Thank you for your interest in joining the Rural AI Strategy Lab.

Led by FullScale and All4Ed, the Rural AI Strategy Lab will bring a small group of rural school and district teams together as a “Strategy Lab Network” to deepen or advance artificial intelligence (AI)-powered work in their local contexts.

Participants will identify a need, problem, or opportunity and design, pilot, and refine an AI-enabled approach to address it. Over six-months, beginning in early 2026, teams will receive coaching, access to AI and innovation expertise and resources, and learn alongside a national network of educators from rural settings as they engage stakeholders, define measures of success, and build an understanding of their impact over time.

Pilots will focus on a wide range of applications of AI in practice, and could include projects that:

• Increase Instructional Workflow Efficacy: Implement and/or improve AI-supported approaches to reduce time on tasks like planning, communication, or preparation so educators are able to spend more time with students.

• Support learners: Use AI-supported practices to address specific learner needs within a class, grade level, or course.

• Strengthen existing team processes: Integrate AI supports into established planning or decision-making moments (e.g., instructional check-ins, attendance reviews) and assess how it improves clarity, accuracy, or efficiency.

Applications are due February 13, 2026. Finalists will be selected by the end of February and will participate in an interview with our team. Final Strategy Lab Network teams will be selected by early March. 

Selected Strategy Lab Network teams will receive a $4,000 stipend to support their engagement and efforts in the program. In addition, the designated team lead will participate in FullScale Symposium 2026 (October 8-10th, 2026) with travel and registration provided by the program. Participants should also expect monthly virtual cohort sessions, coaching touch points, and time for local planning and piloting, including some engagement during the summer months. We aim to make the experience meaningful but manageable, and recognize that not all staff are contracted over the summer. In those cases, summer participation may be limited to a designated team lead.

Additionally, all Network teams will be participating in AI for Equity’s AI Innovation Index, a first-of-its-kind framework and measurement tool that lets PreK-12 school systems assess their current AI innovation and leadership practices, use benchmarked data to inform strategy and growth, and contribute progress data to a national dataset used for research and shared learning across districts. This will require approximately five minutes for leaders and 30 seconds for staff and students to complete prior to March 16th. 

Information sessions will be held on February 3rd, 2026 at 12:00pm EST. Please register here to attend. 

If you have specific questions, please contact Dr. Megan Benay at megan.benay@fullscalelearning.org.