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The team at Navigate EdTech doesn't track policy directly, but we know how to find the resources that help, and we have historical context to offer some perspective.
A resource we found worth reading was produced by the team at Multistate. We don't know the team over there, but their write-up is worth sharing because it offers a clear and concise assessment of where things stand. Which is a good thing, because there is no shortage of experts, pundits, and posers talking about what AI is doing, should be doing, and will do to us all in the end.
It's just that, in the midst of this noise, we cannot forget that policies end up driving practices. It's important to understand how policy is taking shape, and to reflect on how past trends might inform the future advancement.
Science of Reading, for example, moved from a small, committed community of like-minded educators into a policy shift that impacted school districts, states, and the providers that serve them. Once the evidence really started to emerge, SoR became the default setting to the point where states were legislating pedagogy. In a historical context, such a specific legislative focus on methodology (as opposed to outcomes), is unusual. But in the context of today's climate, expect more of this to come. Which begs the question: Will states move to regulate not only AI access and usage, but the pedagogy surrounding it?
If the "Science of AI Learning" or equivalency gets footing, expect this to happen, which would have massive implications for any and all providers in this space.
Education Trends that Led to Policy Changes
Financial literacy and digital citizenship are two additional past trends worth noting in an historical context. While they didn't benefit from the sustained tailwinds that led to the ubiquity of Science of Reading, they did grow into legislative requirements: 30 states require at least one semester of financial literacy coursework to graduate, according to Next Gen Personal Finance, for example. For digital literacy, 32 states have statewide digital learning plans in place that districts are required to follow and which are updated every three to seven years.
Our understanding is these policies stop short of regulating how financial and digital literacy should be taught, but they certainly bolster the opportunity for providers to focus their offerings on these areas, in the states.
Right now, AI in education seems cluttered by thousands of people racing to be THE authority. With that level of noise, it's hard to make sense of how policies will come to pass. But, this isn't the first time that an economic boon has evolved from a free-for-all to a policy-for-all state.
Learning from Outside Education
If we want to add historical context outside of education, let's look at the automotive industry. When mass automobile production began in the early 1900s, the regulatory environment was essentially a blank slate. The U.S. federal government had no agency overseeing the industry, and manufacturers could build and sell vehicles however they saw fit. There were no safety standards, no crash requirements, and no mandatory mechanical specifications of any kind. Henry Ford and his contemporaries operated in a world where the state had little interest in telling them how to build a car, and consumers had almost no legal recourse if a vehicle proved dangerous or defective. Product liability law was primitive, and courts struggled to apply existing negligence frameworks to what was still a genuinely novel technology.
Traffic laws and driver regulations were similarly underdeveloped. Rules of the road were set at the local or state level and varied enormously from place to place. Some cities required a person to walk ahead of a moving car waving a red flag to warn horse-drawn traffic. Speed limits, where they existed at all, were often set as low as 8 to 12 miles per hour. Driver licensing emerged in a handful of states as early as 1903, but requirements were minimal and enforcement was nearly nonexistent. The idea of a standardized national framework for who could drive, and under what conditions, was still decades away.
The industry did practice a form of self-regulation through trade groups like the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers, but this was driven more by patent control and market competition than by any genuine concern for public safety. This hands-off era persisted for decades, slowly giving way as rising accident rates demanded a response. It ultimately took until 1966, with the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, for the federal government to establish meaningful, mandatory safety standards for American automobiles.
Oh, and seatbelts? In 1968, federal law required seat belts to be installed in all new cars (manufacturers had to include them). In 1984, New York became the first U.S. state to require drivers and passengers to actually wear them. By 1995, all 50 states had some form of seat belt law, though enforcement levels varied.
It took 75+ years for seatbelts, and the inherent expectation of safety for everyone, to become the norm. Here’s hoping responsible, safe use of AI happens a lot faster. Amazingly, maybe it's state policies that will help make that happen.
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