Project Description
The RAISE project examines how generative AI is being adopted in rural K–12 education and how this adoption shapes both classroom practice and long-term workforce equity. While AI technologies are rapidly entering schools, rural districts often face distinct barriers, including limited infrastructure, constrained professional development opportunities, and uneven access to AI-related expertise. Without intentional support, these conditions risk widening existing educational and economic inequities.
RAISE focuses on understanding how AI is transforming teachers’ work—such as lesson planning, assessment, professional learning, and ethical decision-making—in real rural contexts. Working in close partnership with educators and system leaders across Washington, Idaho, and Oregon, the project centers teachers’ lived experiences with AI and identifies structural barriers and opportunities for sustainable adoption. The goal is to connect classroom-level innovation with broader system and workforce considerations, ensuring rural communities are not left behind in the AI economy.
Project Information
Project Period: 2025–2026
Project Lead: Tingting Li
Funding Agencies:
This project is supported by Microsoft AI for Good Lab.
Project Vision
Generative AI is rapidly entering schools, yet rural communities often face structural constraints that shape how—and whether—these technologies can be adopted in equitable and sustainable ways.
RAISE is designed to center teachers’ lived experiences with AI, working alongside educators and system leaders to identify pathways that connect responsible classroom innovation with long-term workforce equity, ensuring rural communities are not left behind in the AI economy.
Project Goals
- Goal 1: Understand rural AI adoption in education
Document the drivers, barriers, and conditions shaping how rural teachers and school systems adopt and use generative AI in everyday educational practice. - Goal 2: Examine how AI transforms teachers’ work
Analyze how AI reshapes teachers’ professional roles, workloads, instructional practices, and ethical responsibilities in rural K–12 settings. - Goal 3: Develop a roadmap linking education and workforce equity
Co-develop the RAISE Roadmap, a collaboration framework that connects educators, researchers, and industry partners to support responsible AI adoption and strengthen pathways from rural classrooms to equitable workforce participation.
Team & Collaborators
Project Team:
Peng He, Zeyuan Wang, Dini Arini, Hadir Alderaan, Jihee Im
Collaborators:
Microsoft AI for Good Lab
Partners
Educational Service Districts and school systems in Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho, and Eastern Oregon