The Leadership Moment AI is Placing on Public Schools

This week I had the opportunity to spend time with a group of school leaders through The Principals’ Center at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, hosted by Michele Trawicki and the board team who help guide that work. It was one of those sessions that reminded me just how thoughtful and committed our school leaders are — and how much uncertainty they are navigating at the same time.

The focus of our conversation was artificial intelligence and what it means for schools right now. Not in the abstract sense of “what might happen someday,” but in the very practical sense of how leaders can begin helping their systems understand and respond to these tools today. The presentation is available here.

One of the central ideas we explored was this: educators will not be replaced by AI. But organizations that learn to use AI effectively will absolutely move faster than those that do not.

That distinction matters.

For many years, schools have been able to treat new technologies as optional innovations that a few curious teachers explore first. Eventually practices spread, systems adapt, and the change finds its way into classrooms more broadly. AI feels different. It is not simply another digital tool layered onto existing practice; it is a technology that has the potential to reshape how knowledge is created, how work is done, and how learning is personalized.

As a result, the response cannot live only in a few innovative classrooms. It has to involve leadership.

Where Leaders Can Begin Right Now

Much of our time together focused on practical places leaders can begin. In some cases that starts with something as simple as building understanding. Many educators are hearing about large language models, generative AI, and AI assistants without ever having a clear explanation of what these systems actually are or how they work. Helping staff develop that foundational understanding is one of the most important leadership moves available right now.

From there, the conversation quickly turns to teaching and learning. If AI tools can assist with drafting, summarizing, brainstorming, and problem solving, what does that mean for the way we design learning experiences? How might assessment strategies need to shift when students have access to tools that can generate text or help solve complex problems? These are not questions teachers should be left to navigate alone. They require thoughtful discussion across teams, departments, and leadership groups so that schools move forward with clarity rather than confusion.

This was the heart of the conversation with the Principals’ Center: not predicting the future, but identifying the leadership actions that can begin today.

At the same time, we also acknowledged something happening just beyond the edges of public education. Around the country, new learning models are beginning to emerge that use AI as a core part of how instruction is delivered and personalized. One example we briefly discussed was the model promoted by 2 Hour Learning, which suggests that AI-driven tutoring systems could allow students to complete academic learning much more efficiently while freeing large portions of the day for other pursuits.

Whether those models ultimately succeed or not is almost beside the point. What matters is that they are being built, marketed, and offered as alternatives to traditional schooling.

Let’s be clear: families are paying attention.

Why This Moment Calls for Leadership

Public education operates within a system where enrollment matters. Buildings, transportation, staffing, and programming all depend on funding structures tied to the number of students we serve. If new models begin attracting even small numbers of students away from traditional systems, the ripple effects eventually become real for districts and communities.

This is not a doomsday prediction. But it is a reminder that the landscape around us is changing faster than it has in a long time.

For decades, schools have been asked to evolve while simultaneously maintaining stability. We have worked to improve outcomes, support students, and meet growing expectations while largely operating within structures that have remained familiar for generations. Artificial intelligence introduces a moment where that balance may need to shift. The tools now available create opportunities to rethink how learning is personalized, how feedback is delivered, and how educators spend their time.

None of that diminishes the human work at the center of education. If anything, it amplifies its importance. Students will always need adults who mentor them, challenge them, guide them, and help them develop the judgment and character required to navigate a complex world. But the systems surrounding that work must evolve.

The goal of conversations like the one we had at the Principals’ Center is not to create urgency for its own sake. It is to encourage thoughtful leadership. If districts have not yet begun exploring how AI fits into their systems, it is not too late. But we are approaching a moment where waiting much longer means allowing others to define the future of learning without us.

Schools have an opportunity right now to shape how these tools are used, how they support teaching and learning, and how they strengthen rather than weaken the mission of public education.

That work begins with leaders who are willing to learn alongside their staff, ask difficult questions about existing practices, and take the first deliberate steps forward.

The future of education will not be built by AI.

But it will almost certainly be shaped by the leaders who decide how — and whether — to use it.