Purpose
Which learning or operational problem will this use solve? What would improvement look like?
Free school leadership guide
School AI Guidance: Start With Decisions, Then Write the Rules
A school does not need a perfect 50-page policy to start a responsible conversation. It needs clear decisions about learning, privacy, access, human review, and what teachers and students may do today.
A principal’s starting point
Give staff usable guidance, not just a warning
Teachers need to know which tools are approved, what information they may enter, how student work may use AI, and who to ask when an edge case appears. Families need to know how the school protects learning and student information. Students need assignment-level clarity.
Local rules, contracts, and laws vary. Have the appropriate district, school, privacy, and legal leaders review formal policy and vendor terms. The framework below is a planning aid, not a ready-to-adopt policy.
Before any rollout
Six questions to answer about an AI use
People
Who can use it, at what age, and with whose supervision? Who remains responsible for the result?
Data
What information enters the tool, who can access it, how is it retained, and what do our agreements allow?
Learning
What thinking must students show independently? How will teachers know the tool helped learning?
Equity
Can all students participate without needing a paid account, a personal device, or home internet?
Review
Who approves a pilot, hears concerns, and decides whether to revise or stop it?
Write down the answers for each proposed use. A tool that saves preparation time may still be unsuitable for student accounts or sensitive records. A promising pilot can stay teacher-led until the school has evaluated its student-facing use.
A manageable sequence
A 30-day start for a school team
- Week 1 — listen and inventory: Ask teachers how AI already appears in planning and student work. List current tools and agreements. Collect the questions families and students are asking.
- Week 2 — set interim boundaries: Name approved tools and uses, prohibited data, adult review expectations, and whom staff should contact. Give teachers language for what is allowed on each assignment.
- Week 3 — practice together: Have staff test one real classroom task, check the output, and discuss where student thinking could be lost. Try the teacher prompts or the student literacy lesson.
- Week 4 — pilot and revise: Choose one limited use with a clear learning measure. Gather student work, staff feedback, access concerns, and family questions. Revise the guidance before expanding.
Useful measure: Did the use improve the quality of student explanation or free teacher time for feedback? Count more than logins and generated pages.
Language to adapt
A short message to families
“Our school is reviewing how AI tools can support teaching and learning. Teachers remain responsible for instructional decisions, and students will be asked to show their own thinking. We will tell families which student tools are approved, how information is protected, and how to raise a concern. We will pilot carefully, listen, and adjust.”
Fill in the actual approved-tool list and contact route before sending. Do not claim a tool is safe or approved until your team has checked it.
Sources and next steps
The U.S. Department of Education’s education leaders’ AI toolkit examines privacy, access, evidence, and other planning issues in depth. NIST’s AI Risk Management Framework is a broader voluntary framework for thinking about risk. These sources inform the questions here; this page is Dr. Furman’s practical starting sequence.
Return to the AI in Education guide. For a staff conversation or scheduled workshop, explore speaking opportunities.