Learning first
Ensure AI enhances educators’ capacity to teach and learners’ ability to engage deeply, not replace human judgment or creativity.
From AI Experimentation to Coherence: A New AI Partnership Between Digital Promise and TNTP
Key Ideas
- By 2028, Digital Promise and TNTP aim to reach 15 million students by helping systems integrate AI in ways that measurably improve instruction, boost educator capacity, and clear paths to future economic mobility.
- What sets this partnership apart is the integration of educator co-design, pathways models, learning sciences, and systems coherence and implementation. We are combining research with the practical realities of educators and schools.
- This partnership isn’t about a single tool or app; it’s about building the infrastructure, instructional coherence, and evidence-based models required for AI to add real value to the classroom.
At Digital Promise, we believe that technology should serve as a bridge to opportunity, not a barrier. As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve at a rapid pace, school systems are at a critical crossroads. To ensure this technology strengthens teaching, deepens learning, and augments student potential, we are thrilled to announce a new three-year partnership with TNTP.
Together, and with initial support from Salesforce, our partnership will help schools, districts, and states integrate AI in ways that are evidence-based, educator-centered, and focused on long-term student success.
This is a long-term effort to build the conditions, field-tested models, and proof points school systems need so that AI expands pathways to future readiness and promotes powerful learning for all.
A Different Kind of Partnership
The arrival of AI in K-12 education brings both immense opportunity and significant challenges. Without a clear, coherent approach, AI risks becoming another innovation that increases teacher workload and produces uneven results for learners.
“AI should earn its place in schools by enhancing educators’ capacity to teach and learners’ ability to engage deeply, not by replacing human judgment or creativity,” said Jean-Claude Brizard, president and CEO of Digital Promise. “By combining our strengths in learning sciences, educator co-design, and research-backed innovation with TNTP’s deep expertise in instructional coherence and systems implementation, we can build the evidence and practical models school systems need to adopt AI responsibly and effectively.”
Our Core Commitments
Our three-year partnership will focus on helping districts move from scattered experimentation to intentional, evidence-based practice, anchored in five core pillars:
Evidence before scale
Build and use evidence that reflects educator insights, learner feedback, and classroom realities to guide adoption.
Coherence over fragmentation
Align AI with curriculum, instructional routines, assessment, and professional learning.
Pathways and mobility
Connect classroom practice to durable skills, postsecondary readiness, and long-term economic mobility.
Field-building, not just field-signaling
Develop practical tools, models, and guidance that enable informed, human-led decisions about AI use while preserving the relational core of teaching.
Looking Forward
We believe AI has the potential to be a powerful engine for equity and opportunity—but only if it is grounded in research and implemented in partnership with educators. As Dr. Tequilla Brownie, CEO of TNTP, notes: “This partnership is about ensuring AI delivers on that vision—by testing what works in real classrooms, grounding it in research, and producing guidance the field can actually use.”
In the coming months, we will announce our initial pilots and release our first set of field-facing publications. We invite you to join us on this journey as we work to build a future where technology truly serves the needs of every educator and every student.
Stay Updated
Follow Digital Promise and TNTP on LinkedIn for the latest updates on our pilots, professional learning offerings, and research findings.
Together, we can ensure that AI moves from a standalone innovation to a coherent part of school systems that promotes powerful learning and expands future pathways for every learner.
- Topics: AI and Emerging Tech , Evidence-Based EdTech
- Learning Environments: K-12
- Audiences: EdTech Developers , School and System Leaders
- Offerings: Co-design , EdTech Strategy and Standards , Research and Development
- Programs: Center for Learner Pathway Innovations , EdTech Procurement Framework , Powerful Learning