empowering leaders to embrace emerging frontiers, and walking our talk by leading with hope.

Maintaining momentum

Across districts, we heard renewed commitment to priorities that, together, we have been investing in for years. Notable themes that CEI remains committed to include:   

  • Cultivating belonging and agency through relevant, relationship-rich, and career-connected experiences;
  • Understanding the root of issues like chronic absenteeism to create more inclusive learning environments;
  • Building trust, communication, and collaboration with families, grounded in the power of a shared local vision for all kids.

Embracing emerging frontiers

Additionally, we created space for leaders to engage in what’s new and upcoming. Over the last year, CEI has been excited to play a role in supporting Colorado to convene, develop, and shape collective understanding and vision around the use of AI in K-12 education. In two weeks, we will release a state roadmap with policy and practice recommendations for K-12 leaders and educators that has been developed through the expertise of a statewide steering committee and working groups comprised of more than 100 stakeholders across K-12 education. Members also represent community and parent groups, higher education, industry, AI experts, philanthropy, workforce state agencies, and the Colorado Department of Education (CDE). This work in Colorado and across the country has been exciting, mind-blowing, and changing fast.

When CEI started our engagement in this work, there were only two state departments of education across the country that had developed documents to assist school districts to develop guidelines and policies. Most K-12 and postsecondary education institutions were (and are) working alone to create their implementation plans, policies, and teacher professional development. In partnership with CDE and others, CEI identified that Colorado having a roadmap would be a crucial step to provide recommendations and build understanding about the opportunities and risks in using AI in the K-12 setting. Further, we have been building partnerships to embrace emerging questions about how teaching and learning might be redesigned given the opportunities presented by AI. 

AI has been said to “have the potential to herald in a new era of education.” While this thinking elicits a range of reactions, it seems we must hold two truths: AI can change everything around us, and, because K-12 is often impermeable, it may nibble at the edges but change nothing in how we “do school.” From a CEI perspective, we are excited by what we see as significant opportunity for AI to be a powerful disruptor, but not a silver bullet and complete with risks that demand attention. 

Like other redesign topics that CEI has played a role to pilot and scale across Colorado’s education systems over the last 17 years, we know that staying focused on our “why” will be key to productive use of any new technology. AI must serve to make the experience of teaching and learning more human, not less. To support students to build deeper critical thinking skills, not just stop at the easily accessible answer. To allow us to leapfrog over longstanding equity gaps related to the digital divide and empower students in every community to be leaders in an AI-enhanced world. Our commitment to local control in Colorado means that this work demands a process and infrastructure that allows for robust participation and sharing over the years ahead.  Our goal through the steering committee and roadmap work is that school districts statewide have trusted, accessible, and actionable information that empowers local leaders to leverage AI in context.

Feeling hopeful

Sitting alongside district and school partners at our Hopeful Futures event, and then just last week at the launch of a new Rural Superintendent Academy cohort, I was reminded just how eager our best leaders are to learn from one another.  I am hopeful that CEI’s ElevateAI Opportunity Now grant award will be an important opportunity to pilot and study Colorado’s AI roadmap recommendations in practice, and I am excited to continue learning with and from school and district partners in shaping how we use AI to cultivate stronger educational outcomes and a brighter, thriving future for Colorado’s kids.

AI Reading List

Our July Newsletter Highlights

  • Leadership Spotlights: Welcoming 21 Cohort 4 Rural Superintendent Academy Fellows; Introducing CEI Team Members
  • Engagement Opportunities: AI in Education Summit Series
  • News and Resources Roundup: Accountability EdPapers, Elevating Rural Colorado report, CEI in the News
View Our July Newsletter