According to a recent news release, the campaign includes two main components: District leaders are encouraged to share ideas for how AI can improve education, and invited to join an AI Advisory Council where they'll test and provide feedback on new tools.
Frontline President and CEO Matt Strazza said the Dear Future campaign and K-12 AI Advisory Council are intended to help the education community harness the potential of emerging technology amid potentially unprecedented digital transformation in the K-12 market.
“What we want from the people is their ideas,” Strazza said. “Our expectation is that they’re influencing our choice on pilots, on beta programs. Leveraging partners that are building or providing sort of out-of-the-box solutions can be super helpful, too. You don’t have to build everything from scratch.”
Members of the council have not yet been appointed, Strazza said, but the intention is to recruit 15-20 leaders and practitioners from diverse backgrounds in education, including superintendents, HR and talent leaders, special education directors, CFOs and finance leaders, according to Frontline’s website.
“Our AI strategy is designed to help schools focus more of their energy where it matters most — supporting students and educators — by reducing routine administrative burdens, providing clearer insights for decision-makers, and strengthening support for teachers,” Strazza said in a public statement. “With Dear Future, we’re creating space for district leaders’ voices to help shape that future — responsibly, transparently, and at scale."
Since the generative AI craze kicked off with the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, ed-tech companies, school districts, education leaders and universities throughout the U.S. have implemented AI advisory boards similar to Frontline's.
In May, for example, the K-12 software company Otus partnered with school leaders from more than 20 districts across 11 states to create an AI advisory board for testing and providing feedback on new AI features for the company's platform. In recent years, school districts like El Segundo Unified School District and La Cañada Unified School District in California have launched their own advisory teams and task forces to study the technology.
Frontline Education is hoping its council serves as a model for school districts as they face increasing demand to embed AI into curricula. According to Strazza, in an ideal world, each member of Frontline's AI K-12 council would also be chairing an advisory committee in their own school community, widening the reach of effective AI tools.
“I would encourage councils that are set up inside of school systems to not be limited by the way we used to think about building technology for schools,” Strazza said. “Just get back to natural ideation and let us do the work of turning it into products. Rely on companies like us. We know how to build software.”
