Winterset: One District Goes All in on AI

Education technology companies have been falling over themselves to provide AI powered tools for schools, and to convince schools to buy their product. The array of AI powered products is dizzying, and while some can likely be put to good use, it can be hard for school leaders to gauge which are worth adopting.

One school system in Iowa, Winterset Community School District has gone all in on generative AI, piloting at least three AI powered products and encouraging faculty and students to experiment with AI. They kindly let us visit for a week, and we dive in to see what they’re excited about, and what has been challenging.

Thanks to Chad Sussex, and everybodt at Winterset who talked to Andrew on his visit.  AI Express: Leading the Future of Learning — written by Chad Sussex and Sandy Groom-Meeks, who guided the AI journey for Winterset — is now available on Amazon. This book offers school leaders and educators a practical roadmap for safely and effectively implementing AI in schools. 

This episode was produced by Andrew Meriwether Jesse Dukes. We had editing from Ruxandra Guidi and Alexandra Salomon.  Reporting and research from Natasha Esteves, Holly McDede, Andrew Parsons, Marnette Federis, and Chris Bagg. Sound design and music supervision by Steven Jackson. Production help from Yebu Ji. Data analysis from Manee Ngozi Nnamani and Manasa Kudumu. Special thanks to Josh Sheldon and Eric Klopfer. Administrative support from Jessica Rondon. 

 Original music for this series was created by Steven Jackson, Andrew Meriwether and Jesse Dukes, as part of the music project Cue Shop.  Thanks to Will Grueb, Andy Wilds, and the MIT Music Department for letting us use the MIT Harpsichord. 

The research and reporting you heard in this episode was supported by the Spencer Foundation, the Kapor Foundation, the Jameel World Education Lab, the Social and Ethical Responsibility of Computing initiative at MIT, and the RAISE initiative, Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education also at MIT.

We had support from Google’s Academic Research Awards program.