December 21, 2025

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Ailsa Ostovitz, left, and her mother, Stephanie Rizk, at their home in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. In mid-November, Rizk met with Ostovitz's teachers to discuss accusations that her daughter had used AI to do some of her schoolwork.
Beck Harlan/NPR

Happy Sunday!

Lee Gaines here. I’m a freelance reporter for NPR, and I’m taking over the newsletter this week to share a story about the software teachers are using to help them figure out whether students are doing their own work – or using artificial intelligence to do it for them.

It’s a challenge that’s plagued educators since ChatGPT was released three years ago. Districts in Utah, Ohio and Alabama are paying tech companies thousands of dollars for software that scans student work for AI-generated text.

But there’s a problem: Numerous research studies have shown this software isn’t always reliable.

And that’s had consequences for students like Ailsa Ostovitz, a junior at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Md.

Ostovitz told me she was falsely accused of using AI on homework assignments three times this fall.

One of those assignments included a description of the music Ostovitz listens to; she told me she loves music and wouldn’t use AI to write about something she enjoys. Ostovitz wrote to her teacher and denied using AI, but her teacher never responded.

Ostovitz’s mom, Stephanie Rizk, eventually met with the teacher, who said they never saw the message.

Rizk says the teacher no longer believes Ostovitz used AI, but Ostovitz worries this will happen again. She told me she now runs all her assignments through AI detection tools and she changes her own writing if these tools flag her work as possibly AI-generated.

Meanwhile, some educators told me they have found AI detection tools to be helpful – though they caution it should be part of a larger toolkit when it comes to determining the authenticity of student work.

One thing is clear: The emergence of AI has created more work for educators and more frustration for students who are falsely accused.

And the long-term solution likely won’t be software. Carrie Cofer, a high school teacher in the Cleveland school district, told me teachers are always going to be the best AI detectors.

“You can't replace a teacher's experience and instinct when it comes to any kind of classroom work,” she said.

Thanks for reading,
Lee

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In other news …

Test scores in U.S. schools are down. Are smartphones to blame? Lawmakers in many states are getting out in front of the research, responding to long-standing complaints from teachers that cellphones are too distracting. At least 32 states now have some kind of restriction on student use of the devices in schools. The majority of the policies have passed in the last three years. Read the story.

— Sequoia Carrillo, Education Reporter, NPR

Suspect in Brown University shooting and MIT professor killing found dead. The suspect in the shooting Saturday at Brown University that killed two students and injured nine was found dead in a New Hampshire storage unit, authorities announced Thursday night. Read the story.

— Tovia Smith, Correspondent, NPR

The real meaning of "6 7." The meme was everywhere this year, online and off. Scrolling through TikTok? You probably encountered it. Sitting in math class? Your teacher probably dreaded everyone shouting out the numbers when they came up in class. NPR intern Sanidhya Sharma investigated the phenomenon. Listen to the podcast.

— It’s Been A Minute, NPR

And here's your moment of joy …

Her 1951 walkout helped end school segregation. Now her statue is in the U.S. Capitol. Barbara Rose Johns was 16 when she mobilized hundreds of students to walk out of Robert Russa Moton High School, in Farmville, Va., to protest its overcrowded conditions and inferior facilities compared to those of the town's white high school. Read the story.

— Rachel Treisman, Reporter, NPR

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— The NPR Education Team

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