Lisbeth Lucero of Urban Assembly on human-guided AI in education

Good afternoon.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to submit this public comment.

My name is Lisbeth Lucero.

I'm the Deputy Director of Advancement and Communications at the Urban Assembly.

And I'm actually here on behalf of our Chief Executive Officer, David Adams, who is delivering a commencement address at the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School.

And we really appreciate the council's focus on AI, student data, and privacy in our public schools.

At the Urban Assembly, we believe that AI has the potential to expand opportunities for students and educators, particularly in areas of college and career advising and instructional support.

At the same time, we agree that AI must be implemented thoughtfully with strong safeguards to protect our students and ensure responsible use.

From our experience, once...

Simple lesson is true.

AI works best when implemented and it is human guided.

These tools can help educators and students access information more effectively, but they cannot replace the relationships and expertise of our counselors, teachers, and school leaders.

We also believe that student privacy is non-negotiable and tools reflect this, and our tools reflect these philosophies, which is why our schools have been recognized with EdSafe AI Alliance for demonstrating responsible and ethical

AI practices.

These safeguards ensure that innovation and accountability go hand in hand.

At the same time, a focus on risk should not prevent us from pursuing opportunities.

Our work with AI-supported instructional feedback has led to measurable improvements in teacher quality, increasing the use of respectful language in the classroom and an increase in lesson previews.

We've also seen increases in student participation through 14% of increase in student talk time, alongside a 14% decrease in classroom silence, which indicates an engaging and inclusive classroom environment.

Besides these numbers, our impact with students and teachers are real.

As AI becomes more common, the question is not about whether AI could be used for good and bad.

It's about how we can ensure to solve the biggest problems for our students.

So thank you again for helping us figure out solutions and innovative strategies for our public education system.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So much.

You may begin.

Good afternoon.

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