Most teachers use AI, but training and policy lag behind

K12 Academics says AI has become mainstream in classrooms, with 60% of teachers using it in the 2024-25 school year, but most received no formal training. The report says adoption has outpaced governance, creating a gap schools will need to close as AI use spreads across K-12 and higher education.

Why it matters: - AI adoption in education is moving faster than the systems meant to support it. - The gap between classroom use, teacher training and district policy now shapes how schools handle learning, grading, integrity and governance. - The report argues that schools that pair AI with literacy and governance will be better positioned than schools that simply expand usage.

What happened: - K12 Academics released its 2026 State of AI in Education Report today. - The report says 60% of teachers used AI in the 2024-25 school year, about double the year before. - The report covers adoption across K-12 and higher education. - K12 Academics is based in Ambler, Pennsylvania. - Chris Glavin, founder of K12 Academics, said the debate has shifted from who is using AI to how schools should use it well.

The details: - 54% of K-12 students used AI for schoolwork, according to the report. - 92% of university students used AI for schoolwork. - 86% of education organizations use generative AI, which the report calls the highest adoption rate of any industry. - Teachers who use AI weekly save an average of 5.9 hours a week. - 68% of teachers received no AI training. - Roughly 34 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, have issued AI guidance. - Most district policies still do not reference that guidance. - The report says AI detectors are proving unreliable. - The report argues that assessment should be redesigned around authentic, AI-aware tasks. - The report includes an AI in Education Readiness Index to measure how prepared a district or institution is. - The report covers adoption, the tools market, teaching and learning, AI literacy, academic integrity, governance, ethics, accessibility and the road to 2030. - The full report is available free at the 2026 State of AI in Education Report. - K12 Academics says it has operated as an online education resource since 2004 and maintains more than 200 national and international directories of schools, colleges, camps, businesses and programs.

Between the lines: - The report suggests schools have entered an implementation phase before building the oversight needed to manage AI consistently. - The training gap is especially important because weekly use is already tied to time savings, which may push more teachers to adopt AI even without formal support. - The failure of detection tools shifts the burden from policing AI use to redesigning assignments and assessments. - The policy mismatch suggests state-level guidance has not yet translated into uniform district-level practice.

What's next: - Schools and districts are likely to face more pressure to formalize AI training, update policies and rethink assessment design. - The Readiness Index gives institutions a framework to assess where they stand and where they are behind. - The report's road-to-2030 outlook points to continued expansion of AI use across classrooms and administrative work.

The bottom line: - AI is now common in education, but most schools are still catching up on the rules and training needed to use it safely and effectively.