Preparing for a World Driven by Data

Okaloosa County School District introduces AI curriculum

Before retiring as the program administrator at the Okaloosa County School District’s Artificial Intelligence Institute, Jerral Horton facilitated a new age of technology for her district. During her tenure, Horton was keenly aware of the infiltration of artificial intelligence into everyday life.

Standing before the Triumph Gulf Coast Board last spring, Horton, explained that AI is more than just ChatGPT and self-driving cars.

It’s at work when, at the press of a button, you order a new pair of shoes from Amazon, when you ask Siri a question on your iPhone, and when you cash your latest paycheck via your banking app.

A quick search on Indeed.com, Horton said, will net you over 17,000 AI-related jobs on a local, national, and international scale, with local yearly salaries ranging from $60,000 to $192,000.

The Okaloosa County Schools personnel, given the rapid pace at which Narrow AI (artificial intelligence designed for a specific task) is advancing, approached Triumph Gulf Coast seeking a grant for career-based AI education.

In partnership with the University of Florida and its EQuIPD grant program, the district has launched a K-12 Artificial Intelligence Program, which supplies middle school and high school students with instruction in AI, machine learning, data science, and Python, the most popular computer programming language.

Horton said the AI curriculum was designed to lead to industry certifications useful to students seeking employment in the field or planning to pursue advanced AI studies. It is the first of its kind in Florida and was made possible by a Triumph Gulf Coast grant of $2,840,000. The district is providing matching funds.

Following the program’s inaugural year in 2022–23, Horton had good news for the Triumph board. Triumph required that at least 50 students qualify for certifications in year one. Choctawhatchee High School and the eight middle schools that offered AI instruction combined to sail past that goal; 214 certifications were awarded.

Getting there, Horton said, wasn’t easy.

“For starters, the framework being written by the University of Florida was not yet complete,” Horton said. “We had to use other course numbers that were not specifically designed for our track and adapt those standards to what we were trying to teach. Also, very few of our teachers, except for a few computer whizzes, knew how to code. We were flailing.”

The summer before the fall semester, instructors were sent to a weeklong, University of Florida-led “boot camp” in Orlando, where they learned the basics of Python coding and how to design lesson plans for their classes. Horton said she also purchased teacher education resources, such as Teachers Pay Teachers and Knowledge Pillars.

“They were having to learn along with their students,” Horton said, “and I honestly didn’t know if it was going to be successful. But, after the first semester, teachers found a resource that worked for them, the standards were officially completed by UF, and we finally had some framework from which we could work. We started buying into the program, and students started having success.”

As it stands, the program’s four-year track encompasses the following classes: Foundations of Programming for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics and Database Design, Machine Learning and Applications, and a fourth-year capstone project and internship with industry partners.

Horton said they will continue to track industry needs, and as of this year, an advisory board has been established to create partnerships with local industries for the 2025-26 school year. The idea is to create a talent pipeline for places such as Eglin Air Force Base, local software developers, and companies that rely on AI.

“As of this school year, we have just begun implementing the second-year course,” said Horton. “We have added Crestview High School and Baker, a K-12 school, and currently have 392 students enrolled in the program, with 41 in the data science course.”

Dottie Holland, a teacher at Choctawhatchee High School, has just begun instructing second-year students.

“This phase of learning centers on importing and processing data through Python libraries and packages,” Holland said. “Students are guided through the entire data processing lifecycle encompassing data acquisition, purification, analysis, and communication of findings.”

Holland said she is excited about delving into the question, which often looms in her students’ minds: “How will learning this benefit me?”

“My aim is to address that comprehensively,” Holland said. “By showcasing success stories of past students who have gone on to make meaningful contributions in their careers, I hope to underline the tangible value that our curriculum brings. And, I plan to create opportunities for students to engage in real-world projects to give them a taste of what lies beyond the classroom.”

Horton said plans to begin incorporating elementary school pullout programs were an ongoing project this past summer. According to her, Destin Elementary School is “just about ready to go, where fourth-grade teachers will begin taking their students to the school’s STEM lab that we’ve recently outfitted with new furniture, storage bins, and frontline teaching technology.”

As of this writing, plans are in the works to add Wright and Elliott Point Elementary Schools.

Both Horton and Holland are optimistic about the program’s progress.

“The program’s evolution hinges on a twofold approach: incorporating cutting-edge tools and technologies and deepening the connection between learning and real-world impact,” Holland said. “By doing so, we ensure that our students not only graduate with knowledge but with the confidence and capability to tackle the challenges of the data-driven world that awaits them.”