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A NOTE FROM OUR FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT

Late in the spring, I received an unexpected letter in the mail, a rather large unsolicited check from an anonymous donor. In fact, it was AVLI’s largest gift ever, and the timing is a true blessing because of what we are poised to do as a result.

Since AI entered the scene

in a meaningful way in late 2023, we have been moving with intention to capitalize on the promise while avoiding the hype. In 2025, AVLI joined the Rome Call for AI Ethics, a global initiative launched by the Vatican to promote the ethical development and use of artificial intelligence. AVLI’s mission to expand access to high-quality online education is deeply aligned with the Rome Call’s vision for a human-centered digital future. Through this collaboration, AVLI seeks to help Catholic schools and educators explore how AI can enhance learning while staying true to ethical and spiritual foundations.

Our response to AI, however, is only one part of a larger conversation we’ve been having regarding the formation of young people. Through observation, research, and dialogue, what we have witnessed and learned in recent years has not been overly encouraging. At a time when the learning stakes feel more significant than ever, the level of student aptitude as measured by standardized testing is diminishing. Simultaneously, student challenges with cognitive, emotional, and physical wellbeing persist at untenable levels.

These trends predate both the emergence of AI and the COVID years, however, it is important to recognize the rate of acceleration of the past few years coinciding with AI. In the end, AI may be game changing in the field of education but only with a course correction.

AVLI is setting out to find a better path, not to AI adoption but for teaching and learning in our modern age.

This effort starts in earnest this fall, and it involves us returning to the fundamental building blocks of education and asking more questions - not with the goal of “breaking things” as some of the more vocal pundits would suggest, but to do the hard work of identifying what’s most important to the formation of young people and harnessing our resources to do those things with greater intention. Chief among these resources are our teachers. How do we align practices and technologies to minimize the cognitive distance between individual students and their teachers? How and where do young people find virtue in their learning? How do our feedback practices foster resilience and growth? In what ways do our grading structures and practices accurately reflect student growth and knowledge? How do we help students recognize the need to fully embrace the struggle of learning? These are just some of the questions that will animate our work.

What we envision will likely yield a vastly different learning experience for both students and teachers - one that has weight where weight matters but is adaptable to purpose and circumstance. This new model will work alongside and in concert with our existing models, serving as a delivery framework for an exciting new brand of coursework while informing and supplementing instructional approaches for our current offerings.

You’ll be hearing more about this work in the months and years ahead, and I encourage you to plug in and provide personal insights, prayers, and support.

When one receives an anonymous gift (particularly one of this size), the temptation is to set out for clues as to who the donor might be. After briefly entertaining ideas with my staff, I realized that I didn’t really want to know. Because not knowing has allowed me to look with deep and sincere gratitude on ALL of the people over the past twenty years who have had a hand in furthering our journey - schools, teachers, students, parents, and friends all making a meaningful difference at various points along the way. So to all of you I say thank you and expect more. Here we go.

Best regards,

Jeff Hausman

Founder & President