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AI apps are part of District 14’s mandated math and literacy curricula, which means teachers and students are required to use them. But we don’t have a complete picture of AI’s role in our schools, because the NYC Department of Education can’t provide teachers, students, or families with a list of digital platforms and apps used in a specific school. So here are some other resources you might find useful. We’ll keep expanding this list as new information comes to light.

LATEST NEWS
+ The New Yorker: “What will it take to get AI out of schools?”
+ New York Times: “In backlash against tech in schools, parents are winning rollbacks”
+ NBC News: “LA becomes the first major school district to require screen time limits”
+ New York Times: “You can’t game your way to a real education”

NYC PUBLIC SCHOOLS DIGITAL-TECHNOLOGY POLICIES
+ NYC Public Schools Guidance on AI
+ NYCPS Digital Learning & Innovation

DISTRICT 14’s ED-TECH VENDORS AND A.I. PARTNERS
+ Amira (an AI reading “tutor” used in all District 14 schools)
+ HMH (an ed-tech company that supplies D14’s mandated literacy curriculum, including Amira)
+ i-Ready (an AI math & reading “tutor” used in all District 14 schools)
+ aiEDU (an industry group that helps place AI ed tech in K-12 schools)
+ Day of AI (a nonprofit promoting “responsible AI use” in K-12 classrooms)

PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS AND THEIR UNION
+ teacher’s union announces its $23m deal with OpenAI, Microsoft, and Anthropic to create a National Academy for AI Instruction
+ open letter from NYC teachers criticizing the deal
+ more criticism from NYC teachers: “UFT’s $23m Sellout”
+ NYC teachers on the pitfalls of commercial curricula (including HMH)
+ podcast: “NYC Teachers Speak out about AI in the Classroom”
+ “Resisting AI Mania in Schools”
+ “My Case for Nuance with the Term ‘Efficiency’ in Education”

PUBLIC SCHOOL FAMILIES CONCERNED ABOUT ED TECH
+ AI Moratorium Coalition (NYC)
+ Parents for AI Caution in Educational Spaces (NYC)
+ NYC Public School Parents
+ Alliance for Quality Education (NYC)
+ Racially Just Public Schools (NYC)
+ NYC Kids PAC
+ Distraction-Free Schools (USA)
+ Fairplay (USA)
+ Parent Coalition for Student Privacy (USA)
+ Schools Beyond Screens (Los Angeles)
+ PACES Vancouver (BC, Canada)

EDUCATION & CHILD-DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS
+ UNICEF: “Guidance on AI and Children”
+ American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry: “Is AI Dangerous for Children?”
+ Center for Democracy & Technology: “Schools’ Embrace of Technology Connected to Increased Risk for Students”
+ National Education Policy Center: “Time for a Pause: Without Effective Public Oversight, AI in Schools Will Do More Harm than Good”
+ Brookings Institution: “A New Direction for Students in an AI World: Prosper, Prepare, Protect”
+ National Education Policy Center: “Fit for Purpose? How Today’s Commercial Digital Platforms Subvert Key Goals of Public Education”
+ NEPC podcast: “Faith Boninger and Andrew Liddell on the Unintended Consequences of Digital Technology in Schools”
+ Harvard University: “A Product Safety Playbook for the Digital Age”
+ University of Poitiers: “Training for Obsolescence: The AI-Driven Education”
+ University of Chicago: “Social Pressure Drives Parents to Adopt AI That May Harm Students”
+ Second Breakfast newsletter

MEDIA COVERAGE
+ New York Times: “In backlash against tech in schools, parents are winning rollbacks”
+ The New Yorker: “What will it take to get AI out of schools?”
+ NBC News: “LA becomes the first major school district to require screen time limits”
+ New York Times: “You can’t game your way to a real education”
+ Remapping Debate: “NYC DOE thinks its deal with the devil will be a good one”
+ New York Times: “US schools are betting big on AI. Will NYC by next?”
+ The Economist: “Ed tech is profitable. It's also mostly useless”
+ New York Times: “The Screen That Ate Your Child’s Education”
+ Bloomberg: “AI and Chatbots Are Already Reshaping the US Classroom”
+ New York Times: “Even Basic AI Use Is Bad For Students”
+ Have You Heard (podcast): “Don’t Buy the AI Hype”
+ New York Times: “Every Tech Tool in the Classroom Should Be Ruthlessly Evaluated”
+ The Conversation: “Technology and Teacher Burnout”
+ The Opinions (NYT podcast): “AI Is Fueling a Poverty of Imagination.”
+ Critical Studies of Education & Technology: “We Need to talk about AI in Terms of Values, Not Vibes”
+ New York Times: “What OpenAI Did When ChatGPT Users Lost Touch With Reality”
+ Education Futures: “Misplaced Responsibility: How Big Tech is Silently Colonizing Education”
+ University of California Law Journal: “How AI Destroys Institutions”
+ Educational Innovation: “The Hidden AI in Your School: What Principals Need to Know About Shadow AI”
+ The Conversation: ”Technology Is Supposed to Decrease Teacher Burnout But Can Make It Worse”
+ The Verge: “The AI Boom Is Based on a Fundamental Mistake”
+ The Nation: “AI is going to kill everyone you love. The surprise is how.”
+ The Guardian: “Why Trillions of Dollars of Risk Is No Guarantee of AI Reward”