Global Study Links Heavy AI Use to Lower Student Scores as Oregon District Restricts Student AI Access

Recent international reports reveal that students who rely heavily on AI achieve lower academic scores than those who use the tool moderately.

However, if used properly, AI can support learning, the Bend-La Pine Oregon public school district says. According to these educators, the district selects AI tools that support instruction and safeguard student privacy.

Unauthorized AI Tools Are Categorically Restricted

All other GenAI tools are ‘categorically restricted and inaccessible on student devices,’ states the school district on its web page.

The AI tools used in the school district are said to:

• Enhance creativity
• Support skill development, and
• Stimulate critical thinking

Heavy AI Use Linked to Lower Test Scores

According to reports from the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), student assessment ratings found that frequent AI use for some schoolwork tasks is associated with lower science scores as well as in several student skills.

However, the OECD points out that moderate use improves performance in some subjects. Students who use AI moderately – no more than twice weekly – achieve better science scores than either students who rarely use AI or those who use it daily.

Global data company Bloomberg reports that students who rarely used AI for writing scored 509 in science, compared with 481 for daily users.

The OECD states that one of the most troubling aspects of AI as a learning tool is that it has led to a decline in critical thinking, leaving students unable to ‘separate signal from noise.’