AI Vanguardest. 2024
The 2026 Vanguard Open winners are inMeet the winners →
Our work

Research. Governance. Leadership.

Three programs that turn student experience with AI into evidence, carry that evidence into institutional decisions, and build structures that keep students in the room over time.

03 programs1 loop · listen → synthesize → advocate → sustain
Close-up of the AI Vanguard Policy Survey response spreadsheet, rows of student answers on AI use.
Program 01 of 03research
01

Student voice research

Find out what students actually think.

Surveys, focus groups, and a preregistered public-records study that turn student experience with AI into evidence districts can act on.

  • 012025 policy survey: 447 students across six campuses
  • 02A companion teacher pilot and rep-led field studies
  • 03A preregistered study of student influence in the twelve largest U.S. districts
Current focus — a preregistered study of the twelve largest U.S. districts, alongside the Student AI Pulse pilot proposal in Los Angeles County.
Students holding yes and no signs during an AI Vanguard policy session in a school library.
Program 02 of 03governance
02

AI governance

Bring that evidence into institutional decision-making.

Working inside district processes rather than outside them: roundtables, proposals, and standing student input on how AI tools and guidance get decided.

  • 01District AI roundtables and educator presentations in ABC Unified
  • 02The Student AI Pulse pilot proposal to Los Angeles County districts
  • 03A proposed standing student AI body, under district review
Current focus — a proposed standing student AI body in ABC Unified, now under district review.
Students gathered beneath the Student Senate on AI Policy final-vote board showing 83 to 15.
Program 03 of 03leadership
03

Student leadership

Create structures that keep students involved over time.

A network of campus representatives and State Directors, so student participation outlasts any single meeting, semester, or student.

  • 01Fourteen representatives across eight campuses
  • 02State Directors in six states
  • 03The Vanguard Open, a national student competition
Current focus — onboarding the 2026–27 cohort of representatives and State Directors, and the first Vanguard Open, with winners announced October 3, 2026.
District work · Case study

ABC Unified School District.

Where the model has gone furthest: from one student giving feedback, to students helping design how feedback gets built into the institution.

Cerritos, California · AI Vanguard's home district
  1. 01Ongoing

    Listen

    Student voice at the district's recurring AI Community Roundtables since spring 2025, and a standing student-liaison role with the district's technology leadership.

  2. 02Ongoing

    Advise

    Student input as AI tools and guidance are considered, including a proposed review standard for material AI changes to products the district has already approved.

  3. 03Ongoing

    Present

    Student perspectives brought to more than 400 educators at the ABC IGNITE Ed Tech Symposium, and to families at the district's 2026 Parent Symposium.

  4. 04In progress

    Institutionalize

    A proposal for a standing student AI leadership body, with mentorship, a middle-school entry point, and year-to-year continuity, now under review with district leaders. If approved, the district's January 2027 AI-Ignite event is the first proving ground.

The district asked to feature this student partnership in its 2026 application for the California School Boards Association's Golden Bell Award. The standing student body described in step four is proposed, not established. We will describe it as established only when the district does.

Beyond California

Three more districts, three State Directors.

ABC Unified began with one student working with one district. In three more states, a State Director is already working with theirs.

Bihmanji “Bee” Acho
MNMinnesota

Bihmanji “Bee” Acho

St. Cloud Tech High School · District 742
Anthony Darbilli
CTConnecticut

Anthony Darbilli

Bunnell High School · Stratford Public Schools

Reported by local press and the districts themselves; every line links to its source. Much of this work was done as student senators and district representatives. It is the ground each state chapter builds on.

National student voice · Partnership

Project Tomorrow and Speak Up.

AI Vanguard works with Project Tomorrow to bring student perspectives into Speak Up, its national education research initiative. Through regular collaboration with Project Tomorrow's research team, we have contributed feedback to the 2026–27 Speak Up surveys, including questions about artificial intelligence and the clarity and consistency of AI guidelines across classrooms.

  • Survey developmentReviewing AI-related questions and recommending revisions based on students' experiences.
  • Student perspectivesSharing findings from AI Vanguard's 447-student survey to inform discussions about AI use and school guidance.
  • District outreachConnecting district leaders with Project Tomorrow to explore participation in Speak Up.
Read about the partnership →
100,000+
Speak Up participants
K-12 students, educators, administrators, and parents in the 2023–24 cycle
6.3 million
Since 2003
participants since Speak Up began in 2003

Figures reported by Project Tomorrow, October 2024. Speak Up's reach is Project Tomorrow's, not AI Vanguard's.

Also underway

What else the cabinet and reps are driving this cycle.

Described at the stage each one is actually at.

  • Research
    Underway

    When Does Student Voice Change AI Policy?

    A preregistered study of the twelve largest U.S. school districts, tracing whether student recommendations on generative AI received a documented response. Public-records requests are out to twenty large systems and coding has begun.

    Read the protocol summary →
  • Advocacy
    Proposal

    The Student AI Pulse

    A proposal to the Los Angeles County Office of Education for a short, voluntary measure of whether students understand AI expectations, can reach appropriate tools, and are building basic AI literacy, piloted with interested districts in 2026–27. Sent to superintendents across the county in August; being refined with the districts that responded.

  • Governance
    Early stage

    Tracking AI changes after approval

    How districts find out when an already-approved product adds student-facing AI or changes how student data is processed. Working from conversations with district technology and privacy leads toward a lightweight review standard for material AI changes.

  • Community
    Ongoing

    The national network

    Onboarding the 2026–27 cohort of representatives and State Directors, with structured onboarding and shared resources, and the first Vanguard Open, with winners announced October 3, 2026.

    Join the next cohort →

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