Skip to main content

Educational AI – Policy Creation Framework

Prepared by Andrew LoCascio and Tarin LoCascio
Last updated Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Overview

This document provides an initial framework for creating educational AI policies for a single school system. The conclusions and associated recommendations are the result of multiple presentations and discussions with AI professionals and academic stakeholders (administrators, teachers, students, and parents).

Mission and Requirements

Create an AI Policy that establishes clear expectations for the responsible use of AI by administrators, teachers, and students, while promoting fairness, academic integrity, and creativity. The policy must satisfy/address the following minimum requirements:

  1. Consistency within the school system, individual grades, and subjects
  1. Equal access and opportunity for all students
  1. Students are encouraged to maintain their integrity
  1. Student creativity is nurtured and demonstrated
  1. Guidelines for students
  1. Guidelines and list of responsibilities for teachers
  1. Parent guidelines and responsibilities
  1. Compliance with local, state, and federal guidelines

Details for each of the above numbered requirements are described below.

Implementation Exercise for Stakeholders

The following is the suggested path for creating a comprehensive AI policy document:

Step 1 – Review the details for each of the numbered requirements below
Step 2 – Determine any additional requirements that are needed
Step 3 – Address and refine the details for each of the requirements
Step 4 – Create documents with the guidelines for students, teachers, and parents
Step 5 – Create a single policy document including global policy definitions and the guidelines

POLICY REQUIREMENTS

Consistency
Each grade and department needs to establish a unique set of refined guidelines for usage and non-usage that still respect the overall policy. AI usage needs can differ greatly based on the student and the subject. Individual teachers should NOT be creating their own guidelines, but can offer one-off exceptions for specific exercises. This approach ensures consistency and a level playing field for the students.

Equal Access and Opportunity

The following must be considered when creating an AI policy that provides equal access and opportunity:

  1. AI systems are trained primarily on English data, which can lead to lower accuracy, fluency, or cultural relevance for students using other languages.
  1. AI translation tools sometimes miss nuance, tone, or idiomatic meaning, which can lead to misunderstandings or misrepresentation in student work.
  1. Students and teachers must be aware of the issues that arise when a student’s first language is not English.
  1. The policy must address issues that arise when students with learning disabilities use AI. It has been proven that the appropriate AI usage can significantly assist LD (learning disabled) and SLD (specific learning disabilities).
  1. Students must have equal access to the internet.
  1. Paid tools should be prohibited unless specifically approved in the guidelines or as an allowable exception by the teacher.

Student Integrity

The students must be encouraged to maintain their integrity and creativity when using AI. The students should always complete every assignment by describing when they used AI and when they did not use AI. They should also provide any relevant attribution.

Teachers are tasked with providing feedback to the students regarding their usage of AI. With this method there are no violations. There is only neutral feedback from the teachers based on the established guidelines. If the student compromised the lesson by not following the guidelines, the lesson should be repeated.

The guidelines must have multiple examples of acceptable and unacceptable use as well as instructions for providing attribution. See the student creativity and student AI usage guidelines sections below.

Student Creativity

AI can both enhance and undermine creativity, depending on how it’s used and guided. The following impacts must be considered:

  1. AI tools can help students brainstorm ideas, explore new perspectives, or overcome writer’s block. For instance, creative writing students might use AI prompts to imagine alternative storylines or styles they wouldn’t have considered.
  2. AI encourages students to combine skills from different areas (such as coding, art, and design) to create interactive projects, digital art, or data-driven storytelling. This fosters creativity at the intersection of disciplines.
  3. AI can tailor feedback or suggest alternative approaches based on a student’s unique style or interests, encouraging experimentation and iteration — both key to creative growth.
  4. If students use AI to produce ideas or full works too quickly, they may skip the messy but vital process of creative problem-solving and original thought. Creativity thrives on struggle, and AI can remove that challenge.
  5. AI systems generate content based on patterns from existing data, which can lead to formulaic or conventional outputs. Over time, this may make students’ work more similar and less distinctive.
  6. When AI handles much of the creative labor, students might feel less ownership of their work. This can weaken motivation to explore, take risks, or express genuine personal voice.

The policy that addresses student creativity needs to accomplish the following:

  1. Encourage students to use AI outputs as a starting point to refine or reimagine, not as a finished product.
  2. Students learn to evaluate and improve AI-generated ideas, which builds analytical and artistic judgment.
  3. Students willingly acknowledge when and how AI contributed to their creative work, ensuring integrity and accountability.

Guidelines for Students

The following is a partial list of suggested student guidelines. Each element in this list is a distinct point of discussion:

  1. AI should support your learning, not replace it.
  2. It’s fine to use AI to brainstorm ideas, clarify concepts, locate facts, or check grammar, but you should still understand and be able to explain your own work.
  3. Be prepared to provide and AI use statement that describes how you used AI to complete your work. Your teacher will help you to further refine your AI skills based on this statement.
  4. Try to develop your ideas independently before consulting AI. Use AI afterward to improve or refine your work, not to create it from scratch. This helps strengthen your creativity and problem-solving skills.
  5. Before using AI, be sure to understand the usage guidelines provided by the teacher.
  6. AI tools sometimes produce false or biased information. Always double-check facts, citations, and data using reliable sources. Remember: AI is a tool for writing, not a source of truth.
  7. Avoid entering personal information, passwords, or identifiable details into AI systems.
  8. Only use approved or school-supported tools for coursework.

Words like plagiarism, academic misconduct, violation, cheating, and any other negatives should be avoided. These words and the expected response from teachers stifle transparency. The guidelines must include a broad set of examples.

Guidelines and Responsibilities for Teachers

Teachers have the most critical role in the implementation of AI. The goal is to shift some of their efforts from support of the subject/exercise to support for the best use of AI. The teachers have the following minimum requirements:

  1. Respect AI as a learning aid (critical)
  2. Participate in the development of all guidelines (ensures ownership)
  3. Instruct students on the use of the guidelines
  4. Add AI components to relevant lessons plans and exercises
  5. Collaborate with other teachers when implementing the AI guidelines
  6. Provide first-tier AI support to the students
  7. Review and provide feedback to students on their AI usage
  8. Provide feedback to their department and grade AI administrators

Parent Guidelines and Responsibilities

Along with administrators, teachers, and students – parents represent the final group of stakeholders. Their understanding of the AI policy and support for their children’s use of AI is critical. The following points must be addressed:

  1. Parents must be provided access to the AI policy, the student guidelines, and the list of acceptable AI tools
  2. Parents are responsible for ensuring access to AI outside of the school (home, library, etc.)
  3. Parents are provided with an AI proficiency score for their children (when possible) similar to other measures of proficiency

Compliance with local, state, and federal guidelines

The following points must be taken into consideration throughout the policy creation process:

  1. Comply with Federal Requirements, including laws governing data privacy and security such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and any relevant guidance from the U.S. Department of Education and Office of Educational Technology.
  2. Adhere to State Regulations, ensuring consistency with state education technology standards, data protection laws, and ethical AI use guidelines.
  3. Incorporate Local Governance, reflecting the priorities, values, and equity commitments of our community, and ensuring oversight by the school board.

Omega Logic

© 2026. All Rights Reserved.