A New Kind of PLC

At PS 78 Stapleton Lighthouse Community School in Staten Island, teacher teams are proving what’s possible when artificial intelligence and human expertise work together. Their new AI-PLC Lab is tackling the pain points every PLC faces: too much data, not enough time, and analysis that never quite makes it to action.

For years, PLCs have been guided by four essential questions:

  1. What do we want students to learn?
  2. How will we know if they’ve learned it?
  3. What will we do if they haven’t?
  4. What will we do if they already have?

The problem? Most teams spend 80 percent of their meeting time wrestling with the second question—collecting, sorting, and analyzing evidence—leaving little time for the actions that actually move learning forward.

How the AI-PLC Agent Changes the Game

The AI-PLC Agent™ automates the Analysis of Evidence (AOE) process, instantly organizing student work and self-assessment data against clear success criteria.
Instead of hours of manual scoring, teams receive six concise outputs they can use to plan instruction that same day.

Six Outputs That Drive Action

  1. 🔍 Pattern Analysis – Identifies trends in performance and perception.
  2. 🚀 Next Instructional Actions – Suggests reteaching, practice, or extension moves.
  3. 🧠 Small-Group Guided Practice Lessons – Generates scaffolded lessons anchored in success criteria.
  4. 💬 Feedback Prompts – Provides asset-based, actionable language teachers can use immediately.
  5. ⚖️ Justice Scaffolds – Centers identity, belonging, and access in decisions. (see below)
  6. 📊 Impact Summary – Visualizes growth and highlights what worked.

With the analysis done, PLCs can finally spend their time on questions 3 and 4—planning targeted small-group instruction and enrichment rather than crunching numbers.

 

Time Back for Teaching

Before AI-PLC Labs, teachers could spend entire afternoons, evenings, and weekends grading extended-response tasks—often returning feedback a week or more after students had already moved on.

To put that in perspective:

  • Math: Scoring 30 open-ended reasoning items typically takes 1–2 minutes per response (about 30–60 minutes total).
  • Social Studies: Evaluating 30 evidence-based responses can take 3–5 minutes each (roughly 90–150 minutes).
  • Science: Reviewing 30 constructed responses with explanations can take 4–6 minutes per student (nearly 2–3 hours).

And when it comes to writing, the time commitment is even greater. Reading and providing quality feedback on 30 essays can take 6–10 hours—even when using digital platforms like Writable, which still require teachers to read, evaluate, and comment manually.

The AI-PLC Agent™ does this analysis in minutes, not hours. It reviews written responses, aligns them to success criteria, highlights strengths and next steps, and even drafts feedback in asset-based language. Unlike Writable, which assists with digital scoring, the AI-PLC Agent integrates performance and self-assessment data, producing feedback that is holistic, timely, and actionable.

This means teachers can use the most current formative data to create small, flexible groups and give feedback while learning is still in motion—not days or weeks later.

Instead of spending weekends marking essays, PS 78 teachers now spend that time designing next steps, conferencing with students, and collaborating with peers—moving from grading to growing.

 

Justice Scaffolds: Built-In Support for UDL and WIDA

Every AI output includes guidance for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and WIDA-aligned language scaffolds, reflecting New York’s new membership in the WIDA Consortium. These justice scaffolds ensure every learner has equitable access to rigorous, meaningful learning.

  • Representation: Visuals, anchor charts, and exemplars clarify key ideas and concepts.
  • Engagement: Choice-based and inquiry routines sustain motivation and build belonging.
  • Expression: Sentence stems, language frames, and multilingual scaffolds enable all students to show understanding and develop academic language.

These justice scaffolds position inclusion not as an add-on, but as a design principle. Teachers receive ready-to-use supports that make instruction more inclusive, more equitable, and more joyful—without extra prep time.

 

From Analysis to Agency

Principal Jodi Contento can see the potential of this shift firsthand. With the AI-PLC Lab, her team can now engage in deep analysis three times within a single four-week MetaCycle—something that would have been impossible before. She shared:

 

The goal isn’t to add more to teachers’ plates, it is to streamline the data so teachers can pour their energy into creativity, care, and student growth.

— Principal Jodi Contento

 

By analyzing both performance and self-assessment data, the AI-PLC Agent helps educators and learners see how perception aligns with evidence—building metacognition, confidence, and ownership.

 

A National Movement for Coherence

Across the country, districts are joining the AI-PLC Lab Network to make professional learning more doable, democratic, and deeply human. AI isn’t replacing teacher judgment—it’s restoring it. By taking on the heavy lift of analysis, the system gives educators time to do what only humans can: coach, connect, and create conditions for growth.

At PS 78, educators are just beginning this exciting journey. Over the next month, teams will analyze their first sets of data using the AI-PLC Agent, transforming evidence into action in real time.

 

Join the Movement Before January 2026

The AI-PLC Lab Network is already expanding—with pilots underway in Hawaii, Washington, and New York.

This is your chance to join the next wave of innovation before the AI-PLC App launches publicly in January 2026. Schools that come on board now receive early-access pricing, personalized onboarding, and scholarship opportunities to make participation affordable for every district.

You can also join our virtual AI-PLC Lab Events in November to see the process in action and hear directly from pilot schools. Visit Core Collaborative Events on our website to learn more and register.

Don’t wait to see what’s next, be part of building it.

📍 Learn more: www.thecorecollaborative.com
📸 Photo: PS 78 Third-Grade PLC, NYC DOE

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