The document includes resources that range from AI tools for teachers to detailed AI implementation checklists and policy guidance for administrators. It also contains a list of AI definitions, as well as information on the use of AI for different grade levels, AI strengths and weaknesses, and AI for accessibility.
According to staff at the NDDPI, the framework is not a set of requirements. Instead, it aims to give schools a springboard to set up their own AI policies and programs for the benefit of students, teachers and administrators.
Kelsie Seiler, staff officer for the NDDPI Office of School Approval and Opportunity — the department that led the effort to develop the document — said the framework involved input from state educators and other stakeholders.
“This is not a hard and fast set of rules for our schools,” she said. “It’s something our schools can look at to help them figure out where they want to take AI in their own way.”
Key recommendations for administrators include an emphasis on student privacy in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, ongoing professional development for teachers on the topic of AI, and assistance for teachers as they create and promote AI guidelines for the classroom.
In addition, the framework encourages administrators to help teachers “rethink plagiarism and academic integrity in the AI age” and make the shift to AI-resistant, AI-assisted and AI-partnered categories for student assignments.
Embracing, rather than resisting, student use of AI is a recurring theme of the framework, which states that educators should “implement AI training to upskill students and ensure they are prepared to mitigate any biases, inaccuracies, or issues that may arise and utilize generative AI effectively as a learning partner.”
“It’s something that students are going to be using in their daily lives at some point, so we need to figure out how to teach students to use these tools in an ethical way,” Seiler said.
The North Dakota AI K-12 Guidance Framework was compiled by the NDDPI in conjunction with educators from North Dakota schools, the North Dakota Department of Career and Technical Education, and state information technology agencies. NDDPI staff said it took about eight months to research and complete the framework, which draws on guidance from state education agencies in Washington and North Carolina as well as from technology websites such as Code.org and TeachAI.org.
