A twenty-minute AI needs assessment to run before you plan any training.
Why this comes first
Do not plan professional learning for an imaginary staff.
Most faculties already contain the full AI spectrum: confident daily users, cautious experimenters, people quietly using it without knowing the rules, and people who have not opened a tool at all. A single “AI 101” session aimed at the average will miss nearly everyone.
This assessment gives leaders a quick picture of actual use, perceived policy, honest fears, weekly pain points, preferred support, and the colleagues who may already be able to help others. Those answers should determine the first training, not the latest product announcement.
Start With the Adults
Where Is Your Staff, Actually?
A twenty-minute AI needs assessment
How to use this
Hand it out at the start of a faculty meeting. Give people fifteen minutes and quiet. Collect it anonymously, or let people put their names on it if they want follow-up. Do not discuss it in the room. Read the stack yourself before you plan anything.
Why anonymous matters
The single most useful answer on this page is question 4, and nobody writes an honest answer to question 4 if their principal is watching them write it.
1. Which of these have you used for work in the last month?
□ A tool built into something else (Canva, Grammarly, your LMS)□ Something not listed: ______________________________□ None of these
2. If you used one, what did you use it for?
One line is fine. Examples: parent email, lesson idea, rubric, sub plans, IEP paperwork, data summary, nothing yet.
3. What do you think our district’s current policy allows you to do?
Write what you believe, not what you think is correct. There is no wrong answer to this question.
4. What are you actually worried about?
Check all that apply.
□ Getting in trouble for using it□ Not knowing whether I am allowed to□ Student privacy or data□ Being replaced or devalued□ Students using it to avoid learning□ Parents or community reaction□ Being expected to learn one more thing□ Looking behind in front of colleagues□ Accuracy and being misled by a confident wrong answer□ Not worried, just uninterested□ Other: ___________________________________________
5. What is the one task in your week you would hand off tomorrow if you could?
6. What kind of support would actually help you?
□ Someone to tell me plainly what I am allowed to do□ A beginner session, no jargon, starting from zero□ Examples from my subject and grade level□ Time to sit and try it with someone nearby□ An advanced conversation about assessment and student use□ A person I can ask a one-off question□ Nothing right now
7. Would you be willing to help a colleague get started?
□ Yes□ Maybe□ No
If yes or maybe, and you are comfortable, name: __________________________________
After you collect it
Let the answers write the plan.
Question 1
Plan for the range, not the average.
Count the tools and “none” responses. You now know your actual starting range instead of your assumed one.
Question 3
Test whether your policy communicates.
If staff beliefs contradict each other or contradict the policy, the document is not doing the job you think it is doing. That is fixable in one page and one email.
Question 4
Address the real barrier first.
If most checks are in the top two boxes, your problem is permission, not training. Permission is free.
Question 5
Use teacher pain points as the curriculum.
Do not design a session about AI. Design a session around the three tasks that appear most often here.
Question 7
Find the coaching capacity already in the building.
The people who check yes can help lead an optional monthly office hour that builds confidence long after a single training day.
Kyle Gardner teaches high school in rural Arizona and writes at aiforteacherstoday.com. Use this, copy it, and adapt it for your district. No attribution required.