Innovating in Public Education with David Adams, CEO of The Urban Assembly

·24 min·2 clips

David Adams unveils Project CAFE, a $150-per-year AI tool that gives teachers unlimited private feedback through 10-second video clips.

Host Mike Palmer welcomes David Adams for an in-person recording at The Urban Assembly's headquarters in Manhattan. Adams begins by outlining the organization's mission: designing and supporting 22 public schools in New York City focused on social-emotional learning, instructional quality, and college/career readiness. He mentions specific schools like Harbor School for maritime careers and the Institute for Math and Science for Young Women. The conversation shifts to the tools Urban Assembly develops for broader use, including the Resilience Scholars Program for SEL and the AI Power Tool Counselor for post-secondary guidance. Palmer then steers the discussion toward artificial intelligence. Adams introduces Urban Assembly's 'theory of constraints' framework, identifying knowledge, incentives, risk, resources, and time as key barriers to learning outcomes. He explains how AI is used to reduce these constraints, leading to Project CAFE (Classroom Automated Feedback Environment). This tool, inspired by sports instant replay, provides teachers with 10-second video clips of their practice for self-review, costing $150 per teacher annually. Adams shares preliminary pilot data: a 7% increase in student talk time and a 35% increase in positive classroom climate. He emphasizes that CAFE is private, teacher-driven, and designed to offer 'a drip, drip, drip of professional development' rather than evaluation. The vision is for every first-year teacher nationwide to have access. Adams also highlights other AI applications, like analyzing non-verbal redirections and enabling teachers to share effective practice clips. The episode concludes with broader reflections on equity through innovation, noting Urban Assembly's 92.4% network graduation rate, including one school at 100%. Adams plugs his own podcast, 'Innovations in Public Education,' and calls for collective boldness to restore faith in public education.

As heard by us

A grounded look at how cost and feedback shape one AI approach to teacher development.

Educational innovation is framed as a practical allocation problem: how schools can give teachers better feedback when coaching is costly, and when time and instructional know-how both affect learning.

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Want to see what AI looks like when its job is making teacher feedback cheaper, faster, and more frequent?

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