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How Our Students Helped Shape Instructron
Every year during test prep season, Joe and I find ourselves doing the same thing. We walk through each question with the whole class, hoping to keep everyone on track. A few students raise their hands, some quietly get it, and others stay silent even when they’re lost. It’s hard to know who needs help in the moment, and even harder to make sure every student feels comfortable asking for it. With so many different levels in one room and the pressure to move quickly, it always feels like we’re mi
AI in the Classroom: A Rebuttal to the Doubters
There's no denying that artificial intelligence prompts strong reactions, especially in education. Concerns about privacy, depersonalization, and unintended consequences are real. But at Instructron, we designed our AI tools explicitly for classrooms, anchored in trust, transparency, and teacher empowerment. Here’s our response to the most common criticisms. 1. “AI invades student privacy.” The truth: Instructron was built to minimize the data we collect. We don’t ask for student names, email
From Bubble to Breakthrough: How My Class Grew on the ELA CAASPP with Instructron
When Joe and I first sat down with my brother Khoa to talk about education and AI, one thing kept coming up—test prep. Every year, we were pulling from old benchmarks, handing out packets, running small groups, and hoping something would stick. But it always felt like guesswork. We never had a real system for helping students in the moment or seeing exactly where their thinking broke down. That conversation sparked Instructron. We didn’t want another worksheet generator. We wanted a tool that ga
Test Prep Burnout Is Real
Before we ever launched Instructron, we asked a simple question: What frustrates you most about test prep? The response was overwhelming! We heard from hundreds of teachers. They weren’t holding back. The messages poured in from classrooms across the country, and we started to see the same things again and again. Not just minor annoyances, but real obstacles that were burning teachers out and leaving students discouraged. One teacher put it bluntly: "It's boring, there's no feedback, and I can
Why Instructron Takes a Different Approach to AI and Assessment
Let’s get one thing straight: grading essays is time-consuming. Like, "why do I do this to myself every Sunday night?" time-consuming. So it would be easy for us to build an AI that reads student writing and spits out a score. But that’s not what Instructron is about. We believe student writing deserves more than a number. Here's why we don't auto-grade essays and what we do instead. Writing Is a Process, Not a Product Instructron is built on the idea that writing should be coached, not judg
Real Talk: What AI Can’t Do in the Classroom (And Why That’s Okay)
Let’s get one thing straight: we love AI. Obviously. We built Instructron because we believe it can make teachers’ lives easier and students’ learning stronger. But even we know it has limits. And that’s actually the whole point. AI isn’t a teacher. It doesn’t read the room. It doesn’t pick up on the weird vibe after lunch. It doesn’t notice when a usually chatty student suddenly goes quiet. And it definitely doesn’t understand the full picture behind a kid’s behavior, effort, or growth. What
AI Tools in Education: What’s Worth Your Time in 2025?
If you're a teacher, you’ve probably seen the explosion of AI tools being marketed to schools. Tools for grading, lesson planning, test prep, and more. And while some are genuinely helpful, others feel like they were built by people who’ve never stepped foot in a classroom. So which ones are actually worth looking at this year? We reviewed the most-used AI platforms in schools right now and broke them down by what they do for you (and your students). Whether you’re trying to save time, improve