Can AI independently design an ecosystem in which students can grow and flourish?
Dr. Ashanti Bryant Foster once said, “A master plan must be built with the same level of care and attention as a new home where a family will grow together for the next twenty years.”
And that’s a tall order for a set of code that will never understand the emotional concept of family, growing, or even the next twenty years.
What if, instead of delegating something sensitive to save costs, AI and brilliant teachers shared the burden?
The positives
Outsourcing calculations saves time and effort. Saving time improves well-being, something that every teacher must pay attention to these days.
Leaders are running a thin budget line, and it’s getting thinner by the week. By thinking strategically and outsourcing the math to AI, district leaders can make the most of funding, adjust class sizes, and even increase teacher retention.
80% of the budget goes to staffing, so by carefully using every minute teachers spend and carefully allocating FTEs and nine-month roles, a master schedule can meet more needs without burning out teachers, over-relying on substitutes, struggling to hire mid-year, and more.
The time spent creating a master plan is important, but deadlines are looming. The constraints and uncertainty often cause teachers to change last year’s schedule, leaving the headaches lingering without even realizing it. Thoughtful edtech solutions can provide ways to reduce effort and resources – or at least make it seem faster to end users in busy classrooms.
The disadvantages
When we mention the danger of rolling over the master schedule without thinking, we must also warn against the uncontrolled use of AI. As with any technology solution, some AI champions have become choosier about what they delegate and where they remove their own nuance.
Humanity always comes first in primary and secondary education. AI can’t empathize with a struggling teacher, but thoughtful leaders can take individual coaching needs into account. AI will never become an expert in child development if it can only look back at history and not at its events.
Most of the budget goes to paying people, and 100% of the impact made in classrooms comes from building caring relationships, so while things sound good on paper, the reality is a different animal (flesh, blood, snacks, and tears).
The compromise
🧠 Let’s not think about it too much, but let’s give it our full imagination and heart.
🎢 A thoughtful manager leads the process with expert teams and keeps you humming along.
🧮 AI can help solve all this logically.
🚦 Thoughtful experts (A new group? Design your best process.) Check twice or even three times. Every person agrees to it before it goes to prime time.
The future
The truth about artificial intelligence tools is that they will tempt some users to opt out of the humanity of it all: doing important work for people who matter. As with everything else in primary and secondary education, what you get out of it is what you put into it. Does this mean you have to call a main scheduler freshly spit from ChatGPT?
Or does it seem like smart, intuitive teachers are using high-tech tools to create the perfect schedule for your school family?
The choice is yours. Success!
#write #master #schedule