[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-583355-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-583355-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","states-and-ai-an-early-look-at-how-states-are-approaching-ai-in-education-march-2026","States and AI - An Early Look at How States Are Approaching AI in Education - March 2026","","A CRPE early adopter study examines how 20 U.S. states approach artificial intelligence in K-12 education, focusing on the balance between risk management and practical adoption. Based on publicly available guidance, legislation, executive orders, pilots, and professional learning from 2024–2025, the database highlights cautious, non-binding strategies emphasizing educator capacity building, partnerships, and experimentation. 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Many states update guidance regularly as implementation and AI technologies evolve.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What actions do states prioritize besides issuing guidance?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Most provide AI-related professional learning opportunities, leverage partnerships to support AI goals, and pilot AI strategies or tools. 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States have a critical role to play, particularly in the absence of clear federal policy. How are states playing this role, and what actions are they taking? A new database from CRPE provides insight.  \nFor the last three years, CRPE has been studying and reporting on AI Early Adopter school districts to learn from their experiences. In early 2024, CRPE released an analysis of AI guidance issued by two states at that time.  \nIn the fall of 2025, we launched a new study on AI Early Adopter states to learn how they are approaching AI adoption and integration. Now, we are releasing a database of Early Adopter state actions on AI, alongside preliminary analysis. The database compiles publicly available information on how 20 early adopter states are exploring AI integration and adoption in K-12 education.1  \nThis State AI Early Adopter database includes information ranging from the AI guidance issued by states to relevant legislation and executive orders issued in the past two years (2024 and 2025), to which professional development or pilot programs are in place, and more. Users of the database can choose to learn more about specific state actions, compare actions across states, and identify potential models for partnerships, professional development, or pilot programs to apply in their own context.  \n1 The database compiles publicly available information captured November 2025 through January 2026 on how 20 Early Adopter states are exploring AI integration and adoption in K-12 education. States were recommended by experts in the field (state and national AI educational experts, intermediary organizations, and advocates) during interviews conducted in the fall of 2025, or included because they took some form of action to address and/ or integrate AI into their state educational priorities. Our research team also considered geography and political variety. We drew on interviews with field leaders and our AI Early Adopter School District findings to create a schema of potential AI-related actions states might take. We then reviewed and conducted thorough research on publicly available information on recommended states, updated our schema, and cataloged findings into our State AI Early Adopter Database. The database lists the sources and search terms used for each field. The database isnot evaluative or meant to be an exhaustive account of all early actions and state AI adoption efforts.  \nSTATES AND AI: AN EARLY LOOK AT HOW STATES ARE APPROACHING AI IN EDUCATION  \nIn general, these early adopter states are—at this point—taking a very cautious approach to regulation, focusing more on building educator capacity and piloting than on largescale regulation or tool adoption. Of the 20 states we examined, they commonly provide professional learning opportunities (18 of 20), leverage partnerships to support AI goals (17 of 20), issue guidance (16 of 20), and pilot AI strategies or tools (11 of 20) . This caution towards moving beyond guidance may reflect uncertainty and a lack of legislative direction on how best to regulate AI in education in this rapidly evolving policy landscape.  \nFigure 1. State AI Early Adopter Strategies, 2025-26  \nSource: CRPE 2025-26 State AI Early Adopter Database (n = 20 states).  \nThis database represents our initial, non-evaluative scan of the state AI integration landscape. It offers a snapshot of how 20 states are approaching AI, surfacing emerging patterns, areas of convergence and divergence, and where states are learning through experimentation. It is not intended to rank states or prescribe an approach, but to document how they are navigating AI amid uncertainty and capacity constraints. As of early 2026, we are currently collecting additional data through a national survey and focus gr","cbCaifAhUVE1l1pG","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifAhUVE1l1pG","pdf",245834,"English","# Introduction\n## Flexibility over Directives\n## Pilots and Professional Learning: Early Levers for Exploring AI","[{\"question\":\"What is the CRPE State AI Early Adopter database based on?\",\"answer\":\"It compiles publicly available information captured from November 2025 through January 2026, covering how 20 early adopter states are exploring AI integration in K-12 education, including state guidance, relevant legislation, executive orders, professional development, and pilot programs.\"},{\"question\":\"How do early adopter states generally regulate or guide AI in education?\",\"answer\":\"They take a cautious approach, issuing non-binding AI guidance while emphasizing local control rather than acting as enforcers. Many states update guidance regularly as implementation and AI technologies evolve.\"},{\"question\":\"What actions do states prioritize besides issuing guidance?\",\"answer\":\"Most provide AI-related professional learning opportunities, leverage partnerships to support AI goals, and pilot AI strategies or tools. The study suggests these efforts aim to build educator capacity and test approaches before larger-scale adoption.\"}]","States and AI - An Early Look at How States Are Approaching AI in Education - March 2026 | PDF",1792046887,18]