Who thinks AI is bad for students' thinking? According to RAND's nationally representative surveys, it depends on where you sit.

RAND's 2025 report asked parents, middle and high school students, and school district leaders whether they agreed that greater use of AI will harm students' critical-thinking skills:

  • Parents: 61% agreed.
  • High school students: 55% agreed.
  • Middle school students: 48% agreed.
  • District leaders: 22% agreed.

That leaves a 39-point gap between parents and the district leaders who set AI policy for their children's schools.

Use is rising fast anyway

The concern comes as AI use climbs quickly. In winter 2025, 54% of middle and high school students said they used AI for schoolwork, and 21% used it at least weekly. Use rose with grade level, from 41% in middle school to 61% in high school. Both student and teacher use were more than 15 percentage points higher than in surveys one to two years earlier.

Guidance lags behind

  • 35% of district leaders said their district provided students with any AI training.
  • Over 80% of students said teachers have not explicitly taught them how to use AI for schoolwork.
  • 45% of principals reported school or district policies or guidance on AI use.

What to take from it

District leaders are not necessarily wrong. They may see the benefits up close in administrative and planning work. But a policy that the families it affects don't trust will struggle, whatever its merits. Districts writing AI policy should ask parents and students directly, and publish what they hear.

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