Deeper Learning New York

As districts grapple with how to respond to the rapid emergence of generative AI, many face the same challenge: how to move beyond isolated trainings or vague top-down guidance toward sustainable, school-based adoption that strengthens instruction and aligns with deeper learning principles.
In this session, Azadi Partners—alongside leaders and teacher leaders from New York City Public Schools’ CUNY/Urban Assembly High School District—will share how they partnered to build districtwide capacity for responsible AI use through a combination of system-level professional development and targeted AI Catalyst coaching. Azadi Partners will provide an overview of their approach to supporting AI adoption, including how district-wide PD sessions established shared AI literacy, ethical guardrails, and common instructional use cases, while ongoing coaching supported AI Catalysts—teacher leaders in schools across the CUNY/UA district—to model, extend, and support effective practice.
The session will highlight Azadi Partners’ and CUNY/UA’s shared focus on using AI to strengthen instructional planning, including lesson design, differentiation, assessment planning, and alignment. Throughout, the work centers educators’ expertise, experience, and deep understanding of their students. The CUNY/UA Deputy Superintendent and an AI Catalyst teacher leader will speak directly to the impact of this work, sharing how the professional learning and coaching supported meaningful adoption of AI tools in schools and influenced instructional practice at both the classroom and system levels.
The session will be structured as a facilitated conversation, with opportunities for participants to reflect on the case example, surface questions, and consider how similar approaches might translate to their own districts and schools. Participants will leave with a clear understanding of how a district can build sustainable, school-based capacity for AI adoption through a combination of shared professional learning and embedded teacher leadership. They will gain insight into the structures, design choices, and coaching practices that supported responsible AI use in CUNY/UA schools, along with practical takeaways they can adapt in their own contexts—such as how to identify and support teacher leaders, structure AI-focused professional learning, and focus AI use on strengthening instructional planning while maintaining educator agency and deeper learning priorities.