[ GUIDES ]
Guides for schools approving AI
Practical, sourced guides for school leaders, teachers and IT: how to decide, what to write down, what the law asks, and how to check that AI is helping students learn.
[ OUR METHOD ]
How we write these guides
Every number in these guides comes from a named, dated source, and we keep the wording close to the source: "more than half" stays "more than half." Where the evidence is a correlation, a preprint or a working paper, we say so next to the number. Nothing here is legal advice. Where a guide mentions Nexus, it says what Nexus does today and what ships with the next release.
Decide
How to approve AI for students
An eight-step process for deciding which AI your school approves for students: learning rules, visibility, provider terms, safety and a pilot.
ReadShould schools block ChatGPT?
How common school AI blocks are, why they leak onto personal devices, the 2026 wave of district bans, and the restrict-and-replace option.
ReadTeacher AI vs student AI
Teacher AI and student AI do different jobs under different rules. How products split, what districts buy, and how to pair the two deliberately.
ReadWrite the rules
AI acceptable use policy for high schools
What a high school AI policy should cover, how to set rules per assignment, how students disclose AI use, and why detectors don't belong in it.
ReadAI and cheating without banning it
What students and teachers report about AI cheating, why skipped practice is the deeper problem, and assignment designs that work without detectors.
ReadDo AI detectors work?
AI-writing detectors flagged 61% of non-native English writers' essays as AI-written. What a flag means and better evidence of who did the work.
ReadPrivacy and law
FERPA and COPPA basics for school AI
How FERPA, COPPA, PPRA and CIPA apply when students use AI: school officials, AI chats as records, retention, AI training consent. Not legal advice.
ReadState student data privacy laws for AI vendors
SOPIPA, New York 2-d, Illinois SOPPA, Maryland 4-131, MODPA and the Kids Code, plus the SDPC NDPA: what each asks of AI vendors. Not legal advice.
ReadState AI chatbot laws and schools
California SB 243, New York's AI companion law, Washington HB 2225 and Oregon SB 1546: what they require and whether they reach school AI tools.
ReadHow AI providers handle student data
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and OpenRouter business terms on training and retention, what zero data retention really covers, and what to put in a contract.
ReadChoosing AI models for students under 18
Google, OpenAI and Anthropic set different rules for minors. Provider terms, who holds the account, free vs paid tiers, and a review for each model.
ReadSafety and visibility
AI chatbot safety for teens
How Common Sense rates major chatbots for teens, what testing found, and the safety route schools should require from any student AI.
ReadWhat teachers can see in student AI chats
Who can read student AI chats in SchoolAI, Flint, MagicSchool, Gemini, Copilot, ChatGPT for Teens and Nexus, plus what web filters capture.
ReadMonitoring student AI use without surveillance
What school monitoring has gotten wrong, how it changes what students say, why labels mislead, and design rules for reviewing student AI use.
ReadTeaching with AI
Choosing a learning mode
When to use Hints, Guided, or Full answer with critique, what the evidence says about each, and how to match the mode to the assignment.
ReadHomework and AI
Why AI raises homework scores while lowering test scores, what students say, and how to redesign homework around retrieval, spacing and attempts.
ReadWriting AI instructions for assignments
How to write short, testable AI instructions for an assignment: the goal, what students do alone, examples that work, and how to catch leaks.
ReadAI literacy for high school
What students say they're missing, what the OECD-EC, ISTE and UNESCO frameworks ask, Maryland's 2027 deadline, and five classroom routines.
ReadTraining teachers on AI
The teacher AI training gap, a four-session plan, a teacher-only week before students, and why the best results keep teachers in the loop.
ReadAI for students with IEPs and 504 plans
Students with IEPs and 504 plans use AI differently. Why bans need exceptions, why detectors fall harder on them, and who decides accommodations.
ReadEvidence and equity
The evidence on AI tutoring
What randomized trials show about AI tutors: answer-giving AI cut exam scores 17%, hint-first removed the harm, and gains came with structure.
ReadEqual access to strong AI
Who pays for AI, why lower-income teens rely on free tiers, how blocks fall on students without devices, and what an equal-access promise needs.
ReadRun it
How to run a six-week AI pilot
Scope, requirements before students start, a week-by-week schedule, what to measure, and a continue rule for a six-week school AI pilot.
ReadBudgeting AI per student
What school AI tools cost per student in 2026, what drives model usage, how spending limits work, and the questions to ask any vendor.
ReadAI in Maryland schools
Maryland's AI Ready Schools Act, Howard County's Gemini rollout, Frederick County's ban, and the state privacy laws that bind AI vendors.
ReadAI for private and Catholic high schools
Which privacy rules apply to private schools, why to build to the public-school standard, budgets, family questions about AI schools, and Blackbaud.
Read[ FAQ ]
Questions and answers
Who writes these guides?
The Nexus team at Narb LLC. We build a school AI platform, so we have a point of view; we keep it out of the evidence and label it where it appears.
Are these guides legal advice?
No. The privacy and law guides summarize public rules with links to the text. Ask your school's counsel before you rely on them.
How often are the guides updated?
We re-check facts when sources change and at least each term. Each guide shows when its facts were checked.
[ AI FOR SCHOOLS ]
The AI your school can approve.