Malden parent Shaleen Title recalls how, just a year ago, most of the people she spoke to about the use of artificial intelligence products in schools seemed ambivalent.
"People just didn't seem to know what to think, and some were saying that kids need to know how to use this technology," Title said. "In the year since, people have been using their common sense and, based on what they are seeing, realize tech companies are targeting students, not helping them."
Title helped start Reconnect Malden, a community group dedicated to limiting ed tech's influence in public schools. The group's work with the Malden school district resulted in students using laptops with AI functions that are disabled in advance.
What educators, families and experts are coming to understand is that ed tech companies are introducing AI programs and products that require students and educators to opt out rather than opt in to their use. AI chatbots and other types of cyber assistance are virtual vacuum cleaners, sucking up whatever student data they can since that information can be used to both shape additional AI tools, as well as create digital profiles for other types of research. What makes this even more troubling is that Massachusetts is considered to have very weak privacy protection provisions and relies on federal laws that govern the protection of student data.
Until recently, the tech giants have been nibbling around the edges of public schools. Then, in late August, the Springfield Education Association learned that the controversial Alpha Schools was setting up a pilot program in Kiley Prep Middle School. Kiley is part of Springfield's so-called Empowerment Zone, which is run by co-executive directors who answer to a board of directors largely appointed by the commissioner of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
On Sept. 21, the Springfield Empowerment Zone announced it would postpone introducing the Alpha pilot program. The announcement followed weeks of community organizing by the SEA members and a cyberattack that closed Springfield Public Schools for a week. Educators will continue monitoring AI incursions into the districts.
Alpha claims that students using its AI tutors for just two hours a day can learn all of the academic content they need. Alpha Schools do not hire teachers. Instead, they rely on classroom "guides" who make sure students are working and the tech isn't glitching.
Alpha Schools are, for the most part, private and charge tuition in excess of $40,000 annually. Several states have denied applications from Alpha to open publicly funded charter schools, and there is little independent data to back up Alpha's claims of dramatic student success. There is no data to support Alpha's ability to improve student academic performance in a public school setting.
"Alpha wants to conduct an experiment on Springfield children," said Riley Hernandez, president of the SEA. "There has been no transparency or attempt to work with educators, families, students or the community at large before introducing this unproven and controversial learning model into our schools. But it is nothing new to see big corporations prey on Black, brown and economically disadvantaged students under the guise of promising 'innovation'."
Prior to the Empowerment Zone announcing a pause, when confronted by a cease-and-desist order sought by the SEA, the zone directors claimed they would be adapting the Alpha model and still have a licensed teacher in the classroom subjected to the pilot program.
The SEA has organized a community forum, scheduled for Oct. 14, to open a public dialogue about the use of AI in public schools and the planned implementation of the Alpha pilot program at Kiley, which the Empowerment Zone had intended to expand to additional students over the course of the year.
MTA President Matt Bach is urging districts be required to have a one-year moratorium on agreements with AI and ed tech companies, to allow for time to develop the necessary policies and procedures that protect students and educators. "Right now, it is the private ed tech companies dictating how their products will be used in our public schools," Bach said. "And from what our members are seeing in the classroom, these are gimmicks and not tools helping students. But more so than previous education cons, the AI and tech scams pose significant risks to social and emotional development and to student privacy."
Alpha's premise of individualized learning also undermines a core mission of public education: teaching students how to participate in groups and share their ideas with others.
As he saw during the years he spent teaching in Andover, prior to taking office as MTA president in July, Bach said the influence of AI and ed tech on students has been largely negative. Students lose cognitive skills when not made to do the nitty-gritty work of finding and assessing information or figuring out problems that chatbots now quickly solve. Student behavior also has deteriorated with the increase of screen time in the classroom.
The MTA also is opposed to the way ed tech companies are targeting low-income communities or "taking advantage of disadvantage," Bach said.
"Cities, towns and the state cannot pretend that tech toys are a replacement for fully funded schools staffed by trained educators," he said.
Title echoes Bach's sentiment that families know what works in education and should be cautious when entertaining claims being made by ed tech companies.
"Focus on what works — teachers with good training, reading with your kids at home. Stick with those kinds of things," she said.
Title, who is a lawyer, said that adult consent generally is required before companies can collect data on students younger than 13. And she emphasized the need for communities to get ahead of the fast-moving AI companies. The three steps she urges are first, talk to school district administrators and urge them to make sure student laptops and devices have all AI functions turned off. Second, form a parent-led advocacy group that can have members talk at school committee meetings and other public events. Finally, convince school administrators to convene a working group that includes parents and educators to determine policies and best practices for the use of AI and other technologies in schools.
"The good news is that once communities become proactive, they stay proactive," she said.
Learn more about AI in schools and listen to MTA President Matt Bach, Shaleen Title of Reconnect Malden and MIT Professor Justin Reich discuss its impact by visiting massteacher.org/AI.
