How a California district is teaching students to use AI well

Background

Cold Spring School, a K-6 institution in California, embarked on a thoughtful journey to integrate AI into its classrooms. Recognizing the potential benefits while prioritizing the preservation of creativity, critical thinking, and developmentally appropriate learning, the school developed a unique "Human → AI → Human" framework. This approach ensures that students initiate ideas, utilize AI as a supportive tool, and then return to their own critical thinking to refine and personalize the AI's output. The school's efforts have focused on areas such as writing instruction using tools like Khanmigo, research skills through interactive chats with historical figures, and equitable access to challenging content via adaptive AI platforms like Freckle. This case study highlights Cold Spring School's strategic program choices, strong teacher collaboration, and the positive impact on student engagement, writing outcomes, and teacher efficiency.

Challenges

Cold Spring School sought to integrate AI tools into K–6 classrooms in a way that preserved creativity, critical thinking, and developmentally appropriate learning. With early elementary students as young as second grade participating, the challenge was to harness AI’s benefits without compromising foundational skills.

“It’s not copy and paste. It’s about making the writing yours.”
— Sarah Schaupeter

Solutions

1. Schoolwide AI framework: “Human → AI → Human”

Every AI interaction begins with the student’s own ideas and ends with their own revisions. In between, AI serves as a tool—not a crutch. This philosophy was taught in STEAM classes across all grade levels and reinforced in the general classrooms.

2. Writing with Khanmigo

Students used Khanmigo to analyze exemplars and generate writing prompts. Teachers modeled how to edit and refine responses—not just accept them. The result? Significant growth in writing proficiency and student confidence.

“It’s not copy and paste. It’s about making the writing yours.” — Sarah Schaupeter

3. Living Legends research project

Students used Khanmigo to chat with historical figures like Galileo and Amelia Earhart. They developed original questions and learned how to reframe them to get age-appropriate responses, thereby strengthening their prompting, reading comprehension, and research skills.

4. Equity through adaptive AI

STAR assessment data was synced with Freckle Math to personalize instruction. Teachers used ChatGPT and other tools to plan lessons tailored to standards where students showed the most need.

“AI helps students below grade level access high-level thinking while also saving teachers time.”

5. Teacher collaboration & strategic program choice

The Cold Spring team met regularly to review STAR data and coordinate support across subjects, from STEAM to music to gardening. Their success is rooted in choosing well-vetted tools like Khanmigo and Adobe Express.

“AI helps students below grade level access high-level thinking while also saving teachers time.”

District-Reported Results

• Improved writing outcomes in second grade after using Khanmigo for the first time
• Higher engagement across academic levels, especially in student-led projects
• Teacher time saved on planning and differentiation using AI tools
• Increased collaboration across staff thanks to shared data and AI-aligned planning