By Brett Roer, Founder & CEO of Amplify & Elevate Innovation
I was on AmpED to 11 with Matthew Winters, the AI Education Specialist for the Utah State Board of Education, and he told me a story I have kept coming back to. He had run a session for a group of ELA teachers across the state. Afterward, one of them came up to him and said something close to this: “I was ready to riot when I heard we were talking about AI today. And now I’m like, I’ve got this. I can do this.”
That sentence is what good state-level AI strategy makes possible. Not a slide deck. Not a glossy framework. A teacher walking out of a room with her own confidence intact and a clear sense of what she is going to try on Monday.
If you are leading AI strategy at a state, district, or building level, the work I want to share here is what state-level strategy can do for the people closest to students.
The Question I Find Myself Holding
When I sit with state leaders and superintendents on AI strategy, the question I keep coming back to is this. What conditions does this strategy create for the teacher in front of her class on a Tuesday?
The answer matters because state-level strategy lives or dies in the room with that teacher. A strategy that creates space for her expertise, language she can use with her students, and a sense that the people writing the policy understand what her day looks like is a strategy that lasts. The work I have been most honored to be part of is the work that produces that experience for educators.
Matthew’s role at Utah State Board of Education has reach: policy work with state legislators and higher ed, sustained professional development for thousands of teachers, and internal AI training for hundreds of board employees. Across all of that, the test he is running is the same one I run with the districts I partner with. Is this making a teacher’s Tuesday better.
The Three-Layer Progression Worth Borrowing
The shape Matthew shared with me is one I think every state and district team should consider. He described AI integration as a progression across three layers.
Productivity. Teachers use AI to do existing tasks more efficiently. Plan a lesson, draft a parent email, summarize a reading. Time gets saved. Workload gets lighter. This is the level most teachers find first, and it is a real first foothold.
Creativity. Teachers use AI to do things with students that were unknown or undoable before. A new kind of writing assignment. A different way to explore a historical question. A fresh entry point into a unit that had grown stale. This is the level where AI starts to serve learning rather than just task completion.
Inclusivity. Teachers use AI to reach every student, especially the students traditionally underserved by the system. A multilingual learner who can now process a complex text in her first language and discuss it with peers in English. A student with a disability who can interact with the curriculum in a mode that matches how she learns. A student who has been quietly outside the conversation finding a way in.
The progression matters because each layer earns the next one. Productivity gives teachers the time and confidence to try creativity. Creativity gives them the experience to imagine inclusivity. State and district strategy that designs for all three is strategy that scales.
Where I Think the Real Opportunity Lives
The layer I keep coming back to is the inclusivity one.
The AI conversation in education often centers on the average student, the typical assignment, the standard classroom. The students who stand to gain the most from thoughtful AI use are the ones who have not been served as well by what came before. The multilingual learner who has had to perform her thinking in her second language while building her first. The student with an IEP whose accommodations have lived in a binder. The student who has been ostracised quietly and needs a way back into the work without having to ask for it out loud.
The strategy I find most worth building is the one that asks: how does this serve those students. State leadership that sets that question at the top of the agenda gives every district below them permission to pursue it.
A pattern Matthew named in our conversation has stayed with me. He talked about being honest with teachers about AI skepticism: pay attention to the research, see if it is actually doing what we want it to do in terms of student achievement, and if it is not, go back to the companies producing it. That stance gives teachers permission to ask hard questions. It also models what serious adoption looks like. Skepticism is not the opposite of progress. It is part of what makes progress real.
Teaching AI as a Thought Partner
One of Matthew’s teaching moves I have started borrowing is the framing he uses with teachers about how to interact with AI. He tells them to think about role-play. What role do you need AI to assume to help you think through this problem? What context do you need to provide? The same way you would prepare someone before asking for advice.
That reframe lands. It moves AI from “the thing that gives me the answer” to “the colleague I am preparing to work with.” It puts the teacher in the position of author and the tool in the position of contributor. It also travels across every kind of task and every kind of tool, which is what state-level strategy needs.
This is also one of the reasons I built the AI Sandwich Strategy™. The structure is the same shape Matthew is teaching: the human brings the foundation (expertise, context, purpose), AI helps in the middle, the human comes back with judgment to finish. The mental model belongs to the educator. State-level strategy that puts the mental model first, and the tools second, is strategy that lasts.
A First Move for State and District Leaders
If you are shaping AI strategy at the state or district level this year, the first move I would recommend is a check against the three-layer progression.
Look at your current strategy and ask: where in this is the productivity layer, where is the creativity layer, and where is the inclusivity layer? If the inclusivity layer is the smallest section of the plan, the plan has room to grow. Start by adding one inclusion-specific commitment. Multilingual learners. Students with IEPs. Students who have been quietly outside the conversation. Name the group. Name what you want AI to make possible for them. Then design the supports that get you there.
That single move shapes everything downstream. The teachers running the work will feel it. The students it is built for will feel it more.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does state-level AI strategy in education look like?
State-level AI strategy in education includes policy work with legislators and higher ed, sustained professional development for teachers, internal AI capacity-building within state education agencies, and a clear progression for districts and schools to follow. The strongest state strategy is grounded in what it makes possible for the teacher and the student, not just in compliance language.
How can AI support students traditionally underserved by education?
AI can support multilingual learners by enabling them to engage with complex texts in their first language and then collaborate in English. It can support students with disabilities by offering interaction modes that match how they learn. It can support quietly disengaged students by offering a way back into the work that does not require them to ask out loud. The strongest implementations design for these students from the beginning.
What is the productivity, creativity, inclusivity progression?
The progression names three layers of AI integration in classrooms. Productivity (teachers use AI to do existing tasks efficiently), creativity (teachers use AI to do new things with students), and inclusivity (teachers use AI to reach every student, especially those traditionally underserved). Each layer earns the next, and state-level strategy that designs for all three creates conditions for lasting change.
How should educators think about interacting with AI?
A useful framing is to treat AI like a colleague you are preparing to work with. What role do you need it to assume to help with this problem? What context do you need to provide for the response to be useful? The educator brings the expertise, the purpose, and the judgment. The tool contributes what it can in the middle. The educator comes back to finish and own the work.
Bring This Work Into Your State or District
I partner with state agencies, districts, and school networks on AI strategy that creates real conditions for teachers and students.
If you are shaping AI strategy in your state or district this year, I would welcome the conversation: brett@aeieducation.org.
