Key points:
Given the evolution and growing presence of AI in classrooms, the U.S. Department of Education has released a guide to help educators and education leaders integrate AI into education in an ethical and equitable manner.
Empowering Education Leaders: A Toolkit for Safe, Ethical, and Equitable AI Integration builds on the ministry’s previous report, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning: Insights and Recommendationsand is designed to help education leaders make critical decisions about integrating AI applications into student learning and the instructional core.
This latest report connects general ideas about AI to establishing use policies in schools and districts to guide its effective implementation and offers guidance for effective use and integration of AI in teaching and learning. The toolkit also promotes transparency and awareness in the use of AI in schools, and highlights the importance of giving students, teachers and parents the ability to opt out of AI-based applications at school.
The guide includes 10 modules divided into three categories:
1. Risk mitigation: Protecting student privacy, security and non-discrimination (Modules 1 to 3). Knowledge of applicable federal laws, rules, and regulations is an essential first step when planning the use of AI in schools and classrooms. Education leaders need to know how existing federal policies apply to the use of AI in their specific situations. This section invites leaders to learn about data privacy and security requirements; how civil rights, digital accessibility and equity relate to AI; and careful consideration of the opportunities and risks associated with the use of AI. This section is relevant to an education leader who wants to understand how proactively addressing student security, privacy, and privacy can help them shape their plans for using AI.
2. Build a strategy for integrating AI into the educational core (modules 4 to 7). New forms of AI have already largely permeated educational environments, and it is necessary to explore it directly to understand it. In our listening sessions, educators strongly recommended that districts use the knowledge they have gained from past advances in edtech to develop a clear, cohesive strategy tied to the instructional core as a first step in planning of the use of AI, then revising this strategy as you go. they learn more about AI. This strategy should draw on multiple sources of evidence on the use of AI. Leaders identified three additional steps to further inform their strategy for effectively using AI-based tools in a way that meets the needs of their students: (1) listen to and inform their communities, (2) prioritize and a rhythm for their community. , and (3) guide and support the implementation of a community strategy through a working group. This section provides resources to help education leaders review the evidence supporting AI-based tools and guide leaders through each of these three essential steps. This path makes sense for an educational leader engaged in or beginning the strategic planning process around the use of AI.
3. Maximizing Opportunities: Guiding the Effective Use and Evaluation of AI (Modules 8-10). While exploring and developing a coherent strategy are important first steps, the toolkit urges education leaders to actively guide the effective use of AI to improve teaching and student learning, whether these tools are used for teacher productivity or instruction. Education leaders outlined three initial steps for shaping AI use: (1) developing educators’ knowledge of AI, (2) reviewing responsible use policies, and (3) developing a system-wide plan. This section is suitable for an educational leader who has a clear strategy in place for the use of AI and is prepared to focus on guiding, developing and continually evaluating the use of AI. AI in its community.
“The Department for Education’s guidance on AI provides timely guidance to schools considering how best to integrate AI. With a focus on privacy, fairness, and bias mitigation, this document provides a robust framework that addresses the priorities of educators and administrators for using AI responsibly and effectively to serve all students said Sari Factor, Chief Strategy Officer of Imagine Learning.
“At the heart of this guidance is the understanding that AI in education does not replace the human element but rather enhances it. The role of AI should be to empower teachers, support differentiated instruction, and facilitate stronger engagement with students and families,” added Factor. “For AI to have a significant impact, it is essential to integrate it into high-quality, standards-aligned curricula. By ensuring that AI tools are deeply connected to learning objectives, schools can design implementations that are thoughtful, ethical, and focused on true educational value, paving the way for AI to make meaningful contributions to learning environments.
Laura Ascione is the editorial director of eSchool Media. She is a graduate of the prestigious Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.
