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Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Paul Duke STEM High School Acceptable Use Framework for Artificial Intelligence Tools

Purpose

Paul Duke STEM High School recognizes that Artificial Intelligence tools are increasingly part of college, career, civic, and creative life. AI can support learning, productivity, accessibility, creativity, problem-solving, and innovation when used responsibly. This framework establishes clear expectations for what students and staff may do, may do only with permission, and may not do when using AI tools in school-related work. GCPS guidance emphasizes a human-centered approach in which AI augments learning and operations but does not replace human expertise, reflection, judgment, or decision-making. 

This framework is grounded in the principles that AI use should be ethical, transparent, equitable, secure, academically honest, and supervised by humans. Georgia’s K–12 AI guidance similarly stresses that AI should enhance, not replace, human judgment and interaction, and that AI use should be supportive rather than high-stakes.

This framework should be reviewed at least once each school year and updated as district guidance, state guidance, legal requirements, AI tools, and instructional practices evolve. GCPS guidance recognizes that AI expectations will need to evolve as AI evolves. 

1. Core Beliefs

Paul Duke STEM High School adopts the following beliefs about AI use:

  1. Humans remain responsible. - Students, teachers, and staff are responsible for the final quality, accuracy, ethics, and integrity of any work produced with AI assistance. GCPS district guidance states that humans must remain “in the loop” for AI use and decision-making.
  2. AI is a learning tool, not a replacement for learning. - AI may support brainstorming, feedback, revision, accessibility, research planning, coding support, and productivity, but it may not replace student thinking, teacher instruction, professional judgment, or authentic demonstration of mastery. 
  3. Transparency matters. - Students and staff should disclose when AI meaningfully contributes to schoolwork, instructional materials, communications, or decision-making. 
  4. Privacy and safety come first. - Students and staff may not enter confidential, protected, personally identifiable, or sensitive school information into AI tools unless the tool has been approved for that purpose. 
  5. Equity and access are essential. - AI use should not advantage some students while disadvantaging others because of access, disability, language background, socioeconomic status, or other factors. 
  6. AI tools must be evaluated continuously. - Since AI tools evolve rapidly, Paul Duke STEM High School should review expectations, approved tools, instructional practices, and risks at least annually. GCPS guidance notes that AI guidance should evolve as AI evolves, and other districts’ AI policies recommend annual review. 

2. Definitions

  • Artificial Intelligence, or AI: Machine-based systems designed to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, including recognizing patterns, generating content, making predictions, analyzing information, or responding to natural language. Generative AI: AI tools that create new content such as text, code, images, video, music, summaries, lesson materials, feedback, or other media based on patterns in training data. 
  • AI-assisted work: Work in which a student or staff member uses AI for support, such as brainstorming, outlining, revising, explaining, translating, coding assistance, design support, or feedback.
  • AI-generated work: Work substantially produced by an AI tool, especially when the user contributes little original thinking, planning, analysis, or revision.
  • Human oversight: Active review, questioning, correction, contextual judgment, and final responsibility by a student, teacher, or staff member. GCPS and Georgia guidance both emphasize human oversight and human judgment in AI use.
  • Algorithmic bias: Systematic, unwanted unfairness in how an AI system detects patterns or automates decisions, especially when outcomes disadvantage individuals or groups. 

3. Acceptable Student Uses of AI

Students may use AI tools when the use is allowed by the teacher, aligned to the assignment, and properly disclosed, which aligns with guidance that AI can support personalized learning, enhance feedback loops, and provide adaptive learning support while keeping educators involved.. Acceptable uses include:

  1. Learning Support

Students may use AI to:

  1. Ask for explanations of difficult concepts in age-appropriate language.
  2. Generate practice questions for studying.
  3. Request examples or analogies to better understand a topic.
  4. Receive tutoring-style support that helps the student learn rather than simply gives the final answer.
  5. Translate, simplify, or clarify text when permitted by the teacher.
  6. Support accessibility needs, including text-to-speech, speech-to-text, captioning, organizational help, or language support.
  1. Brainstorming and Planning

AI may be used to augment student learning and creativity, but the student must remain the author and decision-maker. Students may use AI to:

  1. Generate topic ideas.
  2. Create study schedules.
  3. Develop project plans.
  4. Brainstorm possible research questions.
  5. Organize notes.
  6. Create outlines, provided the final structure and content reflect the student’s own thinking.
  1. Revision and Feedback

In alignment with GCPS Guidance, students may not allow AI to rewrite work so extensively that the final product no longer represents the student’s own voice, thinking, or demonstrated skill. GCPS guidance identifies AI as a tool to augment learning, not as a replacement for student agency. Therefore, students may use AI to:

  1. Receive feedback on clarity, grammar, organization, or tone.
  2. Identify unclear sentences.
  3. Suggest questions a reader might have.
  4. Improve readability.
  5. Check whether an argument is logical or complete.
  1. Coding, Design, and STEM Projects

Students must understand, explain, and modify any AI-assisted code, design, or technical product they submit. AI-generated content must be reviewed for accuracy, security, and appropriateness because AI systems can produce flawed or biased output. Students may use AI to:

  1. Debug code with teacher permission.
  2. Ask for explanations of programming errors.
  3. Generate sample code snippets for learning purposes.
  4. Compare possible design approaches.
  5. Explore engineering constraints or testing ideas.
  6. Create prototype ideas, simulations, or pseudocode when permitted.
  1. Creative and Multimedia Work

Students must disclose AI use and follow assignment rules, copyright expectations, and teacher guidance. Students may use AI to:

  1. Generate visual concepts, storyboards, mockups, or design inspiration.
  2. Support music, image, animation, video, or presentation planning.
  3. Explore creative alternatives.
  4. Assist with editing or formatting.

4. Student Uses That Require Teacher Permission

The following uses are allowed only when the teacher explicitly permits them for a specific assignment or learning purpose:

  1. Using AI to draft paragraphs, essays, lab reports, reflections, scripts, or presentations.
  2. Using AI to generate code for graded programming assignments.
  3. Using AI to create images, videos, music, or designs for graded submissions.
  4. Using AI to summarize assigned readings when comprehension of the reading is being assessed.
  5. Using AI during quizzes, tests, exams, performance tasks, competitions, or timed writing.
  6. Using AI to analyze data for a graded lab, research project, or capstone assignment.
  7. Using AI to create citations, research summaries, or annotated bibliographies.
  8. Using AI tools that require student accounts, collect student data, or are not district-approved.

5. Unacceptable Student Uses of AI

Paul Duke STEM prohibits inappropriate reliance on AI. These rules emphasize that AI should support learning rather than replace authentic student work. Students may not use AI to:

A. Misrepresent Authorship or Learning

  • Submit AI-generated work as their own.
  • Copy AI-generated answers into an assignment without permission.
  • Use AI to complete an assignment when the teacher has prohibited AI use.
  • Use AI to avoid reading, thinking, calculating, designing, writing, coding, or problem-solving required by the assignment.
  • Use AI to produce discussion posts, reflections, essays, lab conclusions, or creative work that the student cannot explain.
  • Students should never cite AI as a factual source unless the assignment specifically allows it, because AI can generate inaccurate or unverifiable information. GCPS guidance cautions that AI is not a source of unquestionable factual information.

B. Cheat on Assessments

  • Use AI during tests, quizzes, exams, district assessments, AP-style tasks, performance assessments, or other evaluations unless explicitly allowed.
  • Use AI to generate answers for homework, labs, coding problems, math work, or written responses when the purpose is to assess student mastery.
  • Use AI to bypass learning platforms, plagiarism detection, lockdown browsers, or teacher assessment conditions.

C. Violate Privacy or Safety

Students may not enter into AI tools:

  • Student ID numbers.
  • Passwords.
  • Grades.
  • IEP, 504, health, discipline, counseling, or attendance information.
  • Private information about another student, teacher, family, or staff member.
  • Photos, videos, or recordings of others without permission.
  • Confidential school information.

D. Harm, Harass, or Deceive Others

Students may not use AI to:

  • Bully, harass, impersonate, threaten, embarrass, or target another person.
  • Create fake images, audio, video, messages, screenshots, or accounts involving students, staff, or community members.

E. Use Unapproved or Unsafe Tools

Students may not use AI tools that:

  • Require age-inappropriate accounts.
  • Collect unnecessary personal data.
  • Lack district approval when approval is required.
  • Are used to bypass school filters, monitoring, security, or classroom expectations.
  • Generate unsafe, inaccurate, or inappropriate content.

6. Acceptable Teacher and Staff Uses of AI

Teachers and staff may use approved AI tools to improve efficiency, creativity, accessibility, and instructional support while maintaining professional judgment and protecting student data.

A. Instructional Planning - AI can help educators address variability in student learning and support feedback loops, but educators retain final responsibility for instructional decisions. Teachers may use AI to:

  • Brainstorm lesson ideas.
  • Differentiate activities.
  • Generate examples, analogies, practice questions, or formative checks.
  • Draft rubrics, project prompts, discussion questions, or vocabulary supports.
  • Align activities to standards or learning targets.
  • Create alternate explanations or scaffolds for students.

B. Feedback and Formative Support - Teachers should always review, edit, and approve AI-assisted feedback before sharing it with students. Teachers may use AI to:

  • Draft general feedback comments.
  • Identify patterns in student misconceptions using de-identified data.
  • Create reteaching resources.
  • Generate formative practice aligned to observed needs.

C. Accessibility and Inclusion - Teachers may use AI to:

  • Simplify text.
  • Translate family-facing communication when appropriate and reviewed.
  • Generate multiple reading levels.
  • Create audio, captions, or organizational supports.
  • Support accommodations in accordance with student plans and district-approved tools.

D. Professional Productivity - Staff should always review all AI-generated communications for accuracy, tone, privacy, and professionalism before use. GCPS guidance identifies AI as a tool to augment operations while maintaining human oversight. Teachers and staff may use AI to:

  • Draft non-confidential emails or announcements.
  • Create agendas.
  • Summarize non-confidential meeting notes.
  • Brainstorm professional learning activities.
  • Develop parent communication templates.
  • Organize tasks and timelines.

7. Unacceptable Teacher and Staff Uses of AI

Teachers and staff may not use AI to:

A. Make High-Stakes Decisions Without Human Judgment. 

AI may not be the sole basis for:

  • Final grades.
  • Promotion, retention, or placement decisions.
  • Discipline decisions.
  • Special education eligibility, IEP goals, or service decisions.
  • Staff evaluation decisions.
  • Identification of students for interventions without professional review.
  • Determinations involving student risk, threat, wellness, or safety.

B. Upload Protected or Confidential Information

Staff may not upload confidential or personally identifiable student or staff information into unapproved AI tools, including:

  • Grades.
  • Assessment records.
  • IEP or 504 information.
  • Discipline records.
  • Health or counseling information.
  • Attendance data.
  • Student identifiers.
  • Parent contact information.
  • Personnel records.

C. Use AI-Generated Content Without Review

Teachers may not use AI-generated instructional content, assessments, accommodations, communications, or recommendations without reviewing for:

  • Accuracy.
  • Bias.
  • Developmental appropriateness.
  • Alignment to standards.
  • Cultural responsiveness.
  • Copyright or attribution concerns.
  • Accessibility.
  • Student safety.

D. Replace Teacher-Student Relationships

AI may not replace essential human interaction, mentoring, encouragement, explanation, professional observation, or relationship-building. 

8. AI Use Categories for Assignments

To create consistency, teachers should label assignments using one of the following categories. This tiered approach supports transparency, teacher discretion, academic integrity, and responsible classroom integration consistent with Georgia and GCPS guidance. 

  • Category 0: No AI Use - AI may not be used at any stage of the assignment.
  • Category 1: AI for Brainstorming Support Only - AI may be used for brainstorming, study help, outlining, or feedback, but not for producing final submitted content.
  • Category 2: AI for Feedback and Support Only - Students use AI tools to get feedback, tutoring, and/or coaching on their work based on certain criteria
  • Category 3: AI Co-Creation Allowed - AI may be used to help draft, revise, generate, analyze, code, design, or create, but students must disclose use and explain their own contributions.
  • Category 4: AI Required or Integrated - AI use is part of the learning objective, and students will be assessed on how effectively, ethically, and critically they use AI.

9. Academic Integrity Expectations

AI misuse may be considered an academic integrity violation when a student:

Submits AI-generated work as original work.

  • Uses AI when the teacher prohibited it.
  • Fails to disclose meaningful AI assistance.
  • Uses AI to fabricate sources, data, citations, images, or evidence.
  • Uses AI to complete graded work without understanding it.
  • Uses AI to gain an unfair advantage on an assessment.
  • Shares AI-generated answers with others in a way that promotes cheating.