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Binghamton High pilots Skillstruck AI in classrooms; district to expand second-year trial
Summary
Binghamton High School presented results from a year-long pilot using Skillstruck, a classroom AI platform cleared under New York Education Law 2-d; staff reported higher student engagement, 309 chats and nearly 1,000 prompts, and plans to expand the pilot next year.
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Binghamton High School officials presented results June 10 from a year-long pilot that used the Skillstruck AI platform in multiple classes and said they will expand the pilot in the 2025–26 school year.
Kevin Richmond, principal of Binghamton High School, said the district selected Skillstruck at the start of the academic year because it met New York’s data privacy requirements. "At the time of the launch of this, which was this past September, there was only one platform out there that would satisfy New York State's status security and privacy law, education law 2-d, and that was SkillStruck," Richmond said. He added the company had an established education track record and responsive support.
The district reported 309 total chats and 995 prompts during the pilot and said those interactions included teacher-created "tutors" and controlled chat environments where students could practice tasks such as debate preparation and language conversation. Alex Ackerman, acting director of technology for the district, described classroom controls: "Teachers can create these specialized tutors in our learning studio where they'll enter specific content or standards that they want the tutor to help students with." Ackerman also noted administrators can set blocked words and receive immediate alerts if students attempt to access inappropriate material.
Staff described how teachers used the platform in different subjects: an English 11 class used the AI for brainstorming and argument refinement; a Spanish class used it for one-on-one written conversations in Spanish; and at least one teacher uploaded rubrics so the AI could score student writing against specific standards. Richmond said teachers kept at least one section without AI for comparison and reported stronger brainstorming and higher-quality student work in AI-assisted sections.
District staff emphasized safeguards and oversight. Richmond said teachers can view students' chat activity in real time and that the platform blocks specific sites and search terms. He warned that external detection tools claiming to identify AI-generated text are imperfect and recommended classroom-based checks — such as early-year handwritten work samples — as complementary approaches.
Richmond and Ackerman said the pilot began with eight teachers and expanded to 25 during the year; participation was drawn from multiple content areas so the district could evaluate the platform across subjects. Richmond said the district intends to continue and broaden the pilot next school year, making access available to more teachers while recognizing adoption will depend on individual teachers' comfort with the technology.
The presentation included classroom examples, usage totals, and a short student video; no formal board vote was recorded on the pilot during the meeting. Board members asked about monitoring, rubric alignment and whether teachers see records of student interactions; staff said those features exist in the platform and that district teachers and an EdTech coach held weekly or biweekly check-ins with pilot teachers.
The district identified New York Education Law 2-d as the governing privacy standard that guided the platform choice and posted that program information in the board packet. The district has not announced formal policy changes tied to the pilot; staff said expansion decisions will be made as part of ongoing implementation planning.
