AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Fifty-four million students across America are headed back to K-12 schools this month and next. And there are lots of changes in schools this fall - screen time and AI, and even changes to how the federal government oversees education. NPR education editor Nirvi Shah joins us now to talk about the forces shaping this new school year. Welcome.
NIRVI SHAH, BYLINE: Thank you, Ayesha.
RASCOE: Let's start with one of the biggest innovations that schools are grappling with right now. How is artificial intelligence changing how kids are taught?
SHAH: Yeah. There's a lot of concern right now about AI making it easier for students to cheat and to outsource their thinking. NPR teamed up with the polling from Ipsos last spring to try to get a sense of how all of this is playing out in the classroom, and there were some really interesting takeaways. Four in 10 teachers told us they've been requiring more assignments to be done by hand, and the same number of teachers are also making their students do more of their assignments in class because of AI.
Also, teachers say students aren't widely using AI in the classroom - at least not yet, which was a bit of a surprise. Our team's reporting has also found that a lot of students actually want more rules and guidance around it. We talked to teens who said they think it shouldn't be allowed for writing, and when they do use it for classwork, students think they should actually have to show precisely how they used it.
RASCOE: Well, let's go to another tech issue that's, you know, always top of mind - the pushback against screens in schools. Parents and teachers are really questioning the ways that technology has infiltrated every moment of kids' lives.
SHAH: Yes. Some school districts are going beyond limiting student access to cell phones and adopting limits on screen time in general. One of the biggest - Los Angeles Unified - rolled out a policy eliminating school screen time for its youngest learners. And by the end of the school year, all Los Angeles students will have time limits.
RASCOE: I would imagine - you know, I've got kids, and they have laptops at school. So dialing back tech in the classroom won't be easy.
SHAH: That is exactly right. People are sort of feeling their way around this. And less time with computers and tablets in class is going to be really a big change for teachers as much as it is for students. Here's one teacher that we spoke to about the shift in Los Angeles. Armaghan Khan is a middle school science teacher there.
ARMAGHAN KHAN: Technology is kind of the backbone of my curriculum. I would say about 75% of our work was on some kind of screen-based activity.
SHAH: In the past, his students have done large-scale science experiments right on their laptops. He says he has space in his classroom for in-person experiments, but no budget for them. And then there are also families of students with disabilities who are concerned. We spoke to one high schooler with dyslexia who says screens have revolutionized school for her.
SORAYA MARTIN: I started getting really good grades. And I had so much more to say, and it made me feel more confident in myself.
SHAH: That's Soraya Martin. She uses tools like speech-to-text to help her read and write. She worries screen time limits will mean she will fall behind again.
RASCOE: Let's talk about how the federal government oversees education. The Trump administration has been trying to close down the Department of Education. How is that going, and how is it affecting students?
SHAH: Yeah. You may have seen headlines over the last few months about how different parts of the Education Department are being shifted to other federal agencies. But those staffers are being told by the Trump administration that their work isn't changing. They're being told they're still employees of the Education Department, which still exists. The question now is, will all of the shifting around make it harder for these employees to ensure federal protections for students? Because the law is still the law. Kids with disabilities are still entitled to an equitable quality education. But one of the offices charged with making sure they get it - the Office for Civil Rights - at one point, it had half the staff it used to.
RASCOE: Before we go, what are you looking forward to about the school year?
SHAH: Well, Ayesha, there will be countless moments of, you know, wonder and joy. Some kids are going to eventually remember their school bus number or figure out why trigonometry matters. Someone is going to discover the books that they can't put down. And as much as I am personally a little intimidated by AI, there are some interesting experiments out there. Reporter Lee Gaines, who has been leading our coverage of artificial intelligence in schools, spoke to a superintendent in Dayton, Ohio, piloting AI chatbots in classrooms. Here's superintendent David Lawrence.
DAVID LAWRENCE: I think when the history is written, it'll say that, hey, they were really cutting-edge, innovative and ahead of the curve in the interests of children.
SHAH: I, for one, certainly hope he's right.
RASCOE: That's NPR education editor Nirvi Shah. Thank you so much for joining us.
SHAH: Thanks, Ayesha.
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