Ten Educators from Across the Country Selected for Inaugural 2025-26 Cohort
April 30, 2025—Teach Plus, a national nonprofit that empowers teachers to lead student-centered improvements in educational policy and instructional practice, is positioning teachers at the forefront of artificial intelligence (AI) integration in education through its newly launched Leading Edge Fellowship. For the inaugural 2025-26 cohort, Teach Plus has selected 10 exceptional educators from across the country who will build their knowledge of AI while deepening their expertise in education policy and communications to amplify their voices in critical technology conversations. This highly selective teacher leadership program comes at a time when AI is reshaping student learning experiences, impacting instructional practices, and redefining teacher workloads.
“The integration of artificial intelligence into education is moving swiftly. As schools and districts face increasingly consequential decisions about AI that will profoundly affect classroom practice, this fellowship represents exactly what the field needs—teachers who are systematically developing their expertise and sharing their perspectives about what matters most in their teaching and their students’ learning. Teach Plus, with its network of solutions-oriented educators nationwide, is uniquely positioned to ensure teachers remain at the center of decisions about how AI shapes education,” said Teach Plus Chief Executive Officer Kira Orange Jones.
“AI isn’t just a tool, it is a catalyst for innovation. In my product development course, students use AI to explore real-world problems to spark creative solutions, and shape ideas that evolve into tangible products,” said Jose Rivas, physics and engineering educator at Lennox Math, Science, and Technology Academy in Lennox, California, and 2025-26 Leading Edge Fellow. “Exploring AI in the classroom is about more than technology, it’s about transforming how we teach, learn, and engage. I’m excited to be part of the Leading Edge cohort, where we can navigate the possibilities and shape the future of education together.”
The fellowship launches amid growing evidence that young people whose schools allow AI use are more likely to feel prepared to use the technology after graduation than those whose schools do not. This student readiness is matched by rapid teacher adoption: In a March poll of teachers, 60 percent of respondents reported integrating AI into their lessons and in a survey of 1,000 public school teachers, 96 percent said AI “will become an intrinsic part of education within the next decade.”
The fellowship kicked off in April with an in-person learning day in Chicago and is continuing through spring 2026. The program combines hands-on experience with emerging educational technologies, deep dives into local and national policy, and intensive communications training. Throughout the program Fellows will write op-eds, engage in speaking opportunities, and take on other communications and advocacy initiatives to contribute meaningfully to public dialogue about how technology can effectively serve both teaching excellence and student success.
Fellows in the Leading Edge 2025-26 cohort hail from California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Texas and teach in early childhood education, elementary, middle, and high school settings, as well as serve as technology mentors and integrationists. Their subject areas include high school algebra and precalculus; elementary special education; middle school media literacy and art; and middle school American history, among others. The Leading Edge Fellows have published numerous op-eds in regional and national publications including CalMatters, Chicago Tribune, Dorchester Reporter, The Clarion Ledger, The Dallas Morning News, The Hechinger Report, and more. Among the fellows are local teachers of the year, regional and national award winners, National Board Certified teachers, and several who have taught overseas.
“As an educator with 28 years of experience, I have seen too many instances where we have been behind the curve in using technology to prepare our students for a world in which they will live and work. I am confident my work with the Teach Plus Leading Edge cohort is going to reverse this trend and that I will be able to co-design AI learning with my students to fully engage them in the process,” said Ashley A. Kannan, 8th grade American History and African American Studies teacher at Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park, Illinois, and 2025-26 Leading Edge Fellow.
About Teach Plus
The mission of Teach Plus is to empower excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students’ success. Since 2009, Teach Plus has developed thousands of teacher leaders across the country to exercise their leadership in shaping education policy and improving teaching and learning for students. teachplus.org
