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Regulation 0604-10

Authorized Use

As part of our commitment to preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s challenges, we encourage the intentional use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a tool to enhance teaching and learning and to develop critical thinking skills for students. The integration of AI in education offers innovative ways to explore, understand, and apply knowledge across various subjects. However, AI tools must be used responsibly and ethically.

To ensure consistent, ethical, and safe use:

  • Annually, the District will identify, vet, and approve specific AI tools for primary use by staff and students, specifically, generative AI tools. The use of generative AI will be defined by the student’s role and the role of generative AI in student learning.
  • District-approved generative AI tools will be selected based on their educational value, safety, and alignment with district goals.
  • West Ada has adopted MagicSchool as an AI tool for students and staff. MagicSchool is available to 3–12 grade students, and K–2 students with building administrator approval.
  • Teachers and students are expected to use these district-designated AI tools as the primary generative AI platforms for classroom activities and assignments.
  • Any tool not on the approved list requires prior written authorization from the Superintendent or designee before use with students or staff.
  • If approval is granted, teachers promoting the use of generative AI tools outside district-approved platforms must obtain parental permission before allowing student use. A Parent Permission Template Letter is available from the District.

Ethical Considerations and Responsible Use

Purpose: Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools offer powerful opportunities to enhance teaching and learning by acting as a thinking partner for educators and a creative aid for students. AI supports critical thinking, exploration, and deeper understanding without replacing student effort. AI tools will be leveraged to advance learning outcomes while protecting human decision-making and judgment.

To ensure responsible and ethical use, teachers guide the use of AI tools for each assignment, providing clear expectations that uphold academic integrity and foster genuine learning growth. This framework promotes safe, transparent, and effective AI integration that prepares all students for future success.

To guide this, the following principles apply:

1. Educational Enhancement

AI tools should be used to support and enhance educational objectives, not to replace student effort or learning.

2. Ethical Use

Students must use AI tools in a manner that aligns with ethical standards and academic integrity.

The intentional misuse of AI tools, including plagiarism and dishonesty, is strictly prohibited.

Students and staff exercise careful consideration of potential bias and inaccuracies in AI output to ensure that AI tools provide fair, reliable, and trustworthy content.

3. Transparency

Students must clearly indicate when and how AI tools were used in their work.

When using generative AI applications, all content must be reviewed and edited by the user.

Proper citation of AI tools is required in all assignments.

4. Privacy and Security

Students and teachers should never share personal information such as names, addresses, or student ID numbers with AI tools.

5. Appropriate and Prohibited Uses

Appropriate uses of generative AI include, but are not limited to:

  • Supporting differentiated instruction and creating tiered learning materials.
  • Generating formative assessment questions, rubrics, and lesson plan drafts for teacher review and modification.
  • Assisting students in brainstorming, drafting, and revising written work when explicitly permitted by the teacher.
  • Providing accessible supports such as text-to-speech, translation, or reading-level adjustments.
  • Supporting administrative tasks such as drafting non-binding communications, summarizing documents, or organizing information, subject to human review before use.
  • Building student AI literacy through structured, teacher-facilitated exploration of generative AI tools.

Prohibited uses of generative AI include:

  • Submitting AI-generated content as one’s own original work without disclosure, in violation of academic integrity standards.
  • Using AI to complete assessments, tests, or evaluations designated by the teacher as independent work.
  • Entering personally identifiable student information, including names, student ID numbers, grades, disciplinary records, or health information, into any AI tool not approved and contracted by the District.
  • Using AI tools for communications intended to deceive, harass, bully, or otherwise harm students, staff, or community members.
  • Using non-district-approved generative AI tools for classroom instruction without approval.
  • Allowing AI tools to serve as the sole decision-maker in matters affecting student instruction, placement, discipline, or evaluation. Human judgment remains the final authority in all such decisions.
  • Using AI to generate content that is discriminatory, sexually explicit, violent, or otherwise inappropriate for a school environment.

AI Literacy Standards

The District will utilize Statewide K–12 generative AI literacy standards in curriculum planning, instructional and assessment practices, and professional development.

Scale: Student Continuum for AI Learning and AI Engagement

The West Ada AI SCALE (Student Continuum for AI Learning and Engagement) is the primary framework for defining the role of AI in any given assignment. It provides teachers, students, and families with a shared, transparent language for communicating AI expectations across all grade levels and subject areas. Training will be provided for staff on the purpose and use of the AI SCALE.

Teachers are required to use the AI SCALE to designate a SCALE level for every assignment where AI use is a relevant consideration. That designation must be communicated clearly to students at the time the assignment is given.

The SCALE will be shared on the District Website with AI Resources.

Teacher's Role

Assignment-Specific Guidelines

Teachers will provide clear assignment-specific guidance on AI use, including the expectations and limits for each task, designating a SCALE level for every assignment where AI use is a relevant consideration. These guidelines will be communicated openly to students and parents.

Support and Supervision

Teachers will supervise and support students to ensure responsible, ethical, and effective AI use. The use of AI will not serve as a replacement for student learning and will be closely monitored. Students must be able to demonstrate proficiency independently of AI support and tools.

Accessibility and Accommodations

AI tools selected for district use must offer accessibility features, including text-to-speech, adjustable reading levels, multi-language support, and compatibility with assistive technologies. Teachers will consider how AI tools can support accommodations specified in a student’s IEP or 504 plan and make supports available as appropriate.

Student Responsibilities

Adherence to Guidelines

Students must follow the guidelines provided by their teachers for each assignment. Students must cite any AI assistance accurately and transparently.

Critical Evaluation

AI tools should be used to enhance understanding and learning, not to substitute them. Students must critically evaluate AI-generated content for accuracy, bias, and relevance.

Practical Examples of AI Integration in Teaching and Learning

This section illustrates specific ways in which the District trains and supports teachers and students in utilizing AI tools to enhance instruction, support diverse learners, and foster critical thinking, as well as provide personalized feedback.

Teacher Use:

  • Question and Prompt Generation: AI assists teachers in crafting higher-order thinking questions and prompts that deepen student understanding and encourage analysis or evaluation.
  • Multi-Language and Accessibility Support: AI tools offer translations, text-to-speech, and other accessibility features to support diverse learners and English language learners.
  • Reflection Partner: Teachers input lesson plans, standards, proficiency scales, and rubrics, and ask AI to analyze the rigor, Bloom’s level, or alignment to a learning target, or to suggest ways to incorporate student discourse and inquiry strategies.
  • Content Creation and Curation: AI assists teachers in generating quizzes, lesson plans, and multimedia content tailored to curriculum standards and student needs.
  • Differentiation Through Tiered Assignments: AI generates multiple versions of the same task—one for emerging learners, one for on-level, and one for extension/enrichment.
  • Assessment Calibration: Teachers utilize AI to review student work samples and categorize them according to proficiency descriptors, ensuring consistent scoring and assessment of learning.
  • Student Use:
  • Enhancing Critical Thinking and Reasoning through Reflective Prompts: AI tools prompt students to explain their reasoning or identify gaps in understanding after solving a problem.
  • Increased Engagement and Ownership of Learning: Students use AI to co-create multimedia products such as story outlines, design prototypes, or coding projects, making learning more hands-on and personalized.
  • Rubric-Based Scoring with Explanations: AI evaluates student work against each rubric criterion and provides clear, specific comments explaining why a response meets or falls short of a proficiency level, guiding students on areas for improvement.
  • Highlighting Strengths and Areas for Growth: AI identifies and highlights parts of a student’s work that meet proficiency standards and points out exactly where refinement is needed based on the rubric or proficiency scale/success criteria descriptors.
  • Increasing student discourse and metacognition: AI poses open-ended, probing questions that challenge students to explain their reasoning, consider alternative viewpoints, and deepen their understanding.
  • Providing actionable and relevant feedback: Students upload their draft along with the rubric. AI identifies which criteria are evident and which need development (e.g., “Your reasoning is clear, but your evidence needs stronger connections to your claim”).

Privacy, Data Security, and Federal Law Compliance

To protect student privacy and data security in all uses of AI tools, the District will comply with all applicable state and federal laws, including:

  • The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, which governs the privacy of student education records.
  • The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA), which requires the District to maintain internet safety policies and technology protection measures.
  • The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), 15 U.S.C. § 6501 etseq., which restricts the collection of personal information from children under 13 without parental consent.
  • Idaho student data privacy requirements, including the Idaho Student Data Privacy Act (Idaho Code § 33-133).
  • In keeping with these requirements:
  • Students and staff will not enter personally identifiable student information, including names, student ID numbers, grades, assessment results, disciplinary records, or health information, into any AI tool not approved and formally contracted by the District.
  • AI tools used will be approved through the District’s data privacy review process, which includes a data privacy agreement or signed FERPA-compliant contract with the vendor.

Procurement and Vendor Requirements

All generative AI-related software, applications, and tools procured by the West Ada School District will meet the following requirements before adoption:

Data Privacy Compliance

All tools must comply with FERPA, CIPA, COPPA, and the Idaho Student Data Privacy Act. Vendors must execute a District-approved data privacy agreement or Business Associate Agreement (where applicable) before any student or staff data may be processed. Vendors must clearly disclose whether their product utilizes machine learning, predictive analytics, generative AI, or any combination thereof, and must describe how student data is used, stored, and protected.

Algorithmic Transparency

Vendors must provide assurances regarding algorithmic transparency, including the general nature of model training data and any known limitations, biases, or risks associated with the tool. Vendors must disclose whether student-generated content or interactions may be used to train or improve AI models, and the District will not approve tools that use student data for model training without explicit, FERPA-compliant consent.

Responsible Use Assurances

Vendors must describe the safeguards in place to prevent the generation of harmful, discriminatory, or inappropriate content. Vendors must agree to notify the District promptly of any data breach, significant change to data practices, or material change to AI model behavior.

Training and Resources

To promote safe and effective AI use within our schools, the District will:

  • Offer ongoing professional development and resources for educators on types of AI, use of generative AI, responsible AI integration, privacy safeguards, and digital citizenship.
  • Ensure training will be delivered specifically through the District-adopted generative AI platform, MagicSchool. Multiple touchpoints and opportunities will be provided to staff, with a focus on improving student outcomes aligned with the District's instructional priorities.
  • Provide students with education and guidance about ethical AI use, privacy concerns, and critical evaluation of AI-generated content and the role generative AI should play during the process of learning.

Parental and Community Engagement

To provide transparent communication with families about the use of generative AI in schools and support parental and community engagement, the District will:

  • Publish and maintain up-to-date information and support materials for families on the District website, including parent education resources, at-home support guidance, and examples of how AI is utilized in classrooms.
  • Distribute the State Department of Education’s generative AI parent guidance document to all families through its standard family communication channels and post it on the District website.
  • Offer at least one annual community information opportunity — such as a family information night, recorded webinar, or newsletter feature — focused on AI in education, including how district-approved tools are selected, what data protections are in place, and how families can support responsible AI use at home.
  • Provide parents with information about the approved AI tools used in their child’s classroom, including applicable data privacy agreements as requested.

Annual Review and Approved Tool List

An annual review will be conducted by the District’s Curriculum and Instruction department in coordination with the Technology department, legal counsel, and building administrators. The review will assess:

  • Alignment with the current statewide generative AI in education framework approved by the State Board of Education.
  • Compliance with any new or amended state or federal laws governing AI, student data privacy, or educational technology.
  • The continued appropriateness of district-approved AI tools based on vendor performance, data privacy compliance, and educational value.
  • Emerging technologies, risks, and best practices identified through participation in state, regional, and national education communities.


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