Welcome to Playground Post, a bi-weekly newsletter that keeps education innovators ahead of what’s next.

Here’s what we have on deck for today…

1. Schools desperate for cybersecurity help (18x more than expected)

2. More than half of teachers have had no AI training

3. USC's edtech accelerator welcomes 16 startups

Schools desperate for cybersecurity help (18x more than expected)

Talk about demand…

The FCC’s new $200M cybersecurity pilot program just got $3.7B in funding requests.

FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement said “The overwhelming response to our pilot program makes clear that the cybersecurity threats impacting school systems are widespread. The Pilot Program provides an excellent opportunity to both learn from these varied experiences, and also test out solutions in different environments.”

True…

But it also provides an excellent opportunity for innovators to offer cost-effective solutions to fill the critical gap in cybersecurity for education institutions.

Government funds can only fund 5% of requests. Schools will be looking for creative alternatives.

More than half of teachers have had no AI training

Good news: The percentage of teachers trained on AI is increasing

Bad news: Only 43% of teachers have had any sort of training

A recent EdWeek survey revealed that while AI training has increased nearly 50% since last spring, 57% remain untrained. And this is two years after ChatGPT’s release.

You’d think that in a classroom full of students who are probably using AI to do everything from writing papers to answering homework problems, teachers would have some sort of training in ChatGPT or Claude. But the data says otherwise…

It isn’t that teachers don’t want training. They do.

There’s a massive opportunity to support schools with affordable, accessible AI training. One of our 4.0 alumni is actually ahead of the curve here…

Katie Boody Adorno, CEO and founder of the Kansas City-based LeanLab Education just secured a $1M grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to study AI’s impact of teaching and learning.

So the demand is definitely there to teach educators about AI tech, but we just need help bridging the gap.

USC's edtech accelerator welcomes 16 startups

USC’s Rossier School of Education just named 16 edtech companies to it’s seventh Education Technology Accelerator cohort.

The program is 100% online, gives founders access to USC’s faculty and industry experts, and (here’s the kicker) doesn’t charge tuition or take equity — a slightly different approach than what startups are used to…

The crazy part?

The accelerator has helped its alumni raise over $130M and impact 23M+ learners since it’s launch in 2018.

The program’s success suggests that equity-free, virtual accelerators can drive signifiant impact. In a market where founders are increasingly protective of giving up equity, the model might be worth looking into — whether you’re looking to build an accelerator or choosing to join one.

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We’ll be back with another edition on Tuesday. See you then!

To stay up-to-date on all things education innovation, visit us at playgroundpost.com.