St. Vrain Valley Schools

The Innovation Center is the next step in public education. We are a catalyst, incubator, and bridge between education, industry, and our community.

Assistant Superintendent of Innovation

Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consultant

Chief Technology Officer

Adams 12 Five Star Schools

Director of Instructional Technology

Boulder Valley School District

Senior Operations Manager

Carrier Access Corporation

Sales Engineer & Technical Trainer

#leadership  #personaldevelopment #technology #edtech

Joe McBreen

AI’s IQ is rising at a pace that should cause every K–12 leader to pause.
Not in fear.
In honesty.

For decades, schools have relied on certain signals to tell us whether learning happened. Memorization. Following known procedures. One-time performance tasks completed under controlled conditions.

Those signals worked because they were hard to fake.

AI changes that.

When a tool can instantly recall facts, follow steps, and produce polished work on demand, a correct answer no longer reliably proves understanding. A clean essay no longer guarantees original thinking. A solved problem no longer confirms conceptual mastery.

The signal gets noisy.

So the question for schools should not be, “How do we keep AI out?”

The real question is, “What counts as evidence of learning now?”

If you want a clear-eyed look at how fast this shift is happening, spend a few minutes nosing around trackingai.org. 

The pace of progress is both sobering and clarifying.

In St. Vrain Valley Schools, we’ve been leaning into this shift through Design Thinking. Students learn to frame problems, test ideas, gather feedback, and iterate. 
The process matters as much as the product. 

That mindset transfers far beyond any single tool or technology.

Recently, Stefan Bauschard also challenged my thinking around debate as a critical skill in the AI era. When students can argue, question assumptions, evaluate claims, and defend their reasoning, they develop judgment that no model can automate.

This is the work.

K–12 must move upstream toward what still compounds for humans:
Explaining reasoning
Making decisions with incomplete information
Applying knowledge in new or messy contexts
Iterating based on feedback
Exercising judgment, ethics, and purpose
Debating (hat tip to you, Stefan)

AI’s rapid cognitive growth clarifies the value of education. 
AI does not diminish it.

Our job is not to compete with machines on raw “intellect”.
Our job is to help students develop wisdom, agency, and the ability to apply intelligence in human contexts.

So I’ll leave it here:
What’s your district’s plan?
Is it to redesign learning around how humans think, reason, and decide?

Or is it to bolt AI onto what we’re already doing and call it done?

This isn’t a crisis.

It’s a forcing function.

And it’s calling K–12 to change. 

Dare I say, to lead?

Assistant Superintendent of Innovation. Transforming education one algorithm at a time. Explores leadership, change, growth, and exponential technologies.

Open article: Tracking AI by trackingai.org

I am a digial learning leader. I focus my work every day on providing authentic opportunities through the use of technology tools to build efficient and effective learning environments,  With more than a decade of experience in education, I have honed my skills in childhood development/learning theory and adult learning theories in order to provide relevant and insightful professional development to empower learning and individual sucess.

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