How can we best prepare and support teachers dealing with increasingly complex classrooms, unprecedented burnout and shortages within the profession? asks Dr. Alice Waldron of Relay Graduate School of Education in an eSchool News essay. The moment to shape AI’s role in teacher prep is now, she emphasizes.
As someone who has spent nearly two decades supporting new teachers, I’ve witnessed firsthand how practical feedback delivered quickly and efficiently can transform teaching practice, improve self-efficacy, and support teacher retention and student learning. AI gives us the chance to deliver this feedback faster and at scale.
Recently, Relay Graduate School of Education completed a pilot program with TeachFX using AI-powered feedback tools for our teacher prep work. First- and second-year teachers more than doubled student response opportunities, improved their use of wait time, and asked more open-ended questions. Program participants described the experience as “transformative,” and found the tools accessible and effective.
AI can support teacher preparation through effective feedback in these ways:
Real-time feedback
Teachers usually dominate classroom discourse, speaking for 70-80 percent of class time. There is little time left for student voices and engagement. AI tools track metrics such as student-versus-teacher talk time in real time. This enables teachers to identify patterns and adjust their instruction for more interactive, student-centered classrooms.
High-impact coaching
AI can produce detailed transcripts and visualize classroom interactions. This permits teachers to reflect on their practice and serves as a continuous feedback loop without adding to workloads.
In our recent pilot with TeachFX, grading time on formative observation assignments dropped by 60 percent, saving up to 30 hours per term. The reclaimed time was used for mentoring and modeling best practices with aspiring teachers.
With AI handling routine analysis, faculty identified strategic moments throughout lessons for targeted coaching. AI amplifies the reach and impact of the essential human touch.
Scaling high-quality feedback
What began as a small experiment has grown to include nearly 800 aspiring teachers. This scalability allows a teaching candidate in a rural school or urban district to consistently access meaningful, personalized feedback.
AI tools also show potential to reduce bias when used thoughtfully. AI can analyze classroom dynamics based on observable actions such as talk time, wait time, and types of questions asked. Human review and interpretation remain a must to check for AI hallucinations or other inaccuracies and to interpret patterns in context. Data sets need appropriate guardrails.
Allow teachers to build on their strengths
AI tools use supportive language to appreciate classroom projects and recognize the work that goes into each project, but students who self-reported high levels of stress or low levels of enjoyment said the feedback was often unhelpful or insensitive, according to Harvard research. Be thoughtful and intentional about the AI-powered feedback you share with students.
AI also helps teachers understand what they are doing well, which can often be a struggle. One TeachFX pilot participant said, “I was surprised at the focus on my strengths as well and how to improve on them. I think it did a good job of getting good details on my conversation and the intent behind it.”
I often tell new teachers: “You’ll never see me teach a perfect lesson because perfect lessons don’t exist. I strive to improve each time I teach, and those incremental gains add up for students.” AI helps teachers embrace this growth mindset by making improvement tangible and achievable.
eSchool News
