Glitterville Public Schools
Generative Artificial Intelligence Policy for K-12 teachers and students
Policy #IXXXX
Adopted September 1, 2024

Glitterville is generally tech-forward and sees AI as a skill that students should learn; the school committee wants it to be a priority, but is wary of over-legislating given their lack of expertise with genAI. This is their policy:

The Glitterville Public Schools recognize the importance of generative artificial intelligence (genAI) as a component of a strong 21st century education. The availability of genAI provides an opportunity for students and staff to access new and innovative ways to engage with the world of information, to communicate with others, to improve efficiency of a range of tasks, and to create novel artistic and conceptual expressions. Therefore, the Glitterville Public School District will incorporate the teaching and use of genAI into relevant aspects of the K-12 curriculum. 

Given the nascent and rapidly changing nature of genAI, the Committee expects its administration to create sound, grade-appropriate guidelines to help support the wise and ethical use of genAI by teachers and students. Further, it expects that these guidelines will be regularly revisited and evaluated to ensure that they remain relevant and up-to-date with the changing technology landscape.

Rainbow City Public Schools
Generative Artificial Intelligence Policy for K-12 teachers and students
Policy #IXXXX
Adopted September 1, 2024

Rainbow City is wary of AI and is keenly aware of how thin-on-the-ground its technology infrastructure and expertise is. Several students were caught cheating last year using ChatGPT. The district wants to support teachers by taking a clear and cautious stand about genAI. This is its policy:

The Rainbow City Public Schools recognize the growing importance of generative artificial intelligence (genAI) to the growing landscape of digital technology. At the same time, it acknowledges that genAI represents a momentous shift in the way that a range of educational tasks can be accomplished, that there are serious outstanding questions about if and how genAI can be used ethically, and how it can be effectively incorporated into a rigorous curriculum. 

The Committee expects that key instructional experts (e.g., library media specialists, technology teachers) and classroom teachers will provide opportunities to help students learn the mindsets/dispositions, digital literacy skills, and technical skills required for wise and ethical use of genAI. This will include the understanding that any genAI created work that is presented as original work will be seen as a breach of academic integrity and handled in accordance with relevant student handbook guidelines.  

Sparkletown Public Schools
Generative Artificial Intelligence Policy for K-12 teachers and students
Policy #IXXXX
Adopted September 1, 2024

Sparkletown sees itself as a technologically innovative district, and wants to issue a policy that will enable teachers and students to incorporate the ethical and responsible use of AI into their everyday routines. They have a large technology department and several technology coaches at each school. Their policy is therefore more detailed than the others.

Section 1. Purpose 

The mission of Sparkletown Public Schools, in line with DESE’s educational vision, is to ensure that students’ education prepares them to “live meaningful and productive lives, and to fully engage in work, in civic life, and in personal and intellectual growth.” Strong indicators from research and economics point to generative AI (genAI) as a key technology that is becoming increasingly central to many domains of our social, political, and economic lives, and that all people will benefit from having fluency in genAI concepts and use. 

Learning to be a skilled and ethical user of genAI is part of the preparation that students need for the future, and a component of becoming a digitally literate citizen, as described in the commonwealth’s digital literacy and computer science curriculum frameworks. Therefore, the purpose of this policy is to support the wise and appropriate use of genAI in the context of teaching and learning to help strengthen students’ skill with technology, aid deep learning and creative thinking, and help develop students’ ability to ethically engage with the digital world. 

The purpose of adopting this generative artificial intelligence policy is to provide a broad guiding framework for responsible, ethical, and creative use of genAI in our school district by teachers and students. It is not a comprehensive policy to govern all possible uses of genAI by all people in the district.

Section 2. Definitions

2.1 Generative AI

Generative AI (genAI) refers to machine learning models that are trained on vast data sets and are intended to create new, similar data. They can be used to generate text, images, code, video, audio and other forms of content. GenAI can come in the form of stand-alone tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Magic School, or as a component part of another piece of software, such as the image generator in Canva or the “help me write” extension in Chrome. 

2.2 GenAI Fluency

Sparkletown Public Schools understand genAI fluency as the constellation of skills, mindsets, and knowledge that a person needs if they are to use and/or engage critically with genAI. Components of genAI fluency include:

• Understanding of the basic underlying technical functions that make genAI work, and therefore what it can do well and not well

• Recognition of a range of ethical domains that are relevant to genAI, including (but not limited to) the possibility of bias, data privacy and safety issues, and environmental concerns.

• Awareness of information quality concerns such as unintentional AI “hallucinations” and the possibility of disinformation.

• Ability to discern when genAI is an appropriate tool for a given task, and when it is not.

• Ability to use genAI tools wisely, appropriately, and effectively through prompt engineering strategies.

Section 3. Instructional uses of genAI

3.1 Professional Learning 

• The district will provide regular and ongoing professional development experiences to all educators to help them explore and understand educational uses of genAI, equity and justice considerations, data privacy concerns, and other relevant topics.

• School leaders will regularly assess teachers’ professional learning needs related to genAI.

3.2 Classroom Uses

• The district will maintain a list of genAI tools/applications that it endorses, including information about the relevant data privacy agreements that the district has with genAI vendors.

• When teachers use genAI in the classroom, it will be to supplement (not supplant) instruction.

• Educators will transparently disclose and describe all instances of genAI used for instructional purposes.

• Educators will follow all legal and data privacy guidelines to ensure that student data and privacy is not put at risk.

• Students are expected to adhere to the district’s acceptable use policy (AUP) and all other relevant behavioral and academic integrity policies/guidelines when using genAI.

3.3 Digital Literacy and 21st Century Skills

• Students will be given regular opportunities to engage with core concepts and practices related to genAI to help them gain fluency with genAI.

• Students will have opportunities to learn about ethical issues that arise from genAI.

• Students will learn how to critically evaluate information generated by or (or possibly generated by) genAI.

3.4 Grading and assessment (adapted from Uxbridge)

• The district encourages the professional use of AI for formative and summative assessments to improve the efficiency of grading and feedback.

• Teachers will ensure that AI-supported assessments align with curriculum standards and maintain the academic rigor and fairness of the grading process.

• Students and caregivers must be informed when AI is used in the assessment of work and have the option to request human grading for any assignment or assessment. 

3.5 Plagiarism & cheating detection

• Teachers may use genAI plagiarism detectors that have been vetted and approved for use by the district.

• AI plagiarism detectors are currently unreliable. When student work is flagged as plagiarism/cheating by such detectors, teachers will first have a conversation with the student to build understanding about how and why the student used genAI, about appropriate and ethical use of genAI. The teacher will then use their professional judgment to determine next steps, in alignment with school and district discipline codes, academic integrity codes, and other policies and guidelines. 

Section 4. Data Privacy and Legal Guidelines

4.1 Data Privacy

• Any genAI tools endorsed by or used in the district will comply with all relevant laws and guidelines related to user data, including student data.

• Students and families will be informed of the extent and purpose of any data that is shared with genAI systems. 

• The district will develop and disseminate guidelines to help teachers and students understand considerations related to gen-AI and cybersecurity. 

4.2 Legal Use

• All genAI applications endorsed by the district will comply with local, state, and federal laws and regulations; they will be reviewed regularly to ensure compliance with legal standards. 

Section 5. Incident Response

• The committee expects its administration to develop an incident response plan for responding to incidents involving genAI, such as data breaches or misuse of genAI tools.

Section 6: Equity and Accessibility

• The committee expects its administration to develop guidelines for ensuring that genAI is used in a way that is equitable and accessible to all students.

Section 7: Review and Revision

This policy will be regularly revisited and evaluated to ensure that it remains relevant and up-to-date with the changing technology landscape.