Cutting Through the AI Noise

“The 3 non-negotiables for K-12 IT leaders. GUEST COLUMN | by Jason Katcher ANDRII SHESHEL I f you’re a K-12 IT leader right now, you are drowning in vendor pitches. Every demo features a shiny new chatbot promising “transformation.” Once a product passes your baseline checklist of privacy and security, how do you evaluate what else actually matters? After 13 years in edtech at organizations like Google, Dropbox, and small startups, I’ve learned that to survive the combined scrutiny of IT, Academics, and Finance, tools must deliver on three non-negotiables. ‘…to survive the combined scrutiny of IT, Academics, and Finance , tools must deliver on three non-negotiables.’ 1. Productivity: Show the Workflow, Not the Feature Every tool claims to save time, but few do so without forcing painful behavior changes. Real impact arises from improving existing workflows, not replacing them. Look back at the success of Chromebooks. Affordable devices and cloud-based software were a great start, but the real catalyst was Google Classroom. Classroom didn’t reinvent how teachers teach; it acted as the ultimate workflow layer, removing friction by connecting Docs and Drive to simplify assignment, feedback, and work collection. Right now, educators are suffering from “Death by 1000 Tabs.” In districts without a unified platform, teachers navigate 10–15 different apps daily, costing them 2-4 hours per week in platform-switching alone, time pulling directly from instruction. (Cornerstone Communications & Edsby, 2025) IT Takeaway: Stop buying siloed destinations. Demand tools that embed directly into the platforms your teachers already use. The best AI solutions act as proactive, context-aware agents that reduce cognitive load. If it doesn’t seamlessly fit the workflow, as Classroom did for Drive, adoption will fail. This is the “last mile of AI” problem we are working to improve with a proactive AI assistant that knows what you know and offers help without you even having to ask. 2. Retention: Give Teachers Back What They Love In a historic teacher retention crisis, efficiency isn’t just an operational goal; it’s existential. Saving time means saving careers. We are currently navigating the chaotic “stealth” adoption of AI. With 84% of high school students using AI (College Board, 2025) and 60% of schools lacking clear policy guidance (Hastings Initiative, 2025), we’ve inadvertently turned our most passionate educators into the “AI Police.” This creates a culture of fear, with 63% of students anxious about false accusations (Project Tomorrow, 2025), and teachers burning out while playing detective rather than doing what they love. IT Takeaway: The question is no longer whether students are using AI, but rather how they are using it. Ditch the black-box AI detectors that breed anxiety and false appeals. Instead, invest in platforms that prioritize process as much as product , such as tools that offer a “Show Your Work” time-stamped replay . When technology shifts educators from exhausting plagiarism enforcers back to being writing coaches, they are happier, more effective, and stay in the profession longer. 3. ROI: Speak the Language of Finance Instructional value alone won’t get a purchase order signed anymore. The CFO has a seat at the decision-making table. Districts are bleeding budget through “License Leak,” with an astounding 67% of paid software licenses going underutilized or ignored entirely. (Underutilized Licenses in K-12 Digital Tools and Wasted Budget, 2025) To move from a cost center to a verifiable investment, you need tools that deliver dual ROI. By using platforms that focus on guiding the writing process rather than just policing the final product, we’ve seen schools reduce academic integrity violations from 27 to 1. IT Takeaway: That dramatic drop isn’t just an academic victory; it has a massive financial impact. Calculate the reclaimed administrative and faculty hours previously wasted on investigating, adjudicating, and appealing those infractions. When AI is embedded to support authentic creation, soft costs plummet, and everyday tool utilization skyrockets. If a vendor claims ROI, make them prove it with hard metrics that justify the spend to your finance team. The Bottom Line: Stop Buying Yesterday’s Tools Wayne Gretzky was taught to “Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.” When districts shifted to the cloud, legacy providers scrambled to retrofit desktop apps. They failed because you can’t port legacy thinking to a new paradigm. We’re seeing the same mistake today: vendors bolting AI onto outdated products instead of reimagining what’s possible. You aren’t just buying a feature, you’re investing in your district’s infrastructure. Hold vendors to these three non-negotiables: Productivity, Retention, and ROI, and you can cure “shiny-object syndrome” while building an ecosystem that works for your teachers, students, and bottom line. — Jason Katcher is Head of Global Channels & Partnerships, Education, at Superhuman . After spending 15 months helping establish the Grammarly for Education net new sales business, Jason is shifting gears to help grow their partner relationships across the international K-20 landscape. As Grammarly becomes Superhuman, he is focused on ensuring that new value prop is maximized through various third-party partners across the globe, who can scale their reach and impact in the world of teaching and learning. Connect with him on LinkedIn . 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