What to Include in Your School’s AI Policy Document

Once your leadership team has aligned on core AI principles and successfully piloted responsible AI use cases, your next step is turning your work into a formal policy document that guides your entire school community.

Your AI policy shouldn’t read like complicated legalese. Instead, it should empower teachers and students, providing clarity without unnecessary constraints, and remain adaptable to evolving technologies.

This article outlines the key elements your AI policy document should contain, including practical examples and formatting recommendations to help you start effectively.

1. Policy Overview and Purpose

Begin by clearly explaining why the policy exists. Teachers, students, and parents often approach policy documents from different perspectives, and many schools make the mistake of jumping straight into rules without establishing context. This section serves to unify your community’s understanding.

Include:

• A concise definition of AI and an explanation of why its use is becoming common in education.
• Specific reasons why your school or district is adopting a policy now (such as instructional effectiveness, academic integrity, equity, or safety).
• The intended readers (teachers, students, families).
• A brief vision statement highlighting AI's educational role.

Example:

This policy outlines the safe, ethical, and educationally beneficial use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools within our school community. As AI becomes increasingly prevalent in classrooms, we aim to ensure its use enriches learning, supports educators, and maintains academic integrity. The policy clarifies expectations for students, staff, and families and will be reviewed regularly to adapt to emerging technologies.

2. Definitions and Terminology

The goal here is to establish a common vocabulary. Misunderstandings often occur because stakeholders use different definitions. Keep your explanations clear and accessible, avoiding overly technical jargon.

Key terms to define clearly:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Generative AI
• Adaptive learning tools
• Natural Language Processing (NLP)
• Teacher-directed use
• Academic integrity
• Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
• AI hallucination (tools generating inaccurate or misleading information)

💡 Tip: Consider placing a comprehensive glossary of more technical or evolving terms at the end of the document.

3. Guiding Principles

Root your policy in core educational values rather than just regulations. Clearly stated principles help guide the evaluation of new tools and address unforeseen challenges proactively.

Suggested guiding principles:

• Teachers maintain ultimate authority over instructional decisions.
• AI use aligns with established educational goals, curriculum, and standards.
• AI use should always be transparent to students, families, and staff.
• Tools must foster equity, differentiation, and inclusion.
• AI must never replace a student’s original thinking, effort, or authorship.

Explicitly stating these principles helps your school move away from reactive rule-setting toward thoughtful and intentional implementation.

4. Role-Specific Guidelines

Clear guidelines tailored for each stakeholder group promote understanding and adoption. Rather than broad statements, clearly define appropriate AI use for each role.

Use tables, scenarios, or direct do’s and don’ts to clarify roles:

Teachers:

• May leverage AI for planning lessons, generating resources, and differentiating instruction.
• Should review and customize AI-generated materials before classroom use.
• Must inform students when using AI-generated materials.
• Cannot use AI to assign final grades or unsupervised feedback.

Faculty/Instructors (Postsecondary):

• May use AI to create lecture outlines, discussion questions, or assessments.
• Should clearly disclose when AI influences instructional content provided to students.
• Must not assign grades or provide feedback without human review.
• Should demonstrate proper ethical citation practices when employing AI.

Academic Support Staff:

• Can support faculty in selecting appropriate AI instructional tools.
• Should ensure AI tools meet campus accessibility and privacy standards.
• May assist with vetting tools via IT, legal, or instructional reviews.

Students:

• May use AI for brainstorming, organizing ideas, or skill practice when explicitly permitted by teachers.
• Must disclose any AI use in completing assignments.
• May not submit entire projects or essays generated wholly by AI.
• Should avoid AI tools that compromise personal data or bypass approved platforms.

Administrators:

• May utilize AI for operational purposes (e.g., scheduling, analytics) under proper oversight.
• Should involve instructional and IT staff when evaluating and implementing new AI tools.
• Are responsible for maintaining transparency about AI use throughout the school.

5. Tool Vetting Criteria

Clearly define the process for evaluating and approving new AI tools, reducing reactive decision-making and providing teachers with an established method for requesting new resources.

Consider including:

• Core criteria for approving tools (privacy compliance, editable output, curricular alignment).
• A submission process for tool requests (e.g., simple form).
• Identified reviewers for submitted tools (e.g., IT Director, Digital Learning Coordinator).
• Optionally, a regularly updated, accessible list of approved and prohibited tools.

6. Acceptable Use Policy for Students

This section complements your existing digital use policy or serves as an AI-specific extension. Clarity is essential for successful implementation.

Clearly specify:

• Conditions under which students may use AI (idea generation, grammar checks, revisions).
• Assignments explicitly requiring original student work without AI assistance.
• How students must disclose or cite AI-generated content.
• Consequences for plagiarism or dishonesty involving AI.
• Guidelines for teachers to reinforce these expectations effectively.

💡 Tip: Create a student-friendly summary of this section suitable for classroom displays or handouts.

7. Data Privacy and Ethical Considerations

Families and staff must trust that their data is secure and understand how your school protects it. Generative AI tools often collect inputs or integrate with third-party services, raising privacy considerations.

Clearly address:

• Types of student or staff information that should never be entered into AI tools (names, grades, IEP data, behavioral notes).
• Implications of using free AI tools that collect data.
• Ensuring tools comply with privacy regulations (FERPA, COPPA, GDPR).
• Guidance for staff on evaluating tool privacy policies and points of contact for questions.

Include direct links to existing data use or digital citizenship policies to ensure consistency.

In postsecondary settings, clearly advise faculty and researchers against inputting unpublished research or manuscripts into generative AI without approval due to intellectual property and publishing concerns.

8. Monitoring, Accountability, and Support

This section frames your AI policy as a shared agreement backed by meaningful support rather than surveillance.

Clearly outline:

• Whether AI use will be monitored formally and how.
• Procedures addressing AI misuse or misunderstandings (such as reteaching or restorative approaches).
• Methods to differentiate between intentional and unintentional misuse.
• Ongoing professional learning opportunities for staff.
• Designated individuals responsible for policy maintenance and communication (e.g., digital learning lead, EdTech committee).

Approach this with a growth mindset, prioritizing trust-building over rigid enforcement.

9. Review and Revision Plan

AI technology and related regulations change rapidly. Your policy should be regularly updated to remain relevant and effective.

Clearly establish:

• A scheduled review cycle (annually, per semester, or aligned with curriculum updates).
• Review leaders and participants, ideally combining administration, IT, and educators.
• How feedback will be collected (surveys, discussions, anonymous feedback).
• Where updated policy versions will be housed and how changes will be communicated to the school community.

💡 Tip: Integrate policy reviews into existing professional development or planning sessions for seamless updates.

10. Supporting Documents and Appendices

Provide practical resources that enable your staff to apply policy effectively, ensuring broad accessibility and engagement.

Suggested attachments:

• An AI evaluation rubric for new tools.
• A decision-tree or flowchart for teachers ("Should I use AI here?").
• Examples illustrating responsible versus inappropriate student use.
• A customizable letter to inform families about your AI approach.
• Glossary of AI-related terms.
• Ethical reflection prompts for classroom discussions.
• Simplified, printable policy summaries for easy distribution.

Key Takeaway

An effective AI policy articulates your community’s shared vision of responsibly exploring AI technology while safeguarding core educational values: student learning, educator trust, and equitable access.

Remember, the policy document is just a starting point. Effective training, clear communication, and continuous iteration are what truly integrate your AI policy into the school's everyday culture.

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Ready to dig deeper? See the full AI Policy Roadmap for Schools for more context, policy templates, examples, and the full strategy.