What do effective AI guidelines look like? Check out this new approach – By Micah Ward, District Administration

A number of schools are pioneering artificial intelligence guidelines with the understanding that this technology is here to stay. Others are waiting patiently to see the policies other leaders are implementing. However, the overall consensus is that educators need more information on how to bring AI into their classrooms.

Hosted on the state Department of Education’s Office of Innovation website, the guidelines offer several resources ranging from webinars surrounding the “considerations for artificial intelligence in education” to free documents from national organizations like Common Sense Education, which has published a wealth of use cases for AI in the classroom.

The New Jersey Department of Education also participates in the Teach AI initiative, a consortium of state education departments and international education agencies that work together to create frameworks for AI policy and teaching resources.

“AI is a transformative technology that will open new opportunities for teaching and learning,” Acting Commissioner of Education Kevin Dehmer said in a statement. “Our goal is to ensure students have the knowledge and skills in working with AI to help prepare them for success in the classroom and beyond graduation.”

Nebraska experiences déjà vu during ongoing battle over school choice - By Maya Marchel Hoff, USA Today

On a warm Monday evening, volunteers in a church parking lot passed large clipboards to drivers of minivans and pickup trucks, all part of a petition drive. Their objective: block a new measure that would introduce private school vouchers in the state. However, this campaign stirred a sense of déjà vu among Nebraskans. It marked the second ballot initiative within a year by the group Support Our Schools, a public school advocacy organization, following the state Legislature’s recent override of their initial effort.

As the national debate around school vouchers plays out across the country, the Cornhusker State is in a heated tug-of-war between school choice supporters and public school advocates over the passage of the Opportunity Scholarship Act in 2023. The Act allocates $25 million from state coffers to tax credits for private school scholarship donations.

“If it gets on the ballot, you can vote whatever way you want. It’s just signing it to give the people a voice that belongs in public schools,” Nebraska State Educators Association President and Support Our Schools sponsor Jenni Benson said. “If you get public funds, you have to be accountable just the same way any other public entity would be if you’re giving them to a private school.”

Do we need a ‘Common Core’ for data science education? – By Javeria Salman, Hechinger Report

I’ve been reporting on data science education for two years now, and it’s become clear to me that what’s missing is a national framework for teaching data skills and literacy, similar to the Common Core standards for math or the Next Generation Science Standards.

Data literacy is increasingly critical for many jobs in science, technology and beyond, and so far schools in 28 states offer some sort of data science course. But those classes vary widely in content and approach, in part because there’s little agreement around what exactly data science education should look like.

Last week, there was finally some movement on this front — a group of K-12 educators, students, higher ed officials and industry leaders presented initial findings on what they believe students should know about data by the time they graduate from high school.

Data Science 4 Everyone, an initiative based at the University of Chicago, assembled 11 focus groups that met over five months to debate what foundational knowledge on data and artificial intelligence students should acquire not only in dedicated data science classes but also in math, English, science and other subjects.

Op-ed: California’s personal finance education requirement is a commitment to future generations – By Tim Ranzetta, CNBC

The perceived benefits of financial education are so great that in a 2022 survey from the National Endowment for Financial Education, more than 85% of Americans polled said learning about personal finance should be a requirement to graduate from high school.

Lawmakers have responded to this need with the unanimous passage this week of a bill in the California Legislature to guarantee rising generations with one semester of a stand-alone personal finance course. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2927 on Saturday, assuring that future California high school students will receive a huge leg up in terms of their understanding and managing their own personal finances.

As a proponent of this legislation and co-founder of Next Gen Personal Finance, I am elated that with the stroke of Newsom’s pen, fully 64% of all U.S. high schoolers will be required to take a one-semester personal finance course as a condition for graduation.

California becomes the 26th state to require a stand-alone personal finance class. Just five years ago, only five states did so, covering 17% of high school students, according to Next Gen Personal Finance 2019 State of Financial Education report.