Newark Public Schools Considers New AI Tutor Chatbot for District-Wide Use

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Newark Public Schools wants to see a district-wide expansion of an artificial intelligence tutoring tool after it was piloted at First Avenue School last year, as the district looks for ways to help students recover from learning loss due to the pandemic.

The district was one of the first in the country to test the chatbot called Khanmigo, an artificial intelligence program developed by online learning giant Khan Academy that is designed for classrooms and acts as a tutor for students and an assistant for teachers. The Newark Board of Education in March approved a data-sharing agreement with Khan Academy to study whether the tool was effective “in North Ward schools,” according to the agreement. In an email sent Thursday to Chalkbeat Newark by Superintendent Roger León, district officials confirmed that they are looking to expand use of the program throughout the district.

Khanmigo is still in its pilot phase, but is designed to guide students as they progress through lessons and ask questions like a human tutor would, according to Khan Academy spokesperson Barb Kunz. It can also help teachers with tasks such as planning lessons, adapting instruction, creating text and images, and providing recommendations for what students could work on next.

Khanmigo launched last year in grades 5-8 and was used in core content areas, which are typically math, reading, writing and science, according to the district. The district is monitoring its implementation, but has not said how Khanmigo is used in classrooms, what students and teachers think about the tool or why it is needed in Newark. During the March school board meeting, León said the agreement with Khan Academy is “very important work and everyone across the country is trying to figure out how to move the program forward.”

“The strategy here is not to do it in just one school,” León added. “This is a program that we are piloting and then it will thrive.”

Until now, there has been little research into whether these tools are effective in helping students make up for lost ground. Experts also say districts should be clear about their goals when using ai tools like Khanmigo and learn from teachers and students as they use new platforms.

How does Khanmigo work?

Khanmigo, powered by ChatGPT technology, includes features aimed at helping students solve math and science problems, analyze text, chat with historical figures, navigate college admissions, and review essays, among other features. It is also designed to help teachers create assignment instructions and review student performance.

As part of the district's data-sharing agreement with Khan Academy, researchers will analyze state testing data to determine how Khan Academy use is associated with student growth and achievement. The initial pilot testing of the tool ended in June 2023 and was offered at no cost to the district, Newark Public Schools officials said last week.

Newark is one of 53 school districts across the country that have piloted the tool, which is accessed through the Khan Academy website rather than a separate app. First Avenue students can access Khanmigo to get tips on solving challenging math problems or explaining concepts they find confusing in all subjects. The chatbot can also guide students in exploring topics that interest them or exploring new ones.

But one thing it can't do is give students the answers, according to the Khan Academy website.

This isn't the first time Newark has considered a new classroom tool to improve student learning. According to a January committee report, the district uses more than 40 educational platforms. An infusion of COVID relief dollars into Newark schools became the district's “saving grace” in expanding summer programs and tutoring initiatives in 2023, León said last year.

After the pandemic, city, district, and community leaders raised the alarm about the need to provide more support to improve student achievement. Student performance in mathematics and English language arts on spring state test scores in 2023 increased 2 percentage points from the previous year, highlighting the slow academic recovery after the pandemic. That required more than 10,000 public school students to attend summer school in 2023, double the number from the previous year. District leaders also developed plans in science and English language arts that focus on new approaches to learning to boost student achievement.

Next school year's budget includes a $6.8 million increase in tutoring efforts previously covered by American Rescue Plan funds, but few details have been shared about the district's plan to potentially pay for the Khanmigo program districtwide. Pricing for school districts to use Khanmigo starts at $35 per student during the school year. There are also discounts for schools and districts with a large number of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

Other districts that have piloted the tool are also looking to expand the program through the use of grants or other funding sources. Palm Beach County Schools in Florida will receive up to $2 million from the Stiles-Nicholson Foundation for use of the platform through June 2025.

Last Friday, philanthropist and Microsoft founder Bill Gates visited First Avenue School to see the implementation of Khanmigo in the classrooms. In 2020, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation committed $12 million to Khan Academy to support the organization's continued development in third through twelfth grade mathematics. (The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funds Chalkbeat. Learn more about our funding here.)

Experts say more research is needed to evaluate ai in education

ai-powered computer programs have been around for the past few decades, but apps like Khanmigo, which learn from students interacting with them, are new and growing rapidly as the technology develops, said Amanda Neitzel, director of ProvenTutoring, an initiative of John Hopkins University. which helps schools choose evidence-based tutoring programs.

Kunz says Khanmigo is “still in the early days of ai” and Khan Academy is helping K-12 school district partners “understand, explore and utilize these tools.”

So far, there have been bugs in the way Khanmigo solves basic math problems, which Kunz said they have already fixed. Teachers and students in the pilot districts have also said the tool sometimes offered too much help and was too available, especially when students were taking assessments such as quizzes and course challenges, Kunz said.

Khan Academy changed prompts to better align with a “Socratic tutor,” a tutoring approach that involves a dialogue between the teacher and students, and made Khanmigo unavailable when students complete on-site assessments, Kunz added.

Teachers are also asking for more training on the differences between Khanmigo's “student mode,” which guides students through lessons and problems, and “teacher mode,” which is designed to help educators plan lessons and collaborate. in solutions.

But Neitzel cautions that research is needed on the effectiveness of tutoring programs like Khanmigo in the classroom as they gain popularity among school districts.

“It's important to do research studies that look broadly at certain groups of students because schools have limited resources,” said Neitzel, who is also an assistant research scientist at the John Hopkins Center for Research and Reform in Education. “They should choose something that is most likely to help the greatest number of students.”

Important feedback to evaluate and improve new platforms

The effectiveness of ai tools like Khanmigo depends on their design and implementation, and other factors such as teacher feedback, training and understanding the socio-emotional effect on students play a role in improving the technology, Alan said. Reid, researcher at the John Hopkins Center for Education Research and Reform.

Reid studies educational technology products and reviews their effectiveness in classroom instruction. He says ai products could produce positive learning outcomes by providing personalized attention and learning to students, but he doesn't believe tools like Khanmigo can completely replace human instruction. He sees educators using new platforms to complement classroom work, but he wouldn't be surprised if a teacher's role changes as technology evolves.

“That's just because of the nature of having so many programs, products, apps, screens and digital things that don't rely as much on the instructor's experience, but rather the instructor becomes more of a guide and a facilitator through these. products,” Reid added. .

Kunz, a spokesperson for Khan Academy, said that “in an ideal world every student would have a human tutor,” but the hope is that Khanmigo can provide an ai alternative “that can be scaled up so that anyone, anywhere, can get help whenever be necessary”. they need it”.

School districts should think about different tutoring models and intervention strategies that provide critical support for mastering foundational skills, said Jennifer Krajewski, director of Outreach and Engagement at ProvenTutoring.

Khanmigo could be a useful tool for providing on-demand help with homework, Krajewski said, but it could also complement more robust intervention strategies during the school day depending on what students need and what the school district wants to address.

“I think school districts need to understand that distinction,” Krajewski said, “and start with what their most pressing needs are.”

chalk beat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

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