Facing a severe teacher shortage, Louisiana's Jefferson Parish School District has turned to artificial intelligence to help fill the gap in classrooms—but officials insist the technology is meant to support, not replace, human educators.
At Phoebe Hearst Elementary, students are using an AI-powered reading tutor named Amira to develop literacy skills, particularly among English language learners and special needs students, WVUE reported. The program, which adapts to each student's reading level and provides personalized instruction, is being embraced by teachers and administrators as a much-needed tool in a district where 3,000 students go without a teacher in the classroom on a given day as the district scrambles to fill 140 vacancies.
"I'll be honest, as any teacher probably would be, I was skeptical at first," said Adam DiBenedetto, director of academic innovation at the Louisiana Department of Education. "But this is a technology that will not go away in the future, so we have to know how to use it."
The AI program has been especially beneficial in classrooms where bilingual instructors are hard to find. Phoebe Hearst Elementary, where 65% of students are Hispanic, has struggled to staff enough teachers fluent in both English and Spanish. Principal Brian Wahl says Amira has helped bridge that gap, allowing students to receive reading instruction in either language.
"It's not going to take jobs, not in my opinion," said Kearies Mays, a teacher at Phoebe Hearst. "I believe it's going to help us, and help us with our instruction even more, because it can catch things sometimes that'll help us help the students."
Amira is currently being used in 35 school systems across Louisiana as part of a $1.7 million state-funded pilot program. An independent study is underway to measure its impact, but early signs suggest progress—Mays reports a 72% improvement in her students' reading abilities since implementing the program.
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