Subject’s Head of Engineering shares where AI belongs in your classroom and what to ask before your school rolls out its next AI feature.
Movie trailers have one job, which is to get you into the seat. Some of them share every good joke in those two minutes, then leave you with ninety minutes of nothing.
Funny enough, EdTech pitches work the same way. Teachers usually catch the trailer secondhand after the district already bought the tickets. Then, unfortunately, nobody asks them how the movie was.
Marco Huerta has watched a lot of teachers squint at those trailers. As our Head of Engineering at Subject, he still writes code most days and visits schools as often as six times a month to answer the skeptics in person.
Those visits taught him what separates a company that listens from one that performs listening. He’s here to show teachers how to run the same check on any tool that lands in their classroom.
Key takeaways:
- Teachers can test an EdTech company by asking when someone who builds the product last visited a classroom like theirs.
- Teachers should judge an EdTech tool by whether scores moved for students like theirs, since engagement numbers are easy to inflate.
- Teachers should ask who at an EdTech company answers for AI mistakes, since classroom platforms hold student and teacher data.
Why your classroom tools feel like they’re built by strangers
Districts buy the tools, and the teachers use them. EdTech sales teams figured out a long time ago which group signs the contract, but often deprioritize the group that uses the product.
A Clever survey of about 1,500 educators and administrators found that 85% of administrators say teachers are frequently or sometimes involved in choosing EdTech. Over 60% of teachers said they are rarely or never involved, and a third said never. Both groups are describing the same meetings, which is the kind of plot hole Marvel fans write whole Reddit threads about.
Once the contract closes, even fewer people ask teachers what’s working. Marco hears it from Subject customers describing other vendors.
“Our customers tell us, ‘we hear from vendors maybe once every two years.
They never come visit. Nobody ever shows up [and gives teachers the opportunity to ask questions or provide feedback on the product].’”
That gap costs teachers more than a missed handshake. A company that never sees your classroom builds features based on guesses. You spend the next few years working around the tool, and the company never finds out why.
How to tell the trailer from the movie
Every EdTech pitch comes with trailer lines, and teachers usually hear them secondhand at a rollout or training.
We laid out the five you’ll most likely hear in the trailer (the demo), and what to ask for instead when the movie (the EdTech product) starts actually rolling. Ask the vendor’s trainer directly or send the questions up through your principal.
Trailer: “We’re always listening.”
When the movie starts rolling… Ask when someone who builds the product last visited a classroom like yours. A feedback form is where suggestions go to retire.
Marco visits schools about twice a month and takes what he hears straight to his engineers. “I’ll come back, and I’ll remind them what’s important,” he says. “It keeps our roadmap very grounded.”
Trailer: “That feature’s coming soon.”
When the movie starts rolling… Ask for a preview. “Soon” can mean next month or the heat death of the universe. When teachers recently told Marco they wanted a certain feature, he pulled up what his team was building. “I said, ‘we’re actually working on it, and I can even show you a preview.’”
When a feature doesn’t exist, a good company says so. “I’ll be honest,” Marco says. “I’ll say, ‘no, the platform is not capable of doing that.’”
Trailer: “Students love it.”
When the movie starts rolling… Ask whether scores moved for students like yours. Engagement is easy to fake. (We’ve all seen a Fitbit count steps taken by shaking your arm from the couch.)
Marco’s team watches for that trap. “We might say, ‘yay, we won, they’re so engaged,’” he says, “but also, ‘hey, the scores are going down.’” At Subject, we compare students who used the platform with students who didn’t, then check with partner districts on how both groups did.
Trailer: “It’s AI-powered.”
When the movie starts rolling… Ask what the AI checks its work against. Subject’s AI grading reads the rubric before it scores anything.
“It’ll look up rubrics to understand what a 100% looks like, what an 80% looks like,” he explains. “So it’s grounded on the actual coursework, on the standards.”
Trailer: “We added AI to everything.”
The movie: Ask which teacher asked for it. Marco says customers rarely ask for AI by name. “They actually say, ‘give me the feature that’s going to make my life easier.’”
AI bolted on in a hurry can go sideways fast. In 2024, Los Angeles Unified pulled its $6 million AI chatbot, a cartoon sun named Ed, about three months after launch when the company building it furloughed most of its staff. You can say, the sun set early.
The AI sequel is already filming
More AI is headed for your classroom, and some of it will help. Teachers who use AI tools every week save about 5.9 hours a week, according to Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation. That adds up to roughly six weeks over a school year, which is almost enough time to read your school’s AI policy (which only 19% of teachers say their school has).
You may end up drawing the lines yourself. Marco draws his around the paperwork. Grading is “probably the biggest time sink,” he says, and he’s watched teachers light up when hours of contact logs start filling themselves in. Those are jobs AI can take off your plate while you keep setting the rules.
Marco’s clear that Subject has no intention of replacing teachers or their value in students’ lives.
“We’re here to make teachers’ lives better. Students desperately need that human connection.”
He also wants kids learning to use AI well, since “if a student is not AI literate going into the workforce, they are going to be left way, way behind.”
Whatever AI does in your room, someone at the company should answer for it. “We’re still being held accountable for everything that agentic development puts out,” Marco adds.
That matters because your students’ data is on the line, and so is yours. In the PowerSchool breach disclosed in January 2025, a hacker claimed to have taken data on about 62 million students and 9.5 million teachers.
So add one more ask to your list: Find out who at the company answers for the AI when it gets something wrong.
The tool in your classroom may have been picked in a meeting you weren’t invited to, but that doesn’t mean your voice and opinions don’t deserve to be heard. Your questions still count, and the companies worth trusting will show up to answer them.
FAQs
How can teachers tell if an EdTech company is listening?
An EdTech company is listening when the people who build the product visit classrooms and bring feedback back to engineers. Subject’s Head of Engineering, Marco Huerta, visits schools about twice a month. A listening company also shows previews of unfinished features and says plainly when its platform can’t do something.
Why are teachers left out of EdTech purchasing decisions?
Teachers are often left out of EdTech purchasing because districts sign the contracts and vendors pitch administrators. In a Clever survey, 85% of administrators said teachers were at least sometimes involved. Over 60% of teachers said they were rarely or never involved in choosing EdTech tools.
What should teachers ask about AI-powered classroom tools?
Teachers should ask what an AI-powered classroom tool checks its work against. Subject’s AI grading reads assignment rubrics before scoring, which grounds each score in the coursework and standards. Teachers can also ask which teacher requested the AI feature and which settings let them control it.
Where does AI belong in the classroom?
AI belongs on classroom paperwork like grading and logging contacts with remote students, while teachers keep setting the rules. Student conversations stay with the teacher. Teachers who use AI weekly save about 5.9 hours a week, according to Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation.