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Newark Public Schools is planning the next phase of Khanmigo, an artificial intelligence tutoring tool piloted at First Avenue School last year that’s gained support from teachers, district leaders said.
Last month, the Newark school board approved a $25,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the expansion of Khanmigo. The grant will also help enhance the district’s STEAM program and add new tools such as 3D printers, according to Paul Brubaker, the district’s communications director.
Last school year, the district was among the first in the country to test Khanmigo, an AI program developed by online learning giant Khan Academy that is designed for classrooms and acts as a tutor to students and an assistant for teachers.
The new grant comes after philanthropist Bill Gates visited First Avenue in May with Superintendent Roger León and toured classrooms using Khanmigo. Gates, who is also the co-founder of Microsoft, is in support of developing AI technology. (The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a Chalkbeat funder. Learn more about our funding here.)
“All together, these resources are intended to enrich the overall learning experience and promote innovation throughout the school,” Brubaker added.
After the pandemic, city leaders sounded the alarm about the need to provide more support to improve student achievement. This spring, student scores in math and English language arts standardized tests went up by 2 percentage points for the second year in a row but remained behind pre-pandemic levels signaling students’ slow academic progress post-COVID. District leaders also developed plans in science and English language arts that focus on new approaches to learning to boost student achievement.
The district said students who used Khanmigo during its pilot phase in the 2023-24 school year showed improvements in their math scores. Among North Ward schools, First Avenue School had the second-highest math proficiency rate in spring 2024 state test scores. Overall, 17.7% of district students who took the standardized test in the spring passed the math portion – a bump from 2023 math scores when 15% of district students passed.
But it’s unclear how much of Khanmigo’s tutoring in classrooms impacted that rate. The Newark school board in March approved a data-sharing agreement with Khan Academy to study whether the tool was effective in North Ward schools, but the district has not released that data.
The tutoring tool, powered by ChatGPT technology, was launched at First Avenue last year for grades 5-8 and was primarily used to support students in math, reading, and writing. This school year, Khanmigo is being used in 13 other kindergarten through eighth grade North Ward schools including Abington Avenue, Elliot Street, Luis Muñoz Marin, and Sussex Avenue, Brubaker said. Khanmigo also expanded to grades 3-8 this school year, according to Superintendent Roger León in August.
The district did not say if the next phase of Khanmigo would include expanding it to more schools across the city or grade levels.
The Khanmigo program is still in its pilot phase but is designed to guide students as they progress through lessons and ask questions like a human tutor would, according to Khan Academy. It can also assist teachers with tasks such as planning lessons, tailoring instruction, creating texts and images, and providing recommendations on what students could work on next.
Newark is one of 53 school districts across the country to pilot the tool, which is accessed through Khan Academy’s website rather than a separate app. North Ward students have access to Khanmigo at no cost to the district, Brubaker said. The price for school districts to use Khanmigo starts at $35 per student for the school year with discounts for schools and districts that have a high number of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch.
In Newark schools where Khanmigo is used, “teachers appreciate its ability to provide real-time data on student progress,” Brubaker said.
Data on student progress is “one of several tools” the district is using to tailor instruction, “enabling teachers to form small groups and address specific learning needs with Khanmigo’s support,” Brubaker added. Teachers may use Khanmigo to draft ideas for lessons, but ultimately, “the author is responsible for the quality of the writing and the accuracy of the information,” he added.
Students also enjoyed interacting with Khanmigo by using it to work through exercises on the platform, Brubaker said. The district’s “building thinking classrooms” approach emphasizes “problem-solving, collaboration, and critical thinking in a structured learning environment,” which is also supported by Khanmigo, according to Brubaker.
The tool also enables students to work through challenges before approaching the teacher, a process that encourages students “to self-correct, engage with the problem, reflect on their understanding, and build on their confidence,” Brubaker said.
“Khanmigo served as a valuable tool that helped us expand on the best practices we already had in place,” Brubaker said.
At the state level, Gov. Phil Murphy has called to create an “artificial intelligence moonshot” in New Jersey. This week, the state’s Artificial Intelligence Task Force released a report on AI innovations in New Jersey and recommended ways to expand the technology in education and literacy. The recommendations suggest expanding exposure to AI tools and resources to students, parents, and educators and supporting educators to integrate AI in classrooms. In June, the state’s department of education launched a set of resources that ranged from online training videos and articles aimed at helping educators understand, implement, and manage artificial intelligence in schools.
Jessie Gómez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.
