When districts are early users of artificial intelligence, they often adopt multiple approaches to implement the technology, according to a report released Thursday by the Center on Reinventing Public Education.
The nonpartisan research and policy analysis center examined 40 school districts that adopted the technology early and found that districts most commonly tap into AI by:
- Using teacher-centered AI tools (70%).
- Offering guidance on AI use for teachers, students and families (65%).
- Providing professional development to build AI literacy in school communities (63%).
- Supplying student-centered AI tools (58%).
Other less common approaches include using AI tools for safety and surveillance, offering student courses on AI and using the technology to streamline district operations.
Still, roughly one-third of these districts do not offer formal policies or guidance on AI use.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that those same districts aren’t developing AI guidance, said Bree Dusseault, principal and managing director at CRPE and author of the report. The findings just suggest these districts have yet to publicly release AI guidance.
“In many cases, some of them are doing stakeholder-driven processes,” Dusseault said. “I think it speaks to this need to kind of go slow while going fast on different points.”
At the same time, Dusseault said that without having a public AI policy in place, schools risk sparking confusion in their community or even facing legal or political repercussions. “By putting something out there, they’re helping get ahead of the conversation.”
For example, Dusseault cited the recent case of a student’s parents suing a Massachusetts school district over their son’s use of AI for a research paper. The parents claim their son’s high school did not have AI policies in place regarding cheating or plagiarism at the time.
Even though 24 states have released AI guidance for schools, the CRPE report noted that “systemic AI adoption is still nascent.”
To keep the momentum going, the CRPE report said early AI adopters can help educate the broader K-12 sector as it continues to develop AI strategies and school districts communicate their findings.
To drive national guidance and practices for AI use in K-12 for the 2024-25 school year, CRPE suggests early AI adopters consider:
- Piloting new ideas with AI tools and document what is and isn’t working.
- Investing in AI literacy for all adults and students in the district, including board members.
- Focusing AI on the needs of students, families and the broader community.
- Specifying how AI has the potential to address long-standing, persistent district challenges and how the district will promise equitable access to AI resources.
