Free Assessment Tool
Where does your school or district actually stand on AI readiness?
A quick, honest look at five domains that determine whether AI integration produces real outcomes for students and teachers — or just activity. No email required. No right answers. Just an honest picture.
Select your role — the assessment adapts to your context
District Leader
Superintendent, CAO, Curriculum Director, Director of Technology, Assistant Superintendent
Building Leader / Coach
Principal, Assistant Principal, Instructional Coach, TOSA, Department Chair
About this assessment. This tool is designed to help you reflect honestly on where your system currently stands — not where you hope it is or where it was a year ago. Results are diagnostic and self-reported, not evaluative. They are not conclusive and may be limited by the accuracy of your self-assessment, the complexity of your context, and factors outside the scope of these five domains. They are a starting point for honest conversation, not a verdict. This assessment draws from the ForwardEd Coherence Assessment framework and peer-reviewed research in AI integration, instructional leadership, and K–12 system design.
Research Foundation
What this assessment is grounded in
The domains, indicators, and scoring logic in this assessment are drawn from convergent peer-reviewed research, federal frameworks, and field-validated implementation science. The following represent the primary bodies of scholarship that inform the assessment's structure. Full source documentation is available in the ForwardEd white paper series.
IES Practice Guides (What Works Clearinghouse)
Federal meta-analyses of educational interventions with the highest evidentiary standards in K–12 research. Used to establish gateway indicators across all five domains.
AI4K12 Initiative (Carnegie Mellon / NSF)
The field-consensus framework for K–12 AI literacy, developed by leading computer science education researchers and adopted across the U.S.
CoSN K–12 Generative AI Maturity Tool
The Consortium for School Networking's practitioner-validated maturity framework for AI governance and infrastructure in school districts.
RAND Corporation Education Research
Peer-reviewed studies on principal pipelines, professional development effectiveness, and implementation fidelity — including the most rigorous analysis of what actually improves schools at scale.
Brookings Institution (2024 Digital Divide Analysis)
Identifies AI access as the emerging equity frontier in K–12, establishing the research basis for the equity domain indicators.
ForwardEd Coherence Assessment Framework
A proprietary whole-system instructional audit instrument built from the convergence of federal policy, state frameworks, peer-reviewed implementation science, and international practice in comparable systems.
AI Transparency: Results are generated by Claude (Anthropic) using your responses. No data is stored. ForwardEd discloses all AI use per its founding transparency principle.
Step 1 of 2 — Self-Rating
Before we dig in — where do you feel your system is right now?
Rate each domain on a scale of 1–5. Be honest with yourself. There is no benefit to scoring higher than you actually are — this assessment only works if it reflects reality.
Analyzing your responses…
Your readiness report is being generated.
Reviewing your self-ratings
Scoring domain indicators
Identifying alignment gaps
Writing your readiness narrative
Sequencing priority actions
Your AI Readiness Report
ForwardEd Assessment Tool · 2026 · 5 Domains
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ForwardEd Analysis
Generating analysis...
Ready to go deeper?
This report shows the picture. ForwardEd helps you act on it.
Connect on LinkedIn to start a conversation — no obligation, no pitch. Just an honest look at what your system is doing for students.
Research Foundation
What this assessment is grounded in
The domains, indicators, and scoring logic in this assessment are drawn from convergent peer-reviewed research, federal frameworks, and field-validated implementation science. The following represent the primary bodies of scholarship that inform the assessment's structure and findings. Full source documentation is available in the ForwardEd white paper series.
IES Practice Guides (What Works Clearinghouse)
Federal meta-analyses of educational interventions with the highest evidentiary standards in K–12 research. Used to establish gateway indicators across all five domains.
AI4K12 Initiative (Carnegie Mellon / NSF)
The field-consensus framework for K–12 AI literacy, developed by leading computer science education researchers and adopted across the U.S. Grounds the equity and capacity domains.
CoSN K–12 Generative AI Maturity Tool
The Consortium for School Networking's practitioner-validated maturity framework for AI governance and infrastructure in school districts.
RAND Corporation Education Research
Peer-reviewed studies on principal pipelines, professional development effectiveness, and implementation fidelity — including the most rigorous analysis of what actually improves schools at scale.
Brookings Institution (2024 Digital Divide Analysis)
Identifies AI access as the emerging equity frontier in K–12, establishing the research basis for the equity domain indicators.
ForwardEd Coherence Assessment Framework
A proprietary whole-system instructional audit instrument built from the convergence of federal policy, state frameworks, peer-reviewed implementation science, and international practice in comparable systems.