Report: AI use by teachers and principals growing, but uneven so far

A new RAND survey found that 25 percent of teachers and nearly 60 percent of principals are using AI tools in some way, but mostly in more affluent school communities.

February 21, 2025

A new report from nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization RAND drawn from its American Educator Panels examined the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and products among teachers and principals in K-12 and the amount of school guidance on the use of AI during the 2023–2024 school year.

The results found that 25 percent of surveyed teachers used AI tools for instructional planning or teaching, though English language arts and science teachers were nearly twice as likely to report using AI tools as mathematics teachers or elementary teachers of all subjects. Nearly 60 percent of U.S. principals reported using AI tools for their work.

Teachers and principals in higher-poverty schools were less likely to report using AI tools, and less likely to give or receive guidance for use of AI than those in lower-poverty schools.

In addition to stating the research findings, the authors make the following recommendations:

All districts and schools should develop intentional strategies for supporting teachers' use of AI in ways that could most improve the quality of instruction and student learning.
AI developers and decisionmakers should consider what useful applications of AI have the greatest potential to improve teaching and learning and how to make those applications available in high-poverty contexts.
Researchers should work hand in hand with AI developers to study use cases and develop a body of evidence on effective AI applications for school leadership, teaching, and learning.