Colorado’s AI in K-12 Journey, One Year Later

Message From CEI President and CEO Rebecca Holmes

From CEI’s September 2025 Newsletter

When CEI and CDE launched the Colorado Roadmap for AI in K-12 Education one year ago, we knew the real work would be in classrooms, not in reports. In a perfect world, school districts could press pause – testing, iterating, and rolling AI out in slow motion while carefully weighing every risk and advantage to young people. But that’s not the world we live in. CEI’s approach is to stand alongside teachers, students, and leaders as they navigate this wild new reality – helping them chart a realistic path forward while keeping learning deeply human at its core.

Over the past year, we’ve had the privilege of learning with a remarkable group of ElevateAI school districts – Adams 12, Brush, Cañon City, Durango, Estes Park, Greeley-Evans District 6, Harrison, and Mesa County Valley 51. They’re showing what it really looks like to teach with AI, and about it, and what it takes to build responsive human-centered systems.

Teachers are adopting AI when it solves real problems: improving planning, saving time on rote tasks, and boosting engagement. Students are using it to manage their time, study more effectively, and design projects that matter – from chatbots to construction models to internships. Fellows in our partner districts are supporting students with IEPs and 504 plans, scaffolding for multilingual learners, and creating more accessible materials for families. Across districts, educators are shifting from consumption to creation, helping students think critically and solve complex problems. Through this work, Colorado educators are playing leading roles in refining the role of AI in their classrooms and figuring out how AI fits with their professional practice and what opportunities and limitations should exist in the future.

AI is not a shortcut to great teaching. Great pedagogy, grounded in a deep and ever-growing understanding of how students learn and how brains develop, still matters most of all. That’s why we’re focused on building educator capacity. Supporting districts and schools to learn from teachers and students amidst rapid change is the through-line of our work – from Brush’s 94 percent staff participation in AI learning, to Harrison’s “five-minute AI” sessions, to D51’s 200 teacher completions.  Districts are integrating AI as part of their strategic plans, graduate profiles, and acceptable use policies – often co-created with families and students – and aligning efforts across curriculum, CTE, and technology. This is what it means to take a systems approach and to put educators, not tech firms, in the driver’s seat.

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change published a report this month that reinforces much of our thinking at CEI, including that foundational knowledge in learning must be tethered to modern skills development in instruction, and that AI readiness is best reached by embedding human skills development and AI literacy across curricula. This is why we are proud to launch the Future Ready Colorado: AI K-12 Skills Progression Guide for Educators, a new tool to help teachers build AI literacy in developmentally appropriate ways. Featured within this newsletter, it maps AI computer science standards across K-12 with a progression of key concepts and student skills and align AI skills to multiple career pathways, highlighting relevance across diverse industries.

As we look to the next year, we’re doubling down on student experiences – especially in career-connected learning – and on the adults who guide them. We’re partnering with the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) to support school counselors in using AI for career navigation. We’re facilitating PLCs for educators to integrate industry-specific AI literacy into work-based learning. And we’re positioning students as creators – not consumers – including through a PlayLab Student AI Cohort where they build foundational skills and apply AI to design solutions for community issues they care about.

As AI in K-12 education evolves, we remain committed to keeping it grounded in practice, shaped by educators and students, and centered on what has always made education powerful: human connection, creativity, and purpose. There is no shortcut – only the ongoing work of empowering teachers and students to build the path forward, together.

Our May Newsletter Highlights

• New Resource: AI K-12 Skills Progression Guide for Educators
• Engagement Opportunities: CFEC Regional Partnership Convening, Reimagining Advisory Learning Series
• Learning Opportunities: Building Engaging, Community-Driven Career Pathways Webinar

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