DALTON, Mass. — The Central Berkshire Regional School District is researching artificial intelligence in education to inform future policy and practice.

 

"Our ultimate goal is to at least to have some common expectations that we can rally around first," Assistant Superintendent Aaron Robb said at December's School Committee meeting. 

 

In September, Robb established an AI ad hoc committee made up of teachers, a student, the IT director, and a School Committee member. The committee has been trying to meet twice a month, he said. 

 

It is charged with researching the challenges and opportunities AI presents in education to help the district navigate the "AI revolution."

 

Throughout the process, the committee will get guidance from Fadia Rostom-Makdisi, computer  scientist, AI educational adviser, and former principal of St. Agnes' School. 

 

"She's gone off on her own as a consultant and she's doing some consulting work with schools around AI and she's been doing some, as we've just been calling it, 'AI 101' training in our district," Robb said. 

 

During the November professional development days, almost 100 district staff and faculty received a three-hour basic AI training from Rostom-Makdisi which covered the how and what of AI and several commonly used AI tools in education. 

 

The hope is to gather information so that the district can talk about it more intelligently before debating it, Robb said. 

 

At the initial AI ad hoc committee meeting, members expressed the concerns and possible opportunities AI presents while using resources from the state department Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to inform the discussion. 

 

"We're in the middle of the AI ocean right now and we're keeping a very close eye on the guidance that DESE is putting out," Robb said. 

 

"DESI is putting out some really strong and clear guidance about AI that we are finding useful as a committee." 

 

Technology Director Joseph Stergis has gathered a list of tools for educators that he has researched, and their data privacy agreement to ensure that if the district is using AI in any area, that the data sharing is safe.

 

"As we teach educators about AI, they're also going to want to experiment with it," Superintendent Michael Henault said. 

 

During a recent presentation with the former DESE commissioner, Jeff Riley, who has been working with a group from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on AI use in education, it was recommended to start setting practical applications and putting guardrails for teachers and students at the handbook level due to the quick evolution of the subject, Henault said. 

 

"That group recommended to actually not do School Committee policy first and to stay away from it because any policy we put in place is likely to change … very quickly," he said

 

It was recommended to start at the handbook level, he continued, then "work backwards towards policy once we have our heads around where this is going to go because nobody really knows."

 

To support more focused work, the ad hoc committee established two subcommittees: the Policy, Safety, and Ethics subcommittee and Teaching, Learning, and Staff Training subcommittee. Both subcommittees have been tasked with creating draft priorities and considerations to be reviewed by the full AI ad hoc committee, according to the November report.

 

The Policy, Safety, and Ethics subcommittee is developing priorities for an initial district AI policy framework, Henault said in his November update.

 

The subcommittee will review topics required for safe and responsible AI use including data privacy, transparency, academic integrity, bias mitigation, and the ethical guardrails. 

 

The Teaching, Learning, and Staff Training subcommittee will explore how AI can support instructional innovation, personalized learning, curriculum development, and staff professional growth. The group will also identify training, resources, and curriculum adjustments required for effective integration of AI tools into classroom practice. 

 

"The goal is to ultimately present a set of actionable recommendations to district leadership this spring. The committee is committed to ensuring that any future use of AI in the district is safe, equitable, transparent, and aligned with our educational mission and values," the report says. 

 

There was a strong interest in joining the committee from staff. However the number of members was limited to 15 so an additional AI Advisory Group was created consisting of interested staff members. 

 

"There were people that wanted to be part of it, but I couldn't put together a committee of 35 people," Robb said. "So, I created an AI advisory group that's going to meet less frequently and less formally." 

 

The advisory group will meet with Robb every month for the remainder of the school year. 

 

"We are pleased to be able to include this group in an effort to bring as many voices into this work as possible," he said in the report. 

 

The goal of the group is to provide feedback to the ideas generated by the ad-hoc committee, pilot strategies for their own schools or classrooms, and share their experiences with AI. 

 

Additionally, it will act as a communication bridge by sharing updates with colleagues and bringing questions or concerns back to the AI Ad Hoc committee.

 

"The AI advisory committee is going to be more of our boots on the ground kind of more informal group," Robb said. 

 

"I'm going to take what the AI ad hoc committee is doing and report out to those folks for feedback and we're going to start a feedback loop with them."