From the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act to the White House Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, governments everywhere are releasing guidance and legislation to address the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence landscape. One thing that these and a growing volume of state legislation have in common is the requirement/recommendation for organizations to conduct what’s known as an “impact assessment” before implementing certain types of AI tools. In our research, we could find no education-specific examples of what such an impact assessment might look like. And that’s how the EdTech Evolved AI Impact Assessment Template for K-12 schools came to be.
We have made the template available in multiple formats to ensure maximum accessibility and ease of use. Scroll down to access and/or download the Google Doc, Word Doc, and PDF versions.
What is an AI Impact Assessment?
Impact assessments are already required by law in many states for various agencies, organizations, and AI implementations. They are also mandated in Europe as part of the EU AI Act. While much of the existing legislation lacks specifics about how the impact assessment should be done, the common thread is the need to vet products for potential harm.
Impact assessments are currently being used in two ways:
- By the creators of AI tools during the development process. Microsoft is one example of a company that has been proactive and transparent about integrating this step. Their Responsible AI Impact Assessment Template provided heavy inspiration for our own, despite a very different audience.
- By the adopters of AI tools during the evaluation process. This is where the EdTech Evolved AI Impact Assessment Template comes in. The template provides a “mechanism for accountability” by empowering decision makers to document concerns and mitigations before deployment.
When Should You Use the AI Impact Assessment Template?
Generally speaking, the states that do require impact assessments mandate them for tools that automate decision-making. This includes basically any adoption of AI that could potentially have a disparate impact on individuals or groups based on algorithmic decisions. Think hiring software that automatically screens candidates, or health care software that provides treatment recommendations. In K-12, this might include things like automated special education or behavior referrals. College and career recommendations, school lotteries, attendance zoning, and automated class assignment are all areas where AI applications could potentially qualify as “automated decision tools.”
There will be a lot of grey area here. Our recommendation is for districts to err on the side of caution and transparency by requiring impact assessments for any AI tools that will play a significant role in either the learning environment or internal people management. The additional work required should largely overlap with existing purchasing processes, and the documentation will be a helpful reference point if any issues eventually do arise.
Download the K-12 AI Impact Assessment Template
- Google Doc
- Follow the link to make a copy of the template and edit at your convenience
- Word Doc
- Direct download
- PDF
- Direct download, requires Acrobat or similar software to edit
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