Edward Neil teachers use short AI podcasts and daily checks to pre-teach math, board hears

Principal Lyall Bomba presented Edward Neil Elementary School’s math and attendance work, telling the board the school is seeing an upswing after focusing on tier-one instruction, collaboration and student-level tracking. "Start green, stay green" was the data goal Bomba cited as an indicator of tier-one success.

The fifth-grade team described a pair of instructional practices driving changes: short podcasts and daily formative assessments. "Our goal has been simple. Meet students where they are and respond to their needs in real time," said Jordan Petri, describing two- to three-minute student-friendly podcasts created by feeding district math slides, grade-level guarantees and scope-and-sequence documents into a district-verified language model called Notebook LM; English and Spanish versions are uploaded to Seesaw for student morning routines.

Teachers said each podcast includes one to three short questions that serve as a quick preassessment; staff review results before math instruction and adjust groups or extend learning immediately. Petri and colleagues gave a student example: one child moved from "low risk" to "on track" and occasionally into "advanced" according to Fastbridge data after targeted pre-teaching and daily formative checks.

Board members asked about accuracy and language coverage. Director Mickelson pressed whether the model draws from the wider internet; Principal Bomba replied it "only interacts with the sources that you give it," and staff said they vetted outputs. When asked about broader translation needs, a teacher said Spanish versions are available and "it's about 35 languages or more" for the translation tools the district can use.

The presentation also covered attendance and tiered supports. Bomba described a "service grid" tool to map where tier 2 and tier 3 staff and EAs are assigned and said AI tools can provide quick, actionable information for scheduling. He framed the work as system-building rather than single fixes: "Schools are complicated ecosystems," he said.

The board received the report with praise and no formal action; Dr. Daniels and several board members thanked staff for the innovation and for focusing on adults' practices as drivers of student growth. The board moved on to business items after the presentation.