Days 1–30
Phase 01
LISTEN & CHECK
First 30 days
Ask faculty, students, and families; audit tools and privacy.
Woodland School / Proposed AI Policy Framework
Human First.AI Ready.
AI should strengthen students’ thinking, creativity, and relationships — never replace them.
Proposed for community discussion
October 2026
Our approach
Building a Developmentally Appropriate
AI Strategy for Woodland School
- 01Start with child development.
- 02Teach and model before student use.
- 03Connect lessons to how people work in the real world.
- Prepare students for a future shaped by AI.
- Prioritize creativity, critical thinking, and human connection.
- Introduce AI gradually as students develop.
- Support teachers with clear, consistent expectations.
Section 1
Implementation Roadmap:
Listen, Train, Improve
A 90-day launch, followed by a review and update every trimester.
Days 31–90
Phase 02
TRAIN & PILOT
Next 60 days
Co-design guidance; model lessons; coach teachers; inform families.
Ongoing
Phase 03
REVIEW & UPDATE
Each trimester
A cross-divisional team updates guidance using classroom evidence, feedback, new tools, and risks.
Section 2
Student Pathway:
Gradual Release by Age
Teach and modelGradual release
PreK
No student-facing AI
Play, talk, move, and create. No student-facing AI or routine AI screen lessons.
K–2
Hands-on lessons
Explore patterns, truth, and fairness through hands-on lessons. No direct AI chatbot use.
3–4
Teacher demonstrations
Watch teacher demonstrations; question AI errors and bias. No independent AI use.
5–6
Guided lessons
Use approved, age-permitted tools in guided lessons. Check answers and explain choices.
7–8
Defined projects
Use approved tools in defined projects; verify sources, disclose help, and defend original work.
At every age:
Student readiness, accessibility needs, teacher oversight, and each tool’s age rules come first.
Section 3
Learn How Professionals Think
Teach how professionals use AI and what students must still learn to do themselves.
Historians
How they use AI today
Transcribe handwritten letters and records, and search millions of digitized newspapers and archive pages in minutes.
What students learn
Read AI-transcribed primary sources, check them against the original, and evaluate evidence, context, and bias.
Scientists
How they use AI today
Spot patterns in huge datasets, from predicting protein structures to sorting thousands of telescope and wildlife-camera images.
What students learn
Design fair tests, collect their own data, and question whether a pattern really supports the conclusion.
Mathematicians
How they use AI today
Check long proofs with computer proof assistants, and explore models and conjectures faster than by hand.
What students learn
Explain their reasoning, catch AI calculation errors, and test whether answers make sense.
Writers & Journalists
How they use AI today
Transcribe interviews, organize research, and get edit suggestions, while editors still fact-check every claim.
What students learn
Develop their own voice, original ideas, and arguments, and disclose any AI help.
Software Engineers
How they use AI today
Use AI coding assistants to suggest code and fix bugs, then review and test every change before it ships.
What students learn
Understand the logic, read code before trusting it, and test what works.
Musicians & Composers
How they use AI today
Explore arrangements, variations, and new sounds, and separate recordings into individual instrument tracks.
What students learn
Make their own artistic choices and consider authorship and credit.
Section 4
AI Assignment
Permissions
Less AI involvementMore AI involvement
Level 01
NO AI
Complete the work without AI.
Level 02
EXAMINE AI
Question AI examples shared by a teacher.
Level 03
AI AS COACH
Use approved AI for feedback, not to do the work.
Level 04
AI AS PARTNER
Use approved AI within limits; verify and disclose its role.
Section 5
School-wide
Safeguards
Protect privacy
Only approved tools; never enter students’ personal data into unapproved AI.
Protect learning
AI supports the assigned skill; it cannot replace original student thinking.
Be transparent
Students explain how approved AI helped, and check its claims and sources.
Keep people accountable
People — not AI — make final grading and student decisions.
Woodland School / Proposed AI Policy Framework
Questions?
Human First. AI Ready.
AI should strengthen students’ thinking, creativity, and relationships — never replace them.