A publication of the Association of California School Administrators

Embracing the AI revolution in education

Santa Ana Unified School District’s bold AI journey

By Jerry Almendarez, Lorraine Perez and Bianca Barquin | November | December 2024

As we sit down to write this article, our team can’t help but feel a collective sense of excitement and urgency. We’re living through a pivotal moment in education — one where artificial intelligence is reshaping the landscape faster than many of us can keep up. In Santa Ana Unified School District, we’ve decided to lean into this change, viewing AI not as a threat, but as an unprecedented opportunity to empower our students, educators, leaders and families. Our entire community is part of this journey towards harnessing AI’s potential.

Let us be clear: This isn’t about jumping on the latest tech bandwagon. As a leadership team, we recognize that AI is fundamentally changing the world our students will inherit. Our collective vision is to prepare our community for this transformative shift. As educators, we have a responsibility to prepare them for this reality. And frankly, if we don’t act now, we risk widening the already stark inequities that exist in our education system.

Our district serves nearly 39,000 students, many from underserved communities. When we look at the potential of AI, we see a chance to level the playing field, to provide personalized learning at a scale we’ve never been able to before. But we also see the risk that these powerful tools could leave our students even further behind if we don’t thoughtfully integrate them into our schools.

That’s why we’ve embarked on an ambitious, multi-year initiative to weave AI into the fabric of our district. We want to share our journey with you — not because we have all the answers, but because we believe these conversations need to be happening across every school district in the country. Our team’s experiences and insights, we hope, can contribute to this crucial dialogue.

Starting with a compass and shifting leadership paradigms When we first decided to tackle AI integration, it quickly became clear that we needed a guiding framework and a new approach to leadership. We couldn’t just start throwing AI tools into classrooms and hope for the best. So we developed what we call our “AI Compass” — a living document that outlines our principles and approach to AI in education, while also embracing essential leadership shifts for an AI-driven world.

At its core, our AI Compass emphasizes that technology should amplify human potential, not replace it. We’re committed to universal access to AI tools, with a focus on closing opportunity gaps. And we’re adamant about maintaining privacy, transparency and ethical use of AI.

But perhaps most importantly, our compass puts students at the center, viewing them as “architects of their own learning” in an AI-augmented world. This pushes us to rethink not just how we teach, but what we teach. How do we cultivate the uniquely human skills that will be most valuable alongside AI? Things like creativity, empathy, critical thinking and collaboration take on new importance.

To support this vision, we’re making five essential shifts in our leadership approach:

From Manager to Inspirational Leader: We’re moving beyond traditional management to inspire our team with a compelling vision for AI in education.
From Vision Statement to Vision in Action: Our AI Compass isn’t just words on paper — it’s a living guide that informs our daily decisions and actions.
From Measurement to Future Impact: While data remains important, we’re focusing more on the long-term impact of our AI initiatives on student success.
From Authority-Centric to People-Centric: We’re empowering our educators, students and families to be active participants in our AI journey, not just recipients of top-down directives.
From a Culture of Secrecy to a Culture of Trust: We’re fostering open dialogue about AI, acknowledging both its potential and challenges, to build trust across our community.

Having this guiding framework and embracing these leadership shifts has been invaluable. It aligns our efforts, transforms our approach to education in the AI era, and gives our community confidence that we’re moving forward thoughtfully and boldly.

Catalyzing innovation To drive our AI initiatives, we formed a team we call SAUSD’s Innovation Catalyst Collective (ICC). It’s a diverse group of educators and administrators who are passionate about the future of education.

The ICC isn’t just about implementing technology. Their mission is to foster future-ready education, incorporate strategic foresight and co-create innovative solutions. They’re actively working to develop a blueprint for teaching and learning in an AI-powered world.

One of their first tasks was to assess our district’s AI readiness. This gave us a clear picture of where we were starting from — the knowledge, attitudes and current practices around AI among our staff, students and families. It’s helping us tailor our approach and identify quick wins.

The ICC is also leading some fascinating “future of education” workshops. We’re using foresight tools to imagine learning in 2040 and beyond. It’s pushing us to think bigger about the possibilities of AI in education.

Empowering our educators From the start, we knew that empowering our educators would be critical. Many of our teachers were understandably anxious about AI. Some feared it might make their jobs obsolete. Others were simply unsure how to approach it in their classrooms.

We’re launching a comprehensive AI literacy program for our staff. It starts with the basics — what AI is, how it works, and its capabilities and limitations. From there, we dive into more specialized topics like using AI for personalized learning, teaching AI ethics and redesigning curriculum for an AI-powered world.

We’ve found that hands-on experience is key. We’re providing sandbox environments where teachers can experiment with AI tools without fear. We’re also facilitating peer learning communities where educators can share what’s working (and what’s not) in their classrooms.

Our goal is for every SAUSD educator to become AI-literate and to view AI as a powerful tool in their teaching arsenal. We’re already seeing teachers get creative — using AI to save time on grading and lesson planning, provide more targeted feedback to students, and create engaging, interactive learning experiences.

Reimagining teaching, learning and leading AI is pushing us to rethink some fundamental assumptions about education, leadership and the very nature of learning. We’re in the process of comprehensively reimagining our approach through an AI lens. What skills and knowledge become more critical in an AI-powered world? How can AI tools enhance learning and leadership across our entire district?

We’re placing a much greater emphasis on information literacy, teaching students and staff how to critically evaluate AI-generated content. We’re expanding project-based learning that cultivates those uniquely human skills — creativity, empathy, critical thinking, and collaboration — that will be crucial in an AI-augmented future.

On the assessment front, we’re moving away from easily-automated, fact-based testing. Instead, we’re exploring more authentic, performance-based evaluation that showcases the application of knowledge and skills in real-world contexts. We’re also leveraging AI to create adaptive assessments that provide deeper insights into student understanding and learning processes.

For our educators and leaders, we’re reimagining professional development. We’re using AI to provide personalized learning pathways that help our staff continually upskill and adapt to the changing educational landscape. This includes fostering an entrepreneurial mindset that embraces innovation and calculated risk-taking.

Importantly, we see AI as a way to expand learning and leadership development beyond our school walls. We’re piloting AI-powered virtual tutoring programs that allow students to get help anytime, anywhere. For our staff, we’re exploring AI-driven coaching and mentoring platforms that provide on-demand support for leadership challenges. It’s still the early days, but the potential to provide 24/7 personalized support for both learning and leading is exciting.

This reimagining extends to how we make decisions and measure success. We’re leveraging AI to gain deeper insights into our district’s performance, allowing for more data-informed, proactive leadership. At the same time, we’re careful not to let data overshadow the human element of education. Our goal is to use AI to enhance, not replace, the critical human judgment and empathy that are at the heart of effective teaching and leadership.

In essence, we’re not just preparing our students for an AI-powered world — we’re preparing our entire educational ecosystem to thrive in this new reality. It’s a holistic transformation that touches every aspect of how we teach, learn and lead.

From the start, we knew that empowering our educators would be critical. Many of our teachers were understandably anxious about AI. Some feared it might make their jobs obsolete.

Fostering ethical AI use Alongside the excitement, we take the ethical implications of AI very seriously. We’ve established a PRIME Panel (Promoting Responsible Innovation in Modern Education Panel) to provide ongoing oversight of our AI initiatives. We’re developing a student-friendly AI ethics curriculum and integrated discussions of AI safety and responsible use across subject areas. We’ve also implemented clear policies around AI use in our schools. This includes guidelines for when AI-generated content should be attributed and limitations on using AI for high-stakes decision making. Protecting student privacy as we expand our use of AI systems is a top priority. Partnering for progress We recognize that we can’t drive this AI transformation alone. We’re actively cultivating partnerships with tech companies, universities and other school districts to accelerate our progress. We’re also working with several ed-tech startups to pilot cutting-edge AI tools in our classrooms. Additionally, we’ve joined a consortium of forward-thinking school districts to share best practices around AI implementation. This allows us to learn from peers and amplify our collective voice in shaping education policy for the AI era. Continuous learning and adaptation If there’s one thing that’s certain about AI, it’s that the technology will continue to evolve rapidly. We’ve built adaptability and continuous learning into the core of our strategy. Our AI Compass is a living document that we refine based on new developments and lessons learned. The ICC will hold regular “future scanning” sessions to explore emerging trends that could impact our AI roadmap.
We’re also establishing feedback loops to gather ongoing input from students, educators and families as we roll out new AI initiatives. This allows us to quickly identify what’s working well and course correct as needed. A call to action As we reflect on our district’s AI journey so far, we are filled with a sense of urgency and excitement. The AI revolution isn’t some far-off future — it’s happening now, and it’s transforming our world at a breathtaking pace. As educators, we have a moral imperative to ensure our students are prepared to thrive in this new reality. Yes, there are challenges to navigate. But we’re convinced that the potential benefits of AI in education far outweigh the risks — if we approach implementation thoughtfully and proactively. To our fellow education leaders reading this, we urge you: Don’t wait to act. Start having conversations about AI in your schools today. Educate yourself and your staff about the technology’s capabilities and implications. Begin experimenting with AI tools, even if just in small pilot programs. Our students are stepping into a world where AI isn’t just a fancy add-on — it’s woven into the very fabric of how we work and live. We’ve got to prepare them for that reality — no ifs, ands or buts about it. By embracing AI now, we can give them a head start and help close opportunity gaps. We can free up educators to focus on the most high-value, human aspects of teaching. We can personalize learning in ways that were never before possible. The next few years will be critical in shaping AI’s role in education for decades to come. Let’s seize this moment to reimagine learning for the AI era — to create schools that cultivate human potential alongside technological power. At Santa Ana Unified, we’re excited to continue pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with AI in education. We don’t have all the answers, but we’re committed to learning, iterating and sharing our insights along the way. We invite you to join us on this journey of discovery and transformation. Together, we can ensure AI becomes a force for equity and empowerment in our education system. The future of learning is here. Let’s build it — with wisdom, courage and a relentless focus on our students. Jerry Almendarez is the superintendent of Santa Ana Unified School District. A nationally recognized educational leader and frequent keynote speaker, he is pioneering the integration of AI in TK-12 education. Lorraine Perez, Ed.D., has nearly 25 years of experience transforming K-12 systems as an educational leader. She has served as a Director for the California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators and as a Superintendent in Residence at Azusa Pacific University. Bianca Barquin is the Assistant Superintendent of K-12 Teaching and Learning, Support Services, and Expanded Learning at Santa Ana Unified School District. She leads the district's Innovation Catalyst Collective, a groundbreaking initiative designed to foster innovative practices, promote equity and prepare students for the rapidly evolving future of education and work.