School districts start using AI in the classroom

As artificial intelligence (AI) tools continue to become more popular, school administrators, teachers and tech specialists from across the tri-state area are exploring how to best utilize the new technology.

Newton School District in Sussex County, N.J., put together “Board Policy 2365” this year to implement AI guidelines in accordance with a series of core values, including academic integrity, safety, transparency and ethical use, according to Joseph Bolen, Newton’s supervisor of personnel and instruction.

Bolen said AI use varies by classroom.

“Math teachers may use AI to generate practice problems or provide step-by-step feedback, while English and history teachers leverage AI for brainstorming, research and summarizing texts.”

Bolen said AI instructional software is vetted and teachers who want to use a specific program are encouraged to collaborate with tech specialists and administrators to decide whether it should be used, and how it can best be implemented.

“Teachers are already seeing benefits such as time savings, more personalized instruction and improved resource creation,” said Bolen.

Sparta School District is also focused on proactively addressing the rise of AI to ensure students gain the necessary knowledge to use it responsibility. The district has not implemented any specific policies yet, but recently had meetings to tackle this issue.

“We try to stay at the cutting edge in terms of policy,” said Kaitlin Gagnon, president of the Sparta Board of Education.

To Gagnon and her colleagues, their approach to AI use is centered on equipping students with the skills and knowledge they need to use the tools responsibly both in and outside of school.

“Whether we’re analyzing the use of AI by students or our district professionals, our guiding principles revolve around digital responsibility,” Gagnon said. “To deny the emergence of AI would be akin to denying the emergence of the internet in the 90s, or Google in the 2000s.”

Assisting learning, without replacing critical thought

Monroe-Woodbury School District in Orange County, N.Y., is also using AI tools such as Google Gemini, Canva and Kami. English teachers at Monroe-Woodbury High School have had their students use Google Gemini to pull up specific book sections or quotes, for example.

Professional development is paramount when it comes to incorporating these tools. “We want to make sure our teachers are trained well,” said Bhargav Vyas, Monroe-Woodbury’s assistant superintendent for compliance and information systems.

In addition to AI training, the district created AI guidelines for staff, including recommended approaches for student use and the insistance that human oversight is necessary for all applications of AI by both students and teachers.

The district also suggests that students are instructed to critique AI outputs, as well and fact check them for accuracy.

The priority, Vyas said, is to leverage AI tools to serve the students’ critical thinking skills, not replace them.

Red light, green light

The Delaware Valley School District in Pike County, Pa., is reviewing its AI policy this month, according to Assistant Superintendent Nicole Cosentino.

Part of this policy includes a “stop light system” for student assignments:

• Red means that no AI use is acceptable:

• Yellow means limited use of AI is acceptable based on the assignment; and

• Green means that AI use is entirely acceptable.

Cosentino said that the main goal for AI implementation is to teach students and staff about the educational benefits of AI while preparing them to use the tool responsibly and not instead of critical thinking.

She said “It would be a disservice,” Cosentino said, “not to expose our students to responsible use.”