On Tuesday, the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education held a hearing analyzing the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on K-12 education.
The witnesses for the hearing included:
- Sid Dorbin: Chair, Department of English, University of Florida
- Julia Rafal-Baer: CEO, ILO Group
- Erin Mote: CEO, InnovateEDU/EDSAFE Alliance
- Chris Chism: Superintendent, Pearl Public School District
The hearing served as an opportunity for lawmakers to highlight the power as well as the pitfalls AI will have in modern classrooms. Chair Kevin Kiley (R-CA) noted in his opening statement that AI is already widely adopted by students in limited ways. Nearly 50% of K-12 students use ChatGPT at least weekly. Of those students, 35% frequently use it to summarize information, 32% to generate ideas and 26% to get initial feedback on their work.
Kiley added, “So, the question is not whether students will use AI, that's already happening. Rather, the question is how schools can support students in using AI responsibly and in unlocking its full potential to advance student achievement.”
Chris Chism of the Pearl Public School District highlighted that his district has its own internal AI enterprise system to safeguard student data. He added that AI can make educators, students and administrators more efficient.
Lawmakers also stressed that there would need to be federal guidelines for AI use in schools. Erin Mote said that only relying on states to deploy AI without federal guidance is “a recipe for fragmentation.”
A recording of the hearing can be found here.
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