Fairfax County Public Schools officials want to make sure students are using artificial intelligence as a tool rather than a crutch.
FCPS doesn’t have a comprehensive policy governing the use of AI, but officials are working on one. Superintendent Michelle Reid told the Fairfax County School Board at a work session this month (Oct. 7) that it’s important to make sure everyone is on the same page because AI is such a broad topic.
“It’s a ginormous topic,” she said. “If we all had a bubble over our head, we’d all think we know we’re talking about the same thing but in reality we’re not.”
An umbrella term for technology that uses computer systems to handle complex tasks, from data processing and weather forecasting to language translation and facial recognition, artificial intelligence has become increasingly associated with generative AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which are trained on existing text, video and images to produce “new” content.
According to Babak Mostaghimi, a partner at the generative AI investment company LearnerStudio, there are three avenues to consider around the use of the technology in school systems: preparing students for a future with AI, supporting student learning through AI and using AI tools to support adults.
Much of the national discussion around AI in schools has centered on keeping students from cheating, Mostaghimi said in a presentation to the school board, but the technology is much broader and rapidly changing. Students need to be ready for changes to possible career pathways as AI replaces jobs.
“AI and future readiness have to be for everyone and I really deeply believe that [school] districts need to lead the way,” he said.
Mostaghimi and Reid said whatever policy the board creates needs to be easy to update as technology improves.
“We’re going to have to be comfortable with a certain amount of fluidity because this content area … is one that moves very differently than the past that we’ve traditionally planned for,” Reid said.
Mostaghimi urged the board to not just support more computer programs, but encourage AI use to supplement, rather than replace, human thinking. Data security, he said, should also be at the center to ensure personally identifiable information isn’t uploaded to AI systems.
AI is already in FCPS classrooms, where tools like Adobe Express, Google Storybook and Google’s LM have been approved for staff use. The board saw presentations of teachers creating storybooks on specific topics for younger students, organizing research and having students create images of themselves with descriptive language.
“I’m very excited that we’ve moved away from ‘we can’t touch this’ to ‘how do we get this into our spaces,'” said Mason District Representative Ricardy Anderson.
Braddock District representative Rachna Seizemore Heizer, who is a professor through Texas Tech University, said she embraces AI in the classroom. For example, she would have students use AI to answer questions and then fact check the responses, show where the information came from and how they might change the answer.
“There’s lots of opportunity here,” she said.
Mount Vernon District representative Mateo Dunne said while AI will be a part of the future, FCPS needs to ensure that the “fundamentals of human-to-human connection” like handwriting and personal finance don’t fall by the wayside.
“There’s a role for AI, there’s a role for technology but I think in our country we get so excited and obsessed with tech that we can lose sight of some of the fundamentals,” he said.
At-large member Kyle McDaniel said the division needs to look beyond the classroom as well, such as how AI can help with budgeting under the specter of reduced federal funding.
“We’re going to have to continue to squeeze these budgets more, and these types of tools are going to help us accomplish that,” he said.
The school board will seek public input on its potential artificial intelligence policies at its Nov. 3 meeting. Reid said the division staff hope to have a framework policy ready for a vote by the end of the school year.
