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Quincy School District awarded Microsoft Elevate grant to build AI-readiness in classrooms
Summary
Quincy School District officials said the district will use a Microsoft Elevate grant to develop an 18-month AI-readiness program for teachers and students, receiving $75,000 plus a $25,000 implementation engagement; presenters emphasized the work is meant to be AI-agnostic and tied to curriculum priorities.
Quincy School District received a Microsoft Elevate grant to develop AI-readiness for teaching and learning, district presenters said at the March meeting.
Allison Neil, a district presenter, introduced Sean Fuller and Camille Jones, who told the board the Elevate award funds an 18-month project to identify grade-band skills, create bite-sized resources for teachers and build monitoring and evaluation tools. "The very first goal is that we learn from peer districts, experts, subject matter experts provided by Microsoft and national examples, to explore best practices," Fuller said. He added the district will study implementation strategies and address challenges unique to Quincy.
Camille Jones described how the district is defining "AI readiness." "AI readiness is kind of the all encompassing, umbrella term for everything a student would need to be able to really thoughtfully and effectively engage in a world that's driven by AI," Jones said, and emphasized pairing teacher professional development with classroom-level lesson materials so teachers can safely and ethically introduce tools to students.
Presenters said the grant provides $75,000 to the district and an additional $25,000 that Microsoft is funding for a third-party consultant to help build custom AI agents and adapters within the district's Microsoft ecosystem. Jones said the district will test several tools and align decisions to math priority standards and other curricular goals. The presentation noted the grantee cohort includes 10 districts that together represent 17% of public-school students in the state, and that a final convening is scheduled for 2027.
Board members asked whether Microsoft was pressing districts to use Microsoft platforms. Fuller said the Elevate program is intended to be AI-agnostic and that grantees were encouraged to explore different tools. "They ensured us that that's the case," he said.
The board did not take a vote on the presentation itself; presenters said next steps include fleshing out the district's grade-band skills, pilot lesson plans and evaluation measures and returning with more detailed plans and timelines.
