Beaverton schools publish timeline for ‘responsible use’ guidance on generative AI

Beaverton School District officials told the school board on May 13 that a committee has finished drafting the framework for responsible use of generative artificial intelligence and will move this summer to finalize classroom guidance and staff training.

District Chief Information Officer Steve Langford and Stafford Boyd, district curriculum, instruction and assessment administrator, told the board the advisory committee—20 people chosen from 89 applicants and including students, teachers, parents and classified staff—met January through April and produced a set of principles and “levels of use” that will shape how classrooms use generative AI.

The committee’s work matters because generative AI features are now embedded in many apps and because the district must decide how to use those tools without replacing student thinking, Langford said. “We're gonna spend a few minutes sharing the work of the generative AI AI advisory committee, which met, beginning in the winter and recently finished, finished their work,” Langford said.

The nut of the committee's recommendations is five principles that will anchor detailed guidance: purposeful use (AI as a learning support, not a substitute for thinking), critical evaluation of outputs (look for bias and hallucinations), ethical use (align with student and staff codes of conduct), consistent application (equitable access for students), and safety (avoid entering confidential or personally identifiable information into models).

Boyd said the committee produced two deliverables: a template for responsible-use guidelines and considerations for policy or procedural changes. The committee’s practical recommendations include a clarity-first approach—defining by grade and subject what counts as allowed AI use; explicit expectations for when students and teachers must cite AI use; and training for teachers so they can instruct students about prior knowledge and appropriate AI supports.

Board members asked how the guidance will address unequal student access and varying comfort with AI. Boyd said the guidance will include “levels of use” and scenarios so teachers can match expectations to student skills and subject matter, and that many uses will be age- or grade-specific. He also noted legal limits around accounts for children under 13 will inform what tools younger students may access.

District staff said the next steps are finalizing content with teaching-and-learning teams in June, publishing interactive guidance for families and staff, and developing professional development to roll out in the 2025–26 school year. Policy revisions will follow and be brought to the board for consideration.

The presentation team emphasized the work will be iterative. Boyd said the guidance will likely change as tools evolve and the district will revisit the guidance frequently. “We’re going to have to iterate it—if not annually—quicker than that,” he said.

District leaders said they will prioritize student data safety, academic integrity and equitable access as they move from guidance to recommended policy language this summer.

Sources and next steps: The district will engage school administrators in late May, put finalized guidance into publishable formats in June, and deliver professional development before the start of the 2025–26 school year. Policy proposals will be presented to the board in coming months.