One of my earliest memories of using technology for teaching and learning was when I taught English in the late 1990s at a small high school outside Waterbury, Connecticut.
I had learned a couple of years earlier, when I taught in the U.S. Navy, to use mentor texts to model writing strategies, such as how to write a good summary. I wanted to share some examples of my former students’ writing with current students, and I wanted those samples to be available to them whenever they needed them. So I learned HTML.
Though I knew almost nothing about technology, I had a clear idea of what I wanted it to do for my classroom: help students work independently when I wasn’t available. With a clear pedagogical goal and just enough technical knowledge to see the possibilities, I set to work. After a lot of trial and error, I managed to create . . . a website. The year was 1999.
I succeeded in using this technology precisely because I had the expertise to do the work without it. I could have copied and distributed paper versions of the essays, but that manual approach would never have been sustainable or scalable, even though it was knowable.
That experience still feels relevant nearly three decades later. Today we live in the age of AI, when, despite the efficiencies of technology, teachers are busier than ever, and the need for improved student support has never been greater (National Center for Education Statistics, 2024). Teachers are turning to AI-powered tools to help with their day-to-day work (CoSN, 2025).
AI can generate lessons, questions, and scaffolds within seconds—but only educators can determine whether that content is accurate, instructionally sound, and appropriate for their students.
In a Newsela study of 258 teachers and administrators, conducted in May 2025, educators reported using AI primarily to generate instructional content (lesson plans, quizzes, and reading passages), develop ideas, level text, and scaffold instruction.
As one high school ELA teacher from the study wrote:
I often use [AI] to help me formulate high-level unit plans (themes, essential questions, etc.). I’ve also used it to provide qualitative feedback to senior AP students on their writing . . . and used [it] to create short reading passages to help my ESL students build background knowledge and vocabulary.
Amid all this use, the question becomes: How should educators evaluate a new AI tool they are thinking of implementing in their classroom? Thankfully, there is already a wealth of research and guidance from trusted organizations like Common Sense Education (Elgersma, 2025) and Digital Promise (Mills, Ruiz, & Lee, 2024) based on decades of reviewing emerging technologies. In addition to these resources, educators themselves can and should shape the effective use of AI in the classroom. Drawing on my own team’s pedagogical and technological experience, we’ve developed three guidelines for educators to consider when evaluating a new AI tool for their classroom.
1. Ground Every AI Decision in Your Own Professional Judgment
Before turning to an AI-powered tool, teachers need a clear sense of the instructional purpose and expertise required to evaluate its output. AI can generate lessons, questions, and scaffolds within seconds—but only educators can determine whether that content is accurate, instructionally sound, and appropriate for their students.
Seek out tools that are transparent about where and how they use AI. This ensures that teachers retain full discretion on whether AI-generated content meets their own standards for quality and relevance.
2. When Leveling Text With AI, Be an Expert in the Original
One common way teachers use AI is to differentiate texts for multiple reading levels. Setting aside the broader discussion of why students need access to grade-level texts (Shanahan, 2025), consider what makes a good leveled text.
Done well, leveling involves both an art and a science, balancing quantitative measures like Lexile with qualitative aspects such as maturity, background knowledge demands, and organization. Leveled texts should help students access grade-level knowledge without compromising meaning or accuracy. Above all, this requires expert knowledge of the original. Review leveled versions carefully, consider how the AI tool has adjusted the content, and keep a close eye on what is retained and what is lost.
3. When Creating Classroom Activities with AI, Consider the Expertise the Task Demands
AI is sometimes compared to the agreeable graduate student: It can do a great deal of work, but it requires oversight. If you can’t picture how you might do the work yourself, it becomes difficult to evaluate the AI tool’s performance, especially when the output is unfamiliar or technically complex.
Just as you might hesitate to hire a graduate student from another department to complete research for you, approach AI tools with similar caution. When in doubt, look for tools designed for educators and developed by experts with deep understanding of pedagogy and classroom challenges.
In the End, You Are the Expert
Together, these three guidelines reinforce a central idea: AI may speed up instructional tasks, but it’s educator expertise that ensures those tasks are meaningful, accurate, and grounded in students’ needs.
Now, more than ever, we need teachers to exercise their professional expertise in the oversight of new technologies. Let’s not give away our power to the machines. Our students need—and deserve—the guidance and judgment of skilled educators far more than they need digital solutions.
