Arizona recruits applicants for school where AI will teach - ForumDaily
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Arizona recruits applicants for AI-taught school

Artificial intelligence will take center stage at a new online charter school in Arizona that plans to open in the fall of 2025. At this school, teachers will not teach material directly, but will act as mentors, the publication writes. Education Week.

Photo: Ai Teacher © Cami Schefer | Dreamstime.com

Unbound Academy was approved by the state school board last month, with enrollment starting in January. The school's model, which will emphasize the use of AI in core subject teaching, reflects the continued growth of the technology's use in educational settings.

As AI technology becomes more widespread, debate is heating up over how schools can use it to improve education and reduce workloads without replacing teachers. Two of the largest teachers’ unions in the U.S. have already begun drafting guidelines to limit the use of AI in the classroom.

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"The human factor cannot be ruled out"

Teachers remain an important part of the educational process, the school’s founders say. However, using AI as a partner is a trend that schools are increasingly embracing, says Marcelo Worsley, an associate professor of computer and educational science at Northwestern University.

“I think COVID pushed us into this because more students were interacting with individual technology and people were looking for resources and tools that students could use, especially if they didn’t have consistent access to a teacher or if they couldn’t attend class in person,” Worsley said.

A New Approach to Learning

Unbound Academy plans to enroll about 200 students in its first year. Initially, the program will cover grades 4 through 8. But school officials have expressed hopes to expand the program to kindergarten and elementary grades (K-3).

The program is linked to private schools in Texas and Florida, but this is its creators' first attempt to enter the public education sector.

The school model will focus on using AI in the learning process, with students working at their own pace on subjects such as math, reading, and science during the first two hours of the school day.

The AI ​​will adapt to each student’s progress, making the material more challenging for more advanced students and making it easier for those who are struggling. The goal is to customize the process: a fifth-grader might, for example, read at an eighth-grade level but learn math at a third-grade level.

The charter school application states, “The AI ​​carefully analyzes student data — answer accuracy, engagement time, and emotional response via webcam — to ensure lessons are optimally challenging for the student.”

(A charter school is an educational institution that operates under a special agreement, called a charter, between the school and an educational authority (such as a local school authority or school district). Such schools are usually independent from the traditional public school system, although they are funded by the state.

Charter schools have more freedom to organize their operations, including creating their curriculum, teaching methods, schedules, and managing their finances. However, this autonomy is limited by the terms of their charter agreement.

In exchange for greater freedom, charter schools are required to demonstrate the achievement of their students, typically measured by tests or other performance standards. If a school fails to meet its goals, its charter can be revoked.

Charter schools are funded by the same taxes as regular public schools, but they may also receive additional funding from private investors, grants, and foundations. In most cases, charter schools are free for students and open to all, but they may have special focuses or curricula (e.g., science, arts, technology, etc.). These schools are often created by groups of educators, parents, or outside organizations. The goal may be to improve the quality of education, develop innovative teaching methods, or provide an alternative to the standard public school system. – approx.)

The curriculum will use third-party resources such as online platforms IXL or Math Academy, as well as its own apps, including an AI tutor that tracks how students are learning and where they are struggling.

The role of teachers

Teachers, or “mentors,” will monitor students’ progress. Their primary role will be to support and motivate, said Mackenzie Price, co-founder of Unbound Academy. She is also the founder of the 2 Hour Learning program, where the academic portion of the day lasts two hours and the remaining four hours are devoted to personal projects. That’s the model the school plans to use.

“You can’t completely remove the human element from the learning process,” Price said. “But we can offer a more effective model. Instead of trying to manage the needs of 20-plus students at vastly different levels, which is almost impossible in the traditional model, we allow teachers to focus on what they do best: connecting with students.”

The mentors, who the school says will be paid handsomely, will interact with students throughout the day, including a morning group session before classes begin.

Mackenzie Price said the teachers will be certified in accordance with Arizona requirements. However, private schools with the same model in Texas do not require previous teaching experience for mentors, according to NBC. The application states that there will be one mentor for every 33 students.

Mentors will meet with students individually each week to monitor their progress, help with any difficulties with the material, and contact families if students are not on track.

"Our teachers are looking at motivation, how kids are learning, how effectively and efficiently they are learning through the system. But they are not teaching math," Price said.

In the afternoon, mentors will lead “life skills” sessions where students will learn “practical knowledge for real life,” such as financial literacy, public speaking, goal setting, and more. If students are working together on a project, such as a bomb-defusing simulation, mentors will help develop communication, teamwork, and leadership skills.

Schools are more willing to engage AI

There has been a movement toward “smart learning systems” for decades, said Marcelo Worsley, a professor at Northwestern University. These systems help identify what students know, what they don’t know, and whether they have mastered a subject. Initially, such models relied on human experience, but technology has become much more advanced, he added.

Public schools now often use AI-powered resources like IXL or Khan Academy, Worsley said.

In recent years, some schools have used online learning programs to address teacher shortages, with students learning through software under the supervision of a teacher. Artificial intelligence could make such models more effective.

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However, teachers and their unions are still wary of AI’s involvement in the classroom. In its guidance released in July 2024, the National Education Association emphasized that AI should not replace human interaction. The American Federation of Teachers also insists on the importance of the human role.

Unbound Academy's model of handing over teaching to AI with human input is currently the exception, but such approaches could become more common, Worsley said.

“The reality is that elements of AI are integrated into many of the tools that school districts have been using in the past or have recently started using, either because of the pandemic or because of the general hype around AI that we're seeing right now,” he said.

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