🛝 Students Know AI Is Hurting Their Thinking. They Can't Stop Using It.

Welcome to Playground Post, a bi-weekly newsletter that keeps education innovators ahead of what's next.

This week's reality check: Nearly 7 in 10 students say AI is eroding their critical thinking, yet AI use for homework keeps climbing. Michigan's 2016 reading law made things worse, so now the state is trying the largest literacy investment in its history. And in Oregon, shorter school calendars plus chronic absenteeism mean students lose 1.4 years of learning across K-12.

Data Gem

North Carolina community colleges surpassed pre-pandemic enrollment for the first time, growing 23% since fall 2020. But completions still fall far short: just 9,000 credentials completed in trades and transportation versus 71,000 annual job openings.

Students Know AI Hurts Their Thinking

A new RAND survey of middle school, high school, and college students found that nearly 7 in 10 are concerned that AI is eroding their critical thinking skills.

And the concern is growing fast.

Among middle schoolers, worry about AI harming critical thinking jumped from 48% to 68% between May and December 2025. Among high schoolers, from 55% to 65%. Among college students, 70% expressed the same concern.

Here's the paradox: AI use for homework is climbing just as fast.

Middle school homework use rose from 30% to 46% over the same period. High school use rose from 49% to 60%. Students can see the problem, but they can't stop anyway.

General-purpose chatbots dominate - 49% of middle schoolers and 61% of high schoolers report using ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini - purpose-built education tools barely register.

Most students don't even consider it cheating, a majority said AI use was acceptable. The one exception: using AI to get homework answers, which only 45% called cheating.

And schools aren't providing clarity, with only a third of middle and high school students said their school has a rule for AI in homework. The rest said there was no rule, they didn't know, or it depended on the teacher.

Heather Schwartz, co-director of the American Youth Panel at RAND, named the specific risk: first-draft thinking.

"That initial struggle, the blank page, the math problem that doesn't yet have any steps in it, that you have to figure out what first step to take. That is like a tiny moment of friction," she said. "AI might be giving you a really beautiful explanation about what you can do and how to go about it. It's still removing that step for you. And I think it's shortchanging your learning in the process."

For education innovators, the data points to a specific gap. Students aren't going to stop using AI. The opportunity is in structuring how students use it. 

Assignment design tools that preserve "first-draft thinking" while allowing AI at later stages. Classroom AI governance platforms that give teachers simple, enforceable policies. And assessment formats that make the reasoning process visible, not just the final output.

Michigan Tried a Reading Mandate And It Made Things Worse

Just 38.9% of Michigan third graders were proficient in English language arts on the state test last year.

It was the lowest performance in the exam's 11-year history.

On the national front, only 24% of Michigan fourth graders were proficient on NAEP, compared to 30% nationally. Michigan now ranks 44th in the nation for fourth-grade reading.

This isn't for lack of trying. 

In 2016, Michigan passed its Read by Grade 3 law. It required early intervention, the hiring of literacy coaches, and the retention of struggling third graders.

Ten years later, outcomes are worse.

The retention rule was rescinded in 2023. Lawmakers argued it was punitive and wasn't working.

Now Michigan is taking a different approach. Instead of mandates alone, the state is investing in implementation infrastructure.

House Bill 5697 would require all K-5 educators to be trained in the science of reading by the 2031-32 school year. It would require teacher preparation programs to include science-of-reading training before candidates can be certified.

Rep. Nancy DeBoer, who chairs the House Education and Workforce Committee, framed the urgency: "Three-quarters of the students in eighth grade can't read or do math in a competent manner. That is a tragedy we are responsible for."

Rep. Tim Kelly described the teacher preparation bill as "a long overdue rescue mission" and warned that programs failing to equip teachers to teach reading have forfeited their right to operate. "We must stop subsidizing failure," Kelly said.

The State Board of Education urged LETRS training to become mandatory in September, noting the lack of a requirement "has led to inconsistent participation of Michigan educators and inconsistent access to instruction based on the science of reading for Michigan's students."

For education innovators, Michigan's story is the clearest signal this week. Mandates without implementation support don't work. 

The state's investment is now flowing into specific product categories: science-of-reading professional development platforms, high-quality curriculum aligned to SoR standards, literacy coaching tools that scale, and high-dosage tutoring infrastructure.

Oregon Students Lose 1.4 Years of School

Oregon school districts average 165 school days per year. The national standard is 180.

Districts on four-day weeks average as few as 135.

The state requires 900 instructional hours in K-8 and 990 in grades 9-11, compared to a nationwide average of 1,231 hours.

Then add absenteeism on top - about 1 in 3 Oregon students were chronically absent in 2023-24, missing 10% or more of school days. Nationally, the figure is roughly 1 in 4.

The compounding is devastating. 

Brown University economist Matthew Kraft found that over their K-12 education, Oregon students attend 1.4 fewer years of school than students in states with 181 to 186 day calendars.

Salem-Keizer, the state's second-largest district with 40,000 students, has to overhaul curriculum pacing guides every time it adopts new materials.

"You can't speed your way through content, so you have to figure out what you're going to go deep on, what you're going to skim or exclude," said Salem-Keizer Superintendent Andrea Castañeda.

Seventy-five teachers in the Springfield district signed a formal complaint this year, arguing there wasn't enough time to teach science and social studies as the state recommended. Some elementary teachers have just 15 to 30 minutes per week for science.

Sarah Pope, executive director of Stand for Children Oregon, described the cultural effect: "When we every month send the message home to kids and families, 'Guess what? It's another no school day,' it sends that message home really powerfully that school is optional."

Extending the calendar would cost Salem-Keizer an estimated $3 million per day.

For education innovators, the Oregon data reveals a structural problem that curriculum and intervention products aren't designed for. Most programs assume 180 days. Districts running 135 to 165 days need curriculum pacing tools that can compress without sacrificing depth. And attendance recovery tools that quantify the compounding effect of short calendars plus absences can help districts and advocates make the fiscal case for extending the school year.

⚡️More Quick Hits

This week in education:

• AFT launches $23 million academy to train 400,000 teachers on AI over five years — The National Academy for AI Instruction, a partnership with OpenAI, is moving teacher training beyond basics into "agentic" AI tools for complex instructional tasks, with 50 teachers in the first cohort

• Three-quarters of homeschoolers want ESAs but funding design varies wildly by state — New RAND data shows nearly 75% of homeschooling families would use public education funds if available, but Alabama offers $7,000 for private school students versus just $2,000 for home education

• Only 2% of college students have done an apprenticeship, but 25% want one — Federal investment includes $145 million in pay-for-performance incentives, yet demand far outstrips access, with interest rising to 37% among two-year students

• For every 5% increase in a school's poverty rate, odds of being labeled "failing" rise 42% — A new GAO report found only 46% of schools identified for comprehensive improvement in 2019-20 had exited that status by 2022-23, with proficiency drops of 23% in math at low-performing schools

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