A majority of educators say their districts have not made their artificial-intelligence policies clear to educators and to students, according to an EdWeek Research Center survey.
Sixty percent of educators said they 鈥渃ompletely鈥� or 鈥渟omewhat鈥� disagree that their district has made its policies about using AI products clear to them, according to the survey of 990 teachers, principals, and district administrators conducted in December. Sixty percent of educators also said the same about whether AI policies were clear to students.
This technology is 鈥渟till very new,鈥� said Pat Yongpradit, the chief academic officer at Code.org and a leader of TeachAI, an initiative to support schools in using and teaching about AI. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 necessarily a lack of will at this point. If given the opportunity, time, and capacity, these districts would do something about it.鈥�
Still, the lack of clarity about districts鈥� AI-use policies is one of the top reasons many educators have yet to experiment with the emerging technology. It has also led to confusion among teachers about how to handle student misuse of AI tools, according to educators.
鈥淢any schools are hesitant to develop clear policies for AI usage,鈥� said a high school tech coach in Virginia in the open-ended response section of the EdWeek Research Center survey. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a fear of doing it 鈥榳rong鈥� or setting a precedent that may need to be revised later.
鈥淭his reluctance,鈥� the tech coach continued, 鈥渓eaves educators and students in a gray area, unsure of what鈥檚 acceptable. We need policies that balance ethical considerations, academic integrity, and innovation, but fear of missteps is holding progress back.鈥�
A New Jersey middle school principal said, in the open-ended response to the survey, that 鈥渋t鈥檚 really important that districts and schools provide thorough guidance and education on AI for educators and students.鈥�
The technology 鈥渟hould be used to increase our effectiveness and efficiency as educators, which, in turn, will improve morale,鈥� the principal said. 鈥�69传媒 need to be well-educated on ethical use of AI and strengthen their digital literacy and media literacy skills.鈥�
A middle school principal from California who responded to the EdWeek Research Center survey said her district has been experimenting with using various AI tools and hasn鈥檛 discouraged teachers from using the technology.
鈥淲e are on our way to having a full-blown policy,鈥� said the principal, in a follow-up interview to the survey. (The principal did not want to be identified by name.)
The regional education service agency that serves her district has also started rolling out more information about AI, such as its benefits and what to be cautious about, she said.
The California principal said the lack of a clear-cut policy hasn鈥檛 led to confusion, pointing out that only a couple of teachers at her middle school are using AI frequently, but other than that, AI isn鈥檛 really a big topic of conversation because teachers have other priorities.
69传媒 and states grapple with role of AI in K-12 education
While AI has been around for decades, attention to it spiked following the release of ChatGPT in 2022, a generative AI tool that can produce human-like conversational responses to prompts. Since then, many educators have started using other AI tools, such as Google鈥檚 Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and the Khan Academy鈥檚 Khanmigo.
AI experts have touted generative AI鈥檚 potential to transform education, but skeptics are concerned about its tendency to fabricate responses and its potential effects on people鈥檚 cognitive skills.
Districts and state education agencies across the country have been grappling with how to leverage the rapidly evolving technology, but they don鈥檛 often have the expertise they need to figure it out.
It鈥檚 difficult to create policies if districts don鈥檛 know what they鈥檙e dealing with, Yongpradit said. First, there needs to be organization-wide learning about and exploration of the technology, he said.
Over time, the number of districts with clear AI policies 鈥渨ill naturally improve,鈥� Yongpradit said.
Data analysis for this article was provided by the EdWeek Research Center. Learn more about the center鈥檚 work.
