DALLAS – Educator Tonya Whitaker has spent three years watching generative artificial intelligence reshape both her teaching and her students’ approaches to learning. These changes, however, have not been entirely negative.
Whitaker’s findings are highlighted in her recent report, Ethical AI and The Mastery Edge: Empowering Dallas-area Microschool Teens with Thoughtful AI Integration, published through her yearlong EDSAFE AI Alliance Women in AI Fellowship. The report draws on her research from EDSAFE AI fellowship alumni, Texas workforce data, student data privacy organizations, and ongoing integration of AI into her college-level English composition instruction that includes dual credit high school students.
Key findings from the report
- 84% of high school students use AI for schoolwork. Yet many teachers remain unfamiliar with generative AI beyond concerns about cheating, often relying on unreliable detection tools.
- While 59% of schools seek parental input on AI tools, half of parents express a desire for greater involvement but feel they lack sufficient information. This gap represents an opportunity for schools to better engage families in AI education decisions.
- In January 2026, the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act (TRAIGA) became a law, which further expanded student privacy protections along with the Texas Student Privacy Act (Ed Code 32.151) and FERPA.
While AI is available as an optional tool for future MAHS students, Whitaker is clear that human skills remain the priority.
“I advocate for student choice,” said Whitaker, a former newspaper journalist who homeschooled her three children through high school. “Our microschool is a format where teenagers can experiment and create with AI. Teens are taking it upon themselves to fill the gaps traditional education is leaving behind. When AI is used thoughtfully and ethically, I have found that students build critical thinking skills and shape an education that fits their needs.”
Mastery Academics HS opens August 31
On August 31, she will open Mastery Academics High School, a Dallas-based microschool serving 15 teens ages 14-17 in south Collin and north Dallas counties. The hybrid school emphasizes subject-level mastery and project-based learning. Texas and national educators, policymakers, and workforce organizations have been actively discussing disengagement in the classroom. Whitaker said bringing textbook subjects to life through projects that solve real-life problems has always excited her students and built their confidence.
“Writing news articles on the monthly recycling drive at my high school always excited me,” Whitaker reflects. “I interviewed members of the community who cared for the environment as much as I did; this is real-world learning and building ‘soft skills’ authentically.”
In addition to her fellowship work, Whitaker draws on her role as a marketable skills faculty integrator at Dallas College and collaborations with the National Applied AI Consortium (NAAIC). One of her early course-level alignments focused on critical thinking and personal responsibility while using AI in English composition.
“Technology comes and goes, but human skills remain the same,” she said. “The workforce will always depend on thinkers, communicators, and collaborators. A balanced education — now and in the future — will involve AI.”
To learn more about Mastery Academics High School, visit www.masteryacademics.school or contact Whitaker at 469-512-9366.
About EDSAFE AI Alliance
The EDSAFE AI Alliance, nonprofit organization based in New York City, aims to promote AI’s safe, accountable, fair, and equitable (SAFE) use in education. Led by a Steering Committee of leading education, technology, and learning organizations, the Alliance joins forces to address one of our time’s most pressing educational policy challenges. Anchored in the SAFE framework, EDSAFE focuses on policy development and support at the federal, state, and local level through our education and advocacy efforts. We support the field through a national network of district-level policy labs and a groundbreaking fellowship to build the field’s capacity. Learn more about EDSAFE AI at http://www.edsafeai.org
