How Do Schools Know If AI Actually Works?

In this episode we explore three AI-in-education stories that point to a growing challenge for schools: districts are investing in AI faster than researchers, policymakers, and educators can determine what actually works.Topics covered:Why districts still lack clear guidance for evaluating AI toolsWhat current research suggests about AI, cognitive offloading, and student learningWhat San Antonio ISD’s mixed results tell us about pilots, causation, and implementationWhy positive student outcomes alone may not be enough to prove an AI product worksAnthropic’s introduction of machine-readable watermarks for Claude-generated textHow transparency about AI involvement could change assessment and academic integritySources:https://stateline.org/2026/08/12/schools-spend-billions-on-ai-but-struggle-to-figure-out-whats-worth-it/https://ies.ed.gov/learn/blog/ai-k-12-education-good-bad-and-guardrails-considerhttps://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/saisd-put-ai-middle-schools-100000048.html