Putting AI to Work in Schools Is Difficult. A New Toolkit Outlines How to Do It

Some districts are ahead of the curve in putting generative artificial intelligence to work in instruction and other school operations. The majority of districts, however, have either just started conversations or are still figuring out where to begin.

While a majority of states and a handful of education organizations have provided AI guidance for schools, many district leaders still need “practical” support for “pain points related to AI implementation,” said Robbie Torney, the senior director of AI programs for Common Sense Media.

For instance, a common challenge Torney has heard from district leaders is how to have conversations with educators or parents who are skeptical about AI or worried about what AI use in schools might look like.

That’s why Common Sense Media has released an AI toolkit for school districts to help them figure how how to use this new technology.

In an interview with Education Week, Torney discussed the challenges districts face when trying to put AI to use in schools.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What’s a common challenge districts are facing?

One of the questions we get a lot is: Where do we start? That can be a really daunting place. Part of how we’ve organized the tool is we have a “getting started” guide and a readiness assessment that are bundled together that are meant to help districts think through all of the different facets of what getting started means in a K-12 system. That’s everything from thinking about systems and technical infrastructure to thinking about some of those enabling conditions that are on the ground, in terms of AI literacy for different stakeholders, to engaging in the stakeholder conversations to thinking about this from a policy or a compliance framework.

What’s different about using AI compared with other educational technologies?

Implementation in K-12 is hard. You’re adopting a new curriculum. How do you get stakeholder input and make sure that you’re thinking through all of the requirements related to that curriculum, thinking about how it fits into your schedule, planning for how you’re going to train your teachers, thinking about how you’re going to measure whether or not the curriculum is actually being implemented, if it’s having the effects that you want it to? These are the types of systems change that skilled and seasoned school administrators are used to navigating.

There’s a lot about AI that feels very familiar when you’re thinking about your approach to that. There’s also some differences, of course, which is that district administrators themselves may be much more familiar with different types of curriculum and have much more experience or content knowledge [about that] than they do with AI. AI literacy is a huge and a really important part of the solution. But it’s not the only part, and this toolkit is meant to point toward some of these other parts that need to be in place as districts are thinking about implementation.

What would you say is the most important step schools should take?

The first domain that we encourage people to start on if they are novices or are still developing their understanding of AI is about leadership and vision. Some of the questions associated with that are: Is there a shared districtwide understanding of AI’s potential, opportunities, and risks? Is there a mission statement for AI use that’s been developed or endorsed by leadership?

AI is not something to implement for the sake of implementation. AI is a tool, and districts have to have a clear vision for what that tool can do. That feeds into some of these other pieces related to policy and governance, infrastructure and systems readiness, staff capacity and professional learning, community and stakeholder engagement. But all of that has to be rooted in developing a leadership orientation and a vision for what the technology can be used for, and some knowledge of the technology is necessary for that.

How should districts help teachers learn more about AI’s role in education?

Part of the work there is giving educators very concrete insight into what these technologies can do for them, and that starts with generating examples, either from other districts or in your own district, of how this can actually … demonstrate some of those proof points, positive wins, and exemplars that can help get staff excited about something that they may not necessarily understand or feel like they have the time for.

How should districts engage families in this process?

From Common Sense Media’s research, when we last polled on this as part of our “Dawn of AI” report, 83% of parents reported that schools had not communicated with them about AI policies. One of the comments that [we’ve heard from districts] was something to the effect of “OK, we feel like we’ve communicated information, but have parents really heard it or do parents feel supported by it?”

Administrators have reached out to us to talk about how they can bring training and apply some of these tools within a family engagement perspective. The toolkit does contain some specific resources for thinking about how to engage parents, how to build basic parent literacy, how to help parents understand things like the impact that AI might have on the economy in the future, or the jobs in the future, or college readiness. This is a really critical stakeholder group, and it’s really down to districts to be able to help support parents with some of that work. Parent partnership is going to be critical to the success or failure of an initiative like this.