Students Speak Up about AI in their Learning Lives - 2025 Speak Up National Report - Key Findings from the 2024-25 Speak Up Research Project - October 2025

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Fahsai

Students Speak Up about AI in their Learning Lives presents key findings from the 2024–25 Speak Up® Research Project, published October 2025. The report focuses on grades 6–12 students’ GenAI experiences, how they use AI in self-directed learning outside school, and their beliefs about transforming learning in classrooms. Evidence draws on feedback from 65,000+ students, educators, administrators, and parents across 670 schools. It highlights both benefits students report and cautions about school environments overlooking AI value.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Student adoption of AI outside school

Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up Research dataset

Student beliefs and key findings

Report goals and implications

Students Speak Up about AI in their Learning Lives 2025 Speak Up National Report Students Speak Up about AI in their Learning Lives Key Findings from the 2024-25 Speak Up® Research Project October 2025 “I believe students should have access to AI tools to better support their learning. I have personal experiences using AI to study for Spanish and math assessments. It's helpful forAI to check my Spanish grammar and also use it for math when I'm confused about certain problems. I can use it to help me ﬁnd steps to solve math problems and check my work to see if I'm correct. AI is often seen as harmful to school environments and people overlook its beneﬁts to students.” - Grade 8 student Introduction Since OpenAI’s release of its initial version of ChatGPT to the public in November 2022, many sectors and industries have debated how to effectively leverage the potential of Generative Artiﬁcial Intelligence (Gen AI) tools to support their products, advance market share or improve employee productivity. That debate has also raged within K-12 education with strong interest by many in how these tools could transform teaching and learning and potentially improve student outcomes. Some K-12 districts have already embraced the idea of AI as an agent of transformation and are actively exploring new ways to leverage these technologies in thoughtful and appropriate settings. And in some classrooms, innovative educators are using these tools on a regular basis to inform their lessons, grade papers and provide enhanced accessibility to students with learning challenges. The indication that AI has a foothold in education is clear in the classroom instructional materials that are rich with AI features and education conference programming that are universally heavy now with AI-related sessions. While these efforts reﬂect a deﬁnite movement to greater adoption of Gen AI within education, the reality is that our nation’s students have already outpaced their teachers, principals and parents with their own adoption of AI within their self-directed learning lives outside of school. Not waiting for a school policy tobe written or their teachers to receive professional learning on AI, the students have once again proven tobe the advance team for the rest of us in their experimentation of how Gen AI tools can support and advance their learning. It is probably fair to say that middle school and high school students in any given classroom probably have had more authentic ﬁrsthand experiences right now with AI than teachers in their entire school. And yet, from our research, the views of students about those experiences and how those experiences are shaping their expectations for AI usage in the classroom are not being tapped to inform policies, plans or use cases for Gen AI adoption. For the past 18 months, Project Tomorrow® through our Speak Up Research Project has been collecting and analyzing the views of students in grades 6-12, classroom educators, school principals, district administrators and parents and families about the role of Generative AI in education. Through both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, we have learned about student and adult familiarity with Gen AI tools, how students as well as adults perceive the beneﬁts as well as the challenges associated with leveraging AI tools within education, and their aspirations and beliefs around the potential of these tools to impact teaching and learning. With feedback from over 65,000 students, educators, administrators and parents, representing 670 schools across the nation, the Speak Up Research dataset represents a signiﬁcant asset to inform the ongoing discussions at federal, state and local levels about how to effectively leverage AI within learning settings. In this national report, we are speciﬁcally focusing on the views and voices of students in grades 6-12 about their Gen AI experiences, how they are currently using AI in their self-directed l

FAQs

What is the focus of this report?

The report focuses on grades 6–12 students’ views of their GenAI experiences, how they use AI outside school for self-directed learning, and what they believe AI can change about learning in school.

What evidence does the report use to support its findings?

It summarizes quantitative and qualitative data collected over the past 18 months, with feedback from 65,000+ students, educators, administrators, and parents across 670 schools.

How many students report using GenAI tools for self-directed learning outside school?

The report states that 40% of students say they are using GenAI tools to self-direct learning outside of school.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Fahsai