Nexus for heads of school and principals

[ THE CASE ]

Why approve an AI at all

Students use AI anyway. 54% of US teens have used AI chatbots for schoolwork, and 63% of teens who use AI for schoolwork get answers from it. Blocks push that use out of sight: 44% of teens who use AI for schoolwork have had an AI tool blocked on a school network or device, and 59% of those used a personal device instead. On a personal phone, teachers see nothing and class rules do not apply.

The learning risk is specific. In a field experiment with about 1,000 high-school students, answer-giving AI raised practice scores but cut unaided exam scores by 17%. A hint-first version of the same AI removed that harm. If you block consumer AI, or want to, Nexus is the approved route.

What you decide

• Which models each class can use, from Nexus's reviewed list. Teachers can narrow the list for a class.
• Who has access. People join your school only by enrollment or invitation to their exact email address, never by email domain.
• The budget. Daily spending limits apply per school and per student, and budget is reserved before every model call.
• Which classes start, and who reviews class chats.

What teachers and students get

Each class has a learning mode (Hints, Guided, or Full answer with critique) that students cannot change. Teachers can review class chats, and students are told when a class's teachers can review a chat. Nexus records who opened each class conversation. Students can compare answers from two or three models the school allows and keep a preferred one.

Equal access

Consumer AI has tiers. Free ChatGPT runs on OpenAI's smallest Luna models, and the $20-a-month Plus plan adds GPT-6 Sol reasoning. In Los Angeles, students with their own devices keep using AI at home, while students who rely on district devices cannot. In Nexus, every student in an approved class gets the same models, whether or not their family pays for an AI subscription. That is a promise about access, not a measured learning gain.

Safety

Nexus is a study assistant, not a counselor. Before any student uses Nexus at your school, we set up a safety route with you. Students and families should know, in plain words, what can lead to a review and who sees it.

What Nexus will not do

• Use Nexus data for grades, placement, discipline, special-education decisions or college reports.
• Infer emotion, ability, disability, mental health, family life or beliefs.
• Run AI-writing detection, or train or fine-tune any model on student data.
• Show personal chats to teachers.
• Contact students or parents directly; communication goes through the school.

Cost and a first pilot

Plan the platform subscription and model usage separately, and set daily limits that fit your budget. See pricing and the cost calculator. Most schools should start with a pilot in one or two courses: a teacher-only week, then six weeks with students, then a readout on use, cost, what teachers found useful and unaided check results. Read how to run a six-week AI pilot.