In January, the surveyed more than 1,600 public K-12 schools from every state and the District of Columbia — where 53 percent in low poverty neighborhoods said they do a “very good” or “excellent” job preparing students for college and 52 percent said the same for the workforce.

But public school educators in high poverty neighborhoods were lower at 33 and 43 percent respectively.

“If they’re assessing themselves based on the post-graduation success of their students, it makes sense why they feel they’re not doing as well,” said Josh Wyner, founder and executive director of the .

Wyner said the college enrollment rate of high school students from low-income backgrounds is generally less than those from higher income areas, and they end up facing lower wages long-term if they go directly into the workforce.

“While it’s discouraging that schools serving lower income and more diverse students believe they’re not doing as good a job, something they can do about it appears in the study,” he added, noting the correlation between offering more advanced coursework — such as Advanced Placement and dual enrollment — and their perception of how they prepare high school students for the next stage of their lives.

The survey, which serves as part of the latest tracking the pandemic’s impact on public education, asked educators how they viewed their preparation of high school students for college and the workforce on a five-point scale — from “poor” to “excellent.”

About 47 percent said they do a “very good” or “excellent” job preparing students for college and 50 percent said the same for the workforce.

“I hope this data will spark important conversations that lead to improved opportunities for all students,” said NCES commissioner Peggy Carr in a statement.

Here are four things to know about the survey findings:

1. Public school educators in high poverty neighborhoods with more students of color were less likely to say they’re preparing students well for college and the workforce.

The report found public schools in low poverty neighborhoods were more likely to say they do a “very good” or “excellent” job preparing students for college compared to those in high poverty neighborhoods — a difference of 53 and 33 percent respectively.

Statistics were similar about the workforce — a difference of 52 and 43 percent respectively.

The report also found public schools with fewer students of color were more likely to say they do a “very good” or “excellent” job preparing students for college compared to those with a majority — a difference of 57 and 36 percent respectively.

Statistics were similar about the workforce — a difference of 55 and 41 percent respectively.

Wyner said the contrast based on poverty level and the number of students of color comes from the disproportionate access to advanced coursework.

“We’ve known for a long time that AP access is inequitable, but the fact that dual enrollment access is also inequitable…is troubling,” Wyner said.

The study found 73 percent of public schools offered at least one of the following: Advanced Placement, Pre-Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or dual enrollment courses.

About 76 percent of public schools in low poverty neighborhoods offered advanced coursework compared to 65 percent of those in high poverty neighborhoods.

But the difference was greater based on the number of students of color.

About 84 percent of public schools with fewer students of color offered advanced coursework compared to 65 percent of those with a majority.

“It’s a little bit of a surprise because [a majority] of those courses are offered by community colleges which are often located in areas that serve high need high school students,” Wyner said. 

“So you would think that those partnerships would be stronger and enable expanded access to advanced courses — but they don’t.”

2. Public school educators with smaller student populations were less likely to say they’re preparing students well for college and the workforce.

Public schools with less than 300 students were the least likely to say they do a “very good” or “excellent” job preparing students for college and the workforce compared to those with a larger population.

Wyner said this is because public schools with fewer students are generally located in less densely populated areas, such as towns and rural areas, with less resources and proximity to other educational institutions.

“Some of this has to do with urbanicity,” Wyner said. “In some communities, economic opportunity is limited…so high school students, no matter how well-prepared, may not readily be able to find a job if they’re staying in these areas.”

3. Public school educators in towns were less likely to say they’re preparing students well for college — but those in cities had similar attitudes for the workforce.

Public schools in towns were the least likely to say they do a “very good” or “excellent” job preparing students for college compared to those in cities, suburbs or rural areas.

But those in cities were the least likely to have the same attitude about preparing students for the workforce.

Wyner said the local economies are likely driving these perceptions — with public schools in towns and rural areas having a higher number of blue collar jobs compared to cities having a higher number of college opportunities.

“The reality is that schools that are in knowledge-based economies, which tend to be centered in cities, will consider themselves more capable of preparing students for a liberal arts education whereas schools in areas with a higher percentage of jobs in agriculture, manufacturing or some of the more blue collar jobs will view themselves as stronger in preparing students for the workforce,” Wyner said.

“There are also many parts of the country that have long traditions of having jobs that don’t require postsecondary training,” he added, pointing to the lingering impact of careers in the automotive, steel mill and manufacturing industries.

4. Public school educators in the Midwest were less likely to say they’re preparing students well for college — but those in the West had similar attitudes for the workforce. 

Public schools in the Midwest were the least likely to say they do a “very good” or “excellent” job preparing students for college compared to those in the Northeast, South and West.

But those in the West were the least likely to have the same attitude about preparing students for the workforce.

“It makes sense why we see a correlation between location, morality and postsecondary and employment opportunities for students,” Wyner said.

“This study should offer guidance to [public schools] to find the right ways to prepare students for college and the workforce…and give them that sense of self-efficacy that they know what’s right for them.”

This expansion is critical because many students with high potential do not have access to or participate in advanced learning. For example, students in Title I schools than non-Title I schools are identified for advanced education, and Black and Hispanic students are among Advanced Placement exam takers. Inequities in student participation are so stark that some parents are for the dismantling of advanced programs entirely. But that’s not what’s needed. We need more of these programs, coupled with systematic examination of participation and outcomes to identify inequities, eliminate barriers to inclusion and build programs that involve students from all backgrounds. 

Collecting, reviewing and acting upon student participation and performance data is essential. Administrators can utilize state, district, school and classroom data to understand who participates and how they fare, and to identify programs where students are systematically underrepresented. There is little need to collect new statistics; existing enrollment and standardized test data will provide sufficient information. For example: 

• At the elementary level, educators should track and examine enrollment in gifted and advanced classes and the percentage of students reaching the highest level on state assessments in math, reading and science.

• In middle school, educators should track and examine enrollment and grades in honors courses, data on how many seventh- or eighth-graders complete algebra and the percentage of students reaching the highest level on state assessments in math, reading and science.

• In high school, educators should track and examine enrollment in AP or International Baccalaureate courses and performance on subsequent examinations; honors coursework; participation in dual degree programs or college courses; and the percentage of students reaching the highest level on state assessments in math, reading and science. 

In addition, student growth should be measured in each grade. of students begin school each fall at grade level, because students in the United States are grouped based on their age, not knowledge levels. Comparing performance at the beginning and end of each year can help ensure that all students learn, even those who are ahead of the curve. 

Most importantly, data should be disaggregated by gender, race/ethnicity, family income and English learner status, to identify discrepancies that can be addressed with targeted programming or outreach. Annually reviewing participation and outcome data can help educators identify students who might benefit from advanced learning, need more support to succeed or are underrepresented.

When I directed the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s research initiative, I visited Virginia’s Department of Education to discuss the Governor’s School Program for advanced learners. Staffers described numerous barriers to participation faced by lower-income students, including parents’ disparate access to information, lack of teacher referrals and language gaps. Yet ,when I asked how many lower-income students were enrolled, they did not know. Why? Because student income is captured by the financial aid department, not the system’s enrollment database.

We don’t know what we don’t measure. Many useful data exist, but pulling them together coherently requires intention. Data can be shared internally with administrators or externally with all stakeholders. Analysis can range from reporting head counts in a table to building interactive comparative displays of statistics. While directing gifted education in Paradise Valley district in Arizona from 2006 to 2022, for example, Dr. Dina Brulles annually reported state assessment math and reading results broken down by district and school, to make clear the percentage of students scoring as proficient versus advanced. Every year, she created pie charts by grade, gender and ethnicity, so administrators could see where discrepancies were and create flexible learning groups so all students were challenged.

New software tools make this even easier. For example, Virginia’s Fairfax County Public Schools uses , a data analytics platform, to generate an . This website publishes annual performance measures at the school and district level using interactive displays that viewers can customize to show data for specific schools or student populations. For example, the figure below shows the percentages of various student groups scoring at or above grade level for third grade reading. It’s great that the district shares these data publicly; even better would be if they also reported learning at the advanced level.

Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that colleges cannot use race in admissions decisions. Yet racial differences still drive the percentages of students who have access to and successfully complete advanced courses that are often heavily weighted in admissions to selective colleges and universities.

Using data to understand which K-12 students participate in advanced learning, how they are doing, who might benefit from inclusion and who is being excluded can identify places where educators need to redesign coursework or bolster supports to enable more students from all backgrounds to successfully complete these courses and become college-ready. This will help ensure that colleges and universities have access to a pool of academically talented students whose demographic backgrounds match the nation’s great diversity, preserving education’s role as a pathway to upward mobility. To do anything less sells short the American Dream of opportunity and advancement for all.

It’s an overdue debate that impacts every school, because they all have advanced learners. In fact, most classrooms do. For example, my colleagues and I and found students performing at up to seven grade levels of readiness. In , 2 out of every 3 fourth-grade and 1 out of every 3 eighth-grade math classrooms we examined had students meeting the full range of benchmarks on (TIMMS).

All this means that academic diversity is the norm within individual schools and even classrooms. But when it comes to advanced or honors classes, the ongoing debate demands the answers to two key questions: Is the honors class in question truly an honors class? And is it fair to exclude some students from it?

These are not easy questions to answer in the abstract. In concept, honors classes exist to provide rigorous content at an accelerated pace for students who would otherwise be underchallenged. But whether a school should offer a specific honors class, and admit only selected students, depends on whether the class truly provides additional rigor — or whether it is an honors class in name only. 

Consider the following question: When is it acceptable for a school to provide an experience to some students but not others? After all, schools do this all the time. Most children don’t start kindergarten until age 5. Some high school seniors take calculus, or AP biology, and some do not. Some students are assigned a solo in the fall choir concert, and others are not. Education scholar came up with three criteria to answer that question 40 years ago: Would all students want to do it? Could all students do it? Should all students learn it (right now)?

If the answer to any of these is “yes,” then schools should not restrict access and instead open the learning opportunity to all interested students — or even them. 

Applying this to an eighth-grade honors math class, the essential question is whether the class is so different and so much more rigorous than regular eighth-grade math that not all students would want to do it; not all students could do the work and benefit from it because they have yet to learn the prerequisite content; and not all students should learn the material (yet). 

If the class is an introduction to Algebra 1, which many eighth-graders would not be ready for, it would be appropriate to limit the class to those eighth-graders — or even seventh-graders — who are interested and have mastered the prerequisite skills. The rest might be better off waiting until ninth grade, when Algebra 1 is part of the regular curriculum.

But if the “honors” class follows the exact same curriculum and pacing guide and uses the same textbook as “regular” math, then there is nothing about the level of rigor that would prevent some students from benefitting. Therefore, it is not truly an advanced class and it would be indefensible to separate out students along what will most likely be class, racial and ethnic lines. This kind of “honors” class, in name only, perpetuates inequities and should rightly be criticized.

All this gets to the heart of the “should a school offer that honors class” debate — and it is where the conversation must go before cuts or changes are made. Instead of debating whether honors classes should exist, schools should reflect on whether their honors courses truly provide advanced learning opportunities. If the evaluation highlights that honors classes were that in name only, the next logical step is to either remove them or change them so they are truly advanced.

This also establishes a better foundation for schools to then examine how they are meeting the needs of advanced learners. All schools have them, and they deserve support and instruction that appropriately challenges them and exposes them to the rigor they need. At the same time, no students should be denied access to classes they want to take and could benefit from, or prevented from attaining skills they should learn to be successful in the future.

Now, three organizations are working with students in LAUSD high schools to increase the district’s college enrollment, with strategies such as helping students write college essays, hear from professionals, and be mentored through high school into college. 

Despite a 2.5% increase between the  and  school years, LAUSD had just a  in students attending four-year colleges between the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 academic year.

LAUSD college counselors are faced with a daunting task – letting students know about their post-graduate options and helping them get there. An obstacle they face, said college counselor Tricia Bryan, is ensuring students are aware of how to reach their goals.

“I would like to see a little bit more support in the alignment between career and college so that students have a better understanding of what their pathways can possibly be,” said Bryan, the only counselor at John Marshall High School. 

“Usually students will say, I want to go to a good college or get a good job, but they don’t really know what the pathways are for that.”

College Path LA brings in volunteers to assist Bryan to help with applying to college. Roughly half of John Marshall High School students attend a four-year college while the other half attend junior college, she said. 

A key element of College Path LA is essay writing. Mentors help students with their essays while also providing guidance beyond the college process, often checking in on students as they attend college. 

Because John Marshall High School is located in the heart of Los Angeles, a city full of writers, lawyers, and other professions, College Path LA utilizes these people as a source for students. 

 conducted by UCLA and Claremont Graduate Institute found only 25% of those LAUSD students graduated within six years.

LAUSD A-G Intervention and Support provides resources for the college application process, focusing on those who need additional intervention to complete the A-G requirements, which allow students to apply to California State Universities and UC schools. More than half of the students in the program reported learning about college majors, academic requirements for college admission, and financial information. 

UCLA EAOP, “expands postsecondary education opportunities for California’s educationally disadvantaged students,” working to take students beyond the minimum requirements for college admission, with 72% enrolling in 4-year institutions. 

But UCLA EAOP officials say there is still value in attaining a community college degree. 

“What many families still don’t know is that their son or daughter can attend a community college for free for two years after graduation,” said Hugo Cristales, a first-generation college graduate and associate director of UCLA EAOP.

The organizations – ,��, and  – differ in their methodologies and missions, but have the shared goal of ensuring LAUSD high school students are ready to apply to college and get the assistance they need. 

This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

As Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to chastise the century-old College Board and its related programs — from honors-level Advanced Placement courses to college entrance exams — eliminating those activities could create a dramatically different school experience for Florida high schoolers.

In just 2022, nearly 200,000 students in Florida took the college entrance exam called the SAT, and tens of thousands of high school students have participated in Advanced Placement courses that could lead to earning college credits ahead of schedule.

If those programs are eliminated in Florida public high schools, it’s not clear how families would react if DeSantis makes changes. The debacle arose last month over an AP African American studies course that has become a national controversy.

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DeSantis reiterated his skepticism of the College Board at a press conference Tuesday while responding to  media questions. He said that high school students should still be able to earn college credits, but the Florida Legislature may look into other vendors.

“Are there other people that provide services? Turns out there are. IB courses, they’re actually more rigorous than AP, and the colleges accept it. You have the Cambridge, which is also more rigorous,” DeSantis claimed at the press conference in Jacksonville. He did not provide any data or metric for comparisons.

DeSantis is referring to International Baccalaureate (also known as the IB program) and the Cambridge  Assessment. He did not provide information about those other two programs.

In addition, Florida also offers what’s called dual-enrollment courses, which allow high school students to take a college-level course at their own schools or at a community college.

It’s not clear how well any of these programs would serve as a replacement for AP courses.

DeSantis continued: “So, Florida students are going to have that ability (to earn college credit). That is not going to be diminished. In fact, we’re going to continue to expand it. But it’s not clear to me that this particular operator is the one that’s going to need to be used in the future.

“So college credit: yes. Having that available to everyone: absolutely. Does it have to be done by the College Board? Or, can we utilize some of these other providers — who I think have a really, really strong track record. So I don’t think anyone should be concerned about, somehow, our high schoolers not having opportunities for that. They absolutely will. I just think it’s a matter of what’s the best way to do it,” DeSantis said.

Currently, not every student takes AP classes in public high schools. And not every school provides an IB or Cambridge program.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten issued a statement Tuesday after DeSantis threatened Florida students and families with the elimination of all Advanced Placement classes:

“AP classes have become an avenue for American students to get a head start to college. They provide enrichment and rigor and engage the curiosity and ambition of the young scholars who choose to enroll. Threatening to ban all AP courses because the governor is in a political spat with the College Board is the behavior of a bully, not a statesman. Gov. DeSantis has chosen to put his political ambitions over the aspirations of Florida’s students—ironically, in the same state that, to date, has incentivized educators to teach AP.

“The alternatives floated by DeSantis—the International Baccalaureate and Cambridge Assessment— don’t provide the same breadth of course offerings and are not widely accepted by other colleges and universities. As a former AP government teacher, I would hope he would stop these threats and uphold his duty to help children, not ransom their hopes and dreams for a better life.”

The rift between the DeSantis administration and the College Board started over a new AP African American studies course. The Florida Department of Education rejected the course, according to a letter sent to the College Board in mid-January, causing a nationwide outcry and concerns that the move diminishes the importance of Black history and Black culture.

“As presented, the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value,” the Jan. 12 letter said.

The College Board has since pushed back against the department’s comments on the African American studies course, calling it “slander” in a

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Shevrin Jones Wednesday morning and a press conference about the governor’s comments regarding AP African American studies. Jones represents part of Miami-Dade County.

He was joined by civil rights activist Al Sharpton, a handful of religious leaders, students and parents to discuss the DeSantis’s administration rejection of the AP course.

Here is some data for readers, which was not included during DeSantis’s press conference.

As to Advanced Placement courses:

According to a College Board report from April 2022 on data from the year prior, there were 2,548,228 students who took at least one AP exam in 2021 across the United States. Because many students take multiple AP courses at a time, the College Board reports that there were 4.5 million AP exams taken in 2021 in a variety of course options.

In terms of the SAT college entrance exam:

In 2022, there were 190,427 Florida students who took the SAT, according to data from the College Board.

The data refers to what the College Board calls “readiness benchmarks” which means a “section score associated with a 75% chance of earning at least a C in first-semester, credit-bearing, college-level courses” in either math or English and writing courses.

In Florida, only 31 percent of students who took the SAT in 2022 met the benchmark score for the math portion of the exam and 59 percent met the benchmark for the Reading and Writing portion.

But compare that to the 1.7 million students who took the SAT nationally in 2022. Of the 1.7 million, 45 percent of students met the math benchmark score, and 65 percent met the benchmark score for the Reading and Writing portion.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Diane Rado for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on and .

O.K., you’ve probably figured out by now that ChatGPT wrote that self-congratulatory opening. But it raises a question: If AI can produce a journalistic lede on command, what mischief could it unleash in high school English?

Actually, the chatbot, by the San Francisco-based R&D company Open AI, is not intended to make high school English teachers obsolete. Instead, it is designed to assist teachers in their work and help them to provide better instruction and support to their students.

O.K., ChatGPT wrote most of that too. But you see the problem here, right?

English teachers, whose job is to get young students to read and think deeply and write clearly, are this winter coming up against a formidable, free-to-use foe that can do it all: With just a short prompt, it , , , song lyrics, short stories, , , even outlines and analyses of other writings. 

One user asked it to explaining that “Santa isn’t real and we make up stories out of love.” In five trim paragraphs, it broke the bad news from Santa himself and told the boy, “I want you to know that the love and care that your parents have for you is real. They have created special memories and traditions for you out of love and a desire to make your childhood special.”

One TikToker noted recently that users can upload a podcast, lecture, or YouTube video transcript and ask ChatGPT to take complete notes.

ChatGPT Taking Notes From YouTube

Many educators are alarmed. One high school computer science teacher last week, “I am having an existential crisis.” Many of those who have played with the tool over the past few weeks fear it could tempt millions of students to outsource their assignments and basically give up on learning to listen, think, read, or write.

Others, however, see potential in the new tool. Upon ChatGPT’s release, The 74 queried high school teachers and other educators, as well as thinkers in the tech and AI fields, to help us make sense of this development.

Here are seven ideas, only one of which was written by ChatGPT itself:

1. By its own admission, it messes up.

When we asked ChatGPT, “What’s the most important thing teachers need to know about you?” it offered that it’s “not a tool for teaching or providing educational content, and should not be used as a substitute for a teacher or educational resource.” It also admitted that it’s “not perfect and may generate responses that are inappropriate or incorrect. It is important to use ChatGPT with caution and to always fact-check any information it provides.”

2. It’s going to force teachers to rethink their practice — whether they like it or not. 

Josh Thompson, a former Virginia high school English teacher working on these issues for the National Council of Teachers of English, said it’s naïve to think that students won’t find ChatGPT very, very soon, and start using it for assignments. “Students have probably already seen that it’s out there,” he said. “So we kind of have to just think, ‘O.K., well, how is this going to affect us?’”

In a word, Thompson said, it’s going to upend conventional wisdom about what’s important in the classroom, putting more emphasis on the writing process than the product. Teachers will need to refocus, perhaps even using ChatGPT to help students draft and revise. Students “might turn in this robotic draft, and then we have a conference about it and we talk,” he said.

The tool will force a painful conversation, Thompson and others said, about the utility of teaching the standard five-paragraph essay, which he joked “should be thrown out the window anyway.” While it’s a good template for developing ideas, it’s really just a starting point. Even now, Thompson tells students to think of each of the paragraphs not as complete writing, but as the starting point for sections of a larger essay that only they can write.

3. It’s going to refocus teachers on helping students find their authentic voice.

In that sense, said Sawsan Jaber, a longtime English teacher at East Leyden High School in Franklin Park, Ill., this may be a positive development. “I really think that a key to education in general is we’re missing authenticity.”

Technology like ChatGPT may force teachers to focus less on standard forms and more on student voice and identity. It may also force students to think more deeply about the audience for their writing, which an AI likely will never be able to do effectively.

“I think education in general just needs a facelift,” she said, one that helps teachers focus more closely on students’ needs. Actually, Jaber said, the benefits of a free tool like ChatGPT might most readily benefit students like hers from low-income households in areas like Franklin Park, near Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. “The world is changing, and instead of fighting it, we have to ask ourselves: ‘Are the skills that we’ve historically taught kids the skills that they still need in order to be successful in the current context? And I’m not sure that they are.”

Jaber noted that universities are asking students to do more project-based and “unconventional” work that requires imagination. “So why are we so stuck on getting kids to write the five-paragraph essay and worrying if they’re using an AI generator or something else to really come up with it?”

4. It could upend more than just classroom practice, calling into question everything from Advanced Placement assignments to college essays.

Shelley Rodrigo, senior director of the Writing Program at the University of Arizona, said the need for writing instruction won’t go away. But what may soon disappear is the “simplistic display of knowledge” schools have valued for decades.

“If it’s, ‘Compare and contrast these two novels,’ O.K., that’s a really generic assignment that AI can pull stuff from the Internet really easily,” she said. But if an assignment asks students to bring their life experience to the discussion of a novel, students can’t rely on AI for help.

“If you don’t want generic answers,” she said, “don’t ask generic questions.”

In looking at coverage of the kinds of writing uploaded from ChatGPT, Rodrigo, also present-elect of NCTE, said it’s easy to see a pattern that others have commented on: Most of it looks like something that would score well on an AP exam. “Part of me is like, ‘O.K., so that potentially is a sign that that system is broken.’”

5. Students: Your teachers may already be able to spot AI-assisted writing.

While one of the advantages of relying on ChatGPT may be that it’s not technically plagiarism or even the product of an essay mill, that doesn’t mean it’s 100% foolproof.

Eric Wang, a statistician and vice president of AI at Turnitin.com, the plagiarism-detection firm, noted that engineers there can already detect writing created by large-language “fill-in-the-next-word” processes, which is what most AI models use.

How? It tends to follow predictable patterns. For one thing, it uses fewer sophisticated words than humans do: “Words that are less frequent, maybe a little more esoteric — like the word ‘esoteric,’” he said. “Our use of rare words is more common.”

AI applications tend to use more high-probability words in expected places and “favor those more probable words,” Wang said. “So we can detect it.”

Kids: Your untraceable essay may in fact be untraceable — but it’s not undetectable. 

6. Like most technological breakthroughs, ChatGPT should be understood, not limited or banned — but that takes commitment.

L.M. Sacasas, a writer who publishes, a newsletter on technology and culture, likened the response to ChatGPT to the early days of Wikipedia: While many teachers saw that research tool as radioactive, a few tried to help students understand “what it did well, what its limitations were, what might be some good ways of using Wikipedia in their research.”

In 2022, most educators — as well as most students — now see that Wikipedia has its place. A well-constructed page not only helps orient a reader; it’s also “kind of a launching pad to other sources,” Sacasas said. “So you know both what it can do for you and what it can’t. And you treat it accordingly.” 

Sacasas hopes teachers use the same logic with ChatGPT.

More broadly, he said, teachers must do a better job helping students see how what they’re learning has value. So far, “I think we haven’t done a very good job of that, so that it’s easier for students to just take the shortcut” and ask software to fill in rather meaningless blanks.

If even competent students are simply going through the motions, he said, “that will encourage students to make the worst use of these tools. And so the real project for us, I’m convinced, is just to instill a sense of the value of learning, the value of engaging texts deeply, the value of aesthetic pleasure that cannot be instrumentalized. That’s very hard work.”

7. Underestimate it at your peril.

Open AI’s Sam Altman earlier this month tried to lower expectations, that the tool “is incredibly limited, but good enough at some things to create a misleading impression of greatness.”

Ask ChatGPT to write a , for example, and … well, it’s not very good or very Dylanesque at the moment. The chorus:

Baltimore, Baltimore

My home away from home

The people are friendly

And the crab cakes are to die for.

Altman added, “It’s a mistake to be relying on it for anything important right now.” 

The tool’s capabilities in many ways may not be very sophisticated now, said , an English teacher in northern California. “But we’re fooling ourselves if we think something like ChatGPT isn’t only going to get better.”

Carr asked the tool to write a short story about “kids who ride flying narwhals” and got a rudimentary “Golden Books” sort of tale. But then he got an idea: Could it produce an outline of such a story using Joseph Campbell’s “” template?

It could and it did, producing “a pretty darn good outline” that used all of the storytelling elements typically present in popular fiction and screenplays.

He also cut-and-pasted several of his students’ essay drafts into the tool and asked it to grade each one based on a rubric he provided.

Revolutionizing the English classroom with AI—how can we use technology to enhance student learning and engagement?

“I tell you what: It’s not bad,” he said. The tool even isolated each essay’s thesis statement.

Carr, who frequently posts TikToks about tech, admitted that ChatGPT is scary for many teachers, but that they should play with it and consider how it forces them to think more deeply about their work. “If we don’t talk about it, if we don’t begin the conversation, it’s going to happen anyways and we just won’t get to be part of the conversation,” he said. “We just have to be forward thinking and not fear change.”

But perhaps we shouldn’t be too sanguine. Asked to write a haiku about is own potential for mayhem, ChatGPT didn’t mince words:

Artificial intelligence

Powerful and dangerous

Beware, for I am here

Amid back-to-school debates over vaccinations, mask requirements and the right lens for , the troubling lack of opportunities for many high school students to take advanced coursework they need for success in college and beyond has unfortunately fallen off the education policy radar.

Advanced coursework can include International Baccalaureate, dual high school-college enrollment or Advanced Placement courses, with AP being the most popular and widely available mechanism. Taking such courses helps students gain college credits while still in high school, earn admission to top colleges and flourish in the work world.

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Yet a recently released report from the Center for American Progress that Black, Indigenous and rural students were far more likely to attend schools offering fewer AP courses than schools attended by their white, Asian and suburban counterparts.

And even when students have similar access to AP courses, lower percentages of Black, Indigenous and rural students enroll in the courses and pass them. In high schools offering 18 or more AP courses, white students taking at least one AP exam had an average passing rate of 72 percent. For Black students in these circumstances, the average passing rate was 42 percent. Latino students are not experiencing the same gaps in access as other ethnic and racial groups, but they do have lower enrollment and pass rates.

This speaks to what many educators and advocates already understand: Equitable access and success in advanced coursework require more than availability, and there are policy investments that schools and districts can leverage to help students succeed in advanced courses.

The first is creating a national database on student participation and performance in advanced coursework (including dual-enrollment courses offered at local universities), disaggregated by race. Currently, no comprehensive national dataset exists for multiple dual enrollment options, and individual state report cards vary greatly in what is publicly reported.

Much of the research on advanced coursework, by default, is limited to AP participation and performance, because that is the only data that is easily aggregated, transparent and comparable among all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Future iterations of the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection should also report on IB and dual-enrollment participation and performance.

Another crucial investment is to remove entry barriers to AP and other advanced courses. and subjective gatekeeping measures have a way of creeping into the enrollment process for advanced courses through overreliance on teacher referrals or counselor recommendations. This often results in students being overlooked for enrollment in at the elementary school level and at the high school level.

Districts have succeeded in combating this through the use of universal screening for gifted-and-talented programs and automatic-enrollment or academic-acceleration policies for AP courses. Automatic-enrollment policies, in several states, require that students who meet benchmark proficiency levels on statewide examinations be automatically enrolled in the next-highest available class, including advanced courses, though they can opt out.

In addition to making sure students are properly identified for enrollment in advanced courses, it is important to ensure they are prepared to handle the content and demands of the coursework. That takes regular communication and lesson planning among elementary, middle and high school educators to map out common instructional vocabulary and concepts, known as .

Moreover, supporting students and teachers during their experiences in advanced courses is critical. One strategy that many states and districts embrace is to associated with taking an AP or IB exam. Additionally, some schools are experiencing success through creating , where junior and senior AP students advise and tutor younger high school students to make sure they are setting themselves up for success.

Finally, both teachers and students benefit immensely from the creation of regional and statewide . This can take different forms but usually involves time outside the regular school day when students and teachers can refine their skills, learn from experts and get real-time feedback on teaching and learning.

None of these strategies alone can surmount the stubborn and persistent inequities in participation and success in AP courses. But when done in concert and with dedicated leadership, they can help broaden access to and success in advanced coursework.

Roby Chatterji is a senior policy analyst for K-12 education at the Center for American Progress.