For Massachusetts Districts · Scheduling 2027

Teaching strategies that work have always been difficult to scale.

AI changes the math. DirectEd teams up with educators to build AI capabilities and custom planning assistants, grounded in your curriculum & priorities, tailored to individual teacher needs, focused on learning and student outcomes.

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The Research → How It Works → Who You'll Work With → MCAS Results →

8–12 pts

Massachusetts students still below
pre-pandemic levels

2027-28

AI literacy milestone recommended
for incoming 9th graders (if adopted)

68%

Of teachers have had no AI training
from their school or district

Your teachers already know what works. They need the time to do it.

Scaffolding, structured discussion, formative feedback — the evidence is strong. For practices teachers already know, the constraint is time: a teacher with five preps and 125 students can't build it from scratch every night, and the assistant takes on the preparation. For practices they know less well, coaching builds the skill. Either way, the expertise teachers already have reaches every class, every day.

Generic AI tools

No curriculum knowledge, no student context, no diagnostic priorities. Starts from zero every session. Differentiation still takes hours. Teachers save some time on simple tasks, but the preparation load that eats their evenings doesn't change.

Configured planning assistant

Already knows the curriculum, the standards, and where students need the most help. "Practice for tomorrow's lesson" is designed to produce differentiated materials aligned to the right standards in a couple of minutes. Exit ticket results get sorted by mastery level. The teacher walks into Monday with time to actually teach.

~31%

reduction in planning time with AI-assisted preparation, no loss in quality

EEF, 2024

4–9 pts

more student mastery when tutors are supported by AI — largest gains for less experienced tutors

Wang et al., 2024

d = 0.49

coaching effect on teaching practice — among the strongest causal evidence in education

Kraft et al., 2018 (60 studies)

Read the full research base →

The Engagement

What a district receives

Diagnostic, strategy, assistant, coaching, and measurement — all connected, all measured, all owned by the district when the engagement ends.

Diagnostic

Peer-benchmarked portrait by grade, subject, and subgroup. Gaps and bright spots that state reports don't show. Free for any MA district.

Strategy Prescription

Evidence-based strategies matched to diagnostic findings. Each one drives the assistant, the coaching, and the measurement.

Planning Assistants

One for every participating teacher, configured with their curriculum, standards, and diagnostic priorities. Supports preparation and paperwork — not student-facing.

Build Day

One hands-on PD day. The assistant is already configured; teachers add their classes and leave with materials for Monday.

Coaching & Community

Six professional learning sessions across the engagement — team coaching led by your own coaches, trained by DirectEd, plus a community of practice. By the end of the engagement, the district runs it independently and owns everything built.

Measurement

Quarterly reviews connecting practice to student results, disaggregated by subgroup. Fee at risk. Midpoint exit option. Pre-registered evaluation. When a committee member asks "what did we get?" — the answer is documented.

See how each component works →

Positioning for What's Next

Built for where Massachusetts is heading

AI literacy requirement coming

The Graduation Council has recommended an AI and digital literacy MyCAP milestone for 9th graders entering fall 2027 (advisory until the legislature acts). But 68% of teachers have had no AI training. This engagement builds your district's capacity through one full instructional cycle of practice — not a module.

DESE guidance needs implementation

DESE published strong AI guidance. What districts need now is implementation — connecting AI to their curriculum, their data, and their priorities, with measurement. Very few providers on DESE's pre-qualified vendor list currently offer it.

Research-based PD design

Meets all seven characteristics of effective PD (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017): content-focused, active, collaborative, modeled, coached, feedback-rich, and sustained.

"Having two teachers in the room is a huge help to everyone's learning"

My son's answer when I asked what teachers could do differently. He's right — but we can't put two teachers in every classroom. What we can do is give every teacher an AI planning assistant that already knows their curriculum, their students' needs, and the strategies with the strongest evidence. That's what DirectEd builds.

Read the full story →

Founder

Mike Luekens

Education Research

Managed the federal Schools and Staffing Survey (AIR/NCES). Ran Utah's statewide assessment at a longtime MCAS developer. Published with Columbia and U.S. Dept. of Education. GWU M.A. Education Policy; Wake Forest B.A.

AI & Business Leadership

17 years at Liberty Mutual/Safeco — VP & Senior Director, managing teams of several hundred. Two years of daily AI engineering. Built NE Provenance (4.7M properties) and QuestionCraft — solo AI-native platforms.

Administration & Instruction

Former Newburyport School Committee member — chaired Curriculum, Instruction & Accountability. IEL Education Policy Fellow. Youth baseball coach. Father of two sons who attended MA public schools.

Full background →

Start with the diagnostic.

A peer-benchmarked portrait of your district, built from DESE data. Free. No commitment. We may follow up to confirm the peer group.

Request a Free Diagnostic

See a sample diagnostic (PDF) · or email mluekens@directed.pro