AI Won’t Fix American Education

Then came No Child Left Behind. Signed into law in 2002, it promised that standards, testing, and accountability would finally close gaps in student achievement across race and class. The law succeeded in exposing disparities, but it also encouraged teaching to the test and narrowed what many schools taught. The gaps it sought to eliminate largely remained.

Now AI has become the latest reform wrapped in transformational promises. Its advocates are right about some of its potential in education. Generative AI can help explain difficult concepts, provide immediate feedback, translate instructional materials, and make individualized support more accessible than ever before. Teachers can use it to differentiate instruction and reduce routine administrative work. Used well, AI will almost certainly improve teaching and learning in many classrooms.

But what occurs in classrooms has never been the primary obstacle to educational equality. Students do not arrive at school with equal access to stable housing, nutritious food, quality health care, reliable internet, experienced teachers, safe neighborhoods, or family resources. These inequalities accumulate long before a child enters kindergarten and continue long after the school day ends. Chatbots, no matter how well-designed, will not erase them.