Overview

Nestled on Long Island, New York, Hauppauge Public Schools is home to five schools, 3,200 students, and a deeply committed team of 410 staff members. The district has long championed a culture of respect, collaboration, and support – both in the classroom and throughout the community.

With its motto of “Learners Today, Leaders Tomorrow,” Hauppauge Schools desired a tool that would not only enhance teaching and learning, but also support teacher and administrative productivity. The district started using Brisk Teaching to engage students and teachers while supporting district goals, and saw incredible results. 

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The Challenge: Building Teacher Capacity with AI

Hauppauge’s instructional team is made up of both seasoned educators and newer teachers, all united by a shared commitment to student growth. As new educators joined the team, district leaders identified the need to support teachers at every stage of their careers – by finding tools that could streamline lesson planning, increase alignment across classrooms, and free up time for more meaningful student interaction. 

Hauppauge saw an opportunity to introduce AI as a way to build teacher capacity and benefit student learning. To support Hauppauge’s vision for elevated teaching and learning, the district began looking for an AI tool that could redesign workload without compromising quality. 

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The Solution: Sustainable Support, Real Impact

In their search for a meaningful solution, Hauppauge discovered Brisk Teaching. Its seamless integration with Google Workspace and intuitive Chrome extension made it easy to adopt, offering the accessibility and functionality teachers had been searching for.  

A few educators started exploring Brisk on their own, and as they began to share their experiences in professional learning communities, momentum grew. By the end of the 2023-2024 school year, Hauppauge piloted Brisk district-wide. When the results spoke for themselves, the district officially rolled out Brisk in Fall 2024, supporting the transition with robust professional development, workshops, and staff-wide training. 

The impact was immediate. Teachers used Brisk to provide feedback, create presentations, assist in writing IEPs, and inspect student writing. Administrators adopted it for teacher observations, using the rubric feedback feature to offer clearer, more timely input than ever before. 

Leslie Brophy, Director of CTE, Digital Learning, and Innovation at Hauppauge, shared that Brisk made it easy for Hauppauge to roll out because it lives right in their Google Workspace environment. “Ease of use is the number one way to get teachers to adopt something,” Leslie says. “As an administrator, pushing Brisk out was very easy. It's just having it as a Chrome extension.”

Joanne Seale, an English Language Arts teacher and Digital Learning Coach at Hauppauge, adds, “I was able to use Brisk within five minutes, which is my first test. Because if I have to take 20 or 30 minutes to figure it out as somebody who lives in this land [of technology], then a teacher who doesn't live here is not going to invest that time or energy.”

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Targeted Feedback That Matters

Teachers reported dramatic time savings with Brisk. Tasks that once took days were now completed within a prep period or two. 

“One standout experience happened one of the first times I used Brisk for feedback,” says Seale. “I used to spend hours upon hours grading papers, losing time on the weekend with my family just trying to plow through the work, and now all of a sudden, I’m able to get through a class set within one to two prep periods. I finally wasn’t chained to the computer or stack of papers any longer and felt such a sense of freedom. I am actually jealous of new teachers who have this opportunity at their fingertips today.”

Brisk didn't just save time; it elevated the quality of feedback and helped students reflect more deeply on their writing. According to Seale, “There just aren’t enough hours in the day to do that kind of feedback. What Brisk gives students is often exactly what I would have written myself.”

She describes her process: “I compare what Brisk generates with what I would have written, making edits where needed. Most of the time, it’s spot on.” She adds, “Once teachers begin to use the feedback tools, they realize that 90% of what they were going to comment on or revise has already been done for them through Brisk.” 

Students appreciated the clarity and pacing of the feedback, especially when it came during the writing process rather than after. “Brisk has changed the way I provide feedback to my students,” Seale says. “Where in the past, students had to wait days, possibly weeks, for feedback that was no longer impactful, now I can provide them with guidance throughout the writing process, not after.”

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Saving Time Across the System

Administrators found powerful use cases for Brisk as well. Brophy shared how the platform transformed teacher observations. It helped Hauppauge administrators write clearer, more actionable feedback, especially for those who were new to doing observations.

Outside of observations, Brisk proved helpful for professional development, presentation creation, and lesson planning. Brophy and Seale noted that teachers love the quality of Brisk-generated presentations and emphasized that Brisk’s ease of use and ability to do “a little bit of everything” makes it stand out. 

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A Culture Shift Through Strategic Rollout

Hauppauge didn’t just hand teachers a tool – they embedded it into a broader instructional strategy. Brophy credits the success to professional learning focused on pedagogy first.

District leaders also created a supportive structure by identifying point people in each building, hosting half-day workshops, and encouraging early adopters to share wins with colleagues. 

The district now has teacher leads in every building, a growing AI committee, and plans to launch a vision statement for AI use that evolves as technology does. From digital learning coaches to library media specialists, the Brisk movement is spreading – and students are seeing the impact.

“This has been one of the top tools that's been the easiest to get teachers to adapt to,” Brophy says. “They see the use case for it. They're coming up with so many useful ways for students to use it in the classroom that are engaging.”

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The Bottom Line: Time Well Spent

With Brisk, Hauppauge Public Schools transformed how time is spent across the district. For teachers, it meant fewer late nights and more time to focus on what matters most. For administrators, it streamlined observations and strengthened professional development. And for students, it created space for more personalized, timely, and reflective learning.

By initiating a culture of engagement with AI, Hauppauge proved that when technology truly supports educators, everyone benefits.

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