As AI tools reshape education, schools struggle with how to draw the line on cheating

The book report is now a thing of the past. Take-home tests and essays are becoming obsolete.

- By JOCELYN GECKER

High school and college educators around the country say student use of artificial intelligence has become so prevalent that to assign writing outside of the classroom is like asking students to cheat.

“The cheating is off the charts. It’s the worst I’ve seen in my entire career,” says Casey Cuny, who has taught English for 23 years. Educators are no longer wondering if students will outsource schoolwork to AI chatbots. “Anything you send home, you have to assume is being Al’ed.”

The question now is how schools can adapt, because many of the teaching and assessment tools that have been used for generations are no longer effective. As AI technology rapidly improves and becomes more entwined with daily life, it is transforming how students learn and study, how teachers teach, and it’s creating new confusion over what constitutes academic dishonesty.

Cuny’s students at Valencia High School in southern California now do most writing in class. He monitors student laptop screens from his desktop, using software that lets him “lockdown” their screens or block access to certain sites. He’s also integrating AI into his lessons and teaching students how to use Al as a study aid “to get kids learning with Al instead of cheating with AI.”

In rural Oregon, high school teacher Kelly Gibson has made a similar shift to in-class writing. She is also incorporating more verbal assessments to have students talk through their understanding of assigned reading.