K-12 Public Educators Have Laid Groundwork for AI’s Advance
Startups including SchoolAI position to tap ChatGPT to provide education services to students and teachers; White House, education organizations stepping up guidelines
By John P. Desmond, Editor, AI in Business
When OpenAI released ChatGPT in November 2022, many educators freaked out, concerned students could use it to complete their writing assignments, with teachers unable to discern the robot from the human contribution.
As time went on, and it became clear ChatGPT and language model alternatives would be here to stay, savvy software entrepreneurs looked for opportunities to employ generative AI to help students learn.
One of them was Caleb Hicks, the founder and CEO of SchoolAI based in Lehi, Utah. With a background in education technology companies, he saw an opportunity and launched the company in the summer of 2023.
“We like to say we’re built by teachers, for teachers,” stated Hicks in a recent account in Deseret News. “Many of the people on our team are former teachers, and we’re meeting regularly with a community of current teachers that are using our product in new and interesting ways. There’s a big difference between our approach and someone trying to design education tools that have never been in a classroom.”
SchoolAI’s products aim to serve students and teachers. The company offers more than 1,000 activities with AI tutors, interactive games and grade- and subject-specific activities. Teachers view dashboards with real-time feedback used to track student progress and develop tailored learning plans for students.
Teachers face the challenge of teaching lessons every day to groups of maybe 30 students who cycle through classes every hour or so. “We all think of teachers working with 20 to 25 students at a time — already a high bar — when in reality most teachers are working with many, many more,” Hicks stated. “We built SchoolAI because we see an important opportunity to bring AI into classrooms in a safe and secure way that benefits teachers and students in a manner parents approve.”
The company has won over educators in Utah’s Jordan school district, who were initially skeptical and cautious about ChatGPT. Anthony Godfrey, superintendent of the Jordan district, was initially wary of the potential harms. AI and ChatGPT were “all the buzz” when it came out, he stated in the Deseret account, “But we had to close it down in our district and did not allow access to ChatGPT ... because we didn’t know what problems it might cause for our students or our digital infrastructure.”
But Godfrey kept an eye on the progress of AI-driven tools, and ran into Hicks at an education conference and learned about his startup, SchoolAI. He was intrigued when Hicks described its safety protocols and tools for students and teachers.
In Utah’s Payson district, English teacher Sam McGrath went through a similar experience, initially wary of ChatGPT, later intrigued by its potential in the classroom, and then learning about the offerings of SchoolAI.
“As I explored ChatGPT, my big thing was thinking about how I could put AI in the hands of students in a way that included appropriate boundaries and safety measures,” McGrath stated in the Deseret account. His district obtained a limited number of SchoolAI licenses to test the product out. The product is priced on a per student, per month basis.
McGrath found the tool useful as a way for students to get input on their own writing, in a way that guides learning without doing the work for the students. “It’s a space where they can get immediate feedback and allows me to monitor the process and offer additional guidance,” he stated.
Utah’s Jordan district in February committed to making SchoolAI available in all its 67 schools, which have 3,350 educators serving over 57,800 students. It’s a big win for SchoolAI. Nationwide, 1,500 school districts have adopted the platform, serving 20,000 teachers and 100,000 students in Utah, New York, Ohio and Connecticut, according to the company.
In a press release, Jordan Superintendent Godfrey stated, “Partnering with SchoolAI allows us to introduce a tool in the classroom that lets teachers get valuable insights into their students’ preparedness level for each subject, making it easy to assist them in a personalized way that wasn’t possible before.”
As the use of AI expands in public education, some observers see that education governing bodies need to provide more guidance.
Educators Seek National Guidance on AI
A recent analysis by the Center on Reinventing Public Education at Arizona State University, published in November 2023, found that only two states, California and Oregon, have provided official AI guidance to schools. Another 11 were in the process of developing guidance, and 21 states said they were not planning to release guidance anytime soon, according to an account in EducationWeek. The account was headlined, “Schools Desperately Need Guidance on AI. Who Will Step Up?”
At the federal level, the White House issued an executive order on AI on October 30 that called for the US Department of Education to develop AI resources, policies and guidance within the next year. The guidance is to include an “AI toolkit” that education leaders can use to keep AI in compliance with privacy laws and regulations.
Some education organizations are also stepping up. The Council of Great City Schools and the Consortium for School Networking released a list of 93 questions for schools to consider when using AI. And the Teach AI initiative launched by a group of nonprofits offers a toolkit of principles to think about when setting up AI guidance.
NSF-Funded Projects Aim at National Guidelines for Teaching AI
The US National Science Foundation has been supporting the teaching of AI in schools for many years. For example, in 2019, an NSF-funded project led to the development of national guidelines for teaching and learning about AI in K-12 schools. It was among the first efforts to develop curriculums in the US dedicated to teaching pre-college students about the fundamental knowledge and skills related to AI. The AI for K-12 initiative website offers guidelines, according to a recent blog post from the NSF.
“Through NSF-funded research, we are learning how to harness AI to make education more equitable, inclusive, and accessible,” stated James L. Moore III, NSF assistant director for STEM education. The NSF has funded a number of research projects to find effective teaching methods to inspire, engage and teach future generations about AI.
Chia Shen, a program officer in NSF’s Directorate for STEM Education, said the NSF’s involvement has laid the groundwork that generative AI fits atop.
“NSF has been leading the AI frontier, not chasing it. We have a rich portfolio in this area with a strong impact,” she stated. “This is part of how we as an agency help the nation and the issues we have with AI like ethical issues, and biases; it’s not just about ChatGPT.”
More About School AI
In response to several queries sent by AI in Business, a public relations representative for SchoolAI sent some information; excerpts follow:
Asked if the company provides parents with an option to opt out of sharing any information about their students, the company stated:
“No student is required to use SchoolAI if their parents wish to opt out. When students do use the platform, SchoolAI protects their information and is compliant with all applicable laws and regulations, including FERPA and COPPA. SchoolAI employs industry-standard security measures to protect personal information, including encryption, hashing, and salting.”
Asked if the company sells any student data, such as to data brokers, the company stated:
“SchoolAI never sells student data. They also don't display any advertising to students on SchoolAI. Furthermore, SchoolAI strictly prohibits any third parties from engaging in behavioral tracking on SchoolAI for targeted advertising purposes or displaying ads on the platform.”
Asked how the company prices the product, the company stated:
“We offer a free-tier to teachers to get started. To access a pro license, an organization license is required. We partner directly with schools and districts. Our per-student pricing varies based on the size of the district or school.”
Asked what the product does that could not be done in the pre-AI days, the company responded:
“The use of AI in the SchoolAI platform enables interactive learning experiences that can be tailored to and respond to each individual student, while providing feedback to their teacher in real time. This level of personalization has never been possible before.”
See the source articles and information in Deseret News, in EducationWeek, 93 questions for schools to consider when using AI, a toolkit of principles from the Teach AI initiative and the AI for K-12 initiative website.