Madison School District presents AI literacy position, seeks board adoption

Madison School District curriculum and instructional-technology staff presented a districtwide AI literacy position statement, teacher and student guidelines, and a five-level task-design scale Thursday, and said they plan to advance the materials to the full school board for adoption.

The presentation, delivered by a cross-discipline team of coordinators and instructional-technology specialists, argued that schools cannot ignore artificial intelligence and should teach students “responsible use” and how to evaluate AI output. A presenter summarized the district’s definition of AI literacy as teaching students that “AI is shaping and will continue to shape the world around them, that it comes with both risks and opportunities,” and that there are times to use AI and times not to, the presenters said.

The district said the package includes (1) a position statement, (2) student and teacher guidelines built on six guiding principles, (3) a district AI task-design scale with five levels, and (4) an AI-literacy guiding document that aligns transfer goals to grade-span expectations. Presenters asked the board to recognize AI literacy as a curricular content area…