Welcome to Premium Posts From Teacher’s AIde

We're excited to introduce our new premium post series to our dedicated readership at Teacher’s AIde. These premium posts represent an evolution of our bi-weekly content, offering an in-depth exploration of pivotal topics in AI in the K12 education landscape.

What sets our premium posts apart?

Firstly, each post dives deeply into a critical area of education, providing a comprehensive overview beyond the scope of our standard articles. For instance, our inaugural premium series will delve into the crucial role that AI can play in special education. We selected this first topic for its impact on teachers and students and the pressing need for insights in this area.

Secondly, our premium content is enriched with extensive research. This includes academic studies and original research conducted by our team, offering a blend of theoretical and real-world perspectives. For example, in our special education series, we’ll present research on how teachers currently utilize Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). We will also provide research that shows teachers are uncomfortable with special education despite regularly encountering students who require specialized support.

Lastly, each premium post is designed to be immediately actionable. We understand the importance of practical application in the classroom. Therefore, our content will not only inform but also guide. In the context of our focus on AI in special education, we’ll provide clear, actionable advice on how teachers can thoughtfully integrate AI tools in their classrooms. Our goal is to enhance learning experiences for all students and optimize teacher efficiency, all while maintaining stringent data security.

By subscribing to our premium posts, you're not just staying informed — you're gaining access to a rich resource that can transform your teaching practices and positively impact student outcomes.

As a gift to our readers, we are making this first premium piece free for the next two weeks. However, if you’re ready to commit to a premium subscription now, click the button below to get started…

Why Care about Special Education?

Since 1976, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has mandated that every student, ages 3-21, receives a “free and appropriate public school education.” Students with learning or physical differences that affect their ability to access learning materials in class receive special, legally binding interventions, often called modifications and accommodations, which are codified in an individualized education plan (IEP) document. This document is customized for each student who needs additional support to access a free and appropriate public school education. 

Each year, the National Center for Education Statistics collects data on the 7.3 million students (15% of the total student population in the United States) who receive specialized interventions as mandated by the IDEA. Of these 7.3 million students, 67% spend 80% or more of their time in the general education classroom, learning alongside their peers and from teachers who are not specifically special education teachers but must uphold the legally binding learning and environmental modifications and accommodations laid out in a given student’s IEP.

We would expect general education teachers to have adequate training and expertise to incorporate the necessary modifications and accommodations in students’ IEPs. However, this is not the case.

In a National Center for Learning Disabilities and Understood white paper, Forward Together: Helping Educators Unlock the Power of Students who Learn Differently, the authors surveyed 1,350 K12 public school general educators. In this survey, only 17% of teachers felt “very well prepared to teach students with mild to moderate learning disabilities.” This low number is owed to the fact that “many teachers feel overwhelmed and unsupported” when teaching students with learning differences. One teacher interviewed stated, “As a teacher, you see the struggling students. You have to be able to balance your time between that and the other ones that are getting it. It is a struggle to make sure you balance reaching them and reaching the other kids simultaneously.” Teachers don’t feel prepared or supported to give all of their students — including students with learning differences — access to the modifications and accommodations they need to thrive in the classroom.

Moreover, a 2019 survey of special educators conducted by the Council for Exceptional Children found that only 8% of special educators rated their general education colleagues as “well prepared to work with students with exceptionalities to meet IEP goals.” If teachers are not confident in their ability to serve special education students, and if their special education colleagues are not confident that they are meeting students’ individualized plans, then it is probable that a substantial proportion of 7.3 million students receiving individualized education plans are not receiving the adequate support they need to access a free and appropriate public school education.

Furthermore, given the departure of experienced educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, we can reasonably assume that confidence in general educator’s ability to work with students with learning differences has, at the very least, not improved.

In this piece, we will lay out the reasoning for and a plan for integrating AI tools into general education to support the 4.9 million in the US who have an individualized education plan (IEP) and spend at least 80% of their time in the general education classroom. If the students who need differentiated accommodations and modifications receive these supports in a safe, responsive, and AI-leveraged way, then 100% of students can receive personalized and differentiated support with AI affordances.

While our recommendations and tool analysis will directly support these students and their educators, we also believe that a free, appropriate public education is essential to maintaining strong educational and societal systems.

Bringing AI into Special Education

From the surveys, especially the one outlined in Forward Together: Helping Educators Unlock the Power of Students who Learn Differently, teachers neither feel comfortable nor supported in incorporating modifications and accommodations into IEPs. Further, given Teacher’s AIde’s coverage in other areas (Teachers: Save 13 Hours a Week with AI and SWOT Your Time: Assessing Which AI-Tools You Need), teachers don’t have the time to analyze students’ IEPs, write specific modifications into their lesson plans to support students with learning differences, and finally set goals and monitor students’ progress toward the goals outlined in their IEPs.

With the advances in large-language models and data-informed AI tools, new momentum exists to support students with learning differences. With AI tools, teachers can feel empowered to incorporate modifications and accommodations into their lesson plans that not only help the learning goals of students with learning differences but can also accommodate the teacher’s unique teaching style. 

With AI-informed data analysis tools, like ChatGPT4 supplemented with Code Interpreter, teachers can seamlessly track student data and make better decisions about supporting their students with individualized education plans to meet their learning goals better.

To highlight how teachers can leverage ChatGPT4 and Code Interpreter to personalize student learning, we can revisit a piece we wrote last year, “Simplifying Small-Group Differentiation with AI.” In this piece, we used Code Interpreter to analyze student data and then leveraged ChatGPT4 to create mini-lessons for student groups. The process we explored makes it surprisingly simple to form small groups from assessment data, understand the unique needs of each small group, and finally create a week’s worth of differentiated literacy lessons for one small group in a classroom.

Leveraging a similar methodology, a general education teacher who teaches students with learning differences could take their students' specific modifications or accommodations and ask ChatGPT4 to incorporate them into the lesson that the teacher uploads into the ChatGPT4 interface. As AI tools become more advanced, teachers can soon bank students’ specific learning needs and embed them into AI-created lesson plans. 

Specialized tools like MagicSchool.ai (and advances in the Microsoft and Google ecosystems) are getting us closer to making this theoretical story an actuality!

By general educators transitioning to rely on AI tools to support incorporating the specific needs of their students with learning differences, they will save time. (The above small-group lesson took about 15 minutes to complete once I was fluent in the process.) Not only should educators expect to save time with AI tools, but as they become more specialized, like custom GPTs, with specific guidance on supporting students with learning differences, educators can expect the AI tools to take on some of the cognitive burdens of keeping up with the latest research and best practices in helping students with learning differences.

Storytime: A Classroom with AI

In Mr. Harper's bustling 4th-grade classroom, a blend of excitement and focused learning fills the air. As a general education teacher at Lincoln Elementary, he's adept at juggling the diverse needs of his students, especially those with IEPs. Each morning, his routine includes a crucial step: using an AI-powered educational tool to tailor his lessons.

Before his students arrive, Mr. Harper reviews the day’s lesson plan on his tablet. The AI tool, embedded within his teaching platform, suggests modifications and accommodations based on his students' IEP needs. It seamlessly integrates technology and teaching, allowing him to prepare personalized learning experiences.

During his interactive science lesson on ecosystems, Mr. Harper observes his students, taking brief notes on his tablet about the resonating methods that need tweaking. These notes, although concise, are powerful. They capture real-time insights into each student's learning journey, especially those with learning differences.

Post-lesson, in the quiet of his planning period, Mr. Harper inputs his observations into the AI system. The tool analyzes his notes alongside students' quiz performances, adapting future lesson plans to suit the class’s needs better. This dynamic feedback loop ensures that his teaching strategies evolve daily, staying aligned with his students' progress.

As an IEP meeting looms next week, Mr. Harper feels prepared and confident. The AI tool provides him with data visualizations showing each student's improvement, directly resulting from the personalized teaching strategies he's implemented. This concrete evidence reinforces his teaching methods and provides invaluable insights to the IEP team, demonstrating how targeted interventions can significantly impact students' academic growth. In Mr. Harper's classroom, AI isn't just a tool; it's a partner in fostering an inclusive and adaptive learning environment.

While this story may seem like a far-off futuristic possibility, it is a very near and real future. Many tools, including MagicSchool.Ai, are approaching a point at which this is possible. 

In our next premium piece, debuting in a fortnight (not the video game, but two weeks), we’ll explore some of the tools and how to use them to make Mr. Harper’s classroom a reality for you, too.

In Closing

In our next piece, we will explore UNESCO’s recommendations for leveraging AI to support students with learning differences. We will explore the recommendations for AI-powered accessibility tools and generative amplifiers for marginalized learners. We will touch on which tools exist to support students and educators now and begin exploring what we will need to make these recommendations a reality, including recommendations to help teachers better understand how to support students with learning differences through accessibility tools and reproducing common student mistakes.

We will wrap up the three-part series with actionable steps you can take as a special educator or as an educator of students with learning differences to begin incorporating AI tools into your lesson planning modifications and accommodations immediately while upholding student privacy and data safety.

We have a special moment to make learning more accessible for all students with the dawning of the age of AI through re-conceptualizing what is possible with AI and leveraging the tools in thoughtfully intentional ways.

We hope you found this glimpse into Teacher’s AIde’s premium subscription enlightening on your journey to discover the transformative power of AI in education. If you've enjoyed this piece and want to delve deeper into the world of educational technology, our premium subscription awaits. As a premium subscriber, you'll gain access to in-depth analyses, extensive research, and practical strategies to enhance your teaching practice. Don't miss this opportunity to stay at the forefront of educational innovation. Subscribe now and join a community of educators shaping the future of learning with technology.