AI policies are still a work in progress for several Tennessee school districts ahead of 2024-25 school year

Legislation passed in February requires Tennessee school districts to report how artificial intelligence (AI) will be used and regulated in the classroom, but many districts are still finalizing their plans ahead of next month's deadline.

Senate Bill 1711, which was passed with overwhelming support in the Tennessee General Assembly, mandates that public school districts and charter schools submit their AI policies to the Tennessee Department of Education by July for the 2024-25 school year. Public universities and colleges will also need to submit their own AI guidelines by July of next year.

The legislation comes at a time when K-12 districts and higher education institutions nationwide are becoming more familiar with AI-driven educational tools used for content generation, grading, and lesson planning. Despite initial concerns over academic dishonesty and “AI plagiarism” related to tools like ChatGPT, educators are increasingly integrating AI into their teaching methods.

In Johnson City Schools, Supervisor of Secondary and Instructional Technology David Timbs acknowledged that teachers are adapting to the use of AI platforms. While the district’s AI guidelines are still in development and set to be unveiled in August, Timbs expressed confidence in the direction of policy discussions as educators gain more experience with the technology.

“While we are still working on our formal AI policies today, we have already been embracing its use by teachers over the past two years. Our ‘technology teacher leaders’ have been early adopters and several of them have presented on its use in not only their own schools, but across the district,” Timbs told Tennessee Firefly. “We believe our new policy will reflect a proactive, balanced approach. Already several of the instructional platforms we use, most notably Quizizz, rely on AI heavily to assist teachers in taking their instructional strategies to the next level by both enhancing student engagement and saving valuable time.”

Similarly, Rutherford County Schools officials are still formulating their AI policies. RCS Chief Communication Officer James Evans stated that the district will soon provide more details to the public once the school board and policy committee have completed a thorough review.

“In July, our policy committee is scheduled to meet to review the new law and establish a policy about the use of AI tools in our schools. The committee includes teachers, principals, community members, instructional leaders, and elected School Board members,” Evans said. “Once we have the policy in place, we can provide additional information about how AI tools will be used.”

According to a report by K-12 Dive, school districts such as Oak Ridge Schools and Milan Special School District are grappling with how to define AI plagiarism, a major concern when developing classroom AI policies. Ensuring equity in access to AI tools for legitimate educational uses is another significant concern, particularly for districts still working to close the digital divide.

Milan Special School District Superintendent Jonathan Criswell noted that detecting AI plagiarism and addressing accountability is a key issue.

“Sitting down and having those conversations with parents has been very difficult, because first, a majority of them don’t even know that this exists,” Criswell told K-12 Dive.

Other concerns school districts are considering include AI’s limitations, such as embedded biases and “AI hallucinations,” as they work to finalize their policies for the upcoming school year.