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Revolutionizing Education: An In-Depth Look at PowerSchool's AI PowerBuddy

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PowerSchool
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AI is no longer just a buzzword in education. It's a powerful tool helping to transform classrooms and school communities. From assisting teachers with lesson planning to giving parents a new way to connect with their child's school, AI is creating new possibilities.

One of the most talked-about AI assistants is PowerSchool's PowerBuddy, which is being used in more than 600 educational organizations.

Christine Weiser, the content director for Tech and Learning, recently sat down with Shivani Stumpf, the Chief Product and Innovation Officer at PowerSchool, to discuss the tool.

"AI assistants really are transforming education," Weiser noted, highlighting how the technology is helping teachers "create quizzes so they can spend more time with their students" and personalizing "the learning journey for students."

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A Tailored AI Assistant for Every Stakeholder

PowerBuddy is a groundbreaking AI assistant designed for every member of the education community. "PowerBuddy is an AI assistant for every stakeholder in education," Stumpf explained. This includes students, families, educators, administrators, and counselors. The tool uses secure data and context from PowerSchool's applications to provide personalized support.

PowerBuddy has already been adopted by a large number of schools, reaching approximately 5 million students. "It's leveraging our responsible AI principles to make sure that we're providing the safest and most secure personalized experience to every stakeholder to support the education for 1.4 billion students across the world," said Stumpf.

Unlocking Efficiency and Driving Unique Value

PowerBuddy is not just a general-purpose AI tool, it’s specifically integrated into PowerSchool's existing products, which is what makes it so unique and effective. This deep integration allows PowerBuddy to provide a plug-and-play solution that understands the user's context without them needing to provide extra information.

"We bring AI to the data, which is very unique," Stumpf said. This means school data doesn't have to be pushed to a third-party application, which eliminates security and redundancy concerns.

The benefits are clear, with significant time and cost savings reported by districts.

Stumpf shared some impressive statistics from efficacy studies:

  • 98% of teachers saved time on lesson creation.
  • 50% of teachers saved more than 20 minutes per lesson or assessment.
  • Some districts have seen cost savings of more than $100,000.

The tool’s contextual awareness is a key differentiator. "When a student is working on an assignment, if they get stuck on that assignment topic, PowerBuddy knows exactly the topic of the assignment, the readability level of the student, what grade they're in, and has all of that data and can formulate responses based on that specific context," Stumpf explained.

This level of personalization extends to families as well. If a parent asks if their child submitted an assignment, PowerBuddy can answer based on its understanding of the user's role and their connection to the student.

Prioritizing Responsible and Safe AI

The responsible use of AI is a major concern for K-12 stakeholders. PowerSchool has addressed this head-on with a set of responsible AI principles. "The number one reason why our customers choose PowerBuddy is because of the way we've crafted and deployed our responsible AI principles in our products," Stumpf said.

A core principle is being human-centered. The technology is designed to augment and not replace the human element of education. Additionally, PowerBuddy is built with fairness and bias resistance in mind, with extensive work done to ensure high degrees of accuracy in its responses. The tool is also aligned with district standards, unlike general-purpose AI.

PowerBuddy includes significant data governance, privacy, and security features. If a user accidentally enters personally identifiable information (PII), PowerBuddy rejects it and alerts the school district. It also has strong content safety controls. "If the student indicates anything along the lines of violence, self-harm, sexual content, any of those types of concerning topics, we have district controls baked in where we send alerts immediately to the school district," Stumpf noted. This allows the right people to intervene quickly and provide help in the way that the district has outlined.

Guidance for Vetting AI Tools

With so many AI tools on the market, Weiser asked Stumpf for advice on how districts can vet products like PowerBuddy to ensure they're safe for students and communities. Stumpf recommended a detailed evaluation process.

"If you go to our website, we've actually published an evaluation questionnaire for questions that districts should be asking while evaluating AI products," Stumpf said.

Stumpf highlighted several key areas for evaluation, including:

  • Data privacy and security.
  • Model performance and accuracy to avoid hallucinations and bias.
  • Explainability, ensuring the AI's recommendations and actions are transparent and not a "black box."
  • Scalability and sustainability, which is especially important given the proliferation of free, unproven vendors who may not be compliant with regulations such as FERPA.
  • Interoperability and training to ensure the technology is integrated with existing systems and that all users are properly trained.

As Stumpf and Weiser concluded, the integration of AI like PowerBuddy into the fabric of education isn't just about saving time. It's about creating a safer, more personalized, and more effective learning environment for everyone.

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