“By ensuring that AI literacy is at the heart of our digital literacy program, we’re ensuring that we can not only mitigate the risk of AI, but seize the opportunity it creates to help improve the way we learn and the way we work,” says Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a Democrat from Delaware, who co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Larry Bucshon, M.D., an Indiana Republican.

The bill, which would amend the Digital Equity Act, defines AI literacy “as the skills associated with the ability to comprehend the basic principles, concept and applications of artificial intelligence, as well as the implications, limitations, and ethical considerations associated with artificial intelligence.”

A main goal of the bill is to help schools teach students to use the rapidly advancing technology safely and ethically.  Grants created by the proposal would help district leaders and other education organizations:

• Provide teachers with training and certification to drive AI literacy efforts in schools.
• Send teachers to courses, workshops and conferences related to artificial intelligence instruction and course design.
• Schools without resources for computer science education would get assistance in using best practices to develop and design AI course materials for computer science classes.
• Create partnerships with the private sector to expand AI education.
•  Build school labs that provide students with hands-on AI learning experiences.
•  Develop virtual learning platforms for remote and individualized AI instruction.

“Every administrator, teacher and student should know how to use AI and how AI works because when you understand the underlying fundamentals, you will be better able to use AI safely, effectively, and responsibly,” Pat Yongpradit, chief academic officer of Code.org, said in a statement.

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This month, the Future of Education Technology Conference in Orlando, Florida, is showcasing dozens of sessions and keynote speeches specifically about AI in education. Educators, district and technology leaders alike can take advantage of the numerous opportunities to better educate themselves about the topic and bring home some strategies to implement in their schools.

If you’re one of the many tech leaders still on the fence about AI and its ethical implications in education, check out these three sessions at FETC Jan. 23-26:

AI: The Game Changer for Personalized Education

Attendees will explore how teachers can harness the power of AI to reimagine their classroom instruction.

“When combined with research-based pedagogy, AI can create a dynamic and engaging learning experience that meets the unique needs of each student,” the session description reads.

Check out this session to learn more about how AI can aid in the transformation of teaching and learning while empowering educators to create personalized instruction for students.

Artificial Intelligence in Education: What Do We Need to Know?

This workshop will provide attendees with a brief overview and explanation of AI and how to teach with it in addition to some resources to explore. For instance, you’ll learn how these tools can be used in the classroom, including ways for students to explore and design their own chatbots.

“We will talk about ChatGPT and dive into its uses it, concerns and explore how it is evolving and the implications for education and the future of work,” the workshop description reads.

Generative AI: Build Your School or District Strategy Now

The most disruptive tech to hit since the birth of the internet, artificial intelligence, is forcing teachers and school districts to alter their approach to traditional education. Now, educators are even more concerned about plagiarism and cheating. So, what should your strategy be to ensure its equitable use?

This workshop will explore stories of success and anecdotes for learning, as well as best practices and checklists for you to take back to your schools.

Register for the Future of Education Technology Conference, or view the full program agenda.

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Later this month, the U.S. Department of Education will be releasing this guidance. To help educators better understand how to incorporate this resource into their schools, FETC has invited Anita Vermeer and Christina Diamond, education specials at the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs, to give conference attendees an inside look into this guidance and offer ways to enhance their school’s ability to support students with disabilities. FETC will be one of the first in the nation to share this guidance with educators.

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During the session, Vermeer and Diamond will highlight the core tenets of the guidance and other related resources to support and enhance access to educational opportunities for students with disabilities and those who educate and support them.

“Participants will increase their understanding of the AT requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), learn facts around common misconceptions regarding AT devices and services, and identify resources to aid in the selection of appropriate AT,” the session’s description reads.

Other AT-related sessions to look out for:

Tech-ability: Google Tools for Students with Learning Disabilities

Implementing Assistive Technology to Break Down Barriers in Learning

Innovative Technology: Key to Increasing Accessibility for Special Needs Learners

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“Wait and see” isn’t an adequate response to the forces being unleashed, but fortunately there’s a solid new framework for progress that education leaders should consider examining and implementing. The recent US Office of Educational Technology (OET) report provides good AI guidelines to help districts adapt to one of the fastest-moving technology waves ever created.

The novel aspect of last year’s ChatGPT release was the unique ability for non-computer scientists to interact easily and extensively with an LLM, allowing access to an astonishing assemblage of much of the world’s existing knowledge base. That functionality was simple, fast and cheap, and that powerful combination has driven 180 million unique monthly users for ChatGPT alone.

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The OET report recommendations start with a strong admonition for educators to “emphasize humans in the loop.” That’s an idea that calls to mind a current saying in AI circles that goes, “If you’re worried about your job being made obsolete by AI, you shouldn’t be. It will be made obsolete by a human using AI.” Informed, involved human design and oversight are necessary for effective AI deployment.

It also calls for education leaders to develop a shared vision for AI-assisted education, and suggests building that vision on top of modern, optimized learning frameworks is critical. The report’s other key recommendations include:

• Building trust with all constituencies in mind to avoid the traps that come with LLM tendency to “hallucinate.”
• Working diligently to involve front-line educators in policy decisions and keeping lines of communication wide open during this time of rapid change.
• Driving the development of “guidelines and guardrails” that promote the safety and transparency of both the technology and educators’ policies toward it.

AI optimism is running high

Against the backdrop of the OET report, early real-world AI educational use cases are emerging—as are the problems and questions they create. Optimism runs high on using AI for personalized learning. Khan Academy is pioneering this with Khanmigo, a chatbot capable of providing individualized guidance on math, science, and humanities problems, and Harvard recently released CS50 bot to assist students with their Introduction to Computer Science course.

At the same time, the extent of technology development required for these tutoring bots shows that the general capabilities of public LLMs are not sufficient to directly support one-on-one tutoring, and that specialized AI applications will need to be developed.

These applications will need custom content training of LLMs and capabilities to deliver content, assess learning progress, feedback for continuous improvement and safeguard against inappropriate or unexpected responses. Development of these AI applications is non-trivial and will require significant investment. Education technology vendors and large well-funded institutions are best suited to develop these applications.

That’s just the beginning, of course. LLMs hold the potential to make significant leveraging contributions in almost all phases of education, including:

• Curriculum design
• Educational content creation
• Task automation
• Broadening education access
• Systemic performance evaluation
• 24/7 teaching/tutoring assistance

“Creative destruction” ahead

Given the reach and potential of AI, the OET’s call for a shared vision for a given district is a particularly critical one. It will require a broad rethink of what the classroom will look like in a world where each student has their own personalized and tutored learning plan. Will the academic year be structured the same way? Will students be onsite 100% of the time? Will daily schedules be more customized? Will facilities change?

In the past 12 months educational institutions have responded in varied manners toward LLMs, ranging from banning its use to actively encouraging it. But as time goes by the bans simply are not an option for education leaders. Strategy becomes paramount as the technology becomes pervasive.

Education leaders will need to establish key policies and guardrails to govern the use of AI in education. They’ll also need to consider ensuring appropriate levels of investment across differently resourced districts to help them realize the technology’s potential and ensure the greatest degree of equity possible in its deployment.

AI technology has the potential to dramatically transform education in the US. The adoption of the technology and the use cases it drives will doubtless come in fits and starts, with a kind of creative destruction that will likely be both exhilarating and painful.

Education leaders will need to up their AI game to guide their local education agencies through this turbulent period, bringing clear-eyed strategy, thoughtful policies and appropriate training to help harness the technology’s potential and avoid its worst pitfalls.

Patrik Dyberg is a managing director with Alvarez & Marsal Corporate Performance Improvement in Washington, D.C. He specializes in driving substantial business outcomes through leveraging technology.

Paul Tearnen is a managing director with Alvarez & Marsal Public Sector in Seattle, Washington. Tearnen specializes in leading complex business and IT initiatives, standing up new organizations and turning around underperforming teams. 

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“For many in the education world, artificial intelligence is a demon unleashed, one that will allow students to cheat with impunity and potentially replace the jobs of educators,” writes FutureEd editor Alina Tugend in the report, “Navigating the Artificial Intelligence Revolution in Schools.” “For others, it’s a panacea for education’s myriad challenges.”

One thing is clear: AI’s impact on schools and learning is only going to grow as learning platforms become more adaptive, teachers work to further personalize instruction and leaders seek more administrative efficiencies in running their districts.

Tugend offers this snapshot of how fast the technology is advancing: the AIs of the past have consistently failed the SAT, Advanced Placement exams and other standardized tests. But ChapGPT has steadily improved its performance on college GREs and LSATs, according to researchers at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

AI in schools: Guidance for leaders

Most educators are now focusing on further integrating ChatPGT and other bots and AI systems as last year’s flood of K12 bans recedes, Tugend notes. She suggests that district and school leaders ask the following questions:

• Should AI be a required skill for students?
• How do we choose what companies or programs to invest in?
• What can schools do about students cheating with AI?
• What are the privacy risks?

To find the answers—and to help school communities get the most out of AI—Tugend encourages superintendents and their teams to tackle three big concepts:

1. Try out the technology

It sounds obvious—most educators will need to test out generative AI before they can fully embrace it. Administrators should give teachers and other staff time and space to play with ChatGPT and other tools without fear of making mistakes, Tugend advises. She recommends test-driving a tool such as Stable Diffusion, which can create images based on students’ prompts.

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CIOs and other district technology leaders can also make themselves available to help teachers experiment with AI, Tugend adds.

2. Does our district need a cheating policy?

Cheating is, of course, one of the big negatives around AI in schools. Tugend urges teachers to change their perspectives on cheating. One district tech leader says teachers are now asking students who use ChatGPT to share their whole conversation with the bot to shed light on the student’s thought process.

Teachers elsewhere are now doing work in class that used to be assigned as homework, which prevents students from using AI.

To formalize how teachers students and teachers use AI—and to address privacy concerns—district leaders should hire a chief technology officer to (or have their current chief technology officer) coordinate any new policies and procedures.

3. Ensuring equity, eliminating bias

“Some hope that AI will help bridge the equity gap in K12 education; others fear it will widen it,” Tugend notes. Free tools, such as the original ChatGPT, make artificial intelligence more accessible.

But the powerful ChatGPT costs $20 per month and more affluent districts will have more resources to help teachers and students use AI productively, she adds. Experts see a new digital divide opening between students who are taught to use AI and those who aren’t.

This “readiness checklist” created by the Council of the Great City Schools and The Consortium for School Networking will help districts develop policies that prevent AI from perpetuating biases. The guide also counsels schools to require that AI vendors have discrimination protections in place.

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Pressures on the wider U.S. workforce caused by a lack of employees with the requisite skills will drive more collaboration between K12 schools and employers, say product developers who are forecasting 2024’s biggest education trends.

It will also drive a surge in popularity in career and technical education programs. “As the talent shortage concern shifts to the state level, 2024 will be a year of increased collaboration between employers, schools and government agencies,” says Jeri Larsen, the chief operating officer of YouScience, a career guidance platform for students.

“The goal will be to create a more responsive and adaptable education system that ensures the workforce remains well equipped to meet the evolving demands of the job market.”

District leaders will be updating curriculums with a deeper focus on future-ready skills and adding more work-based learning, STEM education and vocational training programs.

“These efforts will be aimed at equipping students with the skills that are in high demand in the job market and promoting a broader range of career paths,” Larsen notes. “With a rapidly changing job market and evolving skill requirements, schools and education systems will find themselves under increased scrutiny to ensure that students are adequately prepared for the workforce.

Employers should grow ever more eager to collaborate with schools and districts, predicts Hans Meeder, a senior fellow for education and workforce education at YouScience and a former deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education.

“Yet, a challenge lies in the limited experience of schools and districts in systematically collaborating with business partners,” Meeder points out. “Many are still navigating this uncharted territory, actively searching for tools, guidance and real-world examples to establish partnerships that are not only effective but also sustainable.”

What other issues will be top of mind for K12 leaders and their teams in 2024? Here are predictions, hopes and forecasts from solution providers that cover a range of education topics.

Academic growth and interventions will be carefully assessed

The disruptions of the pandemic will continue to loom large over academic progress, and administrators will be emphasizing growth and doubling down on the most effective interventions, say thought leaders at NWEA, the testing firm. Here are some of their insights:

• Which academic interventions are working best? “While school districts made some progress in reducing pandemic-related achievement gaps in the 2021-22 school year, progress stalled in the 2022-23 school year. Interventions that have strong evidence of efficacy include high-dosage tutoring, summer school programs and double-dose math classes. Districts should adopt these high-impact interventions while continuing to monitor implementation and adapt interventions to local context so that students can have access to meaningful opportunities to catch up on unfinished learning.” —Ayesha K. Hashim, research scientist
• Classroom practices that support high-growth learning will be essential. “The cornerstone of elevating educational quality rests upon strengthening the student-teacher relationship. By fostering meaningful and constructive interactions and offering valuable feedback to students, we empower them to take greater ownership of their learning. Recent research underscores the efficacy of specific approaches and practices in promoting substantial learning growth, such as allocating time for retrieval practice (where students benefit from multiple opportunities to reinforce new knowledge) and maintaining flexibility in student group dynamics (allowing for effective student movement between learning groups), among others.”—Chase Nordengren, principal research lead, effective instructional strategies
• Research-based interventions will be needed to help older students with reading fluency. “National data shows that almost 70% of eighth graders are not considered proficient in reading based on 2022 test scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as The Nation’s Report Card. In 2024, districts will be working to find research-based interventions to help older students with reading fluency. Middle and high school teachers will need support to help older students with foundational reading skills to address this problem. Programs that emphasize repeated reading and giving older readers the opportunity to choose practice readings on topics they find engaging will help older readers improve fluency.” – Laura Hansen, NWEA director of academic services
• A data-driven revolution in gifted and talented identification. “In 2024, states are poised to revolutionize their approach to gifted and talented education, driving greater equity and inclusion through a dual strategy of data-driven identification and the implementation of state policies mandating access to gifted services. Universal screening, encompassing a multitude of assessment tools, will ensure that no gifted potential remains unnoticed, while continuous monitoring and transparent reporting will guarantee equal access to the selection process. Simultaneously, state policies will require the development of individualized learning plans for gifted students, promoting inclusive enrichment opportunities, differentiated instruction, and robust teacher professional development.”—Scott Peters, senior research scientist

Edtech evolution will be all about AI

The expiration of ESSER funding and tightening budgets will force K12 leaders to prioritize, says Jeremy Cowdrey, the CEO of Discovery Education. That means, in the wake of the COVID-era flood of edtech, administrators and their teams will begin paring down the edtech resources they are using down to the most effective platforms.

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“We are calling this movement the great rationalization and consolidation,” Cowdrey explains. “They will seek to renew products that have high usage, personalize learning and drive deeper engagement in instruction. They will keep edtech resources that have shown a proven, measurable impact on students.”

Leaders will maintain relationships with edtech providers who are purpose-driven and offer multiple solutions from one consolidated platform, he adds.

Beyond that, artificial intelligence will likely continue to suck up all the oxygen in the edtech space. “AI will impact everything—from creating relevant lesson plans to acting as a teacher’s assistant and student learning,” says Sara Gu, co-founder and COO of ClassIn, which provides blended, hybrid and remote learning platforms. “AI tools are being developed for educators and launched into the market every week. Many of these are designed to save teachers time.”

As many AI tools are designed to save teachers’ time, Gu says she expects a comprehensive lesson-planning tool will soon emerge. “With the vast amount of material currently available on the internet and the number of databases that the [AIs] can pull from, a world where all teachers have to do is plug in their learning objectives and standards and get an array of choices in each of the categories—materials, activities, and assessments—can’t be that far off.”

Gu also predicts that student behavior will guide the development of AI codes of conduct and determine how the technology is used in schools. Gu sees a fine line between AI being used as a tool and being used to cheat.

“There is not yet one commonly accepted approach to integrating AI tools and technology into a school or school district’s code of conduct,” she continues. “Early policies range from extremely strict “student work submitted for academic credit and completed using AI will be considered plagiarism” to encouraging teachers to use AI tools in their classrooms.”

Teachers will increasingly use AI to assess and grade students and these tools could save time and reduce burnout, says Sari Factor, chief strategy officer at K12 curriculum provider Imagine Learning. “Educators will have more equitable access to actionable, research-based measures of student success to better inform instruction, allowing educators to focus on providing personalized support to students,” says Factor.

Ethical school leaders will also have to ensure that principles such as transparency, accountability, fairness, and privacy are priorities when adopting AI-driven educational tools. “Leveraging AI and digital-first curriculum to develop personalized lesson plans that cater to unique student needs, for example, will allow teachers to focus on delivering impactful lessons that inspire student success,” Factor contends. “As a result, we’ll see less teacher burnout over time.

Beyond AI, Gu expects more schools to lean on virtual and hybrid instruction to cope with teacher and staff shortages. She notes that a charter network in San Jose, California, has transferred math and science classes to Zoom where students are taught by teachers from around the country.

“We also expect hybrid solutions to gain momentum in response to student demand as schools work to balance their finite resources while offering more flexibility,” Gu predicts.

ESSER expiration requires reliable data

States and school districts have about $70 billion left to spend this school year, which “will be a mix of states and districts spending their remaining funds while also looking to the future,” says Lindsay Dworkin, NWEA’s senior vice president of policy and government affairs.

“As the one-time funds expire,” Dworkin adds, “it will be more important than ever for education communities to have access to reliable and actionable data to know which interventions have been most effective in helping students grow, and where to continue investing strategically amidst shrinking budgets.”

Because decision-makers will continue to analyze persistent learning gaps, they also will be looking for innovative approaches to instruction and assessment.

Administrators and teachers will become more discerning about edtech purchases as ESSER money expires and shortages increase workloads. Says Gu, of Classin, who estimates that schools adopted between 600 and 1,400 products during the pandemic.

“While many of these products helped plug the gaps during remote instruction, now districts are faced with the dilemma of too many tools. The process has already begun, but schools are starting to become more strategic about which tools they keep and which ones they stop using.”

The ongoing importance of equity and PD

The academic identities of educators will have to be a focal point in district administrators’ efforts to make their districts more equitable, says Fenesha Hubbard, the lead professional learning designer at NWEA.

Academic identities comprise educators’ attitudes, beliefs and dispositions toward teaching and learning. “When teachers develop an unhealthy academic identity, their internalized negative perception is very likely to influence their instruction and can shape their students’ academic identity,” Hubbard, explains.

Educators will strive to better understand themselves and others by exploring their beliefs, examining their actions and strengthening their academic identity. “More teachers will identify and address their academic identities, whether healthy or not, and employ strategies in their classroom to help all students thrive,” Hubbard forecasts.

Family engagement will be emphasized

Districts will take several approaches to leveraging the strengths of families to accelerate student achievement, including by providing more learning materials that can be used at home, say Vidya Sundaram and Elisabeth O’Bryon, co-founders of the nonprofit Family Engagement Lab.

Here is what they expect will happen:

• How can districts make the most of classroom instruction? “Improving the quality of instructional materials is a smart, cost-effective strategy to improve learning outcomes. Districts looking to optimize their curriculum investment will also implement newly available curriculum-aligned offerings, from professional learning to assessments and family communications,” says Sundaram, the Lab’s CEO.
• What’s the role of families in effective SEL programs? “With student mental health needs outpacing many schools’ capacity to provide support, it will be even more critical to look to families as vital partners in supporting student success,” notes O’Byron, the chief impact officer. Educators can promote relationship-building between parents and children and share activities that let families reinforce specific SEL skills at home.
• How do you envision school learning environments changing for multilingual learners? “As we continue to see an increase in the linguistic diversity of our school communities, as well as growing interest in multilingual learning environments, I am hopeful that a spotlight is shone on what a tremendous asset multilingualism is. Embracing multilingualism truly enriches school communities and, as such, schools need to be equipped to equitably and authentically engage multilingual families as partners in supporting student learning.”
• How do you envision K-12 edtech evolving next year? “While generative AI has been the hot topic of 2023, I expect next year we will see K12 technology advancements that strengthen the capacity of teachers (such as automating repetitive tasks), and more multilingual culturally responsive learning resources for students and families.”

Literacy will revolve around the science of reading

The science of reading, or SoR, has gotten almost as much attention as AI in K12 circles over the last year. In 2024, districts navigating its adoption will, for one, have to ensure teachers, principals and other administrators are receiving adequate PD in the science of reading, say thought leaders and experts at IMSE, the Institute for Multi-Sensory Education.

“States that have passed SoR legislation recognize the need for teacher prep programs to include SoR, but getting universities to change is a slow-moving shift, even if legislation requires it,” says Janelle Norton, IMSE’s senior manager of strategic partnerships.

“Expect more administrator training in SoR as districts recognize the need for principals to understand what children need to learn to read,” Norton adds.

Teacher shortages will likely be a barrier as district leaders work to embed the science of reading in their curriculums, says Alana Mangham, a lifelong early educator and IMSE’s current director of development and implementation support.

“There aren’t enough qualified individuals in the science of reading,” Mangham notes. “Schools can only hope to find capable candidates. And, if they do, the next hurdle is paying them equal to or better than what they can make as a private professional.”

Elsewhere in the literacy spectrum

Elsewhere in the literacy realm “multilingual learner instructional practices will become a hot topic,” concludes Nicole Florez, literacy specialist and IDA structured literacy dyslexia interventionist for IMSE. She predicts more leaders will “recognize the need for culturally responsive teaching in response to the growing population of English language learner.”

“States are leveraging the right stakeholders to develop learning modules around second language learners and literacy,” she concludes.

Math will matter even more in 2024

If 2023 was all about the science of reading, state education leaders will turn their attention to providing systemic support for math education in 2024, says Karen Beerer, Discovery Education’s senior vice president of teaching and learning.

In the wake of COVID learning loss, several states have already passed new laws requiring schools to identify and provide additional math support to students and teachers.

Alabama is creating an Office of Mathematics Improvement to monitor the implementation of screener assessments, diagnostic assessments, and formative assessments for grades K5. Florida now requires students deemed “deficient” in math to receive intervention and monitoring from their district while Louisiana mandates additional professional learning in numeracy for math teachers in grades 4-8.

“While these are just a few examples of state departments of education adding additional support to math education,” Beerer notes, “I believe in 2024 these efforts will accelerate and become the norm nationwide.

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Even more teachers—six in 10—say they have added AI, which is most likely to be adopted by teachers who are 26 and younger. The 500 teachers surveyed were most excited about AI-powered educational games but most concerned about plagiarism and isolation.

AI, of course, covers a broad spectrum of instructional tools and platforms, including the now ubiquitous ChatGPT. Here is how many teachers are using the most popular tools:

1. AI-powered educational games: 51%
2. Adaptive learning platforms: 43%
3. Automated grading and feedback systems: 41%
4. Chatbots for student support: 35%
5. Intelligent tutoring systems: 29%

That’s not to say that educators have abandoned all concerns about teaching with AI. An erosion of academic integrity and less face-to-face instruction were the top two fears of the teachers surveyed:

• Plagiarism in essays and other assignments: 65%
• Reduced human interaction in learning: 62%
• Data privacy and security: 42%
• Job displacement for teachers: 30%
• Unequal access to AI-powered resources: 30%
• Automation of manual tasks: 23%

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The survey took a deeper dive into how students are deploying AI to cheat in various ways. The No. 1 concern by far is students relying on generative AI tools such as ChatGPT to complete written assignments. Next on the list, students are using chatbots and AI translation tools during tests and assessments. Also on the list of concerns: “Copying or sharing AI-generated code or algorithms for coding assignments.”

The future of teaching with AI

Looking ahead, most of the teachers surveyed (61%) said students will need “comprehensive education” on the ethical use of AI while one-third responded that “some” education around academic integrity is necessary. Not surprisingly, teachers don’t expect AI and ChatGPT to go away; however, most don’t believe the tech will take “center stage” in education.

Only 30% of the teachers surveyed think “AI will play a central role in education” while a tiny fraction (7%) said it will have minimal or no impact.

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A sometimes-overlooked part of the CIO’s role is providing input and guidance during the selection of the digital curricular resources that students and teachers are using every day. These tools are used on district devices, across wired and wireless networks. Additionally, they utilize student information and data for learning, assessments, and reporting, and the CIO’s input on the selection of these resources is important.

The acquisition of powerful, effective edtech resources is best achieved when curriculum leads and technology leads partner to select products and solutions. During my time as the CIO in Kentucky’s Marshall County Schools, as the director of instructional technology in Naperville Community Unit School District 203 in Illinois, and now as the director of educational partnerships at Discovery Education, I’ve been a part of numerous collaborations that have brought high-quality digital resources to students.

Here are my thoughts on what CIOs need to consider when they participate in evaluating digital curricular resources. As school administrators, it is important these questions be answered.

1. Data security

How is the prospective partner protecting your most valuable assets, such as student and teacher personal information? Most school districts across the country don’t have the staff or budgets dedicated to cybersecurity. Combined with a nearly 85% increase in cyberattacks in the education space over the last year, it is clear security is a critical consideration.

To minimize the impact of this burden on already stretched IT staff and budgets, CIOs depend on trusted partners to help protect their data and information. Your CIO should be considering if their prospective edtech partners hold all the appropriate security standards and certifications. Furthermore, they need to have industry best practices and protocols surrounding intrusion detection, end-to-end encryption, training & auditing, annual penetration testing, and more firmly in place.

2. Interoperability

Does the digital learning resource under consideration work well with existing software and applications? Are students and teachers able to easily use an SSO to access the resource? How does data flow from your SIS to the resource? Your CIO should consider having the systems integration leaders participate in the early stages of the review process to ensure a smooth integration. This will help avoid potential delays during implementation that can often derail the use of a quality digital resource.

3. Accessibility

Can ALL students access the resource? Does the resource provide text-to-speech, line readers, support for language learners, magnifiers, and the ability to be used across multiple devices? The CIO should consider if the proposed resources are accessible to ALL students, no matter where they are and what device they are using. Accessibility is non-negotiable in today’s world of digital resources.

4. Alignment to teaching and learning goals

What does the collaboration between the CIO and the teaching and learning team look like? The CIO is charged with ensuring all of the items above for ease of use, access, and security. A district’s teaching and learning team is charged with ensuring the resources meet the needs of the learners and provide best-in-class support to the teachers.

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When the CIO and the teaching and learning team are in regular communication, have a shared vision, and have clearly defined roles during a digital resource evaluation process, the winners are the students and teachers. Before beginning an edtech review process, have your CIO and teaching and learning leaders consider if they are on the same wavelength, and where necessary, have them work to build alignment.

5. Trusted partner?

Do you view your vendors as a partner? Is the company person you are purchasing the digital curricular resource from someone who understands the needs of your district? Are they aligned to the district’s mission, vision and strategic plan? Are your vendors actively listening to ensure alignment?

As a CIO, I’ve seen this scenario too many times: An excellent product is purchased, and then I don’t hear from the company again until it is time for renewal. That isn’t a partner; that is a vendor. Ensure your CIOs are establishing regular modes of communication with your edtech partners. They should consider their edtech partners an extension of their own district and technology department teams. If your edtech vendors are averse to your CIO’s efforts to build close relationships, you may not have found the right relationship for your district.

Today’s CIOs have big jobs and at no time have they had more responsibility. You can help them, and your district make great digital learning selections, help them keep these considerations top of mind.

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That may be because the medical community also doesn’t have a full grasp on just how social media affects the health of students, researchers contend in a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

“Research shows social media has the potential to both harm and benefit adolescent health,” the report says. “For example, algorithms that generate content recommendations can provide young people with important health information or expose them to unscientific treatments.”

The “direction” of the relationship between social media and adolescent health is also murky because social media may influence health but health may also influence how young people use social media. “There is also much to be learned about how specific platform features—such as “likes” or the endless scroll format of some platforms—may affect adolescent health,” the report posits. For these reasons … a more judicious approach is warranted rather than a broad-stroke ban, and does not make recommendations for specific limitations on teens’ access to social media.”

What is clear is that attractive design can keep kids attached to their phones even when they want to disengage. Compounding the risk is that adolescents, compared to adults, have a harder time regulating emotions, are more sensitive to rewards and are meant to seek out independence and explore new identities, the National Academies adds.

Social media health solutions

District leaders should continue to emphasize media literacy and provide teachers with adequate professional development in the subject one superintendent recently told District Administration was among the most important schools could teach. The report also encouraged district educators to advocate for states to set media literacy curriculum standards, particularly in digital media to make students more sophisticated and discerning users of social media.

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Educators should counsel students to use social media for social support and to avoid content that depicts illegal or risky behavior, such as self-harm, harm to others, hate speech and eating disorders. Adolescents should also be routinely screened for signs of “problematic social media use” that interferes with their ability to engage in schoolwork and other daily routines.

Educators can also encourage parents and caregivers to set guardrails by creating a family media use plan that:

• Addresses what type of and how much media is used and what media behaviors are appropriate for each child and for parents.
• Places limits on the hours per day each media platform is used.
• Promotes children and adolescents getting at least one hour of physical activity each day and at least eight hours of sleep.
• Prohibits children from sleeping with devices, including TVs, computers and smartphones.
• Designates media-free family times (such as dinner) and media-free locations (such as bedrooms).
• Ensures parents view media with children so the latter learn to use platforms creatively and collaboratively.
• Use media to learn and be creative, and share these experiences with your family and your
  community

Parents should also form a network of trusted adults—such as aunts, uncles, grandparents and coaches—who can interact productively with children on social media and help them when they encounter challenges or suspicious behavior.

Outside of schools, the report called upon the International Organization for Standardization, a tech industry watchdog, to set standards for social media platform design, transparency and data use. Social media companies themselves should develop more robust systems for reporting and rooting out online harassment of minors, from cyberbullying to sexual exploitation.

The post How to help families overcome social media health problems appeared first on District Administration.

Studying over 4,000 students in grades 10 to 12 this past summer, ACT discovered that 46% have used different AI tools. Of this cohort, nearly half (46%) have used it for school assignments. They were used most commonly in language arts, social studies and science classes. Despite their use, the majority of the students surveyed reported that their teachers did not allow the use of AI for schoolwork, the report found.

ChatGPT was the most commonly used tool by far, taking up 83% of AI-savvy students. Dall-E-2 (17%) and Bing Chat (11%) comprised the second and third-most used tools.

One ominous correlation ACT found was students’ AI tool use was significantly related to their academic achievement. Students with higher composite scores were likelier to use AI tools than those with lower scores. For example, 53% of students scoring in the top quarter compared to other respondents used AI tools. Comparatively, only 36% used these tools in the bottom quarter.

Students with lower scores were considerably more likely than those with higher scores to report not using AI tools due to lack of access and information, strengthening calls by the Department of Education to limit the digital divide and the importance of establishing robust guardrails.

“As AI matures, we need to ensure that the same tools are made available to all students so that AI doesn’t exacerbate the digital divide,” ACT CEO Janet Godwin said. “It’s also imperative that we establish a framework and rules for AI’s use so that students know the positive and negative effects of these tools as well as how to use them appropriately and effectively.”

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Students exhibit concern about AI

Of the 54% of students who reported not using AI tools, the most common reason was a lack of interest. Aligning with faculty, about two-thirds of these students also expressed a distrust in the results the tool provides.

“A majority of the students who didn’t use AI tools were either uninterested in or distrusted the results that the tools provided,” explained Jeff Schiel, a lead research scientist at ACT and one of the report’s authors. “Even students who used the tools for school assignments found that they were far from perfect, as a majority reported errors or incorrect information within the responses that AI provided. This shows that as knowledge and awareness of these tools grow, information about how to use them correctly is just as important.”

The skepticism fueled 42% of respondents to say schools should ban AI tools. Only 10% said they were considering using it to write their college admissions essay due to negative consequences, dishonesty, quality of writing and its lack of an authentic voice.

“Students are already exploring how they can use AI,” said Godwin, “but there is real skepticism about its ability to create work in which students can be confident.”

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