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Students participating in the Student Senate (held in our one-of-a-kind replica of the U.S. Senate Chamber) took on the roles of United States senators, each representing their home state, and worked together in a deliberative legislative framework to craft policy recommendations. Student senators formed subcommittees to define recommendations focused on the needs and responsibilities of students, educators, parents and guardians, and school administrators. After much debate, collaboration, and revision the student senators produced and passed the Safe Technology Use, Data Privacy, and Ethical Norms for Teaching—Fostering Integrity and Responsible Systems in Teaching (STUDENT FIRST) Act of 2026, a national set of policy recommendations for the use of AI in schools.

The STUDENTS FIRST Act

 

Policy recommendations for the use of AI in K-12 schools. Provisions of this bill address responsible usage by students and teachers, vetting and support from administrators, and digital  literacy and the role of parents and guardians to support thor students.

 

 

READ THE STUDENTS FIRST ACT

Student Senate in the Classroom Implementation Guide

 

Educators can use this guide in a school setting to help  students work together to develop, debate, amend, and vote on a bill to regulate AI use in schools. Students prepare by exploring AI-related issues and submitting potential provisions for the bill. Then, they develop expertise in subcommittees while amending a draft version of the bill. Finally, they convene as a full Student Senate to debate and vote on whether their bill should be passed into law.

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Community AI Student Senate Implementation Guide

 

The Community AI Student Senate encourages districts, municipalities, and states to bring together students from multiple schools to learn about AI policy, craft a bill to regulate AI use in schools, debate the bill, and finally, vote on whether it should be passed into law. Through this collaborative process, students consider their own perspectives and those of key stakeholders in their communities to create  student-driven rules for AI in education.

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Inside the Student Senate with NPR’s Cory Turner

Follow the student senators as they worked together to build and pass the STUDENTS FIRST Act, a model bill of policy recommendations for the use of AI in schools.

Get Involved

Use the Classroom or Community Implementation Guides to work with your students and create policy recommendations for AI use in your community. We encourage you to submit any policy recommendations to our partners at Day of AI, using this policy submission form, for possible inclusion is a national repository of policy recommendations

 

If you have questions about how you can engage young people in this work, contact us at info@emkinstitute.org.

 

Our Partners

 

The Senate Project - Live Stream Begins at 11:00 AM

Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) discuss bipartisan legislation and finding common ground with FOX News' Martha MacCallum, live from the Edward M. Kennedy Institute.