Ogden board approves three‑year TeachFX pilot to give teachers AI-powered feedback

Ogden — The Ogden City School District board voted to approve a three‑year pilot partnership with TeachFX, an AI‑powered, audio‑only instructional feedback platform that teachers can use voluntarily to record lessons and receive near‑real‑time feedback.

District officials said the pilot would cover four schools and cost $216,000 over three years, with annual payments to secure pricing and services. Adam McNichol, the district’s executive director of student achievement, told the board TeachFX provides teachers ‘‘a coach in an app’’ by recording classroom audio, generating practice‑focused reports, and surfacing targeted episode excerpts for reflection. ‘‘Teachers can pick the focus; no one is telling them what their focus is,’’ McNichol said.

Superintendent (name not specified in the transcript) and other district leaders described the proposal as an enhancement to existing coaching and evaluation systems rather than a replacement. The pilot package includes unlimited licenses for the four schools, administrator dashboards with aggregated data, and four workshops provided by TeachFX specialists. The district will take a ‘‘privacy‑first’’ approach: recordings are audio only, data are aggregated for district dashboards, and teachers decide whether to share individual reports with principals or coaches.

Board members pressed officials on how success would be measured. Officials said they would track usage, changes in evidence of effective teaching practices (for example, increases in open‑ended questions and ‘‘academic press’’), and downstream student achievement measures. ‘‘We would look at usage and then ultimately the impact on student achievement,’’ a district presenter said. The district also committed to parent notification and transparency before classroom recording begins.

Vice President Anderson moved to approve the pilot; the motion was seconded and carried in a voice vote with no opposition recorded. Officials said the pilot could be expanded if it demonstrates positive effects and that annual payments would be made each August during the contract. District leaders noted the three‑year term was recommended to allow time for teacher adoption and to observe cohort effects across school years.

Next steps: the district will finalize a data‑privacy amendment to its agreements, begin onboarding with school leaders and TeachFX staff, and report pilot usage and outcome metrics to the board during and after the contract term.