Smita
Saxena
Board Member / Executive Director
"AI Agents in the World of Public Education"
"AI Agents in the World of Public Education"
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Session: AI Agents in the World of Public Education
AI is rapidly entering classrooms, but most tools fail at the same point: translating data into action teachers can realistically take, week after week, inside real constraints.This talk explores how AI agents can meaningfully support public education when paired with human expertise, using a human-in-the-loop model grounded in real teacher workflows. Drawing from live deployments across charter and district schools, I’ll share how AI agents are used to analyze fragmented classroom data, surface the “why” behind student performance, and rapidly generate targeted reteach materials — all while leaving instructional strategy, judgment, and creativity firmly in human hands.
We’ll cover:
What actually breaks when AI tools are deployed without coaching or context
How teacher-specific AI agents are built from real planning and assessment workflows
Why weekly feedback loops (not dashboards) drive trust, retention, and student gains
Where AI clearly helps — and where it should not be making decisions
The goal is not automation for automation’s sake, but scalable augmentation: helping teachers spend less time preparing and more time teaching, while preserving professional autonomy and classroom nuance.
Key Takeaways
- Why human-in-the-loop AI outperforms fully automated tools in high-stakes environments like public education
- How AI agents can be embedded into real teacher workflows without increasing cognitive load A practical look at designing AI around existing constraints (time, curriculum pacing, assessments) rather than asking users to change how they work.
- What data actually matters for improving student outcomes — and what doesn’t A grounded discussion of which signals meaningfully explain why students struggle, versus data that creates noise without insight.
- A framework for evaluating AI impact beyond “time saved,” focusing on clarity, confidence, and compounding improvement
Bio
Smita Saxena is a product leader and founder working at the intersection of AI, education, and applied systems design. She is the founder of Maestro, a human-in-the-loop AI coaching program that helps public school teachers analyze classroom data, understand student misconceptions, and generate targeted instructional materials in minutes rather than hours.Previously, Smita founded and scaled Stanza, a consumer data platform used by tens of millions of users and adopted by major professional sports organizations including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and major international soccer leagues. Her work focuses on building AI systems that amplify human judgment rather than replace it, with an emphasis on trust, real-world workflows, and measurable outcomes.
She currently works directly with teachers and schools across Texas and California and is deeply involved in designing practical, ethical AI deployments in high-stakes public systems.
