CoSN 2026: AI Strategy Should Start With Goals for Student Skills

Why It Matters

Focusing AI strategy on student skill goals and literacy ensures districts spend on tools that truly boost learning, meeting parent and board expectations while avoiding wasteful pilots.

Key Takeaways

• Start AI planning with desired student skill outcomes, not tools.
• Align learning experiences with research before defining AI’s role.
• Invest in AI literacy for students, staff, parents, and community.
• Continuous research updates show AI improves outcomes only while accessible.
• Use CoSN’s monthly repository to stay current on K‑12 AI evidence.

Summary

The video urges K‑12 leaders to reverse the common “tool‑first” mindset and begin AI strategy by defining the student capacities they want graduates to possess. By anchoring AI initiatives to clear skill goals, districts can then identify learning experiences grounded in learning science, outline AI’s instructional role, and finally select tools that fulfill that role.

Key insights include a four‑step framework—student capacities, learning experiences, AI’s role, and tools—plus a call for district‑wide AI literacy for students, teachers, staff, parents, and caregivers. The speaker highlights that the evidence base is still thin, with only about 20 causal studies, but a curated CoSN repository now holds roughly 1,300 papers and grows 15 % monthly, offering searchable, category‑specific findings.

A striking example cited is that student outcomes improve when AI tools are available, yet they often regress once the tools are removed, indicating limited transfer of learning. The repository’s data shows consistent gains across ELA and math when access is sustained, underscoring the need for ongoing tool integration and skill development.

For districts, the implication is clear: allocate resources to define skill outcomes first, invest in comprehensive AI literacy, and continuously monitor emerging research. This approach reduces the risk of costly pilot‑and‑scale failures and aligns technology adoption with measurable educational impact.

Original Description

Stanford researcher Chris Agnew says educational goals, not tools, should be the jumping-off point for ed-tech strategy, starting with what kids need to be able to do, then what learning experiences they need.