By Staff Reporter |
Arizona education leaders want their students to be ready for the dawning age of artificial intelligence (AI).
The state is now the leader in the nation for percentage of students using AI tools. State Superintendent Tom Horne announced this development on Thursday in a press release.
“I am a strong supporter of AI as a classroom tool to assist, but not replace, educators,” said Horne. “So far, about 4,000 educators statewide are using this system, and I encourage more teachers to sign up. It is an invaluable resource that helps educators do their jobs more effectively.”
Over 170,000 students — representing 16 percent of the state’s public school student population — are using AI-powered tutoring to improve their academic performance.
These students rely on the AI education system Khanmigo within Khan Academy. Horne called the sweeping adoption of the tools “tremendous.” The Arizona Department of Education invested $1.5 million for Khamingo access last year.
Horne said he selected Khanmigo for its tutoring approach: guiding students through the critical thought process, rather than merely providing answers.
“It engages students by asking questions that guide them to discover solutions on their own,” said Horne. “This approach delivers rigorous, individualized Socratic-style tutoring — a proven method for improving academic outcomes.”
The “Socratic” method referenced by Horne concerns arriving at answers through a series of open-ended questions structured to encourage critical thinking.
An example of Khanmigo’s phrasing provided in the press release (solving for “m” in the sample math problem, 3 – 2(9+2m) = m) showed how the tool prioritizes guiding the student to work through problems.
“Let’s work through it together! What do you think the first step should be to solve this equation?”
Khanmigo conversations are also recordable and viewable by teachers.
The over 4,000 Arizona educators mentioned by Horne rely on an online AI platform called the Arizona Digital Educators Library (ADEL). This platform assists educators with creating lesson plans and classroom materials that meet the state’s academic standards.
ADEL also has 50 ambassadors to increase educator usage throughout the state. There are over 57,000 educators in the state: over 47,000 in district schools and nearly 10,000 in charter schools.
As Horne explained in his State of Education speech in January, educators can use Khanmigo to strengthen student weaknesses revealed through testing.
“Today, when a teacher gives a test, some students get 90 percent, others get 70 percent. Those with 70 percent are moved to the next grade, missing 30 percent of the knowledge they need for continuing their studies. They are lost,” said Horne. “With Khanmigo, the teacher can say ‘here is what you did not learn, use Khanmigo to tutor you on that subject.’”
State Senator Jake Hoffman, founder of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, expressed support for the implementation of AI tools in schools. Hoffman said AI posed a greater threat to the American worker than Russia, China, and nuclear war.
“If K-12 public schools and public universities are not aggressively retooling every aspect of their operation to equip students with the skills to survive in this new AI age, they’ve already failed,” said Hoffman.
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