TERI / Layer 1 — Foundations (Policy, Data & Systems) / 1.4
Checkpoint 1.4

1.4 — AI Use Guidelines

What this is

Administratively-issued operational guidance that translates AI policy (1.3) into day-to-day practice. Includes role-specific use cases, grade-band differentiation, prompt examples, tool-by-tool notes, attribution and citation templates, AI-transparent assignment design patterns, procedures for handling suspected misuse, tool-specific privacy notes, and family-facing explanatory materials. Lives in staff handbooks, PD libraries, and student-facing materials — not in board policy manuals. Updates without board action, at the pace tools actually change.

Why it matters

Policy (1.3) sets what is required; Guidelines describe what good practice looks like in the classroom tomorrow. Guidelines give staff a shared playbook and absorb the pace problem — AI iterates faster than board meetings can keep up, and Guidelines can be revised without re-opening Policy each time.

Connects to

The Framework: Condition #2 (Shared Language), Condition #3 (Mentoring & Modeling). Links to 1.3 (AI Policy) as the enabling authority, and to 2.4 (Academic Integrity in the AI Era) for assignment-design and suspected-violation procedures.

Maturity levels

Not Started
No guidelines exist. Teachers and students interpret AI policy individually. Practice varies widely even within the same school. When teachers need to make a specific call ("can this student use ChatGPT on this essay?"), they have no shared answer.
Emerging
Informal guidance shared through memos, PD sessions, or individual staff leadership. Not comprehensive. Not centrally maintained. Not consistently available to all staff and students. May duplicate or contradict Policy language rather than operationalizing it.
Established
Published guidelines with role differentiation (student, teacher, administrator, support staff). Include concrete prompt examples, tool-by-tool notes, grade-band-appropriate use cases, citation and attribution templates, AI-transparent assignment design patterns, and procedures for handling suspected misuse. Explicitly identify themselves as operational guidance under Policy (1.3) — not as policy. Referenced in PD, onboarding, and classroom practice.
Expanding
Living document updated as tools and practices evolve — cadence measured in months, not years. Incorporates teacher and student feedback through structured channels. Includes tiered or scaffolded frameworks (e.g., per-assignment role-of-AI definitions) that give teachers a consistent vocabulary for assignment design. Family-facing explanatory materials paired with staff-facing procedures. Directly referenced in lesson planning, assignment design, and academic integrity protocols. Paired with concrete exemplars of strong AI-integrated instruction.

Go deeper with

Example resource
Prompt-Ed AI Student Use Guidelines (prompt-ed.org/guidelines) + TeachAI Toolkit
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