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Youth Development in Education (Bellwether, June 2025)  \nReviewed by:  \nThomas M. Philip University of California, Berkeley  \nOctober 2025  \nNational Education Policy Center  \nSchool of Education University of Colorado Boulder [nepc.colorado.edu](nepc.colorado.edu)  \nAcknowledgements  \nNEPC Staff  \nFaith Boninger  \nPublications Manager  \nMark Paige  \nAcademic Editor  \nElaine Duggan Production Design  \nAlex Molnar NEPC Director  \nKevin Welner NEPC Director  \nSuggested Citation: Philip, T.M. (2025) . NEPC Review: Productive struggle: How artificial intelligence is changing learning, effort, and youth development in education. Boulder, CO:  \nNational Education Policy Center. Retrieved [date] from [https://nepc.colorado.edu/review/struggle](https://nepc.colorado.edu/review/struggle)  \nFunding: This review was made possible in part by funding from the Great Lakes Center for Educational Research and Practice.  \nGREAT LAKES CENTER  \nFor Education Research & Practice  \nThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivatives 4.0 International License.  \nThis publication is provided free of cost to NEPC’s readers, who may make non-commercial use of it as long as NEPC and its author(s) are credited as the source. For inquiries about commercial use, please [contact NEPC at](contact NEPC at nepc@colorado.edu)[ nepc@colorado.edu](contact NEPC at nepc@colorado.edu).  \nThe National Education Policy Center (NEPC), a university research center housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, sponsors research, produces policy briefs, and publishes expert third-party reviews of think tank reports. NEPC publications are written in accessible language and are intended for a broad audience that includes academic experts, policymakers, the media, and the general public. Our mission is to provide high-quality information in support of democratic deliberation about education policy. We are guided by the belief that the democratic governance of public education is strengthened when policies are based on sound evidence and support a multiracial society that is inclusive, kind, and just. Visit us at: [http://nepc.colorado.edu](http://nepc.colorado.edu)  \n[http://nepc.colorado.edu/review/struggle](http://nepc.colorado.edu/review/struggle) 2 of 11  \nNEPC Review: Productive Struggle: How Artificial Intelligence is Changing Learning, Effort, and Youth Development in Education (Bellwether, June 2025)  \nReviewed by:  \nThomas M. Philip  \nUniversity of California, Berkeley  \nOctober 2025  \nSummary  \nProductive Struggle: How Artificial Intelligence is Changing Learning, Effort, and Youth Development in Education, recently released by Bellwether, considers the role of GenAI in education. It proposes a criterion for evaluating these new technologies’impact on student learning: When does ease afforded by GenAI enable greater learning, and when is ease a shortcut with a hidden cost? Toward this end, it examineshow AI-powered tools may interact with a student’s memory and information processing, attention and engagement, motivation and mindset, and metacognition and self-regulation. Unfortunately, the report conflates the distinct and often implicit meanings of learning, which leads to unjustified conclusions about the potential impact of AI in education. Taking a highly individualistic lens to learning, and thus often overlooking complex classroom environments that impact learning, the report also makes unfounded inferences about the use of AI-powered tools in classrooms. Further, it does not offer proactive recommendations to mitigate the known harm associated with the use of GenAI, particularly when used with children and youth. In sum, while the report restates and reminds us of important questions that must be addressed, its usefulness for policymakers is quite limited.  \n[http://nepc.colorado.edu/review/struggle](http://n","cbCaincmZMuvyR5G","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaincmZMuvyR5G","pdf",918689,11,"English","# Summary\n## Key evaluation criterion\n# I. Introduction\n## AI disruption in schools\n## Opportunities, challenges, and dilemmas\n## Bellwether report and productive struggle framework","[{\"question\":\"What criterion does the review emphasize for evaluating generative AI in learning?\",\"answer\":\"It stresses distinguishing when AI-provided ease supports greater learning versus when it becomes a shortcut that carries hidden costs.\"},{\"question\":\"Which learning-related areas does the Bellwether report examine in relation to AI tools?\",\"answer\":\"It discusses how AI tools may affect memory and information processing, attention and engagement, motivation and mindset, and metacognition and self-regulation.\"},{\"question\":\"What are the review’s main criticisms of the Bellwether report for policymakers?\",\"answer\":\"It criticizes conflation of the meanings of learning, unjustified conclusions, overly individualistic assumptions that overlook classroom complexity, and the lack of proactive recommendations to mitigate known harms, especially for children and youth.\"}]","NEPC Review: Productive Struggle: How Artificial Intelligence is Changing Learning, Effort, and Youth Development in Education | PDF",1792057199,28]