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Maria Lucero, the Yakima School District’s director of teaching and learning, initially didn’t want to embrace change when it came to artificial intelligence. But as the technology became more prevalent, she soon realized she couldn’t be that person.
“Like with any business, they’re always evolving,” she said. “There are different forces that cause us to evolve, so we have to evolve.”
Lucero recognized that education was transforming and learned to embrace AI intentionally. As AI continues to shape industries and how people interact with technology, its use has arrived in Yakima County.
The Yakima School District has been experimenting with AI to enhance teaching and learning for the past three years. District administrators say they have seen positive feedback and results.
“I’m excited about the efficiency,” Lucero said. “(And) how it can enhance the work that is going to be centered around our new strategic plan in ways that just weren’t possible even six years ago.”
The Yakima district had a three-year agreement with Colleague AI through the University of Washington. The AI platform supports K-12 education by providing workflow-embedded tools for educators and student-facing tools for learning.
Lucero said the district focused the AI tools on teacher use for instructional planning. Teachers used the tools to create slide decks, visuals, handouts and resources to support their teaching, she added. AI can even help educators ensure that the curriculum aligns with state standards, for example.
“I am appreciative of the partnership, because it allowed us to use a common tool in our district to explore what could be possible in education,” Lucero said.
The AI doesn’t do teachers’ work, but helps them do it more efficiently and effectively while aligning with the district’s frameworks, said the district’s executive director of technology, Andy Gonzalez.
By the end of March, 412 of the district’s approximately 1,031 teachers had engaged with Colleague AI. Teachers averaged 14 sessions and nearly five hours on the platform, primarily for lesson planning, according to data from the platform cited by Gonzalez.
“We’ve received significant positive feedback,” he said.
The Yakima School District isn’t the only district that’s been experimenting with AI.
In October, Microsoft announced its Microsoft Elevate program, offering its AI tools to school districts and community colleges free of charge for up to three years, starting in January.
The program selected up to 10 school districts and 10 community colleges to receive $25,000 in Microsoft-funded technology consulting to help those institutions build AI agents tailored to their educational needs.
Ten districts were also given $75,000 in grant funding to support AI projects. The Walla Walla School District plans to use the money to strengthen student study habits by teaching them how to build and use AI-powered notebooks.
Other funding recipients include Manson, Seattle, Issaquah, Bellevue, Federal Way, Kennewick, Highline, Puyallup and Quincy school districts.
Microsoft states it will contribute $4 billion over the next five years, supporting schools, colleges, and nonprofits with technology, training and funding.
As AI’s influence continues to seep into the educational world, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction wants educators to prepare students to understand and use these tools.
OSPI has published its Comprehensive Human-Centered AI Guidance for K–12 Public Schools on its website, outlining guidelines for ethical considerations and responsible use.
“Our job is to prepare our students for the future,” Gonzalez said. “And this is definitely a new aspect of the future.”
Melanie Olivares Bustamante has integrated AI into her dual-language classroom at Barge-Lincoln Elementary School, saying it’s been a big help and an addition to her existing technology use.
She already uses technology in her classroom, but implemented AI around February to help make her teaching more engaging for her second-grade students, she said.
To Bustamante, AI is a partner she uses to align with the Yakima district’s Guided Language Acquisition Design strategies for her multilingual language learners. She has created posters, different visuals and even songs to engage her students.
Teachers receive training and guidance on the ColleagueAI platform, so Bustamante said using it was easy. She writes down a description of what she wants, and the AI makes it for her.
“My students really love the images that I can create,” she said.
AI has helped Bustamante’s workflow become more efficient, and it’s made her teaching more meaningful and fun for students, she added.
ColleagueAI is something she said she would continue to use to find out ways to use more effectively for her students.
The Yakima district is currently in conversations with ColleagueAI to potentially continue their partnership when the three-year agreement ends, but there are issues.
Under the original agreement, ColleagueAI’s tools were free. But if the school district wants to continue the partnership, it would mean spending more money when resources are already spread thin.
Yakima County superintendents have been vocal about how the state’s lack of funding is hurting their districts and forcing some to make budget cuts to save dollars. Rising costs are also contributing to budget pressures.
The district hasn’t made a final decision, Gonzalez said. But they are considering it.
“There is value in the areas of lesson planning and being able to create aligned outputs based on our district’s focus,” he added.
Further partnership will come down to whether the district can negotiate a pricing structure that works for them and how they want to strategically implement the AI tools, Gonzalez said.
In the field of teaching and learning, Lucero said the AI possibilities are endless in its ability to impact multiple departments.
“The possibilities are unknown, because things are becoming available daily that weren’t available even just yesterday,” she said.
The Yakima district has applied for the Washington K-12 Innovation with AI Community of Practice grant administered by the Gates Foundation, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), and Arizona State University.
Lucero serves as the teaching and learning representative of the work they’re doing with the grant.
The grant has two components: innovative use of AI in schools’ teaching and learning, and in data systems. YSD applied for the data systems component.
Innovative use of AI in data systems refers to leveraging AI to address data needs, concerns, or gaps.
The future of AI in the district will continue to center on enhancing teaching and learning.
“Our goal is to find balance,” Gonzalez said. “We want to make sure that it is a meaningful experience.”
Contact Alexander Banks by email at abanks@yakimaherald.com, or by phone at 509-577-7654.
Alexander Banks’ reporting for the Yakima Herald-Republic is possible with support from Report for America and Yakima community members. For information on republishing, email news@yakimaherald.com. To support local journalism, click here.
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