Spotlight on Organizational Leaders in EdTech: The Agua Fria High School District

Here's one for all of you Administrators out there (or those with their minds on organizational impacts).  The Agua Fria High School District, serving approximately 11,500-12,000 students across its six high schools and three alternative programs located in the Phoenix area of Arizona, first caught my attention for their incredibly in-depth and comprehensive district-level policy on AI in schools.  

While most schools and school districts seem to be kicking the proverbial AI-can down the road in order to react to the culture and a (hopefully) clearer role of AI in the future, the Agua Fria High School District has simultaneously clarified its position and charted its course. 

In their groundbreaking district-level policy on Artificial Intelligence, packaged as an AI Acceptable Use Framework, the Agua Fria High School District provides educational information, positional clarification, and acceptable use prescription to both students and staff.

Most impressively, the Agua Fria High School District appears to be swimming in the opposite direction from so many schools and school districts who defaulted to outright bans and other forms of prohibitions.  Instead, the district's policy is written with a tone that seems concerned with reassuring their students, staff, and parents that they are doing enough with AI, and this to ensure their students graduate with AI literacy.  Assignments are to be clearly labeled according to the photo above, with AI intentionally comprising some assignments.  Parents are assured that all students will have equitable and inclusive access to AI tools and resources.  Staff are to be equipped with AI-focused professional development and directed to integrate AI into their curricula.  Meanwhile, district informs its ongoing collaborations and intent to partner with industry leaders and higher education institutions to ensure their collective efforts remain relevant.

Outside of AI, the Agua Fria High School district certainly isn't coming up short.  Not surprisingly, the district maintains a 1:1 student to smart device ratio, with both student and device protection being provided by Go Guardian software.  The district also supports a ParentVUE/StudentVue school information portal, a Google Classroom learning management system, and a Remind App subscription to streamline classroom-to-home communication.  Parents or guardians of students without home access to the internet can even request a district-provided wireless hotspot device!  And parents or guardians even have the ability to track their student's bus location in real time using the BusRight Transportation App--something I have never even heard of before!  

Finally, I'd like to highlight the Agua Fria High School District's provision of an extraordinary distance learning program, Agua Fria Online.  The district's approach here is one of maximum flexibility.  Students can enroll online in a full-time manner, dually enroll while taking the majority of classes online and select classes (think "Cut and Shop"-type classes) on a campus, or even dually enroll while attending mostly on campus and knocking out an additional credit or two online.  The learning is asynchronous but the supervising teachers host regular virtual office hours to communicate and provide direct instruction to students as needed.

My personal key takeaway and idea for classroom implementation with adult learners is to provide absolute clarity of acceptable AI use within assignments.  I love the AI-use graphic in Agua Fria's Acceptable Use Framework!  This provides such clarity to students and could easily be adopted by myself and other teachers.  I also like the reminder that sometimes AI should be the assignment.  For all of these reasons and more, the Agua Fria High School District is an EdTech voice that inspires me!