That shift is particularly challenging in education. A single institution may support instruction, assessment, advising, financial aid, research, safety, and IT, each with different systems, records, and access requirements. Add student privacy obligations and academic integrity expectations, and a general-purpose AI experience may lack the context and controls required for institutional use.

Closing that gap requires both relevant institutional context and safeguards for how information is accessed and used. Microsoft 365 Education is designed to bring those elements together, helping institutions move from isolated AI experimentation toward practical, governed use.

Agentic classroom support

Consider what a week actually looks like for an educator. Planning, differentiation, and assessment each live in different places, and none of those systems were designed to talk to one another. The result is repetitive, operational work that piles up between a teacher and their students. 

This is where agents change the equation. Rather than another tool to open, classroom agents work across the systems an educator already uses, helping streamline planning, differentiation, and assessment as connected work rather than separate tasks. Drafting differentiated versions of a lesson for different reading levels, assembling materials aligned to a unit, and pulling assessment results into a picture of who needs help, become part of one flow.

The measure of success isn’t the automation itself. It’s what the automation gives back: time for educators to spend on instruction and with students, which is where their impact is greatest. That’s the promise of AI built for teaching and learning, grounded in real instructional workflows rather than generic productivity.

Connecting the student experience

Fragmented information can also create challenges across the student journey. A student navigating advising, financial aid, accessibility services, and academic support may need to repeat information across several offices. Each additional handoff can add friction at a point when timely, coordinated support matters. 

With shared context across student services, support can feel more connected throughout the student journey. Students encounter fewer handoffs and receive help that reflects where they are, from orientation to moments when they may need additional support to continue their studies. Behind the scenes, staff have the context to coordinate a more timely response, helping the institution reduce administrative friction while better supporting each student. 

The outcome institutions are after here isn’t operational efficiency alone. The broader objective is to reduce administrative friction and help staff provide more coordinated, timely support throughout the student journey. 

The foundation: Intelligence, governance, and trust

A capable AI model is only one part of an institution-ready experience. Relevant context, governance, and clearly defined human oversight also matter.

Intelligence provides relevant context for AI experiences. Microsoft IQ is the intelligence layer across Microsoft’s AI capabilities, and Work IQ draws on the Microsoft 365 data, relationships, and workflows a user is permitted to access. This context can help Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents surface relevant information from sources such as files, email, messages, and meetings within the institution’s Microsoft 365 environment. 

Governance comes from the Microsoft 365 platform your institution already administers: identity, permissions, compliance, and data protection, applied consistently to Copilot and to agents. The institutional knowledge this intelligence draws on is your data. It stays yours, under your control and governance.

Trust is what makes the first two usable in a school. Microsoft 365 permissions and governance controls help limit access to information a user is authorized to use. Institutions should configure, monitor, and review Copilot and agent experiences in accordance with their privacy, security, and academic-integrity requirements.

Together these deliver what education asks of AI: that it be built for teaching and learning, that it work in the flow of education rather than in a separate destination, and that it provide a trusted academic experience institutions can stand behind.

Matching capability to readiness

Institutions begin from different levels of AI readiness. Microsoft 365 Education offers several ways to get started and expand use over time, based on an institution’s priorities, licensing, governance, and technical readiness.

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is included in Microsoft 365 and is where many institutions begin, offering educators and staff a secure, everyday AI experience. Microsoft 365 Copilot provides a richer, more relevant experience by bringing AI into the Microsoft 365 apps where teaching, learning, research, and operations already happen. It also enables institutions to delegate multi-step work to agents, choosing the capabilities that best fit their needs and readiness.

That progression matters because it lets institutions invest where capability is needed most, adding as governance and readiness mature rather than committing everywhere at once.

There’s a similar logic behind how we approach models. Model choice is another consideration. In supported Microsoft 365 Copilot experiences, organizations may have access to different models for different types of work, subject to availability and administrator controls. The more useful question is not simply which model is newest, but which supported experience best fits the task, the institution’s requirements, and the applicable data-processing terms.

Where to start

None of this requires a large rollout to begin. 

• Start with what’s already in place. Copilot Chat is included in Microsoft 365, which means most institutions already have a secure place to begin.
• Pick one workflow. Choose a single sequence where the cost is visible such as an educator’s planning time, a student handoff that loses momentum, or an administrative process that consumes staff effort, and start there rather than everywhere. 
• Let governance grow with usage. Expand capability as your controls and confidence mature, rather than committing across the institution at once. 

Education’s complexity is not something to design around. It is the reality AI must be designed for. Microsoft is focused on bringing together relevant context, institutional controls, and flexible ways to begin, so schools can explore AI on terms that reflect their needs and responsibilities.

¹ Microsoft, AI in Education: A Microsoft Special Report, 2026.

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Your students already use AI, so the question is what kind

AI adoption in education is accelerating worldwide. In Microsoft’s 2026 global research, 92% of students say they have already used AI for school-related purposes, and more than half of education leaders report their institutions are now implementing or scaling it.¹ Students reach for AI to summarize dense material, get unstuck, and brainstorm. About a third say they use it to learn or study in the way that works best for them. Students are already bringing AI habits into the learning environment. The opportunity is to help ensure that AI supports deeper understanding and learning.

Not every AI tool is built for that. Some AI experiences emphasize quick answers, while others are designed to guide learners through a process. Faced with that, some institutions have limited or blocked AI access altogether, even as students keep using it on personal devices. Restricting access does not necessarily prevent students from encountering AI outside school. It only removes your ability to shape how they use it, and it leaves learners with unmanaged tools and no guardrails.

Mind the gap between guidance and lived experience

There is a second gap worth closing: the distance between what leaders provide and what students and teachers experience. Four in five education leaders rate their institution’s AI guidance as clear, yet only about half of students and teachers say it has been provided at all. The training gap is wider still. In the same research, 77% of students and 53% of educators report no AI training, even while 66% of educators and 52% of students ask for it at least quarterly.² The findings suggest that support and training are not keeping pace with AI adoption.

Study and Learn keeps the thinking with the student

Study and Learn is a first-party agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot, purpose-built for education. Rather than emphasizing a finished answer, it is designed to guide learners through the process. A student preparing for a biology test can generate a flashcard set on the spot. A student working through a calculus problem can receive step-by-step support that encourages problem solving. A student drafting a history essay can talk through the argument and get questions in return that sharpen it. It works from a student’s own documents, slides, and PDFs, with citations back to the source.

What sets it apart is that it is grounded in learning science, not just AI. The experience is designed around learning-science principles intended to reinforce learning:

1. Adaptive scaffolding: Meeting students where they are, then stretching them toward what comes next.
2. Productive struggle: Leading with questions so students retrieve, attempt, and reason toward answers.
3. Active learning: Retrieval practice through flashcards, quizzes, matching, and fill-in-the-blank exercises.
4. Application and transfer: Giving students the agency to go deeper, apply what they have learned, or reinforce it.

Together, these principles are intended to encourage more active engagement with learning content. To see the research base for that design, read the learning science paper.

Study and Learn also runs inside the Microsoft 365 environment your school already manages, with enterprise-grade privacy and responsible AI protections built in. To see what it offers your students, find out more about Study and Learn.

The students aren’t just asking for answers. They’re asking Copilot Chat better questions, and that’s a major shift.

Shane Tooley, Assistant Principal Curriculum, St. Peter Claver College, Australia³

How to enable Study and Learn for students

Here is the practical part. Study and Learn is available with eligible Microsoft 365 Education licenses, including A1, A3, and A5. It has one prerequisite: Copilot Chat must be turned on. For student accounts in primary and secondary education, Copilot Chat is off by default, and only an IT administrator can enable it, using age-gating controls for learners aged 13 to 17. Without that setting, your students cannot reach Study and Learn. Copilot Chat is not available for students under 13.

That makes enabling it a shared decision. You set the learning priorities; your technical leaders hold the controls. Bring them the evidence and discuss whether enabling Copilot Chat is appropriate for your institution. A strong place to start the conversation is the AI in Education report.

Why this matters for the students you serve

The stakes reach well past this term. LinkedIn research finds that about 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change between 2015 and 2030, with AI as the catalyst. The share of job postings that require AI literacy also rose sixfold in a single year.⁴ Students recognize this shift as well. In our research, 79% of students say that knowing how to use AI effectively and responsibly matters for their future, and 87% of educators and leaders agree. Giving students access to learning-first AI experiences can help them develop the skills needed to use AI thoughtfully and responsibly.⁵

Turn on the AI that’s built for learning

Your students are already using AI. Institutions have an opportunity to influence how AI supports learning. Study and Learn keeps the thinking with the student. It provides a learning-focused experience that may already be available through your Microsoft 365 Education environment once the appropriate settings are configured. Show your technical leaders the research and ask them to turn on Copilot Chat.

^{1, 2, 3, 5} Microsoft Education. AI in Education: A Microsoft Special Report. 2026. Available at: AI in Education Report.
⁴ LinkedIn Work Change Report (2025), cited in AI in Education: A Microsoft Special Report, Microsoft Education. 2026, Available at: AI in Education Report.

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For many educators, this time of year offers a chance to reflect on what they’ve learned, recharge for what’s ahead, and reimagine what’s possible in education. At ISTELive 2026 in Orlando, K–12 educators, librarians, school leaders, instructional coaches, and edtech innovators came together to do exactly that.

The Orange County Convention Center was buzzing with activity, with thousands of presenters, hundreds of sessions, hands-on labs, and keynotes. Across these conversations, one common theme emerged: educators are beginning to explore how AI can move from early experimentation into more practical classroom and institutional use.

Microsoft’s ISTELive 26 announcements highlight this shift: AI in education is moving beyond experimentation and toward measurable learning impact. From the new AI in Education Report to purpose-built experiences like Teach, Assignments with AI guidelines, Learning Zone, and the Study and Learn Agent, Microsoft’s focus stayed on helping educators teach with confidence and students learn more deeply, not just faster. The throughline: AI delivers the most in education when powerful, secure tools are paired with training, guidance, and research-backed learning science that supports how students build knowledge, engage in productive practice, and deepen their understanding.

Six takeaways from a week of learning and connection

For educators, the value of events like ISTE is often found not just in announcements, but in what they bring back and try in their own environments. Here are six themes we heard from educators about what they plan to carry forward:

1. Access to AI tools is just the beginning, community drives impact

Microsoft Elevate for Educators is a global community of 43,000+ teachers and school leaders on the cutting edge of technology integration. At ISTELive 26, we brought some of them together to share tips, celebrate progress, and strengthen connections. As Pat Yongpradit, General Manager of Global Education and Workforce Policy, reminded us at our evening reception, “The world really needs great teachers right now.” Microsoft is focused on supporting them. Microsoft Elevate for Educators offers community, credentials and capacity-building resources to help transform teaching and learning.

2. Instructional leaders are looking for practical guidance and shared practices

At the Instructional Leadership Exchange (ILX), educators and leaders explored how AI could be thoughtfully introduced into school environments. Through discussions and peer exchange, participants considered approaches to implementation, professional development, and collaboration. Microsoft also introduced a new paper called Learning by design, outlining the learning science foundation behind the Study and Learn Agent, offering a practical resource leaders can use to inform discussions about how AI can support deeper learning, strengthen instructional practice, and shape more intentional professional learning.

3. Institutions are moving from fragmented AI use to responsible, system-wide practice

A recurring theme at ISTE was the move from individual experimentation toward more coordinated, institution-level approaches. Educators and leaders discussed the importance of aligning AI use with teaching practices, governance considerations, and institutional priorities. The Microsoft AI in Education Report shares perspectives from educators and institutions on how AI is being used, where opportunities exist, and what supports may be helpful going forward. These insights can help inform planning and decision-making as schools continue to navigate AI adoption.

4. Educators play a critical role in helping students develop AI literacy, making it approachable helps

Minecraft Education brought AI learning to life at ISTE with the announcement of the Velocity Prize, a new global skills challenge from Minecraft Education and Microsoft for students ages 13–16 built around computational thinking and AI-assisted strategies. The challenge opens in October 2026 and gives educators a fun, classroom-ready way for students to apply their coding and AI skills for the chance to win exclusive prizes and mentorship opportunities. Minecraft Education also highlighted new AI literacy and digital safety resources that make AI concepts accessible for educators, students, and families, from animated videos and classroom toolkits to professional learning.

Discover why Minecraft is a practical starting point to build AI skills.

5. From screen time to learning time: A focus on meaningful learning and responsible use

At ISTE, teachers are reframing the screen time conversation. Rather than focusing on how much time students spend on devices, they’re asking how technology can make learning more meaningful. Educators are looking for tools that help students think critically, create, collaborate, and receive personalized support while maintaining a focus on wellbeing and responsible AI use. At Microsoft Education, we see this as a shift from screen time to learning time using AI and technology to strengthen student thinking, increase engagement, and help every learner thrive.

6. From the conference to the classroom: Sharing what we learned

Educators often return from ISTE with ideas and strategies to share with colleagues, extending the value of the event beyond a single week. To support this, Microsoft is making sessions and materials available for educators who want to explore further. You can view recordings and materials from Microsoft ISTE sessions and explore live presentations designed to bring these ideas into your classroom.

Beyond Orlando: Keeping the momentum going

ISTELive 2026 showed how educators are continuing to explore and apply AI in ways that align with their teaching goals and student needs. While the event may be over, many of these conversations are ongoing.

To continue exploring these topics:

• Watch ISTE session recordings: Microsoft ISTE presentations
• Read the AI in Education Report
• Learn more about Microsoft 365 Education
• Join Microsoft Elevate for Educators

Wherever you are in your journey, these resources can help support continued learning, collaboration, and exploration.

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Education has moved past early experimentation, but reaching the outcomes that matter, those beyond speed and efficiency, depends first on one thing: support. The latest Microsoft AI in Education Report highlights this need. 66% of educators and 52% of students want monthly or quarterly AI training, and many want clearer guidance on responsible use. With that support in place, AI built for learning can help support learning outcomes, not just save time.

That’s why today we’re announcing several new AI-powered teaching capabilities, built with educator feedback, to deliver secure, student-centered experiences grounded in learning science. These new capabilities are integrated into the apps and tools educators and students already use through Microsoft 365 Education, with built-in privacy and security protections that help institutions take a more consistent, trusted approach. In addition, we’re also expanding access to training and professional learning. 

New teaching experiences, built with educators 

Feedback from our Education Insiders Program directly shaped a new set of teaching capabilities built into educator daily workflows across Microsoft 365 Education. These aren’t just productivity enhancements; they’re intelligent experiences designed to support the way educators instruct. These features are rolling out to our preview communities now and will be generally available in the coming months: 

• Teach in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app module will include the ability to easily build standards-aligned Unit Plans, with support for academic standards from over 50 countries. Educators provide the subject, grade level, language, duration, and any relevant context or content, and Teach generates a draft Unit Plan with an overview, essential questions, and weekly detail. From there, educators refine the draft, adding components like a materials list, lesson plans, assessments, and AI-generated suggestions. And with Teach, educators can keep going after the plan is built, following recommended next steps to generate supporting materials or continuing to iterate with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat.
• Assignments will help enable educators to set Student AI Guidelines for each Assignment, ranging from no AI to full use of Copilot Chat. According to the report, academic integrity is the top concern for both students (41%) and educators (42%), and clear communication around expectations is one of the most effective ways to build trust and confidence in AI use.
  
  Additionally, educators can further differentiate their approach by creating, reusing, or adjusting student groups based on reading level, language support, and other criteria, assigning the right resources to each group within an Assignment.
• Microsoft Learning Zone will offer the ability to use lessons in an educator-paced, live classroom session to help provide control over progression and view aggregated student activity in near real-time. Learning Zone lessons can also now be integrated with Assignments. Plus, for the next year, we’re providing an opportunity to trial Learning Zone lesson generation on any Windows 11 device.  

From answer engine to learning coach 

Study and Learn Agent is a learning-science-powered experience in Copilot Chat built specifically for students age 13 and older, at no additional cost with Microsoft 365 Education. Study and Learn reframes AI from an answer engine into an interactive learning coach, optimized for learning outcomes rather than quick answers. Grounded in research-based principles, it helps students understand concepts, work through problems, and develop their writing without AI doing the work for them—through scaffolded questions, interactive practice like flashcards, quizzes, and matching, and immediate feedback designed to support knowledge retention and independent thinking. 

Study and Learn is designed to meet institutions where they are with flexibility and appropriate controls: IT administrators must first enable Copilot Chat for K-12 students which then provides access to Study and Learn by default. In the coming months, educators will also be able to assign the use of Study and Learn within Assignments. 

Copilot Notebooks, an AI-powered workspace that is designed to help students stay focused on their own materials, is now available as part of the Microsoft 365 Copilot app at no additional cost with Microsoft 365 Education. Students can bring together lecture slides, handouts, readings, and notes, then get assistance grounded directly in those sources. They can also use the new study guide capabilities to transform their materials into interactive study guides for review and self-testing. 

Across these experiences, students can remain in control of their own learning with privacy protections built in to support responsible use. 

We’re also making these teaching and learning experiences easier to access with Teach and Learn taskbar shortcuts on Windows devices for quick, personalized access right from the taskbar. And for leaders and IT teams, these experiences are designed for institution-wide rollout—with the governance, security, and integration needed to deploy with greater confidence. 

Preparing students and educators for what’s next 

Teachers and education leaders are overwhelmingly asking for training and increased AI knowledge, and the stakes are clear: 87% of educators and education leaders, and 79% of students, agree that knowing how to use AI effectively and responsibly is important for students’ futures. That takes more than access to technology. Microsoft Elevate for Educators offers community, credentials, and capacity building resources to help teachers and school leaders transform learning and teaching. Microsoft has supported the AI Literacy Framework developed by the European Commission and OECD with CodeAI to offer policymakers, curriculum designers, and teachers a shared playbook for what students should know, do, and understand about AI by the time they finish school. We also worked with ISTE + ASCD on a recently released “AI Literacy for Educators” credential pathway aligned to the framework. Both connect to the Expert tier of Microsoft Elevate for Educators, now accepting applications. 

As we celebrate new graduates, reflect on the progress and learnings, and prepare for the next school year, our focus stays constant: helping every student and educator use AI with confidence, to support learning today and prepare for what comes next. 

¹ Microsoft, AI in Education: A Microsoft Special Report, 2026. The survey was conducted by PSB Insights among 3,345 respondents across K–12 and higher education in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. Audiences included educators, education leaders (both IT and academic), and students age 13 and up. The online quantitative survey was fielded February 13–March 9. Global data is weighted based on World Bank education spend estimates.  

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For educators, it’s an opportunity to further shape the future.

Success in education has always depended on the interplay of knowledge, aptitudes, and skills. Skilling is the capability that turns new technology into confident, trusted practice. The question isn’t whether to prepare students for an AI-shaped world. It’s how to do it in a way that keeps human flourishing, not just employability, at the center.

Work is changing. People are not.

This line, drawn from the report’s conclusion, is worth holding onto. Technologies will keep shifting. What endures is distinctly human: curiosity, judgment, the capacity to learn and relearn, and the wisdom to apply knowledge well. The OECD makes the same case in its 2025 framework, Education for Human Flourishing, which argues that education should help every learner live “a life they have reason to value,” moving beyond a narrow human-capital view of schooling.¹

Together, the reports point to a consistent pattern: today’s labor market increasingly rewards people who can apply their intelligence and adapt to context and continue learning. Thus, education’s enduring purpose is to develop and refine those skills and dispositions.

Five new fundamentals reshaping what it means to be ready

The OECD report identifies five shifts quietly redrawing the line between “entry-level” and “experienced.” For schools and universities, the report points to building AI readiness not just through access to technology, but through human capabilities, governance, and practical experience that help AI work responsibly.

1. Elevated entry-level expectations
2. Working with AI as a partner to become an “agent boss”
3. Context engineering
4. Judgment, voice, and the human standard
5. From credentials to capabilities

Grounding skills in human flourishing

If those five fundamentals describe what the workplace now rewards, the OECD framework describes the human foundation underneath them. It centers on acting in the world with the agency to shape one’s life and contribute to others. This is supported by four competencies:

• Adaptive problem-solving
• Ethical competence
• Understanding the world
• Appreciating the world

The overlap is striking. “Context engineering” and the “agent boss” mindset are adaptive problem-solving in a new medium. “Judgment and the human standard” is ethical competence made practical. Building skills for the future of work and educating for a flourishing life are not competing goals; done well, they are the same work.

What this looks like in classrooms today

This isn’t theoretical. Schools and universities are already turning these ideas into everyday practice—and the early results are encouraging.

• At Fulton County Schools, students are using AI as a thought partner to explore ideas, build confidence, and tackle real-world problems—shifting learning from using technology to creating with it across a district serving nearly 87,000 learners.
• At the University of Sydney, the “Cogniti” platform lets educators design AI tools that guide students through reasoning—a working example of teaching students to direct AI, not just use it.
• The University of California San Diego, redesigned an introductory computer science course around GitHub Copilot—helping students complete coding tasks faster, build more ambitious projects, and develop practical AI skills for the workplace.

Across K-12 and higher education, the pattern is the same: AI is embedded into everyday learning and teaching, building the literacy and adaptability employers describe as “skilled for life.”

Empowering educators to foster these skills is one of the goals of the Microsoft Elevate for Educators program. It is designed to provide educators and school leaders with access to a global community, credentials, and skilling opportunities to confidently integrate AI into teaching and learning.

The road to ISTELive 2026

Knowing which skills matter is the first step. Building them, at scale, is the next. Keep an eye out for our upcoming blog posts which get specific about the products and programs that help educators put this skilling intent into practice—from classroom-ready AI tools to professional learning that meets educators where they are.

Equip your students with essential AI skills

Preparing students for the future of work

Get the e-book

¹ OECD, Education for Human Flourishing: A Conceptual Framework, November 7, 2025, CC BY 4.0.

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The advanced recognition application window for the 2026–2027 academic year begins today and will remain open through July 31, 2026. If you’re driving innovation in learning and empowering your colleagues and students with new possibilities, now is the time to gain recognition for your leadership.

About Microsoft Elevate for Educators

Microsoft Elevate for Educators connects teachers and school leaders with a global community of peers, credentials, and capacity building resources to navigate the AI era. Educators can collaborate, learn from each other and industry experts, gain confidence through laddered pathways for training and credentialing, and explore toolkits, research, and guidance designed to help safely integrate technology into teaching and learning.

Global program overview and office hours

Join the Microsoft Elevate for Educators team for informational sessions designed to support your journey with the community. These sessions provide an overview of the program, highlight opportunities for educators and school leaders at every level, and introduce the resources available to support you, your school, and your students. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions about the application process for Expert and Showcase School recognition. These sessions are recommended for K–12 educators and school leaders.

Educators: Join a global community of experts

Experts in the educator community share a bold commitment to transforming learning. They spark curiosity, encourage collaboration, and bring creativity to life through purposeful use of Microsoft tools and AI in classrooms. If this reflects the way you teach, you’re exactly the kind of leader Microsoft Elevate for Educators is proud to recognize. By joining the global community of more than 43,000 educators, you’ll connect with innovative educators worldwide, exchange ideas, strengthen your practice, and help shape the future of teaching and learning.

How to become a Microsoft Elevate Educator Expert

1. If you are new to the community, start by creating an account, completing your first training, and earning Explorer status. From there, you’ll be ready to begin the advanced recognition application for Expert status.
2. Prepare your long-form answers with the Microsoft Elevate Educator Expert questions document.
3. Complete required learning:
   • Elevate Educator—Expert (General)
   • Elevate Educator—Expert (AI)
4. Complete and submit your application by July 31, 2026.

School leaders: Join a global community of Showcase Schools

If your school is driving meaningful innovation, becoming a Microsoft Elevate Showcase School can amplify that work. Showcase Schools use technology to empower teaching, transform learning, and equip students with the skills they need to thrive in the future.

How to become a Microsoft Elevate Showcase School

1. If you are new to the community, start by creating an account and becoming a Pathfinder school. Then, you’ll be ready to begin the advanced recognition application to earn Showcase School status.
2. Check the AI Transformation Rubric to confirm your school meets the minimum criteria:
   • Level 2 in Policy and Governance
   • Level 1 in at least two other areas
3. Download and draft the Showcase form questions. Complete the Showcase Evidence Template (slide 3), demonstrating how your school meets the required level for your chosen pillar. Export the completed slide as a PDF.
4. Complete the application, including your AI transformation evidence and a PDF of your completed Showcase Evidence Template where required by July 31, 2026.

Embrace the future of education

The future of learning is unfolding now, and bold educators are leading the way. Becoming a Microsoft Elevate Showcase School or Microsoft Elevate Educator Expert isn’t just about recognition, it’s about joining a global community that is reshaping what’s possible in education.

Microsoft Elevate empowers schools and educators with the tools, insights, and support needed to spark creativity, strengthen collaboration, and expand access to meaningful learning opportunities.

By joining the Microsoft Elevate Educator community, you become part of a global network of changemakers imagining and building the next era of education. If you’re ready to dream big and lead with purpose, we invite you to join our community and apply for advanced recognition.

Stay connected with Microsoft

Stay up to date on the latest news and resources from the Microsoft Elevate for Educators team.

• Follow us on LinkedIn
• Discover curated events and learning experiences for educators
• Get AI insights for education decision-makers

From simplifying operations to fostering meaningful engagement and driving innovation, Microsoft provides education institutions with tools and resources to excel in a competitive, digital-first world. Learn how you can empower your entire community of students, educators, and staff to achieve better outcomes today and prepare for the opportunities of tomorrow.

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Building a governance framework designed for trust

Behind almost every effective AI governance framework is a group of people responsible for making it work. In education, that typically means a cross-functional team that goes beyond IT, drawing on perspectives from across the institution, including academic leadership, legal and compliance, and those responsible for student data and ethical decision-making. When that human structure is absent, even thoughtfully designed frameworks can be difficult to sustain. Once that team is in place, the real work of governance begins—defining the policies, conditions, and oversight structures that responsible AI requires.

That work is often grounded in a set of values that many education institutions share: student privacy, academic integrity, equitable access, and the ethical use of AI for learning. A clear framework for trust is what helps those values guide governance decisions in a consistent and accountable way.

Microsoft’s approach to trust is built on six responsible AI principles: fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability. The Microsoft Responsible AI Standard, v2 translates those principles into practical guidance designed to help education leaders work toward a structured foundation for responsible AI adoption. For institutions that want to go further, the NIST AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF) offers a complementary lens: where the Standard defines what responsible AI looks like, the AI RMF helps put it into practice across four functions—Govern, Map, Measure, and Manage.

While frameworks provide structure, one of the most important outputs of governance is clear, actionable policy. Policy conversations often start with a few foundational topics your institution can begin discussing right away:

• AI usage policies and how they apply across roles, from administrators and IT staff to educators and students.
• Identity management and role-based access controls for sensitive data.
• Monitoring and compliance approaches that can evolve as the technology changes.
• The right balance between human oversight and automation for high-stakes decisions.

Having these conversations lays the groundwork, but the technology foundation underneath it plays a significant role in how well governance holds up over time.

Security that scales with your AI environment

Governance and security tend to rise and fall together. The decisions a governing team makes about who can use AI and under what conditions are only as effective as the technology infrastructure built to support them. For many institutions, that technology has been built up over time by layering tools as needs arose, and in an AI-powered world, that approach can create gaps that may be harder to govern, monitor, and maintain trust in.

For IT teams managing AI governance, Microsoft 365 Education plans offer a range of security solutions that can be part of a broader governance approach, including:

• Microsoft Entra for identity and access management that can help keep sensitive data in the right hands.
• Microsoft Purview for data monitoring and automated compliance support.
• Microsoft Defender can help detect and respond to threats across your environment.

Together, these solutions can help organizations improve visibility and strengthen control over data and AI usage within their environment. When your security foundation is built into the same platform your AI tools run on, governance can become easier to manage and more proactive.

That kind of integrated foundation is closely connected to the third piece: a unified platform that reduces fragmentation and supports responsible AI at scale.

One platform, fewer governance gaps

IT leaders are increasingly exploring unified platforms as an alternative to disconnected systems, drawn by the promise of end-to-end visibility and reduced administrative burden. When AI tools, security solutions, and governance controls operate on the same platform, responsible AI becomes easier to sustain because oversight is built in rather than managed separately. Microsoft 365 Education plans are designed with this in mind, bringing together a range of tools institutions can use to govern AI, protect data, and support learning, all in a single integrated environment.

For institutions managing AI at scale, that integration can be what turns governance from a concept into a practice. The Puerto Rico Department of Education is one example. For them, existing systems and security tools could no longer keep pace with growing complexity. Recognizing that, the Department undertook a strategic transformation, pursuing advanced, unified tools to address operational, security, and educational priorities.

We urgently needed a modern, integrated solution to support remote learning and safeguard sensitive information.

Marie Ortiz Sánchez, Chief Information Officer, Puerto Rico Department of Education

Responsible AI governance was central to that effort, and with Microsoft’s security infrastructure in place, the department was confident in protecting student data as it scaled their AI initiative.

What successful IT leaders prioritize

Across education, patterns are emerging among some institutions working to scale AI responsibly, and they often reflect how IT leaders are approaching their role. They are shaping strategy, safeguarding trust, and driving the conditions that make responsible AI adoption possible. Translating that pattern into action means focusing on a few core priorities:

• Lead with governance, not just innovation.
• Prioritize secure, integrated platforms over fragmented tools.
• Enable your educators, not just your technology.
• Support consistent learning experiences across classrooms, campuses, and digital environments.
• Align your IT strategy with institutional mission and outcomes.

The Microsoft Education AI Toolkit includes AI Navigators that document how institutions are putting each of these priorities into practice, making it a useful starting point for leaders ready to move from discussion to action.

For many IT leaders, this moment presents a real opportunity to lead innovation, embed trust, and help your institution navigate a significant shift in education today. Governance, security, and platform integration are among the most important starting points for responsible AI. Explore Microsoft’s responsible AI tools and practices to learn more.

The post AI governance in education: From policy to practice appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

The Study and Learn Agent changes that. Now generally available within Microsoft 365 Copilot for all education customers at no additional cost, it gives institutions a learning-focused approach to enabling AI for students age 13 and older. For K-12 accounts, Copilot Chat is off by default for students and access must be enabled by an IT administrator. Once permission is granted, students access Study & Learn directly within the Copilot app, with no separate login or additional application required. A video walkthrough of the configuration helps guide you through these steps.

Introducing the Study and Learn Agent

AI doesn’t have to circumvent learning. It can deepen it. The Study and Learn Agent is a first-party AI agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot, built around a single principle: the learner does the thinking. Through guided conversations and interactive activities, it helps students grasp concepts, work through problems, and sharpen their writing—adapting to what each student needs at that moment.

Built on learning science, not just AI

What sets Study and Learn apart from other AI tools is that it is built on established learning science about what makes learning stick. Every interaction is intentionally designed to help reinforce learning, not bypass it.

The experience is grounded in four research-based principles:

• Adaptive scaffolding: meeting students where they are by activating what they already know, then providing enough support to stretch them into what’s next 
  
• Productive struggle: asking before telling, so students retrieve, attempt, and reason their way toward answers
  
• Active learning: practice that sticks with retrieval-based activities including flashcards, fill-in-the-blanks, quizzes and matching
  
• Application and transfer: giving students the agency to go deeper, apply their learning, or reinforce it with an activity
  

Used together, these principles move students beyond passive review and into active engagement with the material. Each interaction is designed to build on the last, supporting the kind of deep understanding that holds up beyond a single test or assignment.

From chat to active learning

Study and Learn transforms Copilot Chat from a standard chat experience into an interactive learning environment. For example, a student studying for a biology test can quiz themselves on the cell cycle and get a flashcard set generated on the spot. A student stuck on a calculus problem can be walked through it step-by-step without being given the answer. Or a student writing a history essay can talk through their argument and get questions back that sharpens their thinking.

Using this approach, students engage with Study and Learn through:

• Guided questioning including step-by-step problems, writing, understanding broad concepts, and breaking down large topics into manageable component parts
  
• Interactive learning with activities that both build and check for understanding
  
• Immediate feedback that catches misconceptions and mistakes
  

The result is a more engaging study experience that supports understanding, builds independent thinking, and fosters retention. Whether a student is preparing for an exam, working through a complex concept, or revising a piece of writing, Study and Learn adapts and keeps the work of learning where it belongs: with the student.

Enable AI with confidence

For school leaders, business decision makers, and IT administrators, Study and Learn is designed to help address the key barriers to adopting AI for students. Institutions have consistently signaled the need for learning-focused AI experiences, guardrails, and control over student AI use, and confidence that AI supports, rather than undermines, teaching and learning.

Study and Learn is designed to meet those needs. It is built into the Microsoft 365 Education environment that schools already manage, giving IT administrators familiar controls and enterprise-grade data and privacy protection rooted in Microsoft’s responsible AI principles. Students get a structured, accountable AI experience, and schools get a credible, learning-first option they can deploy with confidence.

Copilot, built for education

Study & Learn is part of a broader Microsoft vision of Copilot built for education. That means AI is designed to support every participant in the learning environment, not a single general tool adapted for multiple audiences. This includes two AI agents:

1. Teach that supports educators in designing and delivering instruction.
   
2. Study and Learn that supports students in building knowledge and skills.
   

Together, Teach and Study and Learn represent a complete AI ecosystem built around the realities of teaching and learning, inside the tools that educators and students already use.

Get started today

Study and Learn is available within the Microsoft 365 Copilot app on the web and desktop for education customers with a Microsoft 365 Education license at no additional cost. Students access it directly by logging into Copilot using their Microsoft Entra ID school credentials. The Study and Learn Agent is located in the left navigation bar of Copilot. Study and Learn is optimized and available today in English (United States). In the coming weeks, Study and Learn will expand to cover additional languages. For IT administrators, the next steps include:

• Configuration steps video walkthrough
  
• Identify and set the Education Tenant Identifier
  
• Set student age group
  

Study and Learn gives institutions a credible, learning-first path to enabling Copilot for students at scale. Follow the instructions above to enable Copilot for your students ages 13 and older today.

The post Study and Learn: AI built for your student appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

Supporting multiple schools, thousands of users, and a wide range of devices often across aging infrastructure and evolving systems is complex. At the same time, expectations and risks are rising while classrooms are more digitally sophisticated and AI is entering workflows. These new capabilities are enriching the classroom with valuable student learning experiences while also bringing in new requirements for your IT team to manage. But one challenge sits at the center of it all: Security.

Security isn’t just another priority on your list; it’s the foundation on which everything else depends.

And right now, that foundation is being tested.

The pressure is real and growing

Across education institutions, IT teams are under increasing pressure to protect against more advanced, more sophisticated, and more frequent threats. Phishing remains one of the most common entry points, yet many institutions still struggle to run consistent simulations or awareness programs. At the same time, AI-powered phishing is quickly emerging as a top concern for IT leaders, raising the stakes even further.

This isn’t just about defending systems; it’s about creating a safe learning environment, protecting your students, ensuring instructional continuity, optimizing your already tight operational budget, and maintaining trust across your community.

For many IT teams, the challenge is compounded by:

• Limited staff managing large scale environments.
• Increasing device counts across schools and grade levels.
• A mix of legacy systems and modern cloud solutions.
• Pressure to enable innovation while maintaining compliance.

It can feel like you’re being asked to modernize, secure, and scale all at once. So where do you start?

Start with security and build from there

Digital transformation in education doesn’t begin with new tools or platforms. It begins with trust.

By strengthening your security posture, you create a stable foundation that enables everything else from AI-powered learning to operational efficiency.

That’s why many education leaders are reframing their approach. They realize that security isn’t a barrier to innovation; it’s the first step toward it. And that security is not just the domain of the IT department—it’s everyone’s business.

Taking that first step doesn’t require solving everything at once. It means getting grounded, understanding your environment, and identifying the actions that will have the greatest impact.

And importantly, it means not having to do it alone.

For many, a strong place to begin is by making sure you’re fully leveraging the tools you already have. If you’re an existing Microsoft 365 Education institution with A3 or A5 licensing, that includes applying built-in capabilities, from device management to identity protection, to strengthen your security foundation.

• Conditional access: Automatically block risky sign ins or require MFA based on user, device, and location signals.
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA): Protect all staff accounts from credential theft with phishing resistant authentication.
• Intune device compliance: Require encryption, patching, and security baselines before granting access to network resources.
• BYOD app protection: Secure school data on personal devices without full device enrollment (protect apps, not the device).
• Session controls: Restrict downloads or force web-only access on unmanaged or personal devices.
• Data loss prevention (DLP): Prevent accidental sharing of student records via email, Teams, or OneDrive.

To help with this, consider taking the Education Security and Value Optimization Assessment, a self-guided engagement designed to help you better understand your current environment and identify opportunities to maximize both security and value. Through this assessment, you can evaluate how existing capabilities are being used, uncover gaps, and prioritize actions that align with your institution’s needs and resources.

These foundational steps are critical. Activating and optimizing what’s already available to you not only improves your security posture, but also sets the stage for the broader digital capabilities your staff and students increasingly rely on.

At the same time, many IT leaders are looking for a more comprehensive way to explore what’s possible, learn from peers, and plan next steps with confidence.

Explore your options with the Microsoft Education Security Toolkit

To help institutions move forward with confidence, Microsoft developed the Education Security Toolkit as an extensive resource designed specifically for education, IT professionals and leaders.

The toolkit is built to meet you where you are, offering practical guidance that helps you move from planning to pilot and from pilot to meaningful impact.

Rather than overwhelming you with theory, it provides structured, actionable support across key areas:

• Frameworks and guidance to help assess your current security posture and identify priorities.
• Real world examples and customer stories that show how other institutions have approached similar challenges.
• Implementation strategies aligned to education environments and constraints.
• Tools and templates to support planning, decision making, and execution.

When your environment is secure and well-governed, it unlocks the ability to scale innovation, better support educators, and improve student outcomes. Schools around the world are already showing how this progress can take shape.

Learning from peers: What progress looks like

One of the most valuable parts of the toolkit is the opportunity to learn from other education institutions facing similar challenges.

Across the country and around the world, schools are already taking meaningful steps forward:

• New York City Public Schools rapidly managed more than 750,000 devices across 1,800 schools, demonstrating how large-scale environments can be secured and streamlined.
• Onslow County Schools improved security while maintaining access, balancing protection with the needs of students and staff.
• Westminster School strengthened its defenses and protected sensitive data even with a lean IT team.

These stories highlight an important truth: Progress doesn’t require perfection; it starts with clear priorities and the willingness to take the next step. Often, that step is as simple as using the capabilities you’re already licensed for and unlocking value that’s already within reach.

Take the first step

The path forward doesn’t start with a complete overhaul. It starts with understanding where you are and choosing to move forward. Together, these resources help you take immediate action while building toward long term transformation.

• Start with the Education Security and Value Optimization Assessment to take immediate, targeted action and prioritize what matters most.
• Then, explore the Microsoft Education Security Toolkit to learn from peers, evaluate your options, and build a long-term, strategic approach.

Whether you begin with action or exploration, consider working together with your preferred technology provider. They can help you confidently interpret findings, prioritize opportunities, weigh options, and make your next move.

When security comes first, everything else becomes possible.

The post Strengthen security and prepare your institution for AI appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

That tension is becoming familiar across education. Institutions want to adopt Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat in ways that support innovation, but they also need confidence that student data stays protected, access is appropriately governed, and compliance requirements remain in place. The question is no longer whether to adopt AI; it is how to move forward responsibly at scale.

Zero Trust helps answer that question. By applying proven security principles to AI experiences, institutions can build on the protections they already have in place and create a stronger foundation for adoption.

To help institutions put this into practice, participating in a Zero Trust Workshop provides practical, hands-on guidance for applying Zero Trust principles across your environment. Built for institutions and IT teams, the workshop includes a structured assessment of your current security posture, scenario-based discussions, and a roadmap to help protect student data while supporting responsible AI adoption at scale.

Why Zero Trust matters for AI in education

AI changes how information is surfaced across an environment. In the past, a user might search a shared drive or navigate a folder structure to find information they were already authorized to access. With AI, information can be retrieved, summarized, and presented much more quickly across systems and content sources.

That makes existing permissions, access policies, and misconfigurations more consequential. When AI tools act on a user’s behalf, strong security controls become even more important. Institutions need to know who is using AI, what those users can access, and how to respond when something does not look right.

This is where Zero Trust becomes especially valuable. Zero Trust gives IT leaders a practical framework for adopting AI by applying three proven principles consistently across the environment: Verify explicitly, use least privilege access, and assume breach. These principles are not new. What is new is how they apply to AI and how institutions can extend existing security investments to support AI adoption with greater confidence.

When Zero Trust is applied consistently across Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat, institutions can focus on outcomes like protection, scalability, and responsible adoption.

Verify explicitly: Protect identity and access

It starts with identity. Before institutions can scale AI confidently, they need clear visibility into who is using these tools and under what conditions. Strong identity and access controls are essential when Copilot experiences are available across classrooms, departments, campuses, and administrative teams.

Verifying explicitly helps institutions:

• Establish clear accountability for AI access across users and devices.
  
• Apply identity and device trust requirements consistently as adoption expands.
  
• Support secure scaling across roles, buildings, and learning environments.
  

At Singapore Management University (SMU), Microsoft Entra ID and Entra ID Governance manage identities and enforce least-privilege access as part of an integrated Zero Trust architecture that continuously verifies identities, monitors devices, and safeguards data. With this security foundation in place, SMU expanded AI beyond cybersecurity to streamline administrative processes and create personalized learning paths tailored to students’ unique strengths and career aspirations.

Use least privilege access: Control what AI can access

Once institutions understand who is using AI, the next question is what those users should be able to access. Least privilege access helps make sure AI tools only surface the information each user is authorized to access, helping keep sensitive data such as student records, HR files, and research appropriately scoped.

Applied to Copilot experiences, least privilege access helps institutions:

• Align AI access with existing role‑based permissions.
  
• Reduce unintended exposure as Copilot surfaces content across the environment.
  
• Keep responses grounded in content each user is authorized to access.
  

For Microsoft 365 Copilot, existing permissions and data protection policies help keep responses grounded in content each user is already authorized to access.

Copilot Chat works differently. Because it’s grounded in web data by default, the focus shifts to who can use the tool, what files or prompts users provide, and what agents or data sources IT enables. These guardrails are especially important for large, complex institutions or districts like Fulton County Schools.

Fulton County Schools prioritized a structured and protective environment to ensure data security and trust in AI adoption. With data privacy and security as a top priority, the district put safeguards in place to protect student information so that Copilot Chat could be used in a measured and responsible way while reducing administrative burdens so educators could focus on engaging and inspiring students.

Assume breach: Build resilience into AI interactions

Even with strong identity controls and well-scoped permissions, no environment is immune to risk. In AI environments, resilience matters because a single compromised account can expose not only files, but also the broader set of content an AI experience can draw from on a user’s behalf.

Assuming breach helps institutions prepare for that reality by:

• Monitoring AI‑related activity for unusual or risky behavior.
  
• Applying consistent protections across devices, apps, and data.
  
• Containing the impact if an account or device is compromised.
  
• Supporting investigation and response when activity looks unexpected.
  

This principle helps institutions move forward knowing their environments are designed to help limit damage and support a fast response.

Apply Zero Trust to Copilot tools with Microsoft 365 Education

Microsoft 365 Education A3 and A5 plans help you turn Zero Trust principles into practical controls by extending your existing identity, access, and data protections to Copilot experiences. That means scaling AI doesn’t require starting over on security.

• Protect identity and access: Microsoft Entra ID and Intune for Education verify users, assess device trust, and enforce access controls across shared devices and varied user roles.
  
• Control what AI can access: Microsoft Purview applies data protection and compliance policies, so Copilot tools only surface information users are authorized to access.
  
• Build resilience as AI scales: Microsoft Defender and Purview Audit help institutions detect and respond to risks as Copilot usage expands.
  

With these capabilities in place, institutions can extend existing governance, compliance, and data protection practices to AI adoption across teaching, learning, and operations. Zero Trust is not about slowing AI adoption. It helps institutions move forward with the security, governance, and confidence needed to scale AI responsibly.

Take the next step in implementing Zero Trust security 

• Participate in a Zero Trust Workshop to assess your posture and build a roadmap for securing AI at scale. 

• Explore the Microsoft Education Security Toolkit for practical guidance for applying Zero Trust across your environment. 

Explore additional Zero Trust resources from Microsoft 

• Discover how Zero Trust principles come together with the Zero Trust Explained video. 

• Explore how Zero Trust applies to Copilot experiences with Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. 
• Learn how Zero Trust principles come together with the Zero Trust Explained video.

The post Scale AI safely with Zero Trust security  appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

The updated toolkit features improved landscape orientation and a streamlined layout for easier navigation across its five sections:

1. Overview
2. AI Navigators
3. Plan
4. Implement
5. Research

Here’s what’s new in the updated AI Toolkit.

Common AI transformation themes

The toolkit is organized around three common themes that address the full impact of AI in education: 

Student success

Support learning with AI-powered tools—for example, tutoring-style support, automated assessments, and timely feedback. Prepare students with skills-based pathways and industry-recognized certifications.

Institutional innovation

Improve efficiency with AI-powered insights and automation. Modernize infrastructure to support productivity and faculty and staff experiences.

Simplify and secure IT

Protect data and AI systems with security and governance guidance. For example, use Microsoft Security Copilot for threat detection and apply data governance and privacy practices to support trusted adoption. 

With these three themes as your foundation, you can create a sustainable, secure, and student-centered AI program that addresses technical, instructional, and operational needs at the same time.

Reimagined AI Navigators

The AI Navigators section has been updated with a focus on actionable strategies. Each profile now highlights specific steps, decision points, and strategies that have helped schools like yours experience true innovation.

Across three themes—Student success, Institutional innovation, and Simplify and secure IT—you’ll find real-world examples. Each features guiding questions and serves as a blueprint you can adapt to your own context.

AI Sparks: Scaling from individual use to systemic innovation

Building on the toolkit’s existing AI Snapshots that provide AI use cases for individual practitioners, the new AI Sparks focus on team and department-level implementations that drive systemic innovation across your institution.

Here’s the difference: A Snapshot might help an individual educator use Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat to create accessible content while a Spark demonstrates how a district-wide literacy team uses Learning Accelerators Reading Coach and Reading Progress to accelerate early literacy across all K-3 classrooms.

In higher education, a Snapshot might help an individual IT specialist create a promptbook in Security Copilot. A Spark, on the other hand, would help the entire department use Microsoft Copilot Studio analytics to identify common helpdesk issues, proactively update resources, and communicate targeted solutions—resulting in fewer support tickets.

Snapshots empower individual practice, and Sparks strengthen institutional capacity. Each Spark emphasizes how teams work together to create lasting change that extends beyond a single classroom, helping you move from isolated AI experiments to coordinated, campus-wide transformation.

Agentic AI: Assistance to autonomy

The toolkit introduces agentic AI and its potential to support institutional operations at scale. These tools can help automate multi-step tasks—like routing common questions or supporting administrative workflows—based on how your institution designs, reviews, and governs them.

The section highlights two implementation approaches: Copilot Studio for rapid, no-code agent creation, and Microsoft Foundry for more sophisticated, custom solutions. It also showcases a real-world example from the University of Leicester, where an AI-powered digital coach reduced staff workload while providing students on-demand access to university information.

Action-ready checklists: Your roadmap from planning to implementation

To help teams move faster, without skipping the fundamentals, we added action-ready checklists that turn guidance into clear, assignable next steps.

• Overview: Take your first steps from forming an AI leadership committee to getting started with Copilot Chat.
• AI Navigators: Explore authentic education success stories from around the world.
• Plan: Prepare for governance and infrastructure readiness.
• Implement: Consider deployment, professional learning, and prepare to move from pilot to scale.

These checklists provide a framework for moving systematically from assessment to action, ensuring alignment across stakeholders and sustainable implementation across your organization.

Build your network through Microsoft Elevate

The toolkit highlights Microsoft Elevate for Educators, an expanded framework that builds on the success of Microsoft Showcase Schools and the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert (MIEE) programs. By bringing both communities together, it creates new pathways for educators and school leaders to grow, earn recognition, and connect with peers worldwide who are actively implementing and innovating with AI in educational environments.

• Microsoft Elevate Schools: See how institutions like yours are building institutional capacity, creating cultures of innovation, and overcoming the implementation challenges you’re navigating right now.
• Microsoft Elevate Educators: Explore how educators across subject areas and grade levels are using AI to scale teaching and learning—giving you relatable examples to champion and scale across your institution.

This section provides pathways to connect with Microsoft Education communities so you can collaborate with others and share your own AI experiences.

Hour of AI: Develop AI literacy

The toolkit features content on Code.org’s Hour of AI, launched in Fall 2025 and building on the success of Hour of Code to help learners understand the AI technology shaping their future. Through easy-to-follow lessons and activities, including Minecraft AI Foundations and the Generation AI lesson in Minecraft Education, students develop foundational AI literacy while having fun.

Strengthened research foundation

The Research section has been updated to reflect the evolving landscape of AI in education. The resources are organized to help your team quickly find the content you need:

• Microsoft insights
• Data and insights
• Academic research
• Planning support

Use these resources to make informed decisions, build stakeholder confidence, and ground your AI strategy in proven practices. Whether you’re presenting to your board or addressing faculty concerns, you can point to current research that shares real outcomes, addresses common concerns, and validates your implementation approach.

From adoption to transformation

The updated toolkit represents more than incremental improvements. It’s a comprehensive resource designed for institutions ready to move from initial AI introductions to transformative, systemic change. Every update focuses on giving you the guidance you need to address your practical challenges.

The toolkit’s five sections—Overview, AI Navigators, Plan, Implement, and Research—work together to support your entire AI journey. From forming your AI leadership committee to embedding AI across your institution’s operations, you’ll find the frameworks, examples, and evidence you need to move forward with confidence.

Download the updated Microsoft Education AI Toolkit today and take the next step in scaling responsible, sustainable AI adoption.

The post What’s new in the Microsoft Education AI Toolkit appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.

At the 2026 Microsoft Digital Sovereignty Summit in Brussels, leaders from policy, IT, and industry gathered to discuss how to balance sovereignty and innovation. A clear theme emerged: digital sovereignty has become a continuous risk management discipline, one that strengthens resilience, security, and innovation.

Five key insights surfaced, outlining what digital sovereignty looks like in practice for education institutions.

1. Digital sovereignty is about operating confidently in uncertainty

Leaders at the summit grounded digital sovereignty in practical terms, reframing it as a risk management discipline rather than an abstract policy concept. For education leaders navigating data privacy compliance, research data requirements, and enabling cross-institution collaboration, this means the goal is to understand risk clearly and apply the right level of control.

A key insight was that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Every workload, whether a student information system, a research platform, or an administrative application, carries a unique risk profile and compliance obligation. Sovereignty decisions must be made deliberately, workload-by-workload, enabling institutions to make clearer, more confident decisions in changing conditions. Education leaders should assess risk across student systems, research platforms, and administrative solutions individually rather than applying a single institutional policy to all workloads.

2. Sovereignty and innovation should reinforce each other

A clear consensus emerged at the summit: Institutions do not need to choose between innovation and sovereignty. When grounded in strong security and governance, sovereignty creates the conditions for innovation to thrive. With that foundation in place, education leaders can pursue AI-driven capabilities like adaptive learning, personalized student support, and accelerated research while safeguarding sensitive data in a secure, compliant environment. That requires bringing AI strategy, cloud strategy, and governance into one planning process so institutions can drive innovation while maintaining full control over their data and infrastructure.

Sovereignty is not a single architecture decision. It’s about applying the right controls to each workload without compromising continuity, flexibility, and innovation. Across cloud and hybrid environments, the right controls help institutions protect sensitive data, meet compliance requirements, and improve resilience. Microsoft Sovereign Cloud supports this approach by combining sovereignty capabilities with integrated security to help institutions maintain control while continuing to innovate.

3. Modern cybersecurity requires collaboration, scale, and trust

Sovereignty without cybersecurity is a non-starter, and speakers addressed that reality directly. For education leaders managing sensitive student records, research data, and critical administrative systems, cyber threats continue to evolve, making visibility and coordination essential. Cybersecurity is now a continuous operational priority, not a periodic compliance exercise.

Importantly, discussions challenged a common misconception: that isolation alone equals security. Disconnecting systems or building digital walls can create blind spots by limiting access to global threat intelligence, coordinated response, and real-time threat detection. Strong cybersecurity safeguards do more than reduce risk; they are the foundation for sovereignty and digital transformation. Education leaders should evaluate not just whether systems meet requirements under normal conditions, but whether they deliver the continuous visibility, resilience, and threat defense needed to maintain real control over their environments.

4. Digital sovereignty in the era of AI goes beyond data residency

Summit discussions also reinforced that AI operating under sovereign requirements must be built on responsible data processing and transparent control. This goes beyond where data is stored, requiring clear boundaries around how data is processed, how AI models are trained and operated, and full visibility into how these systems behave across their lifecycle. Leaders emphasized that institutions need AI systems that not only meet today’s regulatory and security obligations but remain trustworthy, auditable, and resilient as requirements evolve. In practice, that means asking not just where data is stored, but where prompts and responses are processed, who can access them, and how controls are applied.

For institutions, sovereignty must be designed end-to-end, including infrastructure, platforms, security, data governance, and AI workloads. To support this, Microsoft is building new capabilities across the stack to support sovereign requirements at scale. For education leaders, these capabilities provide verifiable control over how data is processed and how AI is deployed across learning, research, and operations.

5. Making digital sovereignty work requires collaboration

The final takeaway reinforced a theme that ran through every discussion: digital sovereignty succeeds through collaboration, not isolation. It depends on institutions, governments, and technology providers working together to translate policy into operational reality. Rather than isolating systems, institutions that combine local expertise with trusted cloud and AI infrastructure can maintain control, meet regulatory requirements, and drive innovation simultaneously.

For education institutions, that shared approach makes sovereignty more scalable and practical across teaching, research, and operations. Just as importantly, collaboration helps institutions meet local requirements and maintain the interoperability needed to connect systems, services, and teams. In practice, that means applying the right level of control where sensitivity requires it, not isolating systems in ways that increase risk or operational burden.

A practical approach to digital sovereignty

A strong sovereignty posture gives institutions choice, visibility, and control across diverse environments. The goal is to align capabilities with institutional responsibilities, regulatory requirements, and the sensitivity of each workload, applying the right controls to each rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach. For education leaders, that means strong encryption, transparency, and clear access controls in public cloud, with hybrid and sovereign solutions available where greater control is required.  

A risk management discipline that strengthens innovation

Microsoft’s expanded sovereign cloud continuum enables critical workloads to run across diverse environments while still benefiting from innovation, advanced security, operational transparency, and features like the EU Data Boundary and long-standing encryption and access safeguards.

Digital sovereignty is now an institution-wide discipline rooted in risk management. With trusted digital systems, institutions can make deliberate, workload-specific decisions across learning, research, and operations while balancing security, compliance, resilience, and innovation.

Learn more about Microsoft’s approach to sovereignty, security, and innovation

• Microsoft Sovereign Cloud in Europe: Read the whitepaper to learn how Microsoft is approaching sovereignty, security, compliance, and resilience in Europe.
  
• The Future of Learning Starts with Trust: Download this e-book to see how K-12 leaders can adopt trustworthy AI with confidence.
  

The post 5 insights for education leaders from the 2026 Microsoft Digital Sovereignty Summit appeared first on Microsoft Education Blog.