Leigh Gaines

Shanae Bond teaches English at Southwest High School in Fort Worth.

Her students rarely use laptops.

Instead, they write nearly everything by hand.

It's part of Bond's strategy to keep AI out of her classroom.

But she may be in the minority.

Roughly 60 percent of surveyed teachers said they used AI at least a little in their classroom.

That's according to a July 2025 poll from the Ed Week Research Center.

Bond says she's open to changing her mind about AI, but right now she doesn't see much value in it for her students.

For NPR News, I'm Leigh Gaines.

Numerous studies

show several of the most popular AI detectors flagged some things as AI-generated that weren't, and vice versa.

Nonetheless, NPR found that some school districts from Utah to Florida to Ohio are spending thousands of dollars on these tools.

John Grady teaches English at Shaker Heights High School outside Cleveland.

He knows AI detectors aren't perfect, but one thing he likes about the software... It's something to kind of hang your hat on, the way we did with the plagiarism checker.

Grady says he doesn't only rely on AI detectors.

He also uses revision history tools to see how student assignments developed over time.

For NPR News, I'm Leigh Gaines.

Numerous studies show several of the most popular AI detectors flagged some things as AI-generated that weren't, and vice versa.

Nonetheless, NPR found that some school districts from Utah to Florida to Ohio are spending thousands of dollars on these tools.

John Grady teaches English at Shaker Heights High School outside Cleveland.