#399 – The President’s Executive Order: “Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education For American Youth”

#399 — The President’s Executive Order: “Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth”

AVID Open Access
9 min

Transcript

The following transcript was automatically generated from the podcast audio by generative artificial intelligence.  Because of the automated nature of the process, this transcript may include unintended transcription and mechanical errors.

Paul Beckermann 0:01 Welcome to Tech Talk for Teachers. I’m your host, Paul Beckerman.

Transition Music 0:05 Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. Check it out. What’s in the toolkit? Check it out.

Paul Beckermann 0:16 The topic of today’s episode is the President’s Executive Order advancing artificial intelligence education for American youth. On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled Advancing Artificial Intelligence for American Youth. In the midst of teaching, planning, grading, and all the other parts of a busy school day, it’s understandable if you haven’t had time to dig into the details of this executive order yet. That’s where I come in.

I hope to take this episode of Tech Talk for Teachers as an opportunity to help you out and simplify the best I can some of the key takeaways from this executive order. While I encourage you to read the actual document if you get a chance, I’m hopeful that this summary will give you enough context to be able to follow the news as it develops and prepare mentally for the impact it may have on K–12 education. First of all, the order begins by acknowledging the significant impact of AI.

It states that AI is, quote, “rapidly transforming the modern world, driving innovation across industries, enhancing productivity and reshaping the way we live and work”. Unquote, it goes on saying, and this is another quote, “to ensure the United States remains a global leader in this technological revolution, we must provide our nation’s youth with opportunities to cultivate the skills and understanding necessary to use and create the next generation of AI technology”. “By fostering AI competency, we will equip our students with the foundational knowledge and skills necessary to adapt to and thrive in an increasingly digital society”.

There are some keywords in this section for sure. It states that students will need both skills and understanding and that these will be necessary to both use and create AI technology. It includes specific goals such as demystifying AI, sparking curiosity and creativity, and preparing students to become active and responsible participants in the workforce. By calling out that students need to understand AI and be able to create with it, we can see that the administration is saying simple exposure will not be enough if the United States is to develop the next generation of American AI innovators, as mentioned in the order. Teachers and students will be expected to master AI at a deeper level.

In fact, the policy section of the order states that the goal of expanded AI education is to, quote, “develop an AI ready workforce and the next generation of American AI innovators”. Unquote, the broad scope of this initiative includes the education of K–12 students, teachers, and current members of the workforce. It suggests that the integration of AI into classroom instruction is to be carried out both as stand-alone courses, as well as integration into other subject matter content. That means this initiative is not just for computer science teachers; it’s for all K–12 teachers, even those who teach students as young as kindergarten. So this push for AI literacy is to be intentional and wide-reaching.

With that in mind, I’ll outline some of the action items outlined in the executive order without getting too buried in the details. I’ll break it down into four main timelines indicated in the order: immediate action, within 90 days, within 120 days, and by the end of the first year.

First of all, for immediate action, the order states an Artificial Intelligence Education Task Force will be established. This will be chaired by the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and include other national department secretaries as well, such as the Secretary of Education. The task force will be responsible for implementing U.S. AI policy and coordinating federal AI education efforts.

Then the plan outlines goals for the first 90 days. So this would take us to late July. These first three months appear to be primarily intended for information and resource gathering. The task force will identify existing federal AI resources that are available, and the Secretary of Education will identify and implement ways to use existing research programs to meet the goals of the executive order. The Secretary of Education will also issue guidance regarding funding sources. This funding is to be used to improve education outcomes using AI, including, but not limited to, AI-based high-quality instructional resources, high-impact tutoring, and college and career pathway exploration. Finally, the task force must plan a presidential AI challenge. This will be a national competition to showcase student and educator achievements in AI.

So those are the main goals for the first 90 days.

Then within 120 days, or by late August, there are several other goals. For instance, by this next deadline, the task force will work on firming up funding and delivery mechanisms for that funding. This will include prioritizing educational grants and developing public-private partnerships. The order breaks down some of the specific tasks to be undertaken.

In this regard, here are a few of the key ones: The Secretary of Education shall also take steps to prioritize the use of AI in discretionary grant programs for teacher training. Areas of targeted training should include reducing time-intensive administrative tasks, improving teacher training and evaluation, providing professional development in foundational computer science and AI, so that instructors can both teach computer science classes and integrate AI into other relevant courses. The Director of the National Science Foundation shall take steps to prioritize research on the use of AI in education and create training opportunities for teachers. This is all intended so they can integrate AI-based tools and modalities into their classrooms.

The Secretary of Agriculture will also get involved and will prioritize research, extension, and education opportunities in that realm, including student-facing entities like 4-H. The Secretary of Labor has a few goals spelled out, including to seek to increase participation in AI-related apprenticeships, establishing AI skills training and work-based learning as a grant priority, helping facilitate high-quality AI skills education coursework and certifications across the country, and with the Secretary of Education, support the creation of opportunities for high school students to take AI courses and certification programs.

So those goals are all within the first 120 days. The order does outline one other goal that’s for 12 months out, and this is that the first presidential AI challenge must take place within those first 12 months. The order states that, quote, “The Challenge shall feature multiple age categories, distinct geographic regions for competition and a variety of topical themes of competition to reflect the breadth of AI applications, encouraging interdisciplinary exploration”.

Based on the timeline outlined in this executive order, it seems that we’re going to be getting more guidance and details by the start of the new school year. The 120 days goal puts us right at the beginning of the school year. How this all works out in practice remains to be seen. But what does seem clear is that AI will be receiving a significant amount of attention and energy during the upcoming school year.

To learn more about today’s topic and explore other free resources, visit avidopenaccess.org. Specifically, I encourage you to check out our article collection titled AI in the K–12 Classroom, and of course, be sure to join Rena, Winston, and me every Wednesday for our full-length podcast, Unpacking Education, where we’re joined by exceptional guests and explore education topics that are important to you. Thanks for listening. Take care and thanks for all you do. You make a difference.