AI in education needs more than innovation – it needs intention

Key points:

Generative artificial intelligence is everywhere, including our schools – and it has the potential to transform education. These platforms offer unprecedented opportunities to personalize learning, refine the development of programs and support education. But as the adoption of AI is accelerating, a critical question remains: will AI strengthen learning, or will it compromise it?

The future of AI in education must be a shared effort between programs providers, district heads and school heads and decision -makers. We cannot allow the Edtech fervor which culminated during the pandemic to exceed the possibilities offered by these new technologies: too concentrated on “technology” at the expense of “ED”. This AI era does not only concern technological advancement – it is a question of ensuring that innovation meets the needs of teachers and learners.

Without railings, introduce and implement AI in the risk of class, the very foundation of effective learning. Many AI models are designed for general use and later “adapted” to education, but this renovation approach can introduce biases, disinformation and disalember with educational objectives. If AI is not specially designed for education, it can amplify educational inconsistency, expand learning gaps and erode the confidence of teachers.

AI must align with the science of learning, or this will decrease the impact of technology on students.

AI changes education – Hqim must be anchor

Over the past decade, efforts to implement high-quality teaching materials (HQIM) and strategies based on evidence in K-12 schools began to make measurable improvements in students' learning. THE “Mississippi Miracle”– a term used to describe dramatic state gains in literacy – and promising 2025 NAEP translates by Louisiana,, PhiladelphiaAnd Los Angeles illustrate that a commitment to the research program supported by research can help reduce the success gap, although it requires investment and targeted efforts.

The search for the policy of the Johns Hopkins Education Institute revealed that access to high -quality teaching materials has a direct impact on students' performance, especially for the historically unprecedented populations. These programs support teachers with proven lessons that are created with intention and a clear goal. However, even when states and districts adopt Hqim, Teachers continue to complete the study program chosen with external resources–The well suited, disparate or poorly aligned.

Studies show that teachers spend 7 to 12 hours per week to the research or creation of teaching materials, to draw state websites, to workheets created by teachers and to free or bought digital content. This mixture and match approach can lead to an incoherent pedagogy, gaps in the coverage of standards and a lost teaching time. The introduction of solutions fueled by AI can also introduce an inconsistency or a disorging.

There is growing enthusiasm for using AI to better support teachers – a promising change that could save time for educators and improve students' commitment. According to a 2023 RAND CORPORATION STUDYThe five main cases of use of identified AI would help them to manage many of the most common and long aspects of their work:

• Support students with learning differences
• Generate quiz and assessments
• Content adjustment is an appropriate school level for students
• Generation of course plans
• Generation of assignments (for example, worksheet equipment)

However, most AI tools in education are not designed with the integrity of the curriculum in the mind. The result? Teachers can generate content that conflicts with the program of their district without knowing it, eroding the consistency and efficiency of HQIM, and involuntarily expanding learning gaps rather than filling them.

Without appropriate guarantees, the documents generated by AI could amplify, rather than reducing, educational inconsistencies – educators to spend even more time to examine and correct poorly aligned content.

To ensure that AI only strengthens effective teaching and learning, education leaders require implementations to be based on trust programs and supported by research and aligned on state standards and district priorities. For example, in his Fall guide 2025The Louisiana Ministry of Education said: “The integration of AI technologies should maintain the integrity of high quality teaching materials used for teaching.”

This highlights a key reality: education leaders want AI to improve their chosen programs, not replace them. Districts and schools invest time and money to identify the teaching materials that align with their favorite standards and educational approach, and adapt better to what their community, their teachers and their students need. They spend precious time to train and support teachers to ensure that the study program will provide the results they have. The course plans generated by AI, practice activities and educational recommendations must strengthen the effective implementation of HQIM. By ensuring that AI is informed by a study program, the districts can unlock the potential of the AI ​​without sacrificing educational quality.

To benefit from teaching and learning kindergarten in the 12th year, it is essential that we find means to propel innovation while minimizing risks. A solid approach to the responsible AI guarantees that the generated content is safe, precise and academic. Such an approach exploits HQIM of trust and supported by research and uses a rigorous verification for security, accuracy, ethics and academic integrity.

This combination helps educators minimize the risks of content, disinformation and unrelevant bias, and aligns AI results with educational objectives. And students benefit from a secure and controlled environment where they can engage in complete safety with powerful tools and AI content. This also allows us to protect the intellectual property of our programs and the intellectual property of others, such as commercial publishers, authors and artists, from whom we dismissed the content, while maintaining the integrity of our educational content.

AI can help, but only if its use is intentional and aligned with the study program. Time savings should not be made to the detriment of educational integrity, and personalization must keep the students on the right track, not keep them away from basic learning objectives. Above all, educators must be empowered when they use AI -focused content, and not exceeded.

We are at a pivotal moment. The question is no longer whether the AI ​​will influence classrooms. This is how we ensure that this does it at the service of teachers, students and standards that matter the most. Because the thoughtful design – not novelty – is what separates the tools that deepen the learning of those who distract them.

The future of AI in education will not be determined by algorithms or a single innovation. It will be shaped by the values ​​that we integrate into the systems that we build and the choices we make today. The opportunity is there. Let's build the AI ​​that does not only learn – he understands what learning really takes.