CLINTON, Tenn. (WATE) — Anderson County Schools is preparing teachers and administrators for the new school year with artificial intelligence training designed to support student learning.

Before the first bell rings, educators are learning how to use an educational artificial intelligence platform called Kira. District leaders say the goal is to help teachers identify learning gaps and provide more personalized instruction while keeping educators in control of the classroom.

“This AI training that we’re doing for the district today is to help administrators and teachers learn how to use AI in a manner that will support student learning,” said Amy Haney, STEM coordinator for Anderson County Schools. “It’s a very safe platform. We’re looking at ways that AI can bridge the gap with learning gaps that we have and also put some guardrails and stabilizers in place so that teachers know that what they’re using is valid.”

Haney said Kira is designed to be an asset for teachers, helping them use student assessment data to create targeted learning plans.

“If you’re a student struggling on a concept, what we will have done is given you a diagnostic test and, from those results, we can import that data into the AI that we’re learning today and allow that to help the teacher build strategic models for the student to work through,” Haney said. “That way we know that it’s backed by what we are wanting them to learn, and we’re trying to close those gaps in a more proficient way.”

The goal is to pinpoint where students are struggling, which can be difficult when teachers are managing classrooms with students performing at different levels.

“In today’s classroom, it’s very diverse,” Haney said. “We have students with various needs. We have some that need to be accelerated. We have some that need to be moved slowly, and we have some that are deficient in whatever areas they are. It’s very difficult for a teacher in a 45-minute block to have enough time to see every student during that class period. What this allows is for us to take the information, the raw data that we have, put it into a platform and strategically give those lessons to those students.”

Haney emphasized that the platform is not intended to replace classroom instruction or the relationship between teachers and students. Instead, she said, it is designed to support educators by helping them develop lessons that address each student’s specific needs.

“It’s not taking away the authenticity of their teaching style,” Haney said. “It allows teachers to develop lessons that strategically target student deficiencies or student gains that we’re looking to achieve. The feedback is all in one spot, and it gives them a thought partner to be able to talk back and forth with so that we know that what we’re doing is what the student needs.”

District leaders say teachers and administrators are being trained on the Kira platform during the current school year. A full rollout to students is planned for the next school year.