The Permission Slip Test for AI Tools

Schools have a beautiful ritual: the permission slip. Before a field trip, parents get a plain-language note — where, when, who supervises, what could go wrong. Nobody signs a blank form.

Try applying the same ritual to AI tools. Before a new app touches student data, write the permission slip: what data it collects, where the data goes, who can see it, how long it's kept, and what happens if there's a breach. Now ask: would you comfortably send this home?

If the answer is no — if the slip would alarm parents or you can't fill in the blanks — the tool isn't ready for your students. The problem isn't the parents. It's that you don't yet have answers a reasonable family deserves.

This test does something paperwork can't: it translates abstract privacy language into a concrete standard. "We have a data processing agreement" means nothing to most people. "Here's exactly what happens to your child's essay" means everything.

Run every AI tool through the permission slip test before adoption, not after. It's faster than a breach notification, cheaper than a lawyer, and it keeps the focus where it belongs — on the families who trusted you with their kids.

I explain frameworks; I don't give legal counsel.