ALLENTOWN, Pa. — With the growth of artificial intelligence, the future of technology is here – and everyone has an opinion about what that means for students and their education.
That’s why Allentown School Board is looking to adopt an AI policy to govern what technologies are acceptable for students’ work and teachers’ grading procedures.
“We need regulation because if we don’t have that, [there’s] going to be variability, and it won’t be fair for all students,” said Superintendent Carol Birks at a Thursday policy committee meeting.
School directors advanced the new policy to their next meeting for approval later this month.
“It recognizes AI as a critical component of what our students need to be future-ready and is in line with the district’s strategic plan."Kyle Kauffman, ASD director of STEM
It outlines ASD’s guidelines for “safe, ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence,” said Kyle Kauffman, the district’s director of science, technology, engineering and math.
“It recognizes AI as a critical component of what our students need to be future-ready and is in line with the district’s strategic plan,” he added.
What's AI?
Kauffman is part of an ASD innovation committee that has met since April to learn about AI best practices.
The proposed AI policy is organized with three focuses: safety and data security; AI literacy for staff and students; and equity of access and outcomes, he said.
According to the policy, artificial intelligence refers to “computer systems and algorithms that mimic human cognitive functions, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving and decision making.”
Birks pointed out that many people are already using AI without knowing it, such as the Google search function or Siri, the digital assistant on iPhones.
But it's the generative AI chatbot ChatGPT that has gained widespread attention in the education world for its ability to compose essays for students. There are also other tools students can use that complete math problems.
What's in the policy?
ASD’s proposed AI policy would lay out which tools are allowed for students to use and when.
Under the policy, the district’s executive director of technology would authorize AI tools and resources based on privacy, age-appropriateness and other standards.
There would be a process for teachers to request the approval of new AI resources, which would then be added to a public list of approved tools.
The policy also states that ASD would ensure users can’t access any AI tools or applications that can generate obscene or pornographic material on district-owned devices or its internet.
Additionally, the proposed policy calls for AI literacy training for all students so they understand the proper use of AI tools and exercise “skepticism regarding accuracy.”
For school work, teachers must provide written notice when AI tools are allowed for an assignment, and students must cite their use of it.
Teachers can also use AI to assist with grading, but must only use it as a support and not the sole method of evaluating a student's work.
AI concerns
Yaniushca Santiago, a sophomore at Allen High School, believes AI can be both positive and negative for students’ education.
Yaniushca, a student representative to the school board, told school directors Thursday she’s concerned about AI checkers being used by teachers to flag artificial intelligence in students' assignments.
"I don’t want to get a bad grade or get told, ‘Oh, you used AI to write this,’ when I worked really hard on it."Yaniushca Santiago, sophomore at Allen High School and student board representative
“I don’t want to get a bad grade or get told, ‘Oh, you used AI to write this,’ when I worked really hard on it,” she said.
School director Nick Nicholoff added that neurodivergent people are more likely to have their original work falsely flagged as an AI creation.
“I would like that note to be taken into account when we develop policy for how teachers grade their students if they have somebody in their class with autism spectrum disorder or ADD or ADHD,” he said.
Yaniushca said she’s also concerned about students relying on AI to do their work for them, leading to poor grammar and low literacy skills.
“With AI use, I feel like it impacts how much education kids are getting in school, and that’s what worries me,” she said.
“You can search up anything on AI like, ‘Oh help me with this, help me with that,’ but if you’re not actually learning or taking it in, you’re just doing [an assignment] to do it.”
ASD community input
School Director Lisa Conover expressed concern that the district’s AI policy was created without enough student input.
“I’m feeling like the kids that we serve are going to be the last to pretty much know."Lisa Conover, Allentown school board director
“I’m feeling like the kids that we serve are going to be the last to pretty much know,” she said. “The policy’s in place and it’s going to just get rolled out.”
The superintendent said she surveyed her 40-student advisory council about what they wanted to see from the district’s AI policy.
Conover said this was not a large enough student sample in a district of 16,700.
Birks said a survey is also going out to district families to gauge their knowledge of AI, and once the policy is approved, it will be included in the student and family handbook. Teachers and school leaders were also surveyed about their knowledge of AI.
Additionally, Google will be coming to ASD this week to provide AI professional learning to school and district leaders, as well as clerical and IT staff. Birks is a 2024-25 Google GSV Education Innovation Fellow.
The AI policy will be on the agenda for the school board’s next meeting 7 p.m. Dec. 19 at the district administration building.
