The AI Champions Cohort · Founding year 2026-27
Every school needs someone on the frontier.
The Champions Cohort is a team of school leaders who stay on the AI frontier all year, decide what matters for their own schools, and use AI to build solutions to real problems inside them. Each school sends one champion. Champions learn from each other, design and build together, and bring the work home to their colleagues and their head of school.
Support all year, so your champion can lead
§ I · Why a champion
Someone has to carry the work.
A keynote or a summit aligns your leaders and gives you a plan, and many schools should start there. What they need next is a person inside the building with the authority, the time, and the support to carry the work forward on the school’s own terms: its mission, its faculty culture, its budget, its board.
AI moves too fast for a plan made in the fall to hold by spring. A champion keeps watching, sorts what is relevant from what is noise, and turns it into action that fits your school.
The opportunity is larger than saving time. Used wisely, AI can increase what your school is able to do.
§ II · The year-round role
What a champion actually does.
Stays on the frontier
Tests new tools and research first-hand and separates real capability from hype before it reaches your faculty.
Discerns what fits
Filters each development through your mission and the redemptive principles, and decides what matters now and what can wait.
Finds problems worth solving
Identifies the problems in your building that are frequent and important enough to solve with AI, starting with the work of the adults.
Builds and tests
Designs and builds solutions with AI tools, tests them with colleagues, and studies whether they actually help.
Advances strategy
Supports the head of school on AI, helps with planning and policy, and pursues the new opportunities AI opens for the school.
Trains colleagues
Teaches others in the building to use AI wisely, so the learning multiplies beyond one person.
§ III · How the cohort works
A year of building, together.
The cohort is a working team, not a course. It runs from November through May, starting the week of November 2, 2026, and the work follows what each school actually needs.
Start with where you stand
Each school begins with an AI readiness assessment, so the year is aimed at real needs.
Work on what matters to you
From there, each champion takes on what their school needs most: a policy or posture statement, a strategy roadmap, tools, faculty training, or a problem worth building a solution for.
Build together
Champions bring real problems to the group, design and build with each other’s help, and share what works.
Adults first
The work starts by supporting the adults in your school rather than rushing AI into students’ hands.
Capstone
Each champion presents what they built and where the school goes next to the head of school and board.
§ IV · Choosing your champion
The right person in the seat.
An academic dean, a technology director, a department chair, or a respected teacher-leader can all carry this well. The champion needs standing with faculty, access to leadership, and protected time.
It also asks something of the head of school. A champion needs four things from you:
- Authority to act on what they learn
- Budget
- Access to the tools they need to test and build
- A green light to be creative and somewhat disruptive
That is why the head of school co-signs enrollment. The two briefings keep you close to the work, and your champion becomes your resource on AI.
What school leaders say about working with Sean
Trusted in the room.
“Sean Riley brings deep expertise and a clear worldview to the conversation around AI in education. His session with our faculty was engaging, practical, and rooted in discernment. He is a trusted guide for schools seeking to navigate AI wisely.”Dr. Chip Houston · Assistant Head of School, North Cobb Christian School
“He helped us think about AI not just in terms of efficiency, but through the lens of human flourishing, discernment, and mission-aligned practice. Our team left challenged, encouraged, and equipped with practical next steps.”Lisa Wong · Trinity Christian Academy, Addison, TX
§ V · Investment
Founding rate for the first ten schools.
Founding rate
$4,950
Per school, for the first ten schools to enroll.
Standard rate
$6,500
Per school, once the ten founding seats are filled.
Pay by a single invoice. Schools using Title II funds can request a scope of work written for that purpose, and CESA CEUs are available to participants.
The founding cohort begins the week of November 2.
Ten seats at the founding rate, then the standard rate applies. Request a seat below and Sean will follow up by email with the full program overview and enrollment details.