- Coming up on Inside California Education, 16 and 17 year olds in Oakland and Berkeley recently made history when they became the first in California to gain the right to vote in school board elections.

- One of the kind of rallying cries of this whole process has been no decisions about us without us.

- Plus discover why this Sacramento High School is drawing students from around the region to join its manufacturing and design career pathway and robotics team.

- I'm already coding a robot to move by itself and to do certain tasks, which I think will definitely carry on to you know, a future career.

- Visit a school in Torrance Unified that's using a chatbot in the classroom to train students how to ethically use artificial intelligence.

- You're gonna type your response, AI's gonna read it, it's gonna grade it based on the rubrics that we use all the time - And meet the student journalists behind the Boyle Heights beat.

It's a thriving news hub staffed by young reporters from schools all around Los Angeles Unified.

It's all coming up next on Inside California Education.

- Funding for Inside California Education is made possible by - The California lottery is turning 40.

And together with players, retail partners and our staff, we're celebrating decades of raising extra money for public education.

More than $46 billion in four decades of having fun.

Thank you, from the California lottery, - Imagine a credit union where school employees are treated like the heroes you are.

At school's First Federal Credit Union.

Everything we do starts with helping school employees and their families live better today and plan for tomorrow.

Learn more at schoolsfirstfcu.org.

- The Stuart Foundation improving life outcomes for young people through education, CollegeBoard, helping all students own their future.

Additional funding for Inside California Education is made possible by these organizations supporting public education.

[ Upbeat Music ] [ School bell ringing ] [ Upbeat Music ] [ Relaxed reggaton beat ] - My biggest priority is being an educated voter.

I wanna make sure that I have all the resources together and I'm able to make like a really methodical decision.

It's - Its five days before election and Berkeley High School Junior Ali is about to cast her vote for the first time in California.

16 and 17 year olds in the cities of Berkeley and Oakland are voting in the 2024 school board elections.

- And I'm also really excited because it's preparing me for bigger elections and learning like how to fill out a ballot and where to drop it and what to do I feel like is like I'm really excited for that because a lot of other students aren't gonna have that ability.

- I'm just really eager to for youth to really start to see themselves as a potential voting block.

- Lucas Breca Meisner is the director of Oakland Kids First.

He describes the nonprofit as a youth power building organization.

It was deeply involved in the effort to get the youth vote passed and implemented.

- Schools exist because of students and students have so much experiential expertise of being inside these institutions.

They have so much more lived experience in these public systems and yet have historically had no say so.

There's also so many studies that have showed that younger first time voters are more likely to become lifelong voters, but the biggest reason is they want to be able to hold their elected officials accountable.

- It took more than eight years to arrive at this moment.

Berkeley passed a measure allowing youth voting for school boards in 2016.

Oakland passed a similar measure in 2020, but it wasn't until 2024 that the Alameda County registrar voters finalized a system that allowed 16 and 17 year olds to vote with a special ballot that only includes a single race.

Young people advocated for their voices to be heard throughout the long process.

- One of the kind of rallying cries of this whole process has been no decisions about us without us.

- I come from a minority group in Berkeley High School and so our perspectives don't often get, and I wanted to know why.

- High school Senior Zamara is part of a group called youth and government that's involved in the youth vote effort.

She says one of her goals is elevating the voices of students of color.

- There's issues like the achievement gap, which a lot of people aren't necessarily aware of, but we have the second highest achievement gap in the nation.

We've had less diverse teachers in our school and that's an issue that a lot of minority students have come up to me and talked about.

And so advocating for more diverse teachers.

- Another issue that students say they want addressed is school bathrooms.

They say they are often broken down and lack basic products.

- Making sure we're able to have access to those things is really important.

And having students' voices being heard and candidates cater and really listen to students is really important - And the candidates are listening.

Oakland students held a youth candidates forum in the month before the election.

Seven out of eight school board candidates attended answering questions about the district budget, mental health, keeping students safe on campus and other concerns.

- And what happened that night is that I heard directly from students because of the kinds of questions that they asked about what matters most to them.

I don't think it necessarily changed my platform per se, 'cause that was always informed by students.

But I definitely tried harder to make sure that what I put out was something that was accessible to students.

And when students invited me to speak to their organizations or to show up on a panel, I definitely showed up and prioritize that over other things.

- It's been really good to have the candidates kind of listen to students more and more because they know they're getting our votes because they are representing us.

- The role that young people play in these elections is significant, particularly in lower voter turnout districts.

To think that a significant number of young people are gonna be newly enfranchised than those districts and that they are registering at a higher clip than some of the adults I think can have you know, be of great consequence when it comes to these elections.

- By election day of 2024, just under 1500 youth in Oakland and Berkeley were registered to vote.

Ultimately 575 young people cast a vote, although not every district in Oakland was up for a vote that year.

Outside of Oakland and Berkeley, a handful of cities in Maryland, Vermont, and New Jersey allow youth voting.

But the movement is growing.

- Hopefully because of how things will evolve here in Oakland, it'll catch fire and there will be other places across the state and across the country who will pay attention and want the same for their young people.

- And because we're the first municipality to do this and because there is definitely an appetite from a lot of folks nationally, I think this desire to how do we make sure we get this right?

- And I think as we continue to work on advocating for our voices and other cities and other high schools will pick that up and they'll have a smoother time implementing that within their own cities.

- Advocates for lowering the voting age to 16 say it's an effective way to strengthen the nation's democracy.

According to Vote 16 USA giving 16 and 17 year olds the power to vote brings relevance to high school civics classes.

Research also shows that voting in one election can increase the probability that a person will vote in the next election by more than 50%.

And they say teens are impacted by local issues including school funding, policing, job initiatives, and public transit.

[ Whimsical music ] - When it came time to pick a high school, Rachel knew exactly where she wanted to go.

John F. Kennedy High School in Sacramento.

That's because it offers a unique career pathway for manufacturing and design.

Also known as MAD.

- At JFK you can go into the MAD program and that really allows you to dive deeper into your interest for manufacturing and design and just engineering in general.

That also allows you to like go into more tailored classes for you.

- The program immerses students in the world of manufacturing, engineering and design over a three year span.

And they create some amazing things.

- In this class, students do a lot of project-based learning, so they're given some information to start, some guidelines.

I give them necessary information, they make progress on whatever project they're working on and they stop and ask very specific questions that they want answers to.

And they remember because double click, they wanted to learn that.

Imagine it's like opening the doors on the machine.

- Starting freshman year, students learn computer aided design and 3D printing as sophomores.

They're introduced to manufacturing engineering and they learn to use laser cutters, 3D cutters and other heavy machinery.

Upper class students operate various machines in JFK state-of-the-art MAD facility to create advanced manufacturing projects.

- The manufacturing design program is kind of the crown jewel of our district.

I mean they get students from truly the whole county that want to come here to participate in this program because it's very, very unique from the sense of the abundance of machines.

We actually have, - A lot of schools don't have this.

So I think it's really important that there is a place for students to come and dive deeper into their love for engineering and design stuff.

- Rachel was inspired to join the school after seeing both of her older brothers graduate from the MAD program three years into that same program.

She knows she made the right choice.

- It really does allow for you to like express your true wanting to do stuff.

And especially being a girl, you know, it is a little bit intimidating sometimes 'cause you might think of engineering as a male dominated field, but when you come in, especially at JFK, it's super warm and welcoming and it allows you to make a space for other people as well.

- The program is aimed at providing students with opportunities and choices after they graduate high school, the choice to go straight to work, the choice to go to college and further their learning in something that they love.

- And for students still in high school, there's another choice.

They can join the JFK robotics team, an afterschool club where students collaborate to design, manufacture and program their own robot from scratch.

A robot that will then compete against others in a competition called the First Tech Challenge.

- First robotics is work-based learning for a lot of these students.

They get to use their design, their manufacturing skills and push them to another level where they're now working within a team building soft skills and really elevating themselves to a new level in terms of pushing themselves outside of their comfort zone.

- I mean, it put me into a whole new world of engineering and I'm honestly super, super amazed how much I've been able to learn just by being in robotics, like working with a team.

And so with MAD and Robotics, like I know I'm just not doing a bunch of random work and like this work will definitely be applied in the future.

- If you love building things, if you love designing things, if you love, you know, for some reason finite element analysis like this allows you to realize that and say, okay, I can like zoom in on exactly what I want to be doing and enjoy every step that I take after high school.

- And some students like Akith have already begun zooming in on a career path.

- I think robotics sparked my interest for making rovers for NASA.

That's like the biggest thing that I think I want to do in the future.

I'm already coding a robot to move by itself and to do certain tasks, which I think will definitely carry on to, you know, a future career.

So it has definitely stuck with me for a long time.

- Building upon their success, John F. Kennedy High School plans to expand their program to make it available to even more students in the region.

- You know, it's, it's a great time when you have the students and your staff excited about trying new things and this key thing is the opportunities for the kids.

When kids have stuff that they're, that motivate them and they're engaged with, you know, sky's the limit.

- Still ahead on Inside California Education, go inside Boyle Heights Beat.

This unique student journalism project in Los Angeles County gives students a place to hone their skills in reporting, photography and podcasting.

But first, a look at a school that is embracing artificial intelligence.

Torrance Unified says their goal is to train students how to use AI responsibly and ethically - Artificial intelligence.

A few years ago, little more than a futuristic vision.

Today, a technology and a tool that's rapidly becoming part of every aspect of our lives, including in our public school classrooms.

- If we're not teaching students how to think with AI, they're gonna let AI think for them.

- Taraneh Karim plays a key role in bringing AI into the classroom at Torrance Unified.

An effort the district began in the 2023-24 school year.

As an educational technology teacher, she helps develop model lessons for students from elementary to high school and holds sessions for teachers, showing them how to use AI responsibly and ethically.

- Torrance Unified is definitely leading the path when it comes to innovation.

With regard to integrating technology into the classroom.

One of the sometimes is just going a little bit too fast and doing too much too quickly.

So we wanted to create the policies and guidelines before actually bringing AI into the classroom.

- Classrooms in Torrance Unified use School AI, an educational platform where teachers can generate learning materials and create spaces for students to chat with an AI assistant.

- We're gonna read and annotate that article, making sure that we understand what's happening.

Then we're gonna jump into our AI conversation.

- Today at North High School, students in Miss Tibbils junior English class are using the chat bot to prepare for standardized tests in the spring.

- With AI, we're trying to find ways to use it to enhance learning.

It's not about just using a tool because it's available.

If we have a skill we wanna work on, like say we wanna work on synthesis or analysis, we're trying to find ways to incorporate AI to help students get at that skill specifically.

- This time it's gonna give you multiple choice questions.

You have 10 multiple choice questions and what we're gonna do is you're gonna give it an option, then it's gonna tell you whether the question's right or wrong.

- The chatbot grades students' responses with answer keys and rubrics provided by the teacher.

The goal is to help each student's interaction with the bot feel more personalized.

- You're gonna type your response, AI's gonna read it, it's gonna grade it based on the rubrics that we use all the time.

It individualizes the instruction for them because it meets the student where they're at.

So if students who are maybe more high achieving or a little bit more engaged in the process, it's gonna push them where they are.

And then those who need that extra support, it's gonna come alongside them and modify the conversation.

- So if there was a consistent pattern of all the students not understanding the concept of rhetoric or persuasive language, AI can focus in on that and give support as needed for students based off of how they demonstrate their understanding.

- I think the chat box that we use in English is very, extremely helpful, especially for studying, practicing for a test.

I think it's fun.

We can all move at our own pace.

- With all this knowledge at their fingertips, many educators remain concerned about students using AI to cheat or plagiarize.

A Pew research study found that a quarter of us teachers say that AI does more harm than good.

Some school districts in California have blocked access to AI on school issued laptops altogether.

Torrance Unified is taking a different approach.

- We've got to model our expectations as educators and show students to use AI as something that can help them, but not do everything for them.

Asking AI to do something for you or prompting AI is a specific skillset.

You have to be intentional, you have to be mindful, you have to think about what your intended outcome is going to be.

And if things don't go right, what do you do?

And so for students, it's maybe asking, I wrote this paper but I need some specific feedback.

Is my thesis statement strong enough?

Do I have a persuasive enough argument?

Those are specific questions that when you ask AI, you've got to use your brain in order to get the output that you want.

- And despite its wealth of knowledge, AI isn't perfect, - This is the glitchy part of today.

Even with the correct answers, sometimes it's telling you that that's not the correct answer and you're like, but I know that it is.

We had that glitch today where you could see students getting frustrated, but then they were then thinking more critically about their responses because they were going into the text.

They're nudging their neighbor going, Hey, wait a minute, I know this is the correct answer.

It says it right here in the text.

And I said, go ahead and push back on it a little bit.

And that's when, when they started engaging more in the conversation beyond what we had planned in the assignment, they started thinking harder.

- It's about progress, not perfection.

Trying to get to an arbitrary finish line doesn't necessarily exist when it comes to AI because we have to be really patient with progress.

And AI changes all the time.

- As AI continues to evolve, educators are looking at ways it can even foster connections beyond the screen.

- If we're able to use something like AI to produce lesson plans or assessment or even grade student handwritten essays for us, it frees up more time for us to be able to build a more welcoming and a more warm classroom environment.

It will never replace a teacher in a classroom 'cause you need that emotional connection.

There are just certain things that no matter how well-rounded a bot can be, it's just not gonna understand the human experience because it, it can't.

But there will be an environment of coexistence.

- More California schools will soon be incorporating artificial intelligence in their curriculum.

A new law signed by Governor Newsom directs a commission to include AI literacy in the curriculum and instructional materials starting in 2025.

This applies to math, science, and social science.

The bill also requires media literacy for those subjects and English.

The goal is to increase students' understanding of how artificial intelligence works and how to use it.

This means knowing its principles, concepts, and applications, as well as its limitations, implications and ethical considerations.

- Big ideas are being born inside this small but mighty medium.

This is the newsroom of Boyle Heights.

Beat a student run news outlet in East Los Angeles where budding journalists are pitching and discussing hyper-local stories they want to cover.

Destiny is a senior at Mendez High School on LA's East side.

She's back at Boyle Heights beat for her second year.

Learning about journalism as well as trading teenage doubt for a microphone and a mission.

- I'm able to gain new skills, like skills that I'm gonna need for the future.

Like for example, like I talked to a lot of new people with like the people that I've interviewed and like, I feel like before I was like a really shy person and like I didn't really like communicate with like people that were like outside of my comfort zone.

But with like Boyle Heights Beat I learned to like make new connections and like actually speak to new people without being afraid.

So that's why I feel like it's really gonna help you for like my future career.

- You can see it in your glasses.

A smile.

- Today's journalism lesson is in the field and how to use these reflectors to bounce sunlight onto their subject.

To be videoed and photographed, there are 30 students enrolled in this afterschool production.

They are recruited from schools throughout Los Angeles Unified School district.

Together these students work hand in hand with professional journalists.

This is full immersion in print and digital media, photography and podcasting.

David is a senior at Mendez High telling stories, he says, no one else might tell.

- Being part of Boyle Heights Beat, I've learned so many stories.

I remember during one of my times I had done a photo essay on a food vendor near my school.

But once I started talking to him, I found out his story, how he had been there before the school even got built.

How he saw all that create what happened before it.

And then he also told me a story how he suffered.

He went through like a, an attack.

And I feel like sometimes those stories aren't heard.

All you have to do is ask and you'll know.

And like a organization like this helps that it helps go like, kids like me go out and learn more.

And that's something that I really appreciate about it.

- Bienvenidos to the latest Radio Pulso, the Boyle Heights Beat podcast.

My name is Valentina Guevara - Content creation continues in the podcast studio where student journalists produce Radio Pulso, covering topics from controversial construction projects to spotlighting local comedians.

It's news by and for the community.

- We build you up for the real world because you're in the real world.

- Carmen Gonzalez is the student journalism manager of the beat.

She's seen a lot of changes even making news.

In 2024, Boyle Heights Beat was integrated into the LA Local News initiative and served as a national model to launch similar publications.

Created in 2010, the Beats newsroom and student journalism programs are funded through foundations and individual support, allowing more than 300 students to come through this program, including Carmen herself in 2017.

Her story at the Beat runs deep.

- What is happening here, what we're creating here is, you know, a lot of these students are first generation students who are going off to college, you know, in a, in, in a year or so, once they joined the program.

And I remember entering even at community college and being so ahead for my peers and just basic etiquette.

They don't teach you that in high school.

- The beat is bilingual and when students get their work published, they get paid.

But for David, this experience is much more than money combined.

- It's really helped me like just express myself a lot.

I found it to be like a form of therapy apart from just writing and like giving out the news.

It it's helped me find a sense of therapy for myself just to find, be able to find peace and also share with other is, I feel like photography is something that it, it not only belongs to one, but many people can see it and also interpret it their own ways.

And I feel like what we learn here, it's not just based in the classroom, it could be used anywhere.

- That's it for this edition of Inside California Education.

If you'd like more information about the program, log onto our website insidecaled.org.

We have stories from all of our shows and you can connect with us on social media.

Thanks for joining us.

We'll see you next time on Inside California Education.

[ Students chatting ] - We're gonna read and annotate that article, making sure that we understand what's happening.

Then we're gonna jump into our AI conversation.

- Funding for Inside California Education is made possible by - The California lottery is turning 40.

And together with players, retail partners and our staff, we're celebrating decades of raising extra money for public education.

More than $46 billion in four decades of having fun.

Thank you.

From the California lottery, - Imagine a credit union where school employees are treated like the heroes you are.

At School's First Federal Credit Union.

Everything we do starts with helping school employees and their families live better today and plan for tomorrow.

Learn more at schoolsfirstfcu.org.

- The Stuart Foundation, improving life outcomes for young people through Education, CollegeBoard, helping all students own their future.

Additional funding for Inside California Education is made possible by these organizations supporting public education.