AI is giving teachers back significant time each week, but the real question isn't how much time they save,it's whether schools are intentionally redirecting those hours toward activities that actually improve student learning. At the 2026 CoSN Annual Conference in Chicago, district leaders and educators shared how artificial intelligence is reshaping workflows across K-12 schools, revealing a critical insight: productivity gains only matter if they translate into meaningful student impact .

How Much Time Are Teachers Actually Saving With AI?

Teachers using Brisk Teaching, an AI-powered platform built specifically for educators, report saving an average of six hours per week on planning and feedback tasks. Over the course of a school year, that adds up to approximately six weeks of reclaimed time . The platform enables teachers to re-level texts on the fly so students reading at different levels can work with the same core content with appropriate supports, convert science readings into podcasts in seconds, and generate personalized practice sets directly from existing curriculum rather than building each one from scratch.

"The productivity gains matter, but only if they're turned into student impact," said Bri Nistler, Head of Customer Success at Brisk Teaching.

Bri Nistler, Head of Customer Success at Brisk Teaching

Nistler has observed that in classrooms where teachers intentionally redirect those saved hours, the results are tangible. Teachers are using the reclaimed time for small-group instruction, richer feedback on student work, and relationship-building activities that research shows strengthen learning outcomes .

What Are Students Actually Doing With AI in the Classroom?

While much of the conversation around AI in education focuses on teacher productivity, students are developing their own sophisticated relationship with these tools. Focus groups conducted by Alexandria City Public Schools in Virginia revealed that students are using AI strategically and setting their own boundaries around when and how they engage with it .

According to Emily Dillard, Chief Information Officer at Alexandria City Public Schools, students described using AI to decode unclear assignment instructions and translate language into something they can understand, which is especially helpful for multilingual learners. But the most revealing finding was about student agency and motivation.

"Our students told us that they choose when they use AI and when they don't. I had a couple kids say if it was a course that they really cared about or something that they wanted to do with their life in the future, they did not use AI as much. They really wanted to understand it and do the work themselves. If it was something that they felt wasn't that important for their future, they were more likely to use AI," explained Emily Dillard.

Emily Dillard, Chief Information Officer at Alexandria City Public Schools

This finding suggests that students are making deliberate choices about when AI serves as a learning tool versus a shortcut, based on their own educational priorities .

How Are District Leaders Using AI to Rethink Their Own Work?

Beyond the classroom, K-12 district leaders are beginning to use AI to redesign their own workflows and support their teams. For principals and central office leaders, the opportunities are less about lesson plans and more about planning, reflection, and workload management .

In Alexandria, Dillard experimented with building a custom Google Gemini Gem, a specialized AI tool, to guide her directors through structured workload inventories and reflection prompts. Since stepping into her role six months prior, Dillard aimed to gain a better understanding of her team's workload and preferences in order to adjust workflows if necessary.

"We know that all of our staff are being asked to do more and more every year. Having an AI tool that can walk them through reflecting on their work is a way to show we see that and want to support them," stated Dillard.

Emily Dillard, Chief Information Officer at Alexandria City Public Schools

Recognizing that training leadership staff on AI use is just as important as teacher training, Dillard created a summer professional development series called AI in July, with sessions to help principals rework schedules, back-to-school communications, and first-week plans .

Ways Districts Are Implementing AI Across Operations

• Classroom Instruction: Teachers use AI to differentiate content for students at different reading levels, convert existing materials into multiple formats like podcasts, and generate personalized practice sets without building each one from scratch.
• Student Support: Students leverage AI to clarify confusing assignment instructions and translate language barriers, particularly benefiting multilingual learners who can access content in their preferred language.
• Leadership Workflows: District leaders and principals use custom AI tools to conduct workload assessments, guide reflection on team capacity, and redesign administrative processes like scheduling and communications.
• IT Operations and Cybersecurity: IT teams deploy AI-driven platforms that surface critical security alerts, enabling analysts to move from routine monitoring to project-based security work and allowing staff reclassification into more strategic roles.

What Role Is AI Playing in School Cybersecurity?

On the cybersecurity side, AI is becoming both a risk and a mitigation tool for school districts. While AI is making it easier for bad actors to launch sophisticated phishing attacks, deepfakes, and social engineering attempts targeting schools, districts are simultaneously deploying AI-driven platforms that help identify and respond to the most critical threats .

At Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, the approach has yielded measurable results. Assistant Superintendent of Information and Technology Services Charles Franklin noted that AI-powered cybersecurity tools have enabled his team to reclassify staff members into professional roles focused on strategic security work rather than routine alert response.

"We were able to say that these folks are no longer just responding to cybersecurity alerts. We're using AI within our cybersecurity tools to help bubble up those alerts and respond to those alerts with automation. We've become a lot more cyber secure based on that," said Charles Franklin.

Charles Franklin, Assistant Superintendent of Information and Technology Services at Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District

Despite AI's capabilities in this area, the human element remains critical. Charlie Lang, Chief Product and Technology Officer for Apptegy, emphasized that most conversations with school districts are about integrating data and workflows together rather than full automation .

"Most of the conversations we're having with school districts right now are about weaving data and workflows together. We're in that middle phase where AI is helping us see across systems, trigger the right actions and complete some general tasks, not doing everything for us," noted Charlie Lang.

Charlie Lang, Chief Product and Technology Officer for Apptegy

The broader takeaway from the 2026 CoSN conference is that AI's value in K-12 education isn't determined by the technology itself, but by how intentionally schools redirect the time and insights it provides toward activities that strengthen teaching, learning, and organizational health .