All photos courtesy of The Kinkaid School.
When ChatGPT burst onto the scene in November 2022, educators nationwide scrambled to respond. Many schools hastily banned the technology, concerned about academic integrity and uncertain about its place in education. We at The Kinkaid School, however, took a different approach — one that was six years in the making.
Our philosophy has always been to “turn into the skid” of technology innovation. Rather than ignoring or resisting technological change, we believe in providing structured support to embrace it thoughtfully. Well before the widespread emergence of tools like ChatGPT, we saw AI as a transformative force already impacting students’ lives, warranting thoughtful and strategic engagement. We are driven by an institutional commitment to forward-thinking risk management and a desire to equip students with essential algorithmic literacy.
Our guiding principles [of AI use] aren’t about limitation — they are about thoughtful integration that preserves our educational values while embracing new possibilities.
From its inception, Kinkaid’s approach has centered around our core guiding principles aligned closely with the school’s mission to prepare students to be strong future leaders and good global citizens. “We wanted to lean into AI in a measured way,” Jonathan Eades, Kinkaid’s head of school explained. “Our guiding principles [of AI use] aren’t about limitation — they are about thoughtful integration that preserves our educational values while embracing new possibilities.” This deliberate strategy earned strong support from faculty, staff, parents and trustees, most of whom valued the thoughtful integration of AI within the educational framework.
1. Develop Guiding Principles, Then Policies.
Our journey began in earnest during summer 2023, by which time AI had become entrenched in the national conversation. Rather than creating restrictive policies, school leaders focused on developing principles aligned with the school’s core mission.
Once the principles were established, the school focused on developing policies that outlined appropriate use, for inclusion in both employee and family/student handbooks for the 2023-24 academic year. Regular assessments, including annual policy review, and agile policy adjustments became critical as AI capabilities evolved and faculty and staff provided feedback. Senior administrators directly addressed questions and clarifications, which resulted in an adaptable but clear and consistent policy.
We have since developed a “Generative AI Acceptable Usage Menu,” which articulates AI use across four distinct roles: analyst, editor, thought partner and co-creator. Framing AI as a tool with specific applications across different use cases was more helpful than treating is as a monolithic technology, which could push some in the community away from engaging with it.
2. Focus on End Users.
We deliberately took our time to implement AI, which led to informed rather than reactive decisions. In winter 2023, we created an AI Research Group to test various AI models and platforms before rushing into full implementation. The research group engaged in extensive conversations about AI use cases, accessed professional development and tested different models, with budgetary implications in mind. Rather than measuring success through rigid metrics, we embraced exploratory learning and anecdotal feedback, with an eye toward eventual rollout for the 2024-25 school year.
Structured professional development further complemented informal sharing. Self-study writing groups, divisional meetings, department meetings and other ad hoc groups engaging in “purposeful play,” through which faculty and staff were encouraged to safely explore AI tools without pressure. These opportunities enabled educators to move past initial hesitations and misconceptions, cultivating confidence in using AI responsibly and productively.
3. Implement Tools That Provide Both Access and Oversight.
When selecting platforms, we prioritized tools that provided teachers with guard rails so they could more easily adjust to using AI within their teaching practice. School leaders were concerned with more than policing student use — we wanted teachers to be able to see how their students were using AI. The AI needed to serve four crucial purposes: provide value, allow teachers to learn from student AI usage, preserve academic integrity by making the learning journey transparent, and create opportunities to coach students toward more effective AI prompting. The goal is to help students develop AI literacy.
This balance between access and oversight has created a “universal instructional environment” where everyone, students and employees alike, are learning. This approach helps us build trust and facilitate deeper and more ethical engagements with AI.
4. Allow for Organic Growth.
Rather than mandating use of specific AI applications, we created multiple pathways for organic, peer-to-peer knowledge sharing. These included divisional and departmental meetings, roundtable discussions during professional development days, whole-school “purposeful play” in small groups, teacher-led lunch-and-learns, and countless informal conversations. This peer-driven diffusion accelerated adoption across Kinkaid, into both educational and operational practices. The informal nature of these interactions allowed faculty to adopt AI at a pace they felt comfortable with and fostered a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.
The most powerful adoption happens when colleagues share their successes with each other.
“The most powerful adoption happens when colleagues share their successes with each other,” Assistant Head of School Peter Behr observed. “We’ve seen incredible cross-pollination of ideas between departments and divisions that might not otherwise collaborate so closely.” This organic growth has been particularly valuable in identifying unexpected use cases that formal training might have missed.
5. Provide Structured Time for Experimentation.
Understanding that meaningful adoption requires dedicated time, school leaders carved out multiple opportunities for hands-on AI exploration. Faculty and staff participated in four to eight structured sessions throughout the 2023-24 academic school year meeting in various groupings from self-study teams to divisional meetings to senior administrative teams.
We sometimes developed specific questions to explore, but most often, we focused on having people use AI tools within their own context to discover the power of the technology firsthand. This contextual experimentation proved far more effective than generic training, as it addressed the specific needs and challenges of different roles.
6. Communicate with All Constituencies
Leaders of other schools have asked us how to achieve broad-based buy-in. In response, we at Kinkaid have emphasized the importance of clear alignment of AI implementation with institutional mission and vision, and stressed the importance of developing proactive rather than reactive strategies. Clearly articulating the purpose of AI integration and providing sufficient opportunities for structured experimentation will help.
We prioritized transparent communication with our broader community. For the board of trustees, this meant addressing governance questions through lunch-and-learn sessions and detailed presentations to the Risk Committee about data privacy and cost considerations.
For parents, consistent communication has been maintained through the school’s weekly newsletter and presentations to parent groups since ChatGPT’s release. We’re not just telling parents about our AI policies: We’re showing them concrete examples of how these tools enhance learning when used appropriately.
7. Assess and Adjust Policies Regularly.
Perhaps most importantly, our approach has remained dynamic. Kinkaid has updated our AI policies six times in two years — four times last academic year and twice in the current one — to address novel applications, evolving capabilities and thoughtful questions from faculty and staff.
One illustrative example: The school now allows AI to support the writing of teacher comments and recommendations. By building custom AI agents that incorporate examples and standards of excellence, teachers can focus less on wordsmithing and more on communicating constructive feedback. “This isn’t just about efficiency,” noted Alex Spencer, Kinkaid’s head of the upper school. “It’s about redirecting our energy toward deeper engagement with students and families.”
Emerging Benefits
While still in relatively early stages of implementation, we are already seeing significant benefits beyond operational efficiency. “The biggest story is the conversations we’re now having about what’s possible and what the purpose of school should be in an AI-augmented world,” reflected Eades.
We are tracking adoption through backend statistics, regular faculty and student surveys, and observing increasing peer-to-peer sharing. Our results show movement from the “awareness” phase toward “testing and reflecting.” This trajectory suggests that our community is building not just AI literacy but a sustainable culture of technological adaptation.
As independent schools nationwide grapple with AI’s emergence, our experience demonstrates that thoughtful, mission-aligned adoption of AI enhances teaching and learning and strengthens operational excellence. We have been able to achieve real benefits by embracing innovation while safeguarding core values.
