Launching the expanded AI Classroom Toolkit with Cyberlite during Global Media and Information Literacy Week 

AI is opening new pathways to information, giving people faster access to answers, ideas, and knowledge. At the same time, it’s making it harder to know whether the content we see is authentic. 

Companies that build AI have a responsibility to make it reliable and trustworthy, and that responsibility doesn’t shift to the people who use it. But AI is already shaping how people search, learn, and encounter information. Helping people navigate that reality means building media and AI literacy (MAIL): the judgment to decide whether and how to use AI and what information to trust. These skills are as foundational as AI safety, and educators are asking for help teaching them. 

That’s why, during Global Media and Information Literacy Week, we’re launching the expanded AI Classroom Toolkit: Unlocking Generative AI Safely and Responsibly, created with the online safety organization Cyberlite. It’s part of Microsoft’s broader commitment to make sure AI strengthens human thinking rather than replaces it. It also reflects Microsoft’s focus on education and empowerment, a core pillar of our Safe Participation Framework. 

What’s new in the AI Classroom Toolkit

The expanded toolkit adds a deeper focus on critical thinking, verification, and media and AI literacy, helping students judge AI outputs and make informed decisions about what to trust online. Together with the original modules, it’s now a single, classroom-ready resource that covers the core of AI safety and literacy. Realistic, scenario-based lessons and activities help students practice these skills in situations they may encounter online: 

• The Climate Campaign: Gina enters an online challenge to make a campaign for a cause she cares about and finds that some winning entries use AI to show events that never happened. Students sort a feed of real and AI-made posts and practice lateral reading. The lesson: whether a post was made with AI doesn’t decide whether it’s trustworthy. What it claims, and who is behind it, does. 

• The Helpful Bot: Alex creates an AI help bot inside his online game, then catches it inventing details and collecting players’ personal information. Students learn why AI can get things wrong, how to trace claims to reliable sources, and why they’re responsible for AI-generated content they act on or share. 

• What Kind of AI User Are You?: An interactive quiz, hosted by Cyberlite, helps students identify their AI habits, strengths, and potential blind spots, and gives them an AI Type to reflect on and discuss. 

“When we created the first Classroom Toolkit: Unlocking Generative AI Safely and Responsibly with Microsoft in 2023, most of the conversation was about using AI safely. Today, the questions young people ask about AI have grown sharper and more personal, like what to believe online or how far to trust a chatbot’s answer,” said Michelle Yao, cofounder of Cyberlite. 

The toolkit also reflects what young people in our co-design sessions with Cyberlite told us: they want to learn by doing, through games, real-life scenarios, and peer discussion. Teachers don’t need to be AI experts, and students don’t need an AI tool in hand to start. 

That approach builds on the reach and results of the original toolkit. Since 2023, the first version has reached educators in 10 countries and 11 languages, including through government and partner learning platforms. In South Korea, 93% of participating educators reported improved knowledge and understanding of ethical issues, privacy, and bias related to AI. 

“Our hope is that every student leaves a little surer of their own judgment, and that everyone feels more confident deciding how AI fits into their lives,” said Yao. 

Literacy works alongside product design and policy

Education is one part of the equation. Our commitment to media and AI literacy also shows up in how we design products and the policies we support.  

Last month, we set out five principles for AI in education, including “AI designed to support students’ learning, not replace their thinking.” We also committed to enforceable privacy, safety, and transparency protections for qualifying educational AI products in US school districts. These protections help schools and families understand how these tools work and the controls available to them. 

Media and AI literacy is now a global priority

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has released a framework for a MAIL assessment beginning in 2029. As part of its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), it will examine how students reflect on, analyze, and evaluate information, including AI-generated information. This week in New Delhi, UNESCO is also launching an AI extension of its “Think Critically, Click Wisely” global curriculum, which Microsoft advised on. 

This growing global focus makes the need for support urgent—educators want help, and many aren’t getting it. In Microsoft’s 2026 AI in Education report, 53% of educators and 77% of students say they haven’t had AI training.  

Closing this skills gap matters beyond the classroom. Healthy societies depend on a shared basis of facts, informed public debate, and confident civic participation. As authenticity gets harder to judge, there’s a risk that people start doubting everything, creating what the Digital Inquiry Group calls a “dangerous declaration of permanent uncertainty.” MAIL offers a way through. It builds the confidence to decide what to trust. 

Media and AI literacy for every age

Across Microsoft, we’re helping people build these skills wherever they learn and find information: 

• In classrooms: Students debate whether to accept, question, or rework an AI tool’s answers in an AI and Critical Thinking lesson from The Economist Educational Foundation, supported by Microsoft. Available alongside other media literacy lessons in Microsoft Learning Zone, the lesson has reached students in 116 countries. 

• Through play: Millions of players have checked sources, spotted bias, and cracked cases of AI misuse in Minecraft Education’s The Investigators and Reed Smart: AI Detective. 

• For content creators: UNESCO, with Microsoft’s support, is developing resources to help creator associations train their members in MAIL and is testing them with creators in Nairobi this week.  

• For voters: Check. Recheck. Vote. helps people apply AI literacy to election information. 

• In our products: Search Progress, built with input from the Digital Inquiry Group, turns research assignments into source-checking practice in Microsoft Teams for Education. 

What’s next 

Through Microsoft Elevate for Educators and local partners, we’ll bring the AI Classroom Toolkit to new audiences, with more languages and localized content rolling out through 2027. We’ll keep evolving it as technology and educators’ needs change. 

Explore the toolkit and supporting resources for educators today.  

AI will keep changing how people find information and the content they encounter. Our goal is to help people meet that change with confident, informed judgment about the AI they use and the information they trust so they can fully take part in civic and democratic life. 

The post In an age of AI, deciding what to trust is a foundational skill. Here’s how we’re helping educators teach it. appeared first on Microsoft On the Issues.

The rapid diffusion of AI globally and the pace at which AI is developing put us at a societal crossroads. The choices we’re making now will determine who has access to AI and the opportunity it affords. There is perhaps no more important tool than our education systems for addressing the uneven diffusion of AI we’re seeing currently: national adoption runs above 70% in countries such as the United Arab Emirates and falls to low single digits across much of sub-Saharan Africa, close to a tenfold difference. 

The way we teach AI and learn with it will have long-lasting impacts on jobs, the workforce, and our broader economy. Learning Curves: Rethinking Education from Classrooms to Careers in an AI-Driven World is a collection of research-driven essays that can help guide those choices. This book brings together the body of work from the second cohort of Senior Fellows from the Microsoft AI Economy Institute (AIEI), a flagship think tank that produces research and convenes experts to generate insights into how AI is reshaping work, education, and the broader economy. 

In Learning Curves, researchers consider how AI is reshaping the earliest stages of learning and work, from K–12 classrooms and community and technical colleges to college‑to‑work transitions and entry‑level jobs, and what it will take for that transformation to widen opportunity rather than deepen divides across institutions, communities, and countries.  

Below, I share a few of my own reflections that informed my contributions to Learning Curves, a collaborative effort that wouldn’t have been possible without the truly talented, diverse cohort of researchers who contributed to this book.  

The good, the bad, and the ugly: Laying the foundation for AI in K–12 classrooms

Before delving into the specifics of how to incorporate AI in classrooms, we need to ask ourselves whether we’re teaching for knowledge, or for learning.  

The book, the calculator, the personal computer, the internet, the search engine, and the smartphone all arrived in classrooms carrying real promise alongside the worry that they would hollow out young minds. Usually the truth landed somewhere in between, and where it landed depended less on the tool than on the choices the adults made about how to use it. 

The fact is that the AI-native generation is already here, and its members are in classrooms around the world. More than half of US teenagers already use AI chatbots for schoolwork. I’ve personally seen the promise of AI as a force for good in education up close in my own classroom, where I teach a computer science class to elementary school students.  

But of course, the good is only part of the story. We can’t shy away from the downsides of incorporating AI into classrooms. While AI can help with accessibility and individualized learning, it can also create over–reliance, contribute to student cheating, or prevent students from recognizing when information may be false. 

The rapid deployment of AI in K–12 classrooms needs to come with a sober assessment of how that technology impacts all students. This assessment must go beyond the technology itself to encompass how students, teachers, parents, and society use AI.   

AI literacy is only part of the solution

If classrooms are where students learn how to think, teachers are the conduit through which this learning happens. In Learning Curves, Joseph Orero, Senior Researcher in AI at Strathmore University’s School of Computing and Engineering Science, posits that teachers aren’t resistant to AI in classrooms; they just need proper training to help them adequately adapt and teach their students critical skills. His research contribution explores game-based learning with AI-enabled African languages. 

AI usage and adoption worldwide are also dependent on accessibility. Another chapter of the book looks at barriers and opportunities in Arabic education and finds that the primary barrier teachers encountered when introducing AI writing assistants into classrooms was Arabic digital literacy, particularly students’ typing ability.  

Researchers often circled around a similar theme: there is no one-size-fits-all approach to developing AI competency; instead, such an approach must be sensitive to local knowledge and contextualized teaching and learning practices. This means that teachers, in turn, must have training that makes sense for the unique contexts in which their students are learning.  

Frank Nagle, now Microsoft’s Chief AI Economist, Sarah Rodriguez, Associate Professor of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, and other researchers in Learning Curves make the case that, in many ways, nontraditional pathways such as apprenticeships and two-year-degree programs, particularly those that are virtual, are more nimble and thus better able to adapt their curricula to the rapidly changing field of AI.  

AI Is taught in the classroom, but then what?

Education has never been about simply preparing people for the future of work so they can thrive in the labor market. When considered holistically, it is about teaching students not what to think but how to think. In our AI era, education is one of the core institutions through which the future of work will be built, distributed, and made more (or less) equitable. Successful AI integration remains human-centered by focusing on organizational change, durable human skills like empathy and judgment, strong employer partnerships, and learner needs. 

As research from Laura Nuriski, Head of Program on the Future of Work at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), highlights, access to AI alone does not ensure successful integration. Technology transfer, data infrastructure, organizational readiness, and a human-centered approach to building and deploying AI are also key indicators of success.  

Whether we’re talking about the classroom or the boardroom, it’s worth keeping in mind that AI tends to do the most good when it strengthens human capability and the most harm when it substitutes for it. That holds as true in a fourth- grade reading lesson as in a software team or a hospital ward. 

The children in our schools deserve tools that serve their learning rather than stand in for it, and that is within our power to provide. Our most successful future with AI will be one that is human-centered, inclusive, and designed to help people thrive. 

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The people and institutions closest to a community understand their needs best. Libraries, small businesses, nonprofits, and schools see firsthand where AI can create opportunity and where people need support to navigate change. At Microsoft, our role is to help these trusted institutions lead by providing practical resources, training, and clear safeguards that strengthen local capacity and put communities at the center of AI literacy and adoption. 

Public libraries have served as trusted centers of community learning across the United States for generations. Today, we are announcing a new initiative with the Public Library Association, a division of the American Library Association, to expand resources and no-cost AI literacy and skills training for public library workers and their patrons.  

This work delivers on the commitment we made earlier this year through our Community-First AI Infrastructure initiative: to expand access to AI learning and opportunity by investing directly in local training. We’re committed to neighborhood learning through libraries, free literacy training, and certification opportunities, age-appropriate learning in schools and colleges, and support for nonprofit and small-business workforces. This new library initiative is the latest example of our broader work to help trusted local institutions serve as entry points for AI learning, skills development, and opportunity. This program comes alongside small business accelerator programs in TechSpark, our new Elevate for Changemakers platform connecting nonprofits to resources, and our ongoing national and statewide work to bring safe and responsible AI to education. 

Local libraries lead AI learning in their communities 

The Public Library Association AI literacy initiative we are announcing today, Building AI Skills and Agency Through Libraries, is designed to build practical skills, critical awareness, and the judgment to use AI safely and appropriately. It will pair Microsoft’s AI skilling resources with PLA’s national network of expert practitioners to support library workers and community patrons as they navigate this rapidly evolving technology.  

The initiative will expand practical resources and training for library workers, create opportunities to learn from one another through a Community of Practice, and offer free webinars and guidance to support their work with patrons.  

Library workers help people navigate information, find learning resources, and make informed decisions for themselves and their families. Supporting those workers is a practical way to bring AI learning closer to people, while respecting the independence of the institutions they trust. 

The approach reflects a broader view of AI literacy: people need more than instructions for using AI tools; they also need the knowledge and judgment to decide whether, when and how those tools should be used. The training will help library workers and patrons understand how AI works and expand their skills, while also evaluating potential risks, protecting personal and confidential information, critically evaluating AI-generated claims and sources, and better understanding considerations related to safety and bias.   

Equipping trusted local institutions to lead responsible AI adoption 

Last July, we launched Microsoft Elevate, a company-wide initiative that brings together our work to help people and institutions build the skills and capacity to navigate AI responsibly. Under the Elevate charter, each year, Microsoft supports nearly one million nonprofit organizations and education systems worldwide with technology, training, grants and discounts. Microsoft Elevate for Educators, our global community of over 100,000 teachers and school leaders, recently recognized our inaugural group of 20 Beacon Schools and School Systems that are leading examples of AI transformation in education, bringing together effective AI practices while keeping educators and students first. They are powerful examples of what happens when you combine committed educators, AI-powered technology, and intentional, no-cost staff training.

In Washington, our Elevate commitment has included a $3 million, two-year investment supporting 10 school districts and 10 community and technical colleges with grants, coaching, and communities of practice. To date, the initiative has reached 29,375 educators, with early pilots in Kennewick and Everett helping teachers explore practical uses of AI while keeping professional judgment at the center. 

Skills and access must be matched by strong safeguards. In September, Microsoft joined the American Federation of Teachers to establish a national AI Safety & Privacy Standard for Schools, with enforceable protections for student and educator data, human oversight, and transparency for families. Beginning November 1, every US school district can request Microsoft to add these protections to a new or existing agreement, without waiting for renewal or renegotiation. 

That same commitment extends to nonprofit staff and leaders. The Elevate for Changemakers program has already supported over 18,000 learners, helping them build practical AI skills, connect with peers, and earn recognition for turning learning into tangible outcomes for their organizations. And today we are expanding the program and introducing a new, connected experience that brings training, resources, and community together.  

Together, these efforts reflect a simple principle: responsible adoption requires more than technology. Educators, nonprofit changemakers, and community leaders need time, training, trusted connections, practical support, and clear guardrails so they can decide when AI strengthens learning and, equally important, when it does not. 

Investing in locally led economic opportunity across all 50 states

For nearly a decade, Microsoft has partnered with local nonprofits and small businesses across the U.S. through our TechSpark program. 

Through Fellows grants, TechSpark pairs local expertise with Microsoft coaching and a national peer network to help nonprofits expand their impact in their local community and drive accelerated innovation for local small businesses. Today, Microsoft is announcing the new 2027 TechSpark Fellows across all 50 states and releasing the 2026 Fellows Impact Report showing what a locally led model can make possible.  

Over the last three years, the Fellows cumulatively report access to more than $298 million in community funding, 59,600 people trained and upskilled in AI literacy, and more than 1,500 nonprofit partners mobilized to advance their missions within their communities. These numbers tell an important story: no single organization can create lasting opportunity on its own, and local context matters.  

In Virginia, Rosie Riveters Executive Director Brittany Greer is showing what it looks like to build the human capabilities that innovation requires. Through hands-on STEM experiences, students build, test, and troubleshoot to develop the critical thinking, persistence, and independent judgment they will need to use AI thoughtfully. Her work is the kind of learning these partnerships are designed to strengthen.  

Community institutions know their neighbors, understand the barriers they face, and are best positioned to decide how new resources can serve them. 

An ongoing journey

The thread connecting a library worker, a job seeker, a TechSpark Fellow, and a teacher is not a particular product. It is the ability to make informed decisions with support from people and institutions they trust. Our responsibility is to make that support more useful, accessible, and human-centered, while being candid about what we have yet to learn. 

As we navigate the rapid pace of innovation in this AI era, our aim is not simply to bring AI into more places. It is to help people retain a stronger voice in what happens next, in their workplaces, their classrooms, and their communities. 

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On Tuesday, February 23rd, Microsoft Senior Director of Education and Workforce Policy Allyson Knox testified before the House Education & Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education. To view the proceedings, visit the committee’s website.

STATEMENT OF ALLYSON KNOX

SENIOR DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE POLICY

MICROSOFT CORPORATION

BEFORE THE

EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE COMMITTEE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY, AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

“BUILDING AN AI-READY AMERICA: TEACHING IN THE AI AGE”

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Good afternoon and thank you, Chairman Kiley, Ranking Member Bonamici, Members of the Subcommittee for inviting me to testify today. My name is Allyson Knox. I am Senior Director of Education and Workforce Policy at Microsoft, and I am pleased to have this opportunity to discuss issues related to artificial intelligence and its impact on teachers.

Today, I will share insights we have gathered from teachers about their experiences, challenges, and needs as they integrate AI in education; outline the steps Microsoft and other organizations are taking to facilitate this transition; and recommend legislative approaches to help policymakers strengthen these efforts. These legislative approaches include supporting professional development for teachers; encouraging public-private partnerships; promoting AI literacy; providing guidance on responsible AI use; and supporting innovation.

I would like to begin by quoting from Microsoft’s vice-chair and president, Brad Smith, in his recent foreword to Degrees of Change: What AI Means for Education and the Next Generation[i]:

“Generative AI has become the fastest-spreading technology in human history, adopted at a pace that even the most seasoned technologists could scarcely imagine. This speed is breathtaking, but it also compels us to pause and ask, “Are we ready for what comes next?” AI’s promise is extraordinary. It can help solve problems that have challenged humanity for decades—improving health outcomes, advancing education, and unlocking new opportunities for economic growth. But, like every transformative technology before it, AI brings new questions and new responsibilities.”

This thought-provoking quote is apt for today’s conversation on how AI is impacting teachers. The speed of AI adoption in our nation’s schools and classrooms is indeed breathtaking. Just three years ago, AI had barely made a mark in education. However, our 2025 Study on AI in Education found that 80% of U.S. K-12 teachers have used AI in their roles or for school-related purposes at least once or twice and one-fifth report daily use of AI. Additionally, 58% of K-12 teachers think AI usage at their school/district will increase in the next year.[ii]

What we are hearing from teachers on the impact of AI:

The breadth of adoption has been profound. We have heard directly from teachers who are using AI to streamline lesson planning, curriculum development, and personalize student learning in ways that were unimaginable a few years ago.[iii] AI is also reducing the time it takes to carry out administrative tasks, allowing more time for teachers to focus on their students.

Despite these benefits, we know teachers face challenges when it comes to AI in the classroom. We found roughly one in three teachers lack confidence in using AI effectively and responsibly. Many teachers also express concerns about how AI can exacerbate cheating and are worried about issues such as data privacy and student safety.

Teachers know AI is here to stay, and based upon countless surveys, forums, and focus groups, teachers are ready to tackle these challenges and ask for support in three main areas:

1. AI literacy – Teachers want the skills, knowledge, and support to build AI literacy and critical thinking in their students;
2. AI guardrails – Teachers want students to use AI responsibly and safely; and
3. AI tools – Teachers want classroom-ready AI tools and opportunities to provide feedback that improve them.

I’m excited to share a few ways Microsoft, along with many of our partners, are committed to providing teachers with the support they are requesting.

1.AI literacy – Teachers want the skills, knowledge, and support to build AI literacy and critical thinking in their students

At the core of this support is listening to and learning from teachers and understanding what they want and need to become AI literate themselves and teach AI literacy to their students. These conversations have resulted in exciting initiatives, including the recent launch of the Microsoft Elevate for teachers program, part of the company’s broader commitment[iii] to help schools and educators build skills, expand opportunities, and ensure everyone benefits from AI.

Microsoft Elevate for Educators

The Microsoft Elevate for Educators program equips educators and school leaders with access to one of the world’s largest and most connected peer educator networks and offers free professional development resources. It will provide free access to a new industry-recognized credential for educators, developed in partnership with one of the leading national nonprofit focused on technology and innovation (ISTE+ASCD).[vi] This partnership is aligned to the AI Literacy Framework, which is intended to help educators gain confidence and expertise in integrating AI into their teaching and learning. As part of this work, we also support ISTE+ASCD in advancing AI in teacher preparation programs.

National Academy for AI Instruction

Along with OpenAI and Anthropic, we are supporting the National Academy for AI Instruction, through a partnership with the American Federation of Teachers and the United Federation of Teachers. The Academy describes itself as a national training hub designed by educators – shaping the future of AI in public education, grounded in safety and people-first technology, and improving student learning. From everything we have heard from teachers, this is exactly the type of support they need to promote AI literacy. The Academy also focuses on building critical thinking skills for students and educators.

Rob Weil, who heads up the Academy, recently shared an update on their work with me. He noted through direct engagement with teachers, they listen to what the primary concerns teachers have around using AI in the classroom are, and then work with them to design trainings that are directly responsive to their concerns and meet them where they are – including using whatever technology they are already using in their classroom.

Their goal is to train 400,000 teachers over the next 5 years. The Academy is centered around a “train the trainer” model, building capacity to provide AI literacy to teachers at scale – providing the potential of millions of teachers to benefit from this initiative. Weil noted that interest and participation in the Academy has been taking off, largely due to word of mouth. This month, 1,000 teachers showed up for a virtual session, and another in-person session was overprescribed had to turn away a hundred interested teachers.

Why the interest? Teachers want to learn from their peers and trusted partners; they also want to ensure they are using AI effectively and safely. Weil explained that one of the most popular aspects of the training is centered around the Academy’s Commonsense Guardrails for Using Advanced Technology in Schools,[v] which helps empower teachers to address the challenges they are facing in implementing AI. Some teachers describe AI as the wild-wild west, and this guide has helped provide a roadmap for understanding how to navigate bringing this technology into the classroom.

The trainings also provide real-world, hands-on experiences with using technology which teachers themselves are bringing to the table. At the trainings, teachers are asked what they could use the most help with and then have time to experiment with different tools to do things like start a draft of a lesson plan or an outline for a rubric – allowing them more time and flexibility to incorporate their expertise. In addition, the Academy creates opportunities for educators to influence the development of AI for schools.

Support for Special Education Teachers

We also recognize the potential that AI holds to support students with disabilities – and the need to ensure special education teachers have the support and resources to fully unlock this technology.

Recently, we launched a course to support educators in exploring how Microsoft AI tools can be thoughtfully used in special education environments to reduce administrative demands, strengthen accessibility, and support clear communication with families. Throughout the learning path, responsible use of AI, privacy, and transparency are emphasized so educators can determine when and how AI fits into their practice in ways that align with student needs and professional values.

After our engagements, we tailored our trainings to special education teachers by incorporating their direct feedback. Key topics included privacy with sensitive medical information and using AI to assist parents and caregivers in IEP meetings. We emphasized clear communication, parental inclusion, and ensuring parents understand the meeting’s goals and how best to support their children.

Finally, special education involves a collaborative team beyond just teachers, and we’ve revised our approach to address the needs of occupational therapists, physical therapists, and all other members involved in special education.

Support for Teachers in Rural America

We have found there’s a significant gap in daily AI usage by urban teachers versus their rural and suburban counterparts (39% vs. 24%).[iv] This gap underscores why ensuring AI tools, resources, and professional development are attuned to the needs of rural teachers is critical.

For the last five years, we’ve been working with the National Future Farmers of America (FFA) and agricultural science teachers to develop FarmBeats for Students and ensure it is responsive to agricultural science teachers’ needs. We engaged in an iterative process with them – collaboratively designing and building curriculum and training with agricultural science teachers from the very beginning of development.

FarmBeats for Students brings AI to agricultural education through a hands-on educational program that brings precision agriculture directly into the classroom. The program consists of an affordable hardware kit and a free curriculum aligned with rigorous educational standards. Activities give students direct experience with topics like digital sensors, data analysis, and AI.

We brought FarmBeats for Students to the National FFA convention and held a series of workshops with teachers across the country. They experimented with the kits and provided input to ensure this technology was directly responsive to what they wanted to see in the classroom.

In addition to our partnership with the National FFA, Microsoft helps meet the needs of rural teachers by deploying the online content referenced above through Elevate, as well as supporting community-based organizations that help facilitate activities and events which promote AI literacy in rural communities.

AI Literacy Frameworks, Standards, and Guidance

Teachers want frameworks that help them integrate AI into their classrooms. We are pleased there is bipartisan interest in establishing strong frameworks around AI and education, especially highlighting the need for widespread AI literacy. Microsoft has provided support, guidance, and input to organizations and initiatives such as Code.org and TeachAI who work to develop and promote frameworks, guidance, and standards.

Microsoft encourages state and local policymakers to review and leverage these resources as they incorporate AI in education:

• The TeachAI Foundational Policies[vii]: This resource, endorsed by dozens of policy organizations and associations, provides practical guidance for national, state, and local leaders to harness AI’s benefits in teaching and learning while mitigating risks. The policies focus on five priorities—fostering leadership, promoting AI literacy, providing clear guidance, building educator capacity, and supporting responsible innovation—to ensure AI strengthens education systems and prepares learners for an AI‑enabled workforce.
• The TeachAI AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit[viii]: The Toolkit helps education authorities, school leaders, and educators develop clear, responsible guidance for using AI in K–12 education, balancing potential benefits with risks such as privacy, bias, and academic integrity. It provides a practical framework, principles, sample policies, and communication templates to support safe and human‑centered AI adoption across school systems. The Toolkit has been used by the majority of states in constructing guidance for schools.
• The AI Literacy Framework[ix]: The AI Literacy Framework defines the knowledge, skills, and attitudes students and educators need to understand, use, and critically evaluate AI in education. It is organized around four core domains—Engaging with AI, Creating with AI, Managing AI, and Designing AI—and emphasizes critical thinking, ethics, and human judgment alongside technical understanding. It also emphasizes the foundational computer science concepts that prepare students to not just use AI but understand how AI works and its societal impacts. The framework is designed to be interdisciplinary, practical, and durable, helping schools integrate AI literacy into curriculum, professional learning, and policy in age‑appropriate ways.

2.AI guardrails – Teachers want students to use AI responsibly and safely

We have heard from teachers that one of the greatest hesitations they have with AI is around safety for students. This includes ensuring AI tools used in the classroom protect student privacy, don’t collect their information, and are safe from a mental health perspective.

Some of the strategies teachers use to promote safety are a significant focus in the professional development referenced earlier. In addition, the frameworks include key components to help teachers understand responsible AI use.

Microsoft takes our responsibility as a developer and deployer of AI technology very seriously. Paramount to deploying this technology in classrooms is ensuring it is responsible. Microsoft has identified six principles that we believe should guide AI development and use.

• Fairness: AI systems should treat all people fairly.
• Reliability and Safety: AI systems should perform reliably and safely.
• Privacy and Security: AI systems should be secure and respect privacy.
• Inclusiveness: AI systems should empower everyone and engage all people.
• Transparency: AI systems should be understandable.
• Accountability: People should be accountable for AI systems.

These principles are the foundation for other tools and resources we share with teachers to provide guidelines for them to deploy AI in the classroom.

As another example of our commitment to safety, earlier this month, on Safer Internet Day, we launched our new Microsoft Education Security Toolkit,[x] which provides educators and IT teams with practical guidance tailored to the realities of modern education.

3. AI tools – Teachers want classroom-ready AI tools and opportunities to provide feedback that improve them

Teachers often lack the right AI tools tailored to their needs for boosting student achievement. It’s essential to develop AI solutions based on teacher input rather than just delivering generic options. Microsoft strives to meet this responsibility by designing tools and partnerships that address educators’ needs. We believe this approach creates a critical feedback loop that will allow us to constantly evolve our tools to maximize their benefit in the classroom over time.

In fact, at Microsoft, our engineering teams collaborate closely with educators and students to advance the development of AI tools for classroom use. We partner with teacher organizations and directly engage with the disability community to better understand instructional requirements and design technology that enhance student learning outcomes.  Some examples include:

Reading Progress

One of the tools we offer to teachers is called Reading Progress, which helps teachers analyze students’ fluency and generates reading passages and comprehension questions.

From the beginning of development, we worked with individual teachers through our Educator Insiders program and with entire schools or districts through our Technology Adoption Preview, where educators test prototypes of our products and provide feedback.

For example, teachers asked for a tool that could generate tailored passages to meet the needs of their students. We incorporated that feedback and now, teachers can get as specific as saying they want a passage generated about sports that is for a third-grade reading level and includes specific words their class is learning.

Teachers also told us they wanted reading comprehension questions generated faster and better. With AI, it’s easy to do this in a high-quality way.

Teachers report increased comprehension, higher reading fluency, and higher scores, especially for struggling or reluctant readers.

Teach for America (TFA)

Microsoft has been a proud supporter of TFA’s efforts to improve the education system and expand opportunities for children across the U.S. It has been great to see all of the ways in which TFA has worked to equip their teachers with AI fluency in order to help them integrate this technology into the classroom.

TFA recently completed a cloud migration to Microsoft Azure, unlocking countless avenues to improve program design and delivery, direct the most possible funds toward its mission to ensure all kids have access to an excellent education, and evolve to offer the best learning options inside and outside the classroom.

Where do we go from here

What is both exciting and daunting about AI is that while we can take lessons learned from previous technological transformations in the classroom, much of the book has not been written on AI adoption. Meaning tech companies, teachers, government, and other stakeholders have the opportunity to shape where AI goes in education and beyond.

I want to conclude my remarks today with policy recommendations for the Committee to consider:

• Support professional development for teachers to effectively teach about AI and responsibly integrate AI tools in the classroom.
  • At the Federal level, this means providing priorities for competitive grant programs, such as those recently proposed by the U.S. Department of Education.
• Encourage public-private partnerships.
  • Incentivize and prioritize Federal funds and grants that support partnerships between technology companies and educational programs, including apprenticeship and credentialed organizations, to develop up to-date AI curriculum.
• Promote AI literacy across the U.S.
  • Integrate AI skills and concepts, including their foundational principles, social impacts, and ethical concerns, into existing curriculum and instruction.
• Provide guidance.
  • Equip schools with guidance on the safe, effective, and responsible use of AI, including considerations related to student privacy, data security, accessibility, transparency, and appropriate human oversight.
• Invest in innovation.
  • Support research and evaluation to better understand the impacts of AI in education, including its effects on teaching and learning and student outcomes, and to identify effective, scalable practices that mitigate the digital divide.

 

[i] Smith, Brad. “Foreword.” Degrees of Change: What AI Means for Education and the Next Generation, by Juan M. Lavista Ferres, John Wiley & Sons, 2026.
[ii] See Microsoft 2025 AI in Education Survey Details, August 2025
[iii] See Microsoft 2025 AI in Education Survey Details, August 2025
[iv] See Microsoft Elevate: Putting people first, July 2025
[v] See Commonsense Guardrails for Using Advanced Technology in Schools, March 2025
[vi] See Microsoft 2025 AI in Education Survey Details, August 2025
[vii] See TeachAI Foundational Policies
[viii] See TeachAI AI Guidance for Schools Toolkit
[ix] See AI Literacy Framework
[x] See Microsoft Education Security Toolkit, February 2026

[1] ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) + ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)

 

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