This Houston-area school district is embracing AI to teach in classrooms

While the idea of using artificial intelligence in classrooms may seem distasteful to some, Barbers Hill ISD is encouraging teachers to use the technology to support instruction. 

In spring 2024, teachers across the district began experimenting with Brisk Teaching, an AI-teaching platform designed for educators, whether it be to create worksheets or track student performance. Now, district officials are encouraging staff across all grade levels to use the software to help teach students.

"Teachers have mounds and mounds of paperwork," said Elaina Kloecker, an instructional technologist at the 7,800-student school district in western Chambers County. "This is helping them get their thoughts organized and making sure that they're presenting their best information."

Using AI to battle burnout

The new AI tool is specifically aimed at combating teacher burnout by aiding them with their administrative workload through creating quizzes or tests, designing lesson plans or generating feedback on student work.

Kloecker said using AI in the classroom allows teachers connect with students on a one-to-one level by helping them track how a student is performing based on what unit they're being taught, as well as creating resources specifically tailored to a student. For example, she noted that one of the district's high school history teachers used the technology to help create a lesson plan for students with IEPs.

"Brisk does a really great job of giving the teachers like the driver's seat," Kloecker said. "When our teachers are using a Brisk assignment, they're not stuck with the prompt that Brisk has given them. Our teachers can go in and edit the prompt to make sure that it's fitting the needs of the students and making sure that the right objectives are being hit."

She said, however, that the district recommends teachers not fully rely on the Brisk Teaching software to take over their work, but instead use it as a springboard on how to generate lesson plans or student feedback.

"Most teachers don't know how to give feedback their first year, second year, third year of teaching," Kloecker said. "It's a skill that evolves over time."

Last year, the school district spent $25,125 to use the AI tool and spent $41,700 this year for an upgraded version of it, said David Bloom, Barbers Hill ISD's director of communications.

More tools for teaching

The founder of Brisk Teaching, Arman Jaffer, added that the tool is useful for districts with large populations of bilingual or non-native English speakers.

"A sixth-grade Spanish speaker, for example, can take (a learning material) and then throw it into Google Translate to get an English version," Jaffer said. "What Brisk does is it actually creates this at a sixth-grade Spanish reading level."

Kloecker said the AI is also used during class in various ways, such as acting out a conversation with a character from a book that students are reading or help tutor them when solving math equations. Rather than operating as a general open chat bot where students can get answers to questions they ask, she said the AI tool guides students "to find the answer for themselves."

She added that the district hasn't had any issues with continuing to use AI since Texas' cellphone ban was enacted, as the software isn't available on any devices other than school-issued computers.

Across the state, 20 other school districts also use AI-powered Brisk Teaching, including Liberty ISD, near the border of northeast Harris County.