The world is changing, and fast. The explosive advances in generative AI (as well as accelerating climate change, rising inequality, and increasing geopolitical instability) pose both significant risks and opportunities for current students. The outcome depends in large part on how well we prepare current students to be the problem-solvers and innovators of the future.
We must quickly engage and support policy and system leaders, change agents, and educators to be ready for the future that is rapidly approaching, so they can in turn prepare students for a job market that will undoubtedly require skills in generative AI. This technology also offers a real avenue to address many ongoing challenges in our public education system—a system mired in the past, hardwired for inequality, and resistant to change. But system leaders, policy makers, and educators must be bold enough to embrace these innovations, and embrace them quickly.
AI has already disrupted K-12 education and will continue to do so. The field urgently needs rapid response research to help district leaders and others manage the risks of AI, including questions of bias, equitable access, and academic integrity. At the same time, it is crucial to examine how AI might transform the roles of teachers and administrators, as well as how it might and improve student outcomes. AI isn’t slowing down, and the longer we wait to start preparing our students for an AI-driven world, the less prepared they’ll be to operate effectively in their future lives and careers.
Think Forward: Learning with AI is Robin Lake’s new commentary on all things AI and education policy. Subscribe for bi-weekly (ish) updates!
CRPE is using its rapid response research model, honed during the pandemic, to understand the rapidly-evolving AI landscape
AI resources from Arizona State University and other partners
