Welcome to the 'Wild West' of AI in schools: Research is scarce, but experiments abound
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experiments → welcome → schools
For a few weeks last school year, a small group of students in Dayton, Ohio, regularly sat in front of laptops in conversation with a social-emotional learning chatbot named Jordan.
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group → sit → chatbot
Unlike AI chatbots that are designed to be agreeable — and even sycophantic — Jordan presents as angsty: On the day NPR visited, the chatbot told students, "Lately, I've been feeling like what's the point of any of this?
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point → design → this
I'm not failing.
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I → fail → ?
I just don't care.
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I → care → ?
You ever feel like that?"
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You → feel → that
"Jordan's a little whiner, but I always help him out," said K, a sophomore at the Alternative School at Jackson Center, which is part of Dayton Public Schools.
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which → help → Schools
"I built a little relationship with him," K explained.
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K → build → him
"So I don't really see it as like an AI on a computer.
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I → see → computer
It's Jordan — like, I'm texting somebody.
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I → texte → somebody
That's how I see it."
Many students at this alternative school would otherwise be suspended or expelled, and staff told NPR that students here often struggle with both behavioral and academic challenges.
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students → see → challenges
NPR is using only K's first initial because of the stigma associated with attending a school for students with a history of disciplinary problems.
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NPR → use → problems
Dayton schools paid the ed tech company SchoolAI $72,600 last academic year for multiple AI tools, including the Jordan chatbot, which administrators designed in collaboration with the company and an outside consultant.
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administrators → pay → company
District leaders said they wanted to see whether Jordan could help students open up about their emotions and experiences outside of school, information that could be useful for school therapists and staff.
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that → say → therapists
(According to administrators, families and students were notified that the chat logs could be viewed by school employees, an external evaluator and SchoolAI staff.)
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logs → accord → employees
Instead of directly asking students how they feel, Jordan asks students for advice and then grades their responses for engagement and authenticity.
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Jordan → ask → engagement
K, who spent just part of his sophomore year at the alternative school, said Jordan could be frustrating at times, but he also found the chatbot's responses relatable.
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responses → spend → times
"I would say it helped me kind of solve my own problems … just answering Jordan every morning and getting him through his problems," K said.
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K → say → problems
"I will go home … but I won't have nobody to talk to.
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I → go → nobody
So one day … I put myself in a Jordan perspective.
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I → put → perspective
I'm just talking to myself, and it's helped ever since."
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it → talk → myself
Across the United States, school districts and individual educators are experimenting with AI in the classroom.
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districts → experiment → classroom
Teachers are using it to develop lesson plans; special educators are using it to track student progress; in some districts, students have access to AI chatbots that give them feedback on their work; and a San Diego charter school recently introduced its students to an AI-powered humanoid robot.
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school → use → robot
"It feels very Wild West in terms of the randomness," says Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, which has been tracking AI adoption in K-12 schools.
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which → feel → schools
Meanwhile, the research around how schools can use AI to help students — and avoid potential harms — is extremely limited, according to a recent Stanford University review of more than 800 academic papers.
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schools → use → papers
According to that report, some of the existing studies suggest that carefully designed AI tools show more promise than general-purpose chatbots.
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tools → accord → chatbots
There's also no consensus around how schools and educators should be measuring what works and what doesn't.
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what → be → ?
This is bigger than individual schools, even individual districts can figure out on their own.
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districts → figure → own
We need state and federal leadership," Lake says.
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Lake → need → leadership
But states and the federal government have been mostly hands off, which means many schools are forging ahead on their own.
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schools → mean → own
NPR asked Dayton Public Schools Superintendent David Lawrence about his district's decision to experiment with AI on vulnerable students, like the ones at the alternative school that K attended.
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K → ask → that
He said educators must constantly adapt to keep up with the changing times.
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educators → say → times
"I think when the history is written, it'll say that 'Hey, they were really cutting-edge, innovative and ahead of the curve in the interest of children.'
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they → think → children
"
The challenge of measuring what works and what doesn't
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what → measure → ?
In Dayton, administrators say they will continue using AI at the alternative school, and they will more than likely deploy more social-emotional chatbots like Jordan.
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they → say → Jordan
The district also renewed its contract with SchoolAI at a cost of $78,650 for the current school year.
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district → renew → year
Mike Kentz, an external consultant the district hired to help design and evaluate the pilot, says the experiment produced enough positive evidence — drawn from chat logs and feedback from students and staff — to continue testing.
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experiment → hire → students
However, he says he doesn't think it's ready to be rolled out to students across the district.
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it → say → district
Kentz says that's partly because it's difficult to measure the success of such an experiment.
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it → say → experiment
"Every test, every experiment that I try to measure in some sort of concrete way, I can only get as far as perception," he says, referring to how students and staff feel about it.
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students → try → it
…and 38 more, not listed.
The Aporia
