Program: Model Schools
Audience: Administrators, teachers, teaching assistants
Dates: 10/9/2026
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly accessible to students-and New York schools move toward Portrait of a Graduate competencies-educators are facing a question: If AI can generate an answer, what should we actually be assessing? This timely, practical session helps teachers rethink assessment in ways that preserve rigor, deepen learning, and make students' thinking and future-ready skills visible.
Rather than approaching AI as something to block or fear, participants will explore how assessment can evolve alongside broader shifts in teaching and learning. The focus moves beyond evaluating final products alone to gathering evidence of reasoning, communication, collaboration, creativity, problem-solving, adaptability, and application of knowledge-the durable skills reflected in a Portrait of a Graduate.
Teachers will examine how AI is changing traditional assignments and explore strategies for creating authentic, meaningful, and AI-resilient assessments. Topics include designing tasks that emphasize analysis, interpretation, reflection, and real-world problem-solving; using performance-based assessments such as debates, presentations, simulations, portfolios, and demonstrations of learning; assessing process alongside product through drafts, checkpoints, conferencing, reflection, peer feedback, and verbal reasoning; and establishing practical expectations for when AI use is appropriate and when independent thinking is essential.
A key component of the session is hands-on redesign work. Participants will bring an existing assessment and use a guided framework to revise it for the age of AI and align it with one or more Portrait of a Graduate competencies, receiving feedback and collaborating with colleagues along the way.
By the end of the session, teachers will better understand how AI and Portrait of a Graduate are reshaping assessment, identify the characteristics of authentic and future-ready as