Schools Lack AI Policies, Even As Teachers, Students, Use It Routinely, Poll Shows

Although most teachers are regularly using AI, most have received little to no guidance from administrators regarding how to incorporate it into education, according to a new survey.

A Gallup poll found that 60 percent of educators are using AI, with 30 percent using it at least weekly. However, only 18 percent of respondents reported receiving any formal guidance from administrators about how to use the technology.

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“This lack of clarity is leaving many K-12 teachers to navigate a rapidly changing technology landscape without support,” Gallup stated. The poll surveyed 2,069 teachers in K-12 education between February and early March.

Education experts said that the way in which AI is used by teachers and students will radically change the education landscape and is very different based on the class and level.

“The way an elementary school teacher might be using AI looks very different from a high school AP math teacher,” Arman Jaffer, the CEO and founder of Brisk Teaching told Axios. “We’re just coming to this realization that … this is a much more powerful technology, when you look at agents and the future of work … it is really transforming the way teaching can happen in the classroom.”

Across instruction areas that included tasks such as using AI to create lesson plans or to grade classwork, 18 percent of teachers stated they received some formal guidance, 48 percent stated that they received informal guidance on some tasks, and 34 percent said they received no guidance.

“AI is out there,” All4Ed CEO Amy Loyd told the outlet. “It’s not a question of whether or not our students are going to be using it; it’s a question of how well our educators are supported and receive the ongoing professional learning and capacity building to be able to be confident in it,” he added.

Gallup concluded that although AI is increasingly a routine part of the lives of educators and students across the country, institutions are behind on providing guidance on how to use AI and what appropriate use looks like.

“For most teachers, there is no formal policy, leaving individuals to make consequential decisions in a policy vacuum,” Gallup states. “Schools and districts willing to invest in clear AI guidance could both reduce ambiguity for teachers and promote more confident, effective adoption.”