What We’ve Learned Serving 520+ Districts with Generative AI

John Kennedy leads AI Solutions at Panorama Education. Previously, he was the CEO of Mesa Cloud, a graduation audit platform that he founded as a high school student in 2017 and led it until its acquisition by Panorama in 2023. He chairs CleanAirK12.com, a nonprofit supporting indoor air quality in classrooms. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, where he was an Innovation Scholar.

One in four students in the U.S. attends a school that uses Panorama—where educators are driving change with technology built for K–12. In these schools, district leaders and teachers are using data to better support every learner—and many are now turning to AI to help them save time, uncover insights, and personalize learning.

1. AI is Remarkable, and Only Getting Better

It’s incredibly hard to drive change in K-12. Now imagine a tool, just two years old, that’s used weekly by half of America’s educators - a testament to how quickly generative AI is transforming teaching and learning. Generative AI is the fastest-adopted technology in human history. Educators are flocking to generative AI because it really makes a difference in their day. AI’s ability to draft lesson plans, offer feedback, and streamline countless tasks helps educators work smart, faster, and ultimately, more with students.

Yet, as rapid as this growth has been, tomorrow’s models will be more capable than today’s. Billions of dollars in investments are fueling continuous improvements, leading to smarter, faster, and more cost-effective AI solutions. Districts that adopt AI early stand to benefit the most: your educators’ familiarity and comfort with using AI will only deepen over time.

2. Two Frontiers of Generative AI in K-12 

Frontier #1: Saving Time for Educators and Fighting Burnout

Teacher shortages are widespread—in fact, half of public school leaders reported that their school is understaffed. This is a shame, and places an increasing burden on the teachers in place—but generative AI offers a solution. AI can help by handling repetitive tasks like lesson planning, text differentiation, rubric creation, and feedback, freeing teachers to focus on activities that truly need a human touch, such as building personal relationships and fostering critical thinking. This isn’t a fantasy: educators using ChatGPT, Gemini, and other tools are already benefitting.

Frontier #2: Deeply Personalized Learning (It's Slowly Coming)

Research has long shown that one-on-one tutoring can improve student outcomes by two standard deviations over traditional classrooms—Bloom’s 2 Sigma Problem. However, scaling personalized instruction to every student has been impossible for most districts due to staff and budget constraints. AI could help address this by continuously adapting curricular content to each student's needs. Rather than static lessons, AI enables truly dynamic instruction, adjusting in real time to fill gaps and push students toward mastery. This future is still on the horizon—but it's steadily coming into focus. 

3. AI + Holistic Student Data = Magic (But Security is Paramount)

Generative AI’s true power lies in personalization, tailoring general lessons, instruction, and concepts to individual students. The impact multiplies when a secure AI platform integrates with district processes and data. Imagine AI that combines local curricula, academic performance, attendance, behavior, and life skills data to provide tailored interventions for each student. This is the promise of AI-enhanced education. However, none of this works without trust. Districts must prioritize platforms that meet stringent security, privacy, and compliance standards to protect student data. For every new AI offering that you consider, ask: what’s their track record in privacy? How long have they been around? Do they meet SOC-2 security standards?

4. Districts Need AI That Works the Way They Do

For AI to really work for educators, it has to work the way that their district works. That means connecting with student information systems, assessment providers, and real district documents—from lesson plans to intervention materials. It also means that districts should have the freedom to customize AI prompts and tools to align with their local priorities and curriculum. AI can do so much—but there’s so much noise and hype out there. Teachers can be skeptical for good reason, but when AI feels purpose-built for them, teachers are far more likely to adopt and champion it.

5. The Future of AI in Education 

Districts have been asked to do so much over the last couple of decades, often without the capacity to meet every demand. We know there are many effective ways to support students, but we also know it requires tremendous effort. AI is offering more capacity to support teachers, more capacity to support students, and more opportunities to drive better outcomes. The future is here. By getting started now, districts can shape how AI is used to meet their unique needs, and pull their community forward to get a better sense of what’s possible.