Transforming Education with Responsible AI: Introducing an AI Assistant for Every Student, Teacher, Parent, and Administrator

In the ever-evolving landscape of global workforce demands, education stands at an inflection point. 

Acknowledging the evident gap in student performance, with data revealing a need for over four additional months of reading and four-and-a-half months in math to reach pre-pandemic achievement levels, transformative measures are imperative. UNESCO underscores this urgency on a global scale, projecting a requirement for 44 million more teachers by 2030 to attain universal basic education for the 1.4 billion students around the globe. 

These statistics highlight the importance of our mission here at PowerSchool: to support educators, administrators, and families to help students learn in a way that’s right for them. 

We all know that “teaching to the middle” leaves many students out, yet, it has been the best option to support learning at scale for the last 100+ years.  

A transformation away from the outdated “one-size-fits-all” approach to education is imperative. 

Thanks to technological advances, we no longer need to rely on these antiquated standardized models. Now, we can provide tailored content, personalized coaching, customized pathways, and individualized resources and support to cater to each student’s unique needs.  

That’s why we’re proud to deliver the most comprehensive AI ecosystem for personalized education with the launch of PowerSchool PowerBuddy™, an AI assistant for everyone in education.  

Introducing PowerSchool PowerBuddy™ with Game-Changing Experiences for Everyone in Education

PowerSchool’s safe and secure AI assistant, PowerBuddy, is designed with our responsible AI principles and transcends traditional education practices by personalizing learning, engagement, and intentionality to create a meaningful and accelerated learning experience.  

Unlike other one-off AI offerings, PowerSchool’s comprehensive AI ecosystem is purposefully engineered to “bring AI to data” instead of requiring organizations to push their data into an AI platform. This distinctive approach upholds rigorous standards of privacy, ethics, and security, establishing a modern method for responsible and innovative AI implementation in education. 

With their very own PowerBuddy, each student, parent, educator, and administrator will soon have safe and secure access to individualized guidance, information, and resources at their fingertips, helping students receive the most optimal social, emotional, and academic support in a way never experienced before.  

To extend its influence and broaden accessibility, PowerBuddy will be integrated within PowerSchool products such as Schoology Learning, Performance Matters, Naviance CCLR, ContentNav, Analytics & Insights, PowerSchool SIS and My PowerSchool products. PowerBuddy will eventually be expanded for use across the entire PowerSchool ecosystem. It will be system-agnostic and will integrate with most education technology tools, including non-PowerSchool products.   

PowerBuddy for Students

PowerBuddy for students is designed to help each student cultivate a genuine curiosity and passion for learning, driven by the intentional design of safe, motivating, supportive, engaging, and personalized experiences using AI. So, what can PowerBuddy for students do? 

• Programmatically captures each student’s 360-degree context from PowerSchool’s integrated, secure data lake such as the student’s interests, strengths, grades, prior test scores, mastery and proficiency, courses, bus routes, Individualized Education Program (IEP), programs, attendance, behavior, social and emotional needs, interventions, and more, tailoring the learning experience to their unique needs and aspirations.  
• Transforms “points-in-time” learning into an immersive adventure. Whether the student is on their computer on the web or their mobile device, PowerBuddy can help foster learning when and where the student is ready to engage. For example, Ava can ask questions such as, “explain the theory of relativity” while doing her homework within Schoology Learning, PowerSchool SIS, or any other system to receive immediate one-on-one on-demand assistance in the context of her lesson.  
• Incorporates student voice, choice, and goals into personalized recommendations and assistance. PowerBuddy responds to Ava’s question by explaining the theory of relativity using space exploration because it knows that’s of interest to Ava.     
• Continually adapts to the student’s learning style, providing on-demand one-on-one individualized interactions, Socratic tutoring, and assistance every step of the way. 
• And, keeps students abreast of their learning goals with personalized nudges and notifications to get them back on track if they start to veer off and celebrate accomplishments and milestones in their educational journey. For example, PowerBuddy congratulates Ava on a three-week streak of engagement and sends her a push notification when math homework is due. PowerBuddy can also provide an update when her transcripts or letters of recommendation have been sent to colleges, so he knows her applications are on track from within Naviance.  

PowerBuddy for Parents

PowerBuddy for parents creates intentional transparency with AI-powered proactive notifications, “just-in-time” assistance, and two-way communication that empowers parents to actively participate in their child’s learning process, forging a collaborative partnership between home and school. PowerBuddy for parents will: 

• Help parents effectively navigate their interactions with schools by providing personalized and relevant insights, push notifications, and the ability to ask questions and find resources.  
• Offer personalized, district-approved academic and social and emotional well-being resources from PowerSchool ContentNav to actively support them in their child’s learning. 
• Personalize information with literacy accommodations and language localization to maximize their ability to understand what is going on with their child’s progress and contribute more effectively. 
• Provide early-warning messages about their child such as, “Ava has missed three days of school this week” and the ability for parents to engage in a two-way conversation such as, “Can you recommend resources to ensure she attends class regularly?” with immediate relevant responses.  
• Give parents the ability to inquire about their child’s progress such as, “What were Ava’s grades on her last math test?” or, “Has Ava regularly been attending class?” or, “When is the next parent-teacher conference?” within My PowerSchool. 
• Provide preemptive updates about tasks due, such as fees for Ava’s basketball tournament. 
• And, issue proactive alerts about upcoming events such as a parent-teacher conference or school closures.  

PowerBuddy for Educators

PowerBuddy for educators saves time by providing them with insights and resources at their fingertips and allows them to focus on what’s more important – their interactions with students. PowerBuddy for educators will: 

• Provide educators with insights into each student’s individual needs, such as students who have consistently missed school, or students progressing through interventions within MTSS, or those who have started to veer off from being on-track.  
• Assist with time-intensive planning based on students’ understanding of the concepts from the previous day by personalizing homework, assigning out content, creating lesson plans within PowerSchool Curriculum and Instruction, updating the small-group cohorts, automating test item creation within PowerSchool Performance Matters, and more. 
• Elevate educators to mentors, guiding students through a purposeful educational journey.  

PowerBuddy for Administrators 

PowerBuddy for administrators streamlines administrative tasks by automating routine processes and providing real-time insights. With its advanced capabilities, PowerBuddy enhances efficiency, allowing administrators to focus on strategic decision-making and fostering a more proactive and responsive educational environment. PowerBuddy for administrators will: 

• Provide administrators with a comprehensive data view giving a 360-degree holistic view of student and educator data. 
• Allow for real-time insights, enabling quick and informed decision-making. 
• Streamline time-intensive processes while reducing the workload on administrative staff. 

AI Done Responsibly and Ethically

At PowerSchool, we understand how critical it is that we carefully approach integrating AI into educational tools. That’s why we have created Six Guiding Principles that structure our approach to AI in education and are being leveraged by others, such as 1EdTech, to educate stakeholders about Responsible AI. To maintain a mindful and responsible approach to AI, our methodology is guided by these principles to ensure they are always at the core of what we do when we incorporate AI into our products.  

By embracing this game-changing opportunity with conversational AI, and an intent-based user experience paradigm, we are actively shaping the future of education. This intentional convergence is about creating experiences where students want to engage and take ownership of their learning journey, where students not only excel academically but also focus on their social, emotional, and mental well-being, and are empowered with the skills, knowledge, and passion needed to lead future-ready, successful lives.