AI Adoption That Sticks: Strategies from a Large Urban School District

Most AI adoption efforts in K-12 stall between the pilot and the classroom: great tools, but no lasting change in practice. Led by the CIO of a large urban district serving more than 90,000 students, this session follows Denver Public Schools' AI adoption journey, from policy development to product selection, and shares a field-tested framework and governance model that moves beyond one-off professional development into sustained instructional change. You will learn how to sequence rollout across a district from pilot to cohort to scale, how to structure teacher buy-in so adoption survives staff turnover and shifting priorities, and how to align AI tool selection with existing instructional goals rather than chasing new features. Drawing on deployment experience across a 15,000-staff organization and lessons from AI governance and equity work in other districts, you will leave with a practical adoption roadmap and a set of pitfalls to avoid in your first 90 days.