The Promise and Peril of AI in Special Education

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping nearly every corner of education, driven by its rapid growth in capability and adoption. This transformation is especially visible in special education.

In the 2024-2025 school year, more than 57% of licensed special education teachers used AI to help create IEPs and 504 plans, up from 39% in the previous year.

With teacher vacancies and caseloads rising, educators are turning to specialized AI agents to alleviate the workload.

Yet while teacher use accelerates, district policy hasn’t kept pace. Many district AI guidelines today focus on preventing student misuse rather than the ethical, instructional, and legal implications for adults who create federally protected documents. According to RAND reports, only 35% of district leaders provide AI training to students, and more than 80% of students report that teachers aren’t explaining how to use AI responsibly.

Without structured guidelines or professional development, teachers are left guessing which tools are safe and how to use them effectively. This mismatch creates risk, but also opportunity. With thoughtful adoption, AI can enhance student supports, save time, and reduce educator workload for special education teams.

The promise of AI in K-12 education

Educators are realizing the value of AI in special education in many ways, including: 

• Efficiency and time savings: AI reduces drafting time for IEPs, 504s, BIPs, and other critical support documents, allowing teachers to focus on being present with students.
• Better documentation: AI takes the bulk of initial drafting, allowing teachers to better tailor student goals, agendas, and transition plans.
• Enhanced consistency: Teams can rely on structured templates that ensure alignment. 

For many, AI restores valuable planning time that can be reinvested directly into instruction and family engagement.

The perils of AI and what to watch for

While AI’s value lies in reducing educator workloads, there remain significant risks for using AI in special education, including:  

• Loss of individuality: Generic AI phrasing can diminish personalization if not reviewed carefully.
• Bias in training data: Disability-specific data is often underrepresented in large language models, which may lead to inaccurate recommendations.
• FERPA and privacy concerns: Entering identifiable student data into public AI tools can expose confidential information.
• Hallucinations and inaccuracies: AI may generate incorrect services or cite nonexistent laws, which can jeopardize compliance.
• Overreliance: If educators stop evaluating outputs, IEP quality may weaken over time. 

When assessing the use of AI in special education, K-12 leaders should remain aware of these risks and adopt policies that protect against misuse.

The need for fit-for-purpose AI agents

Large language AI models, no matter how powerful, are not built for the legal, instructional, and compliance demands of special education.

Ethan Mollick of UPenn highlights the importance of specialized, domain-specific AI, which provides: 

• Higher accuracy
• Better context understanding
• Stronger protections
• Improved equity outcomes 

This is where PowerSchool PowerBuddy for Special Programs excels.

“PowerBuddy for Special Education offers a phenomenal AI goal-generation tool typically garnered only through a gargantuan expense. As an add-on tool, PowerBuddy is cost-effective and simple to use,” says Charla Deleo, Special Education Coordinator, St. Clair Schools (AL).

With SPED-trained models, secure environments, and transparent workflows, it exemplifies fit-for-purpose AI design.

PowerBuddy for Special Programs offers AI-powered templates for plans, goals, and progress monitoring, allowing staff to spend less time on paperwork and more time supporting students.

PowerSchool’s six guiding principles

These six principles guide our AI methodology, ensuring a mindful and responsible approach. 

1. Human-centered
2. Built with fairness and bias elimination
3. Stringent data governance, privacy, and security
4. Transparency and user control
5. Digital equity and accessibility
6. Ethical use

Building a responsible AI future for special education

AI is reshaping the future of special education. With strong guardrails—privacy protections, ethical policies, transparent practices, and fit-for-purpose AI support—districts can harness its promise while avoiding its pitfalls. 

To start reshaping that better future, district leaders can start by: 

• Developing SPED-specific AI guidelines
• Training staff in ethical, bias-aware AI use
• Protecting student data through secure systems
• Maintaining transparency with families
• Using specialized AI tools that understand SPED workflows