Figuring out how to navigate a world increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence isn鈥檛 just a job for technology leaders.
State education chiefs鈥攁nd the agencies they lead鈥攎ust figure out how to make the most of AI鈥檚 potential to improve teaching and learning while steering around problems like the tech鈥檚 propensity to perpetuate society鈥檚 biases and amplify misinformation.
State education leaders鈥� work is complicated by potential political landmines, from some teachers鈥� fears that AI tools could replace them to parents鈥� concerns that robots are making decisions about their child鈥檚 education.
Three state chiefs鈥擬ichele Blatt of West Virginia, Jhone Ebert of Nevada, and Chris Reykdal of Washington鈥攐ffered their best advice on working through some of those issues at a March 21 panel held at the Council of Chief State School Officers鈥� annual legislative conference in Washington.
Here are three key takeaways from that conversation:
1. States can play a role in helping teachers understand what AI can do鈥攁nd what it can鈥檛
AI-powered tools may help educators whip up a lesson plan on iambic pentameter or create a quiz on the solar system鈥攂ut they are no substitute for a teacher.
鈥淚f we learned anything during the pandemic, we learned that it鈥檚 important for a live teacher to deal with students and for those relationships to occur,鈥� Blatt said. States must 鈥渆mphasize the fact that this is not about replacing our teachers. It鈥檚 about giving them more tools to better meet the needs of their students.鈥�
And teacher preparation programs need to expose pre-service educators to AI before they enter the classroom, she added.
鈥淎I and all this technology [is] coming at us,鈥� Blatt said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not changing what we teach those teacher candidates. And then state agencies and county school systems on the back end are trying to get them prepared鈥� to work in an increasingly digital environment that鈥檚 likely to become even more tech-driven in the age of AI.
2. Generative AI can help state education departments make decisions
State education agencies notoriously lack capacity鈥攂ut AI might help change that.
Blatt has already used an AI-powered tool to help craft a charter school funding policy for her state. 鈥淎nd I sent it over to legal, and they were like, 鈥榟ow鈥檇 you do that鈥欌�� so efficiently? she joked.
Ebert of Nevada talked up her state鈥檚 new method of funding schools, which is informed by a digital tool from Infinite Campus, a technology company that sells student information systems and other data repository tools to hundreds of school districts nationwide and a handful of states.
The Silver State is now able to target money more precisely to struggling students by considering factors beyond the number of students eligible for free or reduced-priced lunch, a common metric for deciding who is at academic risk, she said.
Because it is powered in part by AI, the new system can consider a much wider array of factors alongside family income, including whether students move frequently throughout the school year and their behavior and grades.
鈥淛ust because you鈥檙e a free and reduced lunch student does not mean you are not on track to graduate with your peers,鈥� Ebert said. 鈥淲e have students from families that are well off that are not on track to graduate with their peers for many different reasons.鈥�
3. States need to make the case for why AI literacy is important to parents
Washington state is currently going through the process of revamping its learning standards. A key goal will be ensuring students at all grade levels understand AI鈥檚 power and potential pitfalls, Reykdal said.
Many schools 鈥済ot run over by social media,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e just literally never knew social media was going to live outside the classroom. [We thought] 鈥榠t鈥檚 a private, family thing. Parents will make sure those phones are off at eight o鈥檆lock.鈥� 鈥� We had no idea that that these algorithms would be so powerful鈥� that students would have difficulty disengaging from screens.
Now, in building AI literacy into its content standards, the state is 鈥渁ttacking misinformation and disinformation as a really intentional practice,鈥� starting in early elementary school, he said. 鈥淏uilding critical thinkers is the bottom line.鈥�
Recalling the fights over standardized testing and the Common Core State Standards, Reykdal warned that 鈥渢he backlash on AI is coming.鈥�
People will be yelling that Washington鈥檚 state chief 鈥渨ants 5-year-olds learning AI,鈥� he said.
He鈥檚 trying to get ahead of that political turmoil by emphasizing from the get-go that no student will be taught by a robot and no decisions will be made solely through a computer algorithm.
There will always be a 鈥渉uman on the front end [and a human] at the back end,鈥� he said.
