Dive Brief:
- Over half — 55% — of teachers said they believe students are using artificial intelligence mostly as a shortcut to avoid completing more schoolwork, according to a NPR/Ipsos poll released Friday.
- Additionally, 54% of teachers reported that AI is making it more difficult for students to develop critical thinking skills. Some 59% of teachers said AI tools are fraying trust between them and their students, while 57% said the technology is hindering their ability to assess students’ knowledge.
- A majority of teachers (74%) said they expect AI to have a larger impact on K-12 education than previous technological advances like computers or the internet.
Dive Insight:
Educators’ skepticism and concerns over student AI use come even as most surveyed teachers — 3 in 5 — report that they use AI to help with their own work or tasks, the NPR/Ipsos poll found.
The most common ways teachers say they’re using AI tools are to develop classroom materials, write or plan lessons, complete administrative tasks, communicate with parents and write reports, according to the poll.
A separate survey released in May by Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation also found that 6 in 10 teachers use AI for their work — and that more than 60% said they lacked any guidance on how to implement AI on the job.
In the NPR/Ipsos survey, 78% of teachers want responsible AI use to be included in their school’s curriculum. Still, 1 in 3 teachers said their school has a formal policy on student AI use, while even fewer — 23% — said their schools have formal policies on teacher AI use.
But as teacher and student use of AI proliferates, momentum is gaining to curb student-facing AI use, especially for younger students.
In late May, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten called for a ban on AI tools for students in elementary schools as part of the teachers union’s broader “Devices down, eyes up, hands-on” 10-point plan.
At the same time, AFT is encouraging teachers to explore using AI in the classroom through its National Academy for AI Instruction as part of a $23 million partnership with Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic. The academy’s goal is to train 1 in 10 teachers nationwide to develop AI fluency skills by 2030 — at no cost to educators.
As teacher AI training remains uneven, there’s also been some bipartisan interest among lawmakers in a House subcommittee hearing earlier this year in developing a larger federal role in supporting teacher professional development for using AI tools.
The NPR/Ipsos poll surveyed 545 K-12 teachers between April 27 and May 5.
