Our students use today's latest technology to help enrich their learning and their lives.

Responsible AI Integration at The Pennington School

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how knowledge is created, work is performed, and human beings relate to one another. The Pennington School has a responsibility to prepare students not only to use these tools but also to understand, question, and wield them with judgment and ethical clarity. This policy statement articulates why we believe that the appropriate use of AI at Pennington is informed, deliberate engagement.

AI Literacy as Protective Strategy

We recognize that opinions about AI diverge sharply. Some professionals and families believe the responsible course is to minimize or eliminate AI's presence in students' academic lives. We understand and respect the instinct behind this position. However, we believe it is both impractical and counterproductive for the following reasons:

• Students are already using AI outside of school, without guidance, without critical frameworks, and without adult modeling of its responsible use.
• Prohibition without education does not build judgment; it simply relocates the behavior beyond the influence of teachers.
• The Brookings Institution* calls on educators to use AI tools that teach, not tell, and to promote holistic AI literacy for students, teachers, parents, and education leaders alike.

The best protection we can offer our students against the risks of AI is to develop their capacity to understand it. AI literacy, the ability to evaluate, interrogate, use it deliberately, and refuse to use it when appropriate, is not a technical skill. It is a form of critical thinking. Critical thinking has always been at the heart of what Pennington teaches.

AI and College/Employment Readiness

Selective colleges and forward-thinking employers are already distinguishing between students who can think and those who can only prompt. The ability to write a clear argument, sustain focused attention, conduct original research, and demonstrate intellectual independence is becoming more, not less, valuable as AI makes it easy to simulate the appearance of these skills. Students who outsource their cognitive development to AI tools will find themselves unprepared for the demands ahead. We are already witnessing this in college admissions processes and early-career assessments.

Development of AI Skills at The Pennington School

Across all grade levels and disciplines, students will develop AI literacy through direct instruction, guided practice, and reflective inquiry. This includes:

• Understanding the nature and limits of AI-generated content, including issues of accuracy, bias, and attribution
• Practicing the skills, including writing, reasoning, collaboration, and creative production, that remain distinctly and irreducibly human
• Developing personal frameworks for deciding when AI use serves their learning and when it does not
• Engaging with the ethical dimensions of AI: privacy, equity, environmental cost, and the question of what we owe each other in an increasingly automated world

Pennington’s Philosophy

The Pennington School is committed to an approach to AI that is clear-eyed about both AI’s risks and opportunities, in which human agency, human relationship, and human flourishing remain the center of everything we do. AI can be used to enhance human capacities, including learning. 

But despite all that AI can do to help students, and our conviction that the ability to use AI is increasingly important, we at The Pennington School believe that the most meaningful education is based on human connections and independent thought, both in and outside of the classroom. 

AI will not replace the vital engagement that happens between teachers and students, or between students working collaboratively. Our intention is to harness the power of AI while avoiding the central pitfall of allowing students to replace the thinking and effort behind their work with AI-generated output. Output is not learning. Process is.

AI will continue to shape our students’ lives. The Pennington School is committed to helping our students learn to make the most of its opportunities while avoiding its risks. Teachers at Pennington will continue to design learning experiences that require students to demonstrate original thinking in ways AI cannot replicate. They will assist students in using AI tools that elevate, rather than replace, human connection, including tools for differentiated support and feedback that free teachers' time for the relational work that only humans can provide.

 

*From A new direction for students in an AI world: Prosper, prepare, protect by Mary Burns, Rebecca Winthrop, Natasha Luther, Emma Venetis, and Rida Karim, January 14, 2026. From Brookings: The Brookings Institution is committed to quality, independence, and impact. We are supported by a diverse array of funders. In line with our values and policies, each Brookings publication represents the sole views of its author(s).

Laptop Use at Pennington

Every student receives an Apple laptop provided by the School and included as part of tuition. All new students receive their new laptops during orientation. Training and additional technology instruction take place online via our learning management system, Schoology. 

Please see the Student Handbook for more specific information about our acceptable use and other policies related to technology at The Pennington School.