Spring 2025 Miss Porter's School Bulletin

As artificial technology (AI) continues to fundamentally transform how we live, work and play, educational practices at Miss Porter’s School are evolving to optimally prepare students for this new future.

Generative AI uses sophisticated algorithms to analyze vast quantities of data and encode their complex patterns and sophisticated associations. It then uses that information to produce original, human-like text, images, video and other forms of data in response to user queries. Latin teacher Maureen Lamb, who also consults and speaks about technology in education, wrote in her article “Tomorrow’s Workforce: Why AI Fluency Is Essential in Education” for the 2024-25 Education Guide that educators must recognize the inevitability of generative AI and must model to their students how to use it ethically and effectively.

“There are very few industries that are not affected by AI,” says Lamb, whose previous position at the Ethel Walker School included dean of academic technology and innovative pedagogy. “I think making students aware of that, and supporting them in making good use of these tools, is going to be incredibly important going forward.”

In her classroom, Lamb engages students in learning activities involving the use of diverse generative AI tools. Students use the AI image and video generation functions of graphic design platform Canva to develop multimedia presentations, and they take part in Latin Q&A sessions with Mizou, a chatbot that supports them in responding in original ways. They also conduct research for assignments using Perplexity, an AIpowered answer engine that, unlike many other AI tools, provides sources for the information it generates, which Lamb says is vital for helping students detect and avoid hallucinations false or nonsensical information that generative AI sometimes produces.

The ways in which Porter’s creates opportunities for girls to become competent AI users has been supported by the expert advice of J. Michael McQuade P’11, a seasoned technology and policy professional who is a former trustee of Porter’s and a current member of Men of Porter’s, an affinity group for fathers of current and former students who provide Ancients with career support.

“It’s extremely helpful and important that Porter’s gives students opportunities to think about how all of these new digital tools enhance their ability, not replace their ability, to excel at school and, later, in life,” says McQuade, who directs the Program on Emerging Technology, Scientific Advancement and Global Policy at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School.

“What Miss Porter’s School gets right is that it provides students with as many opportunities as possible to try these tools. They become much better at thinking about the possibilities for using AI,” says McQuade, who is the parent of current Porter’s trustee Maura McQuade ’11. “AI is going to be a part of everyday life much more than anything we’ve seen in 25 years. Students are able to think about how AI is going to transform their lives and society in the coming years and how they can use these digital tools to enhance not replace their abilities so that they can be a productive part of this change.”