SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Christopher Belt spearheaded a new law that will ban the use of AI tools in teacher evaluations.
“I believe that our teachers should be judged based on actual observations and professional judgement, not by AI software,” said Belt (D-Swansea). “Our educators deserve a transparent and fair evaluation process that demonstrates their actual work in the classroom and protects their privacy.”
Senate Bill 2909 will prevent school administrators from using AI to write teacher evaluations. A teacher evaluation is a formal process used to measure an educator’s effectiveness, instructional skills and classroom performance. The use of AI while writing these evaluations brings up many transparency and privacy concerns for teachers.
The law recognizes that AI might become an integral part of the teacher evaluation process one day, but the technology is not there yet. The law will not stop evaluators from using AI for administrative tasks. If the evaluator chooses to use AI assisted tools, they must name and specify the purpose of the tool used in the evaluation and share that information with the teacher being evaluated.
Senate Bill 2909 was signed into law on Friday.
