Educators weigh AI policy in Nevada classrooms

Discussions on the state and local school board levels continue on how to form guardrails and best practices for generative artificial intelligence use in Nevada classrooms.

The Nevada Department of Education recently held a series of focus groups and town halls with school districts to gain feedback from educators, students and families on their understanding, current use or concerns about integration into curriculum and course offerings.

The NDE held a workshop with the Carson City School District at one of its Community Connections events in April where staff members were asked about AI, its use in the classroom and potential advantages or disadvantages as well as how it could be used to support critical reasoning in the learning environment.

Ann Marie Dickson, deputy superintendent of the NDE’s Student Achievement Division, and Jayne Malorni, education program professional of the Office of Teaching and Learning, shared during the State Board of Education’s meeting on June 12 that a mutual concern among teachers and support professionals has been about the operational implications and issues of access.

“One of the big questions was, ‘What does AI actually look like if we made it operational in the classroom, and ‘Is a robot going to replace me as an educator?’ No, not yet. I don’t know if I see a world where that’s happening, but not yet,” Malorni said.

Most school districts are determining an official stance on the matter. Carson City School District as of June 25 had drafted a policy and presented language to its board as a first reading to encourage responsible use through a series of principles addressing critical thinking, skills, innovation, transparency and equity.

To formulate some of its practices, Superintendent Andrew Feuling recruited the insights of director of innovation and technology Raymond Medeiros and director of Equity in Curriculum and Instruction Cheryl Macy, who emphasized maintaining academic integrity and protection in student learning.

“Our intent is to support the teachers and decision-making in the classroom, give them autonomy and flexibility to do what they need to do in the classroom without hindering them but also give guardrails for legal purposes, for example, in security and data privacy, because as many of you know, what you put into those AI prompts is training for it so it will ingest that and will regurgitate that depending on someone else’s prompt down that road,” Medeiros said.

He said a key concern is not to add personal, identifiable information into AI platforms that can be shared widely and would compromise student safety.

Carson’s trustees asked if other Nevada school districts are working to develop AI policies. Medeiros suggested Washoe County School District officials were working to develop a policy but had not presented one to its board yet.

The Appeal contacted WCSD spokeswoman Victoria Campbell on June 28, who confirmed the district “has not yet developed a full AI Board Policy, as we were awaiting the NDE statewide input gathering (which was published June 12).”

“But our IT department has drafted an update to the Plagiarism and Cheating Administrative Procedure that includes language on AI, which has also had input from the Office of Academic and our Chief General Counsel,” Campbell said.

The WCSD’s update, AR 6642, is available online.

Dickson and Malorni shared during the State Board’s meeting on June 12 that the Leadership Institute of Nevada (LION) and the Nevada Community Foundation had formed an AI taskforce, Nevada AI Alliance, to develop guidance on the ethical use of AI in the state’s schools from the pre-K to 12th grades.

The work, Dickson said, would be completed in three phases. The first, which was to gather stakeholder feedback through its town hall meetings, would lead to its second phase, which is to develop resources and professional learning. The purpose is to help with teacher retention and recruitment as well as help them teach the skills and practices students need in the future. Malorni said it’s important to help students understand how to use AI now.

“Seventy-two percent of all jobs will be changing by 2030 due to AI,” she said. “We don’t want to be behind the eight ball.”

The third phase is to provide continuous support for schools through safeguarding, technology and ongoing discussions about the data restrictions and federal laws taking place on the subject, Dixon and Malorni said. Generative AI will continue to change, as will students’ digital and media literacy and engagement. Creativity and authenticity also will be challenges to address.

“When we look at graduation, we have to make sure our students have these skill sets to move forward,” Malorni said.