Teacher support is the key to unlocking AI's classroom potential

Key points:

It’s up to policy leaders at all levels to set educators up for success with AI use
Equitable access to AI is a problem–the solution is professional learning
From burnout to balance: How AI could transform teaching
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Breakthroughs in large language models like ChatGPT hold vast potential to improve K-12 teaching and learning. LLMs can personalize learning, reduce teachers’ administrative burdens, and make more adaptive and insightful assessments. Yet, according to a 2024 survey by Impact Research, 51 percent of K-12 teachers report that they do not use ChatGPT regularly for their jobs. It’s worth asking, then: Why aren’t teachers taking full advantage of this groundbreaking new technology?

It turns out that it’s not because teachers fear or wish to avoid ChatGPT altogether. Rather, teachers’ most-cited reason for not using AI more in their classroom is that they have not received enough training to use it effectively. Teachers want to do right by their students and know that to use LLMs appropriately and for the full benefit of their students, they need support and guidance.

The best education policies, practices, and tools will only make an impact on students if teachers can implement them. Teachers hold the power to either harness AI in their classrooms or not.

It’s up to policy leaders at all levels to set educators up for success.

Policymakers at the state and federal levels have not kept pace with the speed of AI. Locally, AI rules are a patchwork of policies that vary from district to district, if at all. At the state level, only about one-third of state departments of education have developed AI guidance for their educator workforce. Federally, Congress has not passed any significant legislation to seize the opportunities and mitigate the risks of AI–in education or any other sector, for that matter. The U.S. Department of Education’s new AI toolkit for educators is a thoughtful step toward improving teachers’ AI know-how, but more resources, training, and support are needed to help teachers leverage AI with confidence.

The 2024 Impact Research survey on AI Chatbots in Schools sheds light on K-12 teachers’ perceptions and usage of LLMs. Of the 1,000+ K-12 teachers surveyed, 49 percent reported using ChatGPT in their teaching roles at least once per week. Of all groups surveyed (teachers, K-12 students, undergraduate students, and parents), teachers represented the smallest group expressing confidence in using chatbots–and that’s just confidence in using chatbots in general, not how to use them appropriately in a classroom setting. Only a quarter of the teachers surveyed had received any training in this area.

It’s not only a lack of training, but also school policies around AI in the classroom that hold many educators back. Only 32 percent of the educators surveyed reported that their school has a policy outlining how AI chatbots can be used for schoolwork. Without clear expectations for what is appropriate and what’s not, it’s no wonder a large portion of teachers would rather steer clear of AI than put themselves at a potential professional risk. Teachers are already under so much scrutiny and pressure. Of course many don’t feel comfortable experimenting with new technology, having received no training or policies from their schools or districts.

This is where state leadership is needed. State education agencies must ensure that schools and educators have guidance on how to implement AI in classrooms. Otherwise, they are navigating the challenge and opportunity of AI in the dark. According to this compilation of AI and education resources from New America, a handful of states–both red and blue–have put out AI guidance for their schools. From Mississippi to California, educators in 16 states are benefitting from state-level AI frameworks and toolkits. But most states have yet to provide the guidance teachers say they need.

With state guidance, district leaders can tailor it for their community and focus on providing teachers with the resources and professional development they need to use AI effectively. Large districts, like Boston and Los Angeles, have put out guidance. Even a few small districts, like St. Cloud, Minnesota, are offering their schools AI guiding principles and policies–but they are outliers.

Federal leaders have a role to play, too. While most education decisions are made at the state and local levels, the federal government has the power to direct critical resources to solve nationwide challenges in education. Educators’ lack of training and support to deploy a fast-moving, dynamic technology with the potential to transform education is a national problem worth solving.

The NSF AI Education Act of 2024, introduced in both the Senate and House and already reported favorably out of committee, would tackle this problem by expanding AI professional development opportunities for teachers and teachers in training. This legislation would allow the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to award scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students training to teach AI skills to K-12 students (and students at other levels). The bill would also support competitive awards made by the NSF Director to promote research on how to best prepare incoming and current teachers to integrate AI into pre-K through 12th-grade classrooms.

This is the kind of bill that has bipartisan appeal and could be passed before the year ends, especially if it’s part of a larger package on AI policies.

Right now, AI in the classroom is a promising idea only realized in certain pockets around the country. Making federal and state investments in AI literacy and frameworks for educators will increase teachers’ AI knowledge, skills, and confidence–and bring the best of AI to more classrooms across the U.S.