Next-Gen Learning

Abstract

KEDC's Year 2 MindSpark Education Accelerator charges districts with building creative, innovative programs that put the students' future first by integrating career literacy to help students form strong occupational identities and develop adaptable skills that increase employability. Google Gemini for Education, an Al personal assistant, is expected to be useful at the classroom level. KWIB engaged the American Institutes for Research to facilitate development of its 2025-2028 strategic plan, which aims to align education with industry demands, prepare Kentuckians for the future of work and drive economic development, with АТ integration as a key component.

ARTIFICIAL intelligence in the state's K-12 education systems has begun to take root in the form of guidance and revisions to Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS) for libraries, computer science and technology areas.

Conversations at the district level delve into even basic discussions around what can be considered good information from АТ, information stewardship and ethics, said Sean Jackson, the state's CS/IT Academy program manager and K-12 computer science lead for the Office of Education Technology.

Kentucky was one of the first to offer guidance. The 2024-2030 Kentucky Education Technology System (KETS) Master Plan, a regulation by reference, has an area of emphasis that includes AI.

"Al is with us to stay," said Brian Yearwood, Jefferson County Public Schools new superintendent. "We can expect students to be using Al to write papers, so we must teach children to use AI ethically and

we must embrace it. We must be purposeful in our use of AI"

The success of our nation depends on the development of AI, he added, and our children need to be at the top of its usage early on.

Jackson indicated that in the next 12 months, we can continue to see guidance for districts across Kentucky with up-to-date resources on how to appropriately push out generative Al to teachers and student populations as well as internal departments. At this juncture, the most definitive document remains the Kentucky Department of

Education's Artificial Intelligence Guidance Brief of 2024 that Jackson put together with several colleagues.

The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), of which Kentucky is a member, is also an important guiding light in offering frameworks and guidance for new learning.

"Our brief is not a mandate, nor is it a directive. It fleshes out our attitudinal statement for our education district leaders. We are beginning to explore where Al fits into the state standards and

. » necessary cautions as well," he added.

Beta testing new AI curriculum has begun in Warren County, where the Warren County public school system is launching an innovative AI pathway for students. Available exclusively to Warren County students, the path will require at least four classes starting as early as eighth grade, with an emphasis on ethics in AI use. Advance Kentucky will be involved in taking this model further.

Other school districts are using KEDC (Kentucky Education

Development Corp.) MindSpark Education Accelerators to look at the investment in АТ in the classroom. With over 70 member districts statewide and over 50 years of service, KEDC is Kentucky's oldest and largest educational cooperative.

KEDC's Year 1 MindSpark Education Accelerator focused on computer science and AI took school districts through building capacity, supporting infrastructure and assisting in implementation of computer science and artificial intelligence. Current participating Kentucky school districts in Year 1 include Breathitt, Fayette, Fleming, Frankfort Independent, Logan and Rowan.

KEDC's Year 2 MindSpark Education Accelerator charges

districts with building creative, innovative programs that put the students' future first by integrating career literacy to help students form strong occupational identities and develop adaptable skills that increase employability. Year 2 includes Bell, Breathitt, Johnson, Paintsville Independent, Menifee, Rockcastle and Woodford school districts.

"While we wait on national standards around AI in education, some of our school districts are moving toward beta testing models. We will encourage every grade to interact with Code.org's Hour of AI coming up later in the year, for example," Jackson said.

Code.org supports computer science education.

The Code.org AI Foundation's curriculum has just been released and other AI resources are being discovered and evaluated for use in educational settings. School district staff are reviewing options such as Certiport certifications for teachers and staff, along with offerings from Paradigm Learning Partners.

Utilizing partnerships to move forward

In Jefferson County, Chief Information Officer Eric Satterly said the district is using its partnership with Google to bring Al into the classroom level across the K-12 levels. Jackson said school districts will be encouraged to turn to their existing partners, where they already trust learning strategies and can build on them.

Google Gemini for Education, an Al personal assistant, is expected to be useful at the classroom level. Google is also putting emphasis on Generative Al for Educators, to teach how to use generative Al tools to save time on everyday tasks, personalize instruction, enhance lessons and activities in creative ways, and more.

Jefferson County Public Schools also has its own Generative AI Task Force, Satterly said. This year, the focus will go to teacher training and adult use of Gemini Notebook LM to build an АТ expert that understands lesson planning and more. He said that while participation in using Al tools is not required for professional development, the resources are made available.

Within the next two years, students will have access to Google AI classroom tools that sync students and teachers within the Chromebook and bake it into the Chrome browser, without adding cost.

This fall, the JCPS plan calls for staff-directed generative Al implementation. The next step is toward Digital Citizenship lessons using Google Al platforms by Spring 2026 with an emphasis on data quality.

While AI is rising through policy and standard adjustments via framework guidance, there will be more inputs coming from state legislators and planning that will make AI teaching more efficient.

"We still need to help each other to determine what guardrails need to bein place and what makes easier integration in existing partnerships,' Jackson said.

Education in Kentucky has been about local control over the last 30 years and some districts will step forward to redefine their own definitions in areas such as plagiarism to ensure academic integrity, he said.

In addition to JCPS, Fayette County has stepped forward with its own planning for AI in the classroom, producing its own guidance documentation.

"We will maintain a humancentered approach to AL" a portion of that states. "All АТ use should start and end with human insight. It is the responsibility of both staff and students to critically evaluate the information provided by AI tools for both accuracy and bias and remain accountable for the decisions made based on this evaluation"

Hand in hand with school districts looking at Al in the classroom is the Kentucky Innovation Workforce Board's (KWIB) 2025-2028 Strategic Plan, which calls for AI integration. KWIB engaged the American Institutes for Research to facilitate development of its 2025-2028 strategic plan, which aims to align education with industry demands, prepare Kentuckians for the future of work and drive economic development, with АТ integration as a key component.

As Kentucky weaves artificial intelligence into its K-12 education system, the state is positioning itself as both a testing ground and a model for how schools nationwide might navigate the opportunities and challenges ahead. From districtlevel pilot programs to statewide guidance and partnerships with tech leaders, the emphasis remains clear: Prepare students not only to use AI but to use it responsibly, ethically and with an eye toward the future workforce. The work unfolding now will help determine how Kentucky students grow into innovators and critical thinkers in a world where AI is rapidly reshaping every industry.