East Tennessee State University and Kingsport City Schools (KCS) have been selected as recipients of the State Collaborative on Reforming Education’s (SCORE) inaugural AI Innovation Fund.

The $450,000 initiative supports educator-led projects that explore responsible, student-centered uses of artificial intelligence in education. ETSU’s project with KCS will receive $50,000 in funding.

The grant will allow ETSU’s Clemmer College of Education and Human Development and Kingsport City Schools to expand the reach of its leadership first AI-capacity building model to immerse assistant principals, instructional coaches, teacher leaders and educator preparation faculty in hands on training and guided professional learning.

At ETSU, this work is being led by Drs. Cynthia Chambers and Virginia Foley. Chambers is a professor and Clemmer's associate dean of educator preparation and academics, and Foley is a professor and program coordinator for administrative endorsement in Clemmer.

Christian Horner, KCS' coordinator of innovative learning, led this work for KCS.  

By equipping adults with practical AI fluency, agent building skills, and ethical use frameworks, this project creates a sustainable network of school based experts who can model responsible AI integration and ultimately strengthen student learning across the district.

The announcement came during SCORE's statewide symposium, "AI in K-12 Education: Keeping Students at the Center," which convened education leaders, policymakers, researchers, business leaders and innovators to examine how Tennessee can responsibly leverage artificial intelligence to strengthen teaching, learning and student success.

“AI presents tremendous opportunity, and Tennessee has made some of its greatest progress in education when leaders have come together around a shared focus on students,” said David Mansouri, president and CEO of SCORE. “The promise of this new technology will not be how quickly we adopt new tools but rather how thoughtfully we put it to work for students.

“Through both the symposium and the AI Innovation Fund, SCORE is fostering a stronger understanding of what responsible AI use can look like in education. We’re proud to invest in innovative models that can generate evidence of what works and ultimately help Tennessee scale what makes the greatest difference for students.”

The AI Innovation Fund will give nine Tennessee organizations the resources and support to tackle real challenges facing students and educators.

Over the next 12 months, recipients will test ideas spanning instruction, student advising and career pathway planning, AI literacy, and educator support. Each project is designed to address a specific need, creating an opportunity to learn not only whether an approach works but what it takes to make it work well.

Other recipients include:

• Horizon Academies in partnership with Valor Collegiate Academies

• M3 Project in partnership with EnlightenAI, Leadership Preparatory Charter School, Libertas School of Memphis and Memphis Grizzlies Preparatory Charter School

• Metro Nashville Public Schools in partnership with AI for Education

• PIVOT: School Improvement Leaders in partnership with Vine Middle Magnet School and Knox County Schools

• Promise Academy

• Sullivan County Schools

• tnAchieves

• University High School in partnership with The University of Memphis

Recipients will also receive strategic support from SCORE and opportunities to learn alongside peers across Tennessee. SCORE will share lessons, findings and implementation insights from the projects to help educators and institutions better understand where AI can meaningfully support students and educators and what responsible implementation requires in practice.

More information about the symposium, the AI Innovation Fund and this year’s recipients can be found here.