A Human-Centered Approach to Ethical AI Education in Underresourced Secondary Schools

A team of researchers, including Valentina Kuskova and Sonia Howell, has partnered with the National Education Opportunity Network (NEON) to launch a groundbreaking college credit-bearing course titled "Responsible and Ethical AI." Designed specifically for students in under-resourced Title I and Title I-eligible high schools, the program addresses a critical gap in AI education policy. While national initiatives promote AI literacy, this course argues that access to tools alone is insufficient. The curriculum is built on a human-centered, bichronous model that integrates foundational AI concepts with deep ethical and socio-technical reasoning. This is achieved through a blend of asynchronous instruction, near-peer mentorship from teaching fellows, and synchronous, discussion-based classes.

In its inaugural year, the program demonstrated remarkable success, with nearly 180 students from 12 U.S. schools completing the course at a 97.8% rate. End-of-course surveys measured outcomes like academic agency, confidence with college-level work, and critical engagement with AI ethics. Results showed students were effectively challenged to apply their learning and reason through complex ethical tradeoffs. Educators reported the course had higher engagement, rigor, and meaningfulness compared to typical high school coursework. The findings underscore that equitable AI education requires more than just software; it necessitates human connections and structured support to foster ethical judgment as a core competency alongside technical literacy.