OpenAI Brings AI Skills Jam to 1,600 K–12 Educators Across Eight US Cities

OpenAI Academy, in partnership with the Walton Family Foundation, will host a flagship AI Skills Jam for K–12 Educators this summer, bringing together more than 1,600 teachers, administrators, and district leaders for in-person, hands-on workshops across U.S. cities.

The program builds on two earlier efforts: the Nonprofit AI Jam and the Small Business AI Jam. Both served as templates for what OpenAI Academy now describes as a "hands-on, high-trust environment" where educators can move from curiosity about AI to practical, day-to-day use. For OpenAI, the stakes are clear. Teachers are being asked to navigate rapid technological change while managing limited time, growing responsibilities, and uneven access to practical support — a gap the company wants to close by embedding itself directly in the professional lives of K–12 educators.

The time-saving numbers behind the push

The initiative rests on a concrete data point. Research from the Walton Family Foundation and Gallup, published in the Teaching for Tomorrow: Closing the Expectations Gap Report, found that teachers who use AI tools at least weekly estimate saving 5.9 hours per week on average. Multiplied across a typical school year, that amounts to approximately six weeks of time.

Teachers say they reinvest that time into more nuanced student feedback, individualized lesson planning, parent communication — or, according to OpenAI's announcement, "even getting home at a more reasonable hour." That framing matters for the education market, where teacher burnout and workload are persistent policy concerns, and where AI vendors are increasingly positioning their tools as labor-saving infrastructure rather than novelty products.

During the Jam, participants will work alongside OpenAI mentors to learn how to incorporate AI into everyday work such as lesson planning, parent and staff communications, and administrative tasks. OpenAI says the sessions will be hands-on and focused on real classroom and school system needs, giving educators time and space to try tools, ask questions, share concerns, and build confidence.

A senior OpenAI executive frames the goal

"Educators are at the center of helping communities understand and adapt to new technology," said Leah Belsky, Vice President of Education at OpenAI. "Through the AI Skills Jam for K–12 Educators, we want to give teachers and school leaders practical support, trusted learning environments, and direct opportunities to shape how AI can be used responsibly in education. Access to AI is just the starting point, the real opportunity is building the agency to use these tools thoughtfully and solve meaningful problems."

Belsky's comment signals the strategic logic of the program. Access alone — simply handing teachers a chatbot — is not what OpenAI is selling here. The company wants to cultivate what it calls "agency": sustained, thoughtful adoption of AI tools across school systems, with OpenAI mentors and platforms positioned as the ongoing support layer.

That support extends beyond the events themselves. Participants will be connected to OpenAI Academy, a free online platform that provides resources and best practice guidance about leveraging AI, so they can continue building on what they started at the Jam. OpenAI states plainly that its goal isn't to just host a one-day workshop; it's to expand relationships with educators, school system leaders, and ecosystem partners over time.

For districts weighing AI adoption, that long-term posture is the real story. A single workshop series across eight cities reaches 1,600 people. A durable channel into district leadership, via OpenAI Academy and partner relationships, reaches procurement decisions for years.

Eight cities, July through September

The confirmed locations and partners for the AI Skills Jam for K–12 Educators are:

• Jonesboro, GA, with Clayton County Public Schools — Wednesday, July 8
• Fairfax, VA, with Fairfax County Public Schools — Thursday, July 9
• Orlando, FL, at the PTA Conference with the Parent Teacher Association — Saturday, July 11
• Chicago, IL, with District 211 — Wednesday, July 15
• San Bernardino, CA, with San Bernardino City Unified School District — Wednesday, July 22
• Phoenix, AZ, with Vertex Education & Legacy Traditional Schools — Friday, July 31
• Salt Lake City, UT, with Davis School District — Friday, August 7
• Las Vegas, NV, with Vertex Education & Legacy Traditional Schools — Friday, September 4

The schedule runs on two tracks. The first five events pair OpenAI directly with public school districts, from Clayton County in Georgia to San Bernardino City Unified in California. The last three lean on Vertex Education and Legacy Traditional Schools, a charter operator working across Arizona and Nevada. The Orlando stop, held at the PTA Conference, puts the program in front of parents as well as educators — an acknowledgment that AI adoption in schools is as much a community trust problem as a technical one.

OpenAI expressed gratitude to the districts, school systems, educators, partners, and the Walton Family Foundation for helping shape the effort, describing their leadership and expertise as essential to making AI useful, responsible, and accessible in education.

Why it matters

The K–12 education market has become contested ground for AI companies. Teachers face uneven access to training, and district leaders face pressure to adopt AI responsibly without clear playbook. Programs like the AI Skills Jam let OpenAI shape that playbook early — through mentorship, curriculum, and the free OpenAI Academy platform — rather than waiting for districts to negotiate adoption on their own terms.

The Walton Family Foundation and Gallup research gives the effort an empirical anchor: teachers already using AI weekly report saving nearly six hours a week. If the Jam's in-person workshops convert that reported time savings into sustained tool use across 1,600 educators and their districts, OpenAI will have built something more durable than a summer event — a national foothold in how American schools learn to work with AI.

The first workshop takes place in Jonesboro, Georgia, on July 8. The last, in Las Vegas, lands on September 4, timed to the start of the new school year — when the lessons, and the tools, will face their first real classroom test.