Schools Are Keeping High-Stakes Judgment Human

Major districts and international organizations focused on AI governance this week. The clearest policies protected grading, discipline, disability decisions, and teacher evaluation from being handed to a machine.

What Happened This Week

On Wednesday, August 26, Chalkbeat reported that principals in the New York City Public Schools, the country's largest school system, had spent the summer unable to buy software.¹²

On Wednesday, September 2, the New York City Public Schools released the artificial intelligence guidance the country had spent the summer waiting for.³⁴

On August 10, Google enabled Gemini in Google Classroom for K-12 students of every age.⁵⁶

On September 4, Mayor Michelle Wu and Superintendent Mary Skipper introduced the inaugural cohort of the BPS AI Educator Ambassadors.⁷⁸

On September 8, UNESCO opens its four-day Digital Learning Week at its Paris headquarters under the theme Education in the Age of AI.⁹¹⁰

On September 1, 2026, DC's Office of the State Superintendent of Education released a model AI policy for staff use in the 2026-27 school year.¹¹¹²

What These Stories Have in Common

AI can help people gather information and notice patterns, but high-stakes decisions in schools shape a student's future. Those decisions need a responsible person who can understand context, explain the judgment, and be challenged when it is wrong.

Koan starts from a simple premise. The final answer is no longer a reliable measure of learning. Schools need to understand how students reached that answer and whether the work made them more capable.

What Schools Can Do

Schools should state which decisions remain human, train teachers before new tools are introduced, and require a visible record when AI supports any important process. Defaults set by technology companies should never substitute for school policy.

AI should give educators better information while leaving responsibility where it belongs.