A new artificial intelligence tool being adopted by Bentonville Schools will help students with coursework and assist teachers with grading.
The Bentonville school board heard an update on the district’s AI plans on Jan. 20, including the selection of Brisk as the district’s primary AI tool.
Brisk’s internet browser extension means AI can now be infused into other technology programs already used by the district. The district will pay $218,770 over the next three years for the software, according to a spokesperson.
AI in the Classroom
Although some staff and students have been experimenting with widely available AI tools such as ChatGPT, the district intentionally sought to adopt an education-specific AI tool.
“We knew that we needed something that was specifically focused on education, for our staff and for our students,” said Aaron Nickles, the district’s technology director.
One nationwide survey shows that the number of teachers using AI tools has almost doubled between 2023 and 2025. According to the latest data from EdWeek Research Center, 61% of teachers surveyed said they were using AI to some degree in their work.
Brisk was selected after a pilot project that pitted it against another education-specific AI tool, with 75% of teachers preferring Brisk, according to Kari Hale, instructional technology specialist.
She said the tool is “not about AI writing their essays” but instead having it act as a “tutor or a writing coach.”
Teachers can view the interactions between students and Brisk, and they can step in if a student goes off task or shares something inappropriate, she said.
Teachers can also use Brisk to create lesson plans and rubrics. The tool can provide grading feedback on “an entire folder of student assignments at once,” according to district materials.
With Brisk, Hale said, “We're giving teachers back some time. They always need more time, because their hands are full.”
Planning and Policies
The district created an AI committee about a year ago and has published policies outlining the usage of the technology for both students and staff.
Teachers are responsible for indicating what level of AI usage is acceptable for assignments, according to policy.
On a website published by the district’s technology department, this language is included alongside a guide to help teachers communicate what level of AI usage is approved for assignments:
“As AI becomes a bigger part of how we write—everything from research papers to news articles and even our daily emails—we really need to rethink what we mean by plagiarism and how we define academic honesty. It's just not realistic to brand all work done with AI help as ‘cheating.’ That's a pretty narrow view, especially as AI continues to change how we learn and teach. Instead, educators have to adjust their teaching styles and what they expect from students to fit this new reality.”
Students are expected to disclose their use of AI in assignments.
“When a student uses AI tools, a student shall:
1. Review and verify the accuracy of content that is generated by an AI tool;
2. Cite AI tools used as part of an assignment or project as a source, following District citation guidelines; and
3. Be transparent about their use of AI in completing assignments.”
The district’s AI policy also specifies that teachers cannot use AI to entirely automate grading or other “decisions that significantly affect students.”
“Horses to Cars, Typewriters to Computers”
The overall tone of the conversation among school board members and technology staff was that training students to use the rapidly developing technology is the responsible thing to do.
Nickles said AI will be used in many jobs going forward and will reshape the world much like the emergence of the internet did.
“You'd have to be kind of blind not to see that in the news, right?” he said.
School board member Bill Akins asked if Brisk had features that would allow parents to have visibility into how their children are using AI.
He referenced features in Google Classroom, which the district uses to manage assignments and coursework. That platform sends “guardian email summaries” that recap assignments and classroom updates.
Similar features aren’t currently available in Brisk, Nickles said. However, all of the data is recorded and can be accessed via system logs if parents have specific questions.
Board president Jennifer Faddis asked about the level of insight administrators will have into teachers' usage of Brisk.
Faddis said that the district’s teachers are “amazing,” but she could see a staff member choosing to automate everything, despite district policies limiting that.
Superintendent Debbie Jones said the violations of the AI policy would be handled like any other policy violations, and that administrators will “find those anomalies if they exist.”
“Horses to cars, typewriters to computers. We evolve,” Faddis said, referring to the emergence of AI. However, she asked Nickles what he would say to a parent who was concerned about this relatively new technology.
“We're really not trying to say AI is going to take over the world. We're not trying to say that every student has to learn this right now, or they're not going to be successful,” he said. “It really does come back to that we want it to be a supplement, not a replacement, for quality teaching and authentic learning experiences in our classrooms.”