People lead.
AI supports.
intelligenceED is a practical resource hub for school communities and AIU employees to understand artificial intelligence, apply it thoughtfully, and lead responsible change.
START HERE / AI BASICS
AI capabilities and limitations
A shared understanding helps educators, students, families, and community leaders make informed choices about AI use in education.
A CLOSER LOOK
About Generative AI
Generative AI (GenAI) is a type of artificial intelligence that creates new content, such as text, images, or audio, based on a user’s instructions. It predicts what comes next using patterns learned from large amounts of data.
GenAI can produce confident-sounding information that is wrong or entirely made up. It can also reflect bias and exclude perspectives. Human review of AI outputs is always required.
Our Human Commitment
AI tools cannot and should not replace the relationships between students and teachers, the professional expertise of educators and school leaders, the trust and partnership with families and communities, or human-based instructional services and educational programs.
AI is…
AI is not…
01 / intelligenceED FRAMEWORK
Use. Teach. Lead.
Three connected lenses help us approach AI as leaders, use it in our work, and guide its use in schools.
APPLY AI TO YOUR WORK
Use AI with purpose — not simply because it is available.
Start with a real need, choose an approved tool, protect information, and keep people accountable for the final result.
Frame a clear purpose
Prompt with useful context
Verify before using
Disclose AI’s role
“What part of this works needs human judgment — and what part could AI help me to begin?”
01
Good starting points
Brainstorming, organizing, summarizing public information, drafting, reformatting, and exploring scenarios.
02
Use extra care
Analysis that affects people, copyrighted material, unpublished work, sensitive context, and any unfamiliar tool.
03
Keep human
Final decisions, relationship-centered communication, moral judgment, and accountability for accuracy and impact.
BUILD AI LITERACY
Teach learners how to think with, about, and beyond AI.
Make expectations visible. Design for learning, reflection, attribution, and productive struggle—not just polished products.
Understand how AI works
Use it strategically
Evaluate outputs
Reflect and attribute
“If AI completes this step, what important thinking might the learner miss?”
01
Before the task
Name the learning goal, choose a traffic-light level, model acceptable use, and define disclosure expectations.
02
During the task
Ask students to save prompts, drafts, feedback, sources, and decisions that make their thinking visible.
03
After the task
Assess the learning—not the polish. Use conferences, explanations, reflection, and transfer to a new context.
BUILD COHERENT SYSTEMS
Lead AI as shared organizational change — not a technology project.
Align vision, governance, learning, infrastructure, communication, and evidence so innovation can grow responsibly.
Set direction and guardrails
Engage stakeholders
Build staff capacity
Monitor and adapt
What conditions must be true for this use to be safe, equitable, useful, and sustainable?”
01
Create shared direction
Connect AI decisions to mission, student learning, staff capacity, equity, safety, and operational integrity.
02
Build with stakeholders
Include instruction, technology, operations, legal, HR, students, educators, families, and community voices.
03
Learn in cycles
Pilot in bounded settings, collect evidence, communicate what changed, and revisit guidance as tools evolve.
02 / TRAFFIC LIGHT APPROACH
Match AI use to the learning and the risk.
- Set the color for each assignment, task, or phase.
- A tool is not permanently green or red; context determines appropriate use.
GREEN / GO
AI use is invited
Use AI as a partner for exploration, feedback, creation, or revision. Disclose its role and verify the result.
- Generate possible research questions
- Request feedback on clarity
- Compare multiple approaches
- Create a study plan
Say: “You may use AI throughout this task. Document and evaluate how it shaped your work.”
YELLOW / CAUTION
AI use is limited
Use is allowed only for named tools, stages, or purposes. Preserve the independent thinking the task is designed to develop.
- Brainstorm — but write independently
- Check grammar after the first draft
- Use teacher-provided prompts only
- Receive hints, not solutions
Say: “AI may support these steps only. Your process evidence must show your own thinking.”
RED / STOP
AI use is not appropriate
Complete the work without generative AI because it requires independent performance, protected information, or human-only judgment.
- Demonstrate a foundational skill
- Complete an individual assessment
- Respond to a personal crisis
- Make a consequential decision
Say: “This task is designed to show what you can independently understand and do.”
Student reflection cycle
01
PLAN the learning goal
02
USE within the boundaries
03
CHECK facts, bias, and sources
04
CITE or disclose AI support
05
REFLECT on learning
03 / EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR AI TOOLS
Evaluate before you adopt.
A compelling demonstration is not evidence that a tool is safe, effective, accessible, or worth sustaining.
01
Purpose
What authentic need does this solve—and is AI necessary?
02
Evidence
What credible evidence supports the claimed benefit?
03
Learning
Does it deepen learning, agency, creativity, and productive struggle?
04
Transparency
Can we understand what the system does, its limits and AI’s role?
05
Privacy
What data are collected, retained, shared, trained on, and deleted?
06
Safety
Are security, age, content, misuse, and incident controls sufficient?
07
Equity
Who benefits, who may be excluded, and is it accessible?
08
Impact
Can people verify, correct, override, appeal, and report concerns?
09
Sustainability
Are cost, integration, support, training, and exit plans viable?
The evaluation process
01
DISCOVER
Name the need and alternatives.
02
SCREEN
Check data, terms, access, evidence, and fit.
03
PILOT
Limit users, time, data, and scope.
04
DECIDE
Expand, revise, pause, or stop.
05
MONITOR
Review impact and changing terms.
04 / HOW WE CAN WORK TOGETHER
AI belongs to all of us.
Responsible adoption is shared work — not a technology-office project. intelligenceED brings together instruction, technology, operations, legal, HR, communications, educators, students, families, and community partners.
Bring a need, not just a tool.
We can explore use cases, test assumptions, develop guidance, share learning, and build capacity across the AIU and our schools.
01
Learn together
Build common language through professional learning, demonstrations, discussion, and role-specific practice.
02
Pilot together
Test bounded uses with clear success measures, guardrails, support, and stop conditions.
03
Share together
Contribute examples, challenges, evidence, and resources so the whole system gets wiser.
04
Improve together
Review feedback, changing tools, policy, research, and results; then revise our approach.
SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
Everyone has a role.
intelligenceED Team
- Direction
- Governance
- Resources
- Learning
- Coordination
Leaders
- Purpose
- Conditions
- Communication
- Evidence
- Accountability
Technology & Operations
- Security
- Privacy
- Integration
- Reliability
- Procurement
- Support
Educators
- Purposeful practice
- Transparency
- Professional judgment
- Feedback
Students & Families
- Voice
- Questions
- Reflection
- Responsible use
- Lived experience
05 / QUESTIONS WE ARE STILL WORKING TO ANSWER
Good leadership keeps important questions open.
These are not reasons to stand still. They are the questions our pilots, professional learning, policy work, and community conversations must continue to test.
Disclosure
What does meaningful disclosure and attribution look like for different ages and roles?
Equity
How will we ensure access, accessibility, representation, and benefit are equitable?
Evidence
What evidence would cause us to expand, revise, pause, or stop an AI use?
Governance
Which expectations should be consistent across the AIU, and where should teams have flexibility?
Learning
How will we know AI is strengthening learning — not simply making work faster?
People
How might AI change roles, workload, expertise, trust, and professional identity?
Practice
How should assessment change when generative tools are readily available?
Privacy
How do we protect privacy and intellectual property as tools and terms change?
Student Experience
Where must students experience productive struggle before AI can support them?
06 / WHAT COMES NEXT
Our phased plan
We will move from shared understanding to sustainable practice through deliberate learning cycles.
01
Purpose
Listen, learn, and understand our starting point.
- Inventory current use
- Build common language
- Gather questions
02
Align
Create shared direction and decision structures.
- Belief statement
- Governance and roles
- Tool review criteria
03
Pilot
Test priority uses within clear boundaries.
- Pilot agreements
- Professional learning
- Evidence and feedback
04
Scale
Expand what works with the conditions it needs.
- Implementation supports
- Communication plan
- Equitable access
05
Sustain
Monitor impact and adapt as the landscape changes.
- Impact measures
- Review cycle
- Updated guidance
Chart a path forward
The CoSN/CGCS Gen AI Maturity Tool can help assess readiness across seven organizational domains and turn reflection into an actionable roadmap. Progress may differ by domain; the goal is coherence, not speed.
07 / POLICIES, REGULATIONS & YOUR RIGHTS
Know the rules — and what to ask.
AI does not replace existing law, policy, contracts, professional obligations, or the rights and dignity of students, families, and employees.
Protect information
Follow FERPA, COPPA, records requirements, confidentiality expectations, data agreements, and applicable AIU or district policies.
Protect people
Apply heightened review when AI may affect access, evaluation, employment, services, discipline, accommodations, or another consequential decision.
Practice transparency
Explain when AI is used, what role it played, what information informed it, who verified it, and who owns the final decision.
Questions to ask
Was AI used in a process or decision that affected me?
What data was used, and how was it protected?
Who reviewed and approved the output?
How can I correct inaccurate information or raise a concern?
Is a human review or non-AI alternative available?
How were accessibility, bias, and disparate impact considered?
AIU POLICY RESOURCE
815.1 Artificial Intelligence Policy Template
Open the AIU model policy for school entities to review and adapt with local legal and administrative guidance.
The answers and specific legal rights depend on the situation and applicable law or policy. This hub supports learning and planning; it is not legal advice. Consult the appropriate AIU or district leader for protected data, high-stakes decisions, employment matters, or uncertainty.
08 / WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Start small. Start responsibly. Share what you learn.
Choose the pathway closest to your role and take one useful next step.
01
Choose a recurring task
Pick work that takes time but does not require sensitive data or a high-stakes decision.
02
Use an approved tool
Check AIU guidance, account requirements, data expectations, and terms before entering information.
03
Compare the result
Complete the task with AI support and with your usual process; compare time, quality, risk, and effort.
04
Share the evidence
Tell your supervisor or team what helped, what failed, and what guidance would make future use safer.
01
Start with the learning
Identify what students must know, practice, create, explain, or transfer before deciding on AI use.
02
Set the light
Label the task Green, Yellow, or Red and explain why. Define acceptable tools, stages, and disclosure.
03
Make thinking visible
Collect drafts, prompts, source checks, annotations, conversations, and reflection—not only the final product.
04
Teach evaluation
Ask students to identify errors, missing perspectives, bias, uncertainty, and the choices made after AI responded.
01
Name the purpose
Tie every proposed use to a learner, employee, service, or operational need—not novelty.
02
Create a review path
Clarify who evaluates tools, approves pilots, provides learning, communicates expectations, and monitors impact.
03
Pilot with boundaries
Set the users, duration, data, measures, support, feedback, and stop conditions before launching.
04
Lead transparently
Communicate what AI is doing, what it is not doing, what evidence you are watching, and how people can raise concerns.
01
Understand the expectation
Ask whether the task is Green, Yellow, or Red; what is allowed; and how AI use should be disclosed.
02
Protect privacy
Do not enter names, school records, photos, passwords, or sensitive information unless the tool and use are approved.
03
Keep learning visible
Students should be able to explain the work, verify the output, show their process, and identify what they learned.
04
Talk and ask questions
Ask how AI is used, what data is involved, who reviews results, and how to raise a concern or request human review.
09 / OUR SHARED INVITATION
Let’s build the future together.
Bring your questions, your expertise, your caution, and your imagination. The future of AI in education should be shaped with educators and learners — not merely delivered to them.
CURIOUS
about possibility
CRITICAL
about evidence
CAREFUL
with people and data
COLLABORATIVE
in how we learn
10 / RESOURCE LIBRARY
Learn from the field.
intelligenceED draws on national research, practical frameworks, and emerging district guidance.
CoSN AI in K–12
Leadership, governance & readiness
CoSN Gen AI Maturity Tool
Organizational assessment & planning
MIT Guide to AI in Schools
Educator perspectives, policy & practice
Digital Promise AI Literacy Framework
Understand, use & evaluate AI
Student Self-Reflection Checklist
Strategic GenAI use for learners
IU12 Presentation
Pennsylvania IU learning resource
This hub synthesizes ideas from the linked sources for local learning and planning. Source organizations retain ownership of their materials. CoSN’s Gen AI Maturity Tool is shared under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Use thoughtfully.
Teach transparently.
Lead responsibly.