We believe the best learning happens through relationships, collaboration, and real work—not shortcuts. So while AI is everywhere, it’s not at the center of a Prisma education. Our Coaches are.
Here’s how we integrate AI right now (As the tools evolve, so will we.):
Younger learners build foundational skills—reading, math, reasoning, problem-solving—mostly without AI, because those skills take real practice to develop. As learners get older, they engage with AI more directly: learning how it works, where it shows up, and how to evaluate it critically. Some learners go further still, building their own AI tools as part of advanced projects. Throughout, AI use is intentional and tied to specific learning goals—never a shortcut to skip the work.
Our curriculum is designed by people with deep expertise in learning design (most of whom have Masters or PhDs). Our team may use AI to help build specific things—a sample text, an interactive tool—but nothing reaches a learner without a person reviewing it first. And our Coaches use AI the same thoughtful way: as a way to remove low-value, high-redundancy work so that more of their time goes directly toward mentoring their learners and providing them with rich academic feedback that sparks their growth. Prisma hires <1% of coach applicants (the world’s best teachers), and AI is never used as a replacement for knowing your kid.
Work at Prisma is expected to reflect a learner’s own thinking. AI-detection tools can be a helpful data point, but they’re not the basis for any decision about a learner’s work. We rely on something better: Coaches who know their learners well enough to recognize their voice and regular conversations through our Checkpoints program where learners show depth of thinking by talking through their own work. If a learner’s work doesn’t reflect authentic learning, a badge or course credit isn’t earned, and families are always part of the conversation. And some decisions are never AI’s to make: a person at Prisma always determines grades, Badges, and admissions.