Q&A: A Georgia Director Discusses her District’s First AI Technical Education Program

EDTECH: What brought you to K–12 education?

HOLLOWAY: Sometimes, students don't even know what opportunities are available to them. They spend at least 13 years with us, and then they leave and go out into the world, and are they ready? Did they have the opportunity to develop the skills that they need? That’s one reason I got into education. I wanted to make sure that when our students leave us, they leave with a level of readiness and confidence.

EDTECH: How important is it to you that Gwinnett’s students have a firm grasp of technology when they reach graduation? 

HOLLOWAY: Some of our students have been really underrepresented in the tech field. So, we are really trying to bridge the gap when it comes to access to technology, computer science skills and certain workforce development opportunities. Those are the things that really get me excited. 

The reality is that the world is going to change. Technology is going to change. Jobs are going to change. But if our students can leave us with some strong foundational skills, they can persevere in any context. 

EDTECH: How did you get involved in Gwinnett’s AI program? 

HOLLOWAY: In 2019, Gwinnett was hiring for its career technical education (CTE) program, and the district also was interested in launching these AI computer science programs. I joined the team then. And that’s when we started launching our Computer Science for All initiative and our AI-ready pilot program. Once that got off the ground, my current role was created as director of AI and computer science to grow and sustain those programs. 

EDTECH: Tell us more about how the AI pilot program started and where it is today.

HOLLOWAY: Around 2018, we knew that we were going to need to create a new high school to handle growth. That was around the time that the McKinsey Global Institute and World Economic Forum were releasing their big reports on what was next for the workforce, and AI was one of those trends. 

Gwinnett’s pilot program is designed to prepare all students with the AI skills they’ll need in the future. Photo courtesy of Gwinnett County Public Schools

We started investigating what it would mean for our students to be future-ready with our postsecondary and industry partners. Very quickly, two big things came to light: One was that we couldn’t just limit AI learning to high school, because a lot of our students’ perceptions, beliefs and habits around technology begin when they’re very young.

Second, we realized that the program could not just be an elective; this had to be something that every student had access to. 

EDTECH: How do the district’s model and framework work? 

HOLLOWAY: We ended up embedding the AI model into all grades. We also developed an AI framework with the help of our partners, who helped us think through the skill sets that students will need. 

Students still take their normal classes, but teachers will make connections to that AI framework. We included the technical components, such as programming and data science and using AI tools. But then we also leaned hard into our human-only skills, including ethics, creative problem-solving, design thinking and collaborative leadership. 

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EDTECH: What does it mean for students to “swim, snorkel or scuba”? 

HOLLOWAY: We use the analogy “swim, snorkel or scuba.” When it comes to AI, we make sure that all of our kids know what AI is, and they will be our swimmers. Most will be snorkelers, meaning they will be proficient AI users. 

And then we’re going to have a group of kids who are our scuba divers, and these are our developers. These students really want to get to that technical level of understanding so they can build AI. The high school students who are interested in that scuba path can then take a three-course career and technical education AI pathway. 

EDTECH: How are you staffing these advanced CTE classes? 

HOLLOWAY: We’ve had to be scrappy, and we’ve looked for people who have a willingness to build something and to learn alongside the kids. It has been very grassroots.

Still, there’s been a pretty intense investment in training, support and resources to make sure that we’ve got quality teachers. We think a lot of this work starts in our high schools. And sometimes our AI educators come from industry, and they’re career changers. But a lot of times, we have educators who have a computer science background, and they are willing to learn and participate in professional learning to develop that muscle. 

EDTECH: Where are you now in terms of the AI pathway pilot?

HOLLOWAY: We are in our third year of the CTE program. We will also have our first cohort of AI pathway completers this year. It’s exciting. We’ve also expanded it to two other schools. 

EDTECH: Where will these high schoolers go after completing this AI program? 

HOLLOWAY: There aren’t a lot of entry-level AI jobs out there right now, so one of our goals is to ensure that our students are ready for college and career. So, when they leave us, even if they are going straight into the workforce, they still need some form of postsecondary education, whether that’s training on the job or something that’s a little more formal. We are preparing our kids to be lifelong learners who will continuously develop their skill sets. Some of these students will be able to join entry-level data science jobs because they will have those skill sets and work their way up.

EDTECH: For school leaders who want to take on AI education in a bold way, how can they get started? 

HOLLOWAY: You must have some basic understanding of how to make decisions around AI and how to use it. An important place to start is to learn what your community needs. What are your local stakeholders interested in? What are the opportunities for students? And how does that connect to AI readiness and literacy?’

It's important to have a shared understanding first, then go from there. This is going to evolve quickly. The tools are going to change. But hopefully, you’re thinking a little bit more long-term about what is going on in your community. Get as many people, roles and perspectives as possible in the boat with you. 

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