Success story · Teach Smarter
What AI leaders from six schools built together that none could build alone
Six leading independent schools already had strong AI programs and strong people driving them. Teach Smarter and CoLab co-designed a professional learning community to add the one thing no school can build on its own: learning across schools.
Partner: Teach Smarter, practitioner-led AI, leadership and strategy support for K-12
Program: AI Leadership Professional Learning Community
Model: 5 live sessions, with the collaboration on CoLab and independent work between sessions
40
educators and leaders, from classrooms to senior leadership
6
leading independent schools across Canada
91%
had already shared their learning with colleagues by the end
Participating schools
"We wanted participants to learn from each other, try ideas in their own schools, and bring that experience back to the group. Working with CoLab helped us keep that collaboration going between sessions and see where participants needed more support."
Peter Siner · Founder, Teach Smarter
The challenge
Strong programs inside. The next level of growth was across schools.
Every school had invested in AI and had capable people leading it. The next step was learning from peers at other schools who were working on the same problems. No school can build that on its own, and connecting six schools, each with its own systems, takes more than a shared folder or a video call.
Deep expertise, from every corner of the school
Directors of learning innovation and technology
Directors of design technology
Principals and vice principals
Technology integration specialists
Learning technology coordinators
Department heads and instructional leaders
Instructional coaches
Teacher-librarians
Learning support specialists and counsellors
Classroom educators
Experience with AI ranged from early exploration to leading it school-wide, and from Kindergarten to Grade 12. They wanted three things: feedback from peers, guided practice with Teach Smarter’s Peter Siner, and a view beyond their own walls.
The model
Co-designed around each participant’s goal.
Every participant set an AI goal for their own school. Teach Smarter led the learning. CoLab co-designed how participants learned with each other.
Goals participants set
Assessment and feedback
Guidelines and policy
Critical thinking and responsible AI use
Faculty training
Student engagement and inclusive design
Writing instruction
Time-saving and administration
What CoLab added
Connections designed on purpose, in one shared home.
One home for six schools.
Six schools on different systems learned in one shared place.
Peers matched by goal.
Home groups, partners and goal teams across schools, matched by goal, role and experience.
Regrouped as goals sharpened.
Groups adapted as the program evolved, so every connection stayed useful.
The work, made visible.
Teach Smarter could see the work between sessions and adapt the program as it ran.
01
Learn with peers.
Cross-school groups and partners
02
See it modelled.
Teach Smarter demonstrates high-leverage strategies live
03
Explore.
Test tools in their own context
04
Experiment.
Try it with students and colleagues
05
Gather evidence.
From classrooms and colleagues
06
Reflect.
Share, get feedback, refine goals
Participants led it.
The cohort closed with participants presenting to each other, sharing what they had built for their own students and colleagues.
AI spaces for student learning
Dedicated spaces where students review, get help with assignments and practise.
Eric Lavergne
Ashbury College
A time-management chatbot and an AI research assistant
Built for students in a tech course and a green tech careers project.
Irene Dongas
Holy Trinity School
The impact
Participants became the AI leaders their schools needed.
The top highlight, named by nearly every participant: connecting with educators at other schools and seeing what they were doing.
91%
shared what they learned with colleagues by the end, in staff meetings, PD sessions and more
What participants led back at their schools
✓
An AI session for colleagues, delivered with confidence
✓
A listening process to gather teachers’ hopes and worries about AI
✓
A peer-teaching program for hesitant colleagues
✓
A cross-division AI learning team
✓
AI guidelines for families
✓
Student AI guidelines for Grades 6 to 8
✓
Mini-lessons on AI ethics, bias and privacy
✓
AI built into scheduling to reduce admin workload
“It’s allowed me to incorporate AI into scheduling and into scaling back admin workload. I’ve scaffolded these approaches for my partner and we are now more intentionally using AI going forward and modelling it for staff.”
Lindsay Vieira · Vice Principal, Junior School, St. John’s-Ravenscourt
“The most valuable connection was with a colleague who was pursuing a similar project but in a different grade level. This will be a valuable connection for both of us.”
Cohort participant
For the program
Insight to shape every session.
Teach Smarter could see the work between sessions, where each person was thriving and where they were stuck, and adapt the program as it ran.
For educators
Support that met each person where they were.
Guidance tailored to their goal, arriving while they were applying it, plus honest feedback from peers at other schools between every session.
For schools
Leaders who return with tested practice.
Staff who’ve seen how other schools approach AI, building capacity no school had to build alone.
What other PLC leaders can take from this
01
Strong schools still grow faster together.
Cross-school learning adds what no internal program can: perspective from peers solving the same problems elsewhere.
02
Design every connection on purpose.
Mix roles and experience, match partners across schools, and regroup as goals sharpen.
03
Make the work visible.
When you can see what’s happening between sessions, you can shape the program to what people need.
Run your next PLC as a community that keeps working.
We build your community around the content and resources you already have, co-design collaboration into your program, and can launch and support it with you.