UT Austin brings ALIGN AI literacy resources online for US schools

The national project, which began in Texas in 2025, combines educator training, district planning, classroom resources and state-level policy work

The UT Austin-led ALIGN Project combines educator professional learning, district planning and classroom AI literacy resources.

The Texas Advanced Computing Center at The University of Texas at Austin has opened a website for the ALIGN Project, creating a central point of access for its K-12 artificial intelligence literacy resources, professional learning and school system planning support.

ALIGN, short for AI Literacy for Innovation, Growth, and Networking, is led by the center’s Expanding Pathways in Computing team. The initiative is intended to help educators, school leaders and communities move from initial discussions about AI toward implementation in teaching, learning and district operations.

The website launch gives the project a public-facing structure, but it does not mark the beginning of ALIGN itself. The initiative started in Texas in 2025 and describes its work as spanning professional learning, district planning, statewide collaboration and community engagement.

Its current components include AI Literacy Academies, Cyber+AI workshops, one-day symposia, district guidance and classroom lessons. ALIGN describes itself as a national initiative, although the named task force and symposia are rooted in Texas, and the published information does not identify activity in other states.

Training, district planning and policy work

The AI Literacy Academies are designed for educators, school leaders and districts. They cover the integration of AI literacy into teaching, leadership and school systems through immersive professional learning.

Cyber+AI workshops bring together artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, with hands-on activities for educators and students. The initiative says these sessions will also explore emerging workforce pathways.

The AI Literacy in Action Symposia are one-day events hosted in school districts across Texas. They are intended to give educators and administrators practical information about introducing AI in schools.

Policy work sits alongside the training program. The Texas AI in Education Task Force convened in spring 2026 to identify factors affecting the state’s ability to provide AI literacy for every student and to develop recommendations for a K-12 AI education pipeline.

Its members represented academia, industry, K-12 education and communities. The task force produced four recommendations, published in a paper titled Leading the Way in K-12 Education, although the website overview does not set out those recommendations individually.

Think, create and question

ALIGN’s emerging framework organizes AI literacy around three actions: think, create and question.

Users are encouraged to consider a task and possible solutions before turning to AI, use the technology as a partner when creating material, and examine the assumptions, biases and ethical implications of its outputs. The framework also calls for users to edit AI-generated work to ensure it is relevant and appropriate.

The approach places critical evaluation alongside practical tool use. ALIGN says its classroom lessons will be accessible and adaptable across grade levels and subject areas, while its district resources are intended to support guidance, policies and implementation plans.