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Getting beyond the Lightbulb Stage: Why AI Is Not Yet Transforming Education

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Getting beyond the Lightbulb Stage: Why AI Is Not Yet Transforming Education
Language: English
Authors: Robin Lake, Shira Haderlein, Arizona State University (ASU), Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE)
Source: Center on Reinventing Public Education. 2026.
Availability: Center on Reinventing Public Education. Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University. H.B. Farmer Education Building, 1050 S Forest Mall, Tempe, AZ 85281. e-mail: crpe@uw.edu; Web site: https://crpe.org/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 11
Publication Date: 2026
Sponsoring Agency: Overdeck Family Foundation
Document Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Descriptors: Artificial Intelligence, Technology Uses in Education, Elementary Secondary Education, Public Education, Stakeholders, Technology Integration
Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to radically improve how students learn, make teachers' jobs more manageable, and expand access to opportunities like more rigorous and personalized coursework. Already, students use AI regularly, while parents and teachers recognize that AI will shape both the workforce students will enter and the skills they will need to succeed in it. However, many AI-enabled interventions are not meeting either these present or future challenges. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with more than 50 informed K-12 stakeholders across ed tech, philanthropy, policy, teaching, and advocacy, this brief identifies the gaps between what AI developers are building and what students, teachers, and systems actually need. Findings show there is a profound mismatch between the supply side and the demand side, as new AI-enabled tools are entering schools and classrooms but are not being used to rethink outdated models of scheduling, staffing, or instructional design. At the same time, education leaders have not clearly defined the major challenges that they want to use AI to address, resulting in a marketplace crowded with "point solutions" that do not move the needle on improving schooling or the education system as a whole.
Abstractor: ERIC
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: ED682128
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to radically improve how students learn, make teachers' jobs more manageable, and expand access to opportunities like more rigorous and personalized coursework. Already, students use AI regularly, while parents and teachers recognize that AI will shape both the workforce students will enter and the skills they will need to succeed in it. However, many AI-enabled interventions are not meeting either these present or future challenges. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with more than 50 informed K-12 stakeholders across ed tech, philanthropy, policy, teaching, and advocacy, this brief identifies the gaps between what AI developers are building and what students, teachers, and systems actually need. Findings show there is a profound mismatch between the supply side and the demand side, as new AI-enabled tools are entering schools and classrooms but are not being used to rethink outdated models of scheduling, staffing, or instructional design. At the same time, education leaders have not clearly defined the major challenges that they want to use AI to address, resulting in a marketplace crowded with "point solutions" that do not move the needle on improving schooling or the education system as a whole.