BESE hears update on AI-powered classroom pilots from Amira Learning and Khan Academy

The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Thursday received an update from the Louisiana Department of Education on two AI-powered classroom pilots, Amira Learning and Khan Academy’s Conmigo, and heard vendor and district reactions to early usage and training data.

The update, delivered by Adam DiBenedetto, director of academic innovation at the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE), said the Amira pilot has expanded from an initial grades 3–5 English‑learner focus to include K–5 and now includes more than 71,000 students rostered statewide and roughly 40,000 actively using the tool in classrooms. DiBenedetto said “over 500,000 stories read in the last four weeks” were recorded on his slide deck and that 30 school systems were using Amira as part of the pilot.

“Before integrating, we made sure that these tools were providing the personalized experience that we want,” DiBenedetto said, describing state guidance, statewide data‑sharing agreements and professional development provided to participating teachers.

Khan Academy representatives described Conmigo (referred to in the presentation as KhanMigo/Conmigo), an AI tutor and teacher assistant intended for high‑school courses with end‑of‑course (EOC) exams. Jason Hobie, director of school partnerships at Khan Academy, said the partnership was developed over several years with attention to privacy and teacher training: “That example you brought up is horrible. Right? I would say, Sal, the rest of the company, using AI with students without teachers is not a good idea,” Hobie said, responding to a board member’s reference to a controversial Arizona charter program.

Stacy Johnson, director of professional learning for Khan Academy, said her team has trained more than 300 teachers across 11 participating parishes and that early teacher feedback was positive. “Our number one goal and mission is to get teachers more time with their students,” Johnson said, adding that some partner districts report anecdotal gains of about 10 hours of teacher time returned per week.

Amira Learning’s success manager for Louisiana, Chantelle Cooley, told the board Amira’s functionality now includes guided comprehension prompts after stories and that some districts have seen teachers embed Amira into small‑group instruction. Bianka Plummer and district staff from East Baton Rouge Parish (EBR) described local results: EBR reported preliminary correlations between intensive Amira usage and DIBELS literacy growth and narrowed gaps between English learners and non‑EL peers in one year, although district staff also said multiple supports contributed to the change.

Board members asked about statewide monitoring and long‑term assessment. DiBenedetto said LDOE is developing metrics to evaluate impact and will report back, and Khan Academy said it will extend the pilot into the 2025–26 school year at no additional cost to Louisiana to allow more time for meaningful engagement and measurement.

The board voted to receive the report; no policy changes were enacted at the meeting. Several members emphasized staying current with rapid AI developments and expressed interest in future updates on usage, assessment results and professional development schedules.

The department, vendor representatives and district partners agreed to share further data and to arrange demonstrations and trainings for board members and staff.