Executive Order seeks to expand AI education

On April 23, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to advance artificial intelligence (AI) education and training. Titled "Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth," the order seeks to promote AI literacy and proficiency among learners and educators, emphasizing the importance of providing youth with opportunities to learn about and engage with AI from a young age. Acknowledging AI’s growing role in society and the needs of the future workforce, the order states, “America’s youth need opportunities to cultivate the skills and understanding necessary to use and create the next generation of AI technology.”          

The order directs the Department of Education, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Department of Labor to work collaboratively and within their agencies to ensure all learners have opportunities to engage with AI and that educators have access to professional development and teaching resources focused on AI. The Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Education, and the NSF Director are instructed to work together to create opportunities for high school students to participate in AI courses and certification programs. Individual agency directives include:

• The Department of Education is directed to prioritize AI in discretionary grant programs, support educator professional development in instructing students in AI and foundational computer science, and to support educators in utilizing AI tools in the learning environment. 
• The Department of Labor is directed to expand AI-related apprenticeships and encourage states to use Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funding for work-based learning in AI by (1) promoting the use of WIOA youth formula funds to help youth develop AI skills, (2) encouraging the use of governor set-asides to integrate AI learning opportunities into youth programs, and (3) ensuring Employment and Training Administration youth-focused discretionary grant programs prioritize AI skills training. 
• The Director of the NSF is directed to prioritize research on the use of AI in education and leverage existing programs to create educator training opportunities focused on integrating AI-based tools and modalities into classrooms. 

Additionally, the order creates a White House Task Force on AI Education. Task Force members are federal agency leaders, and they will seek to foster public-private partnerships, including with philanthropy and nonprofits, to develop and distribute online AI educational resources. The Task Force will also establish a Presidential AI Challenge to recognize student and educator achievements and encourage broad participation in AI education.

Afterschool programs must be an essential partner in this work.

We are pleased that the order also directs the Secretary of Agriculture to prioritize “research, extension, and education on the use of AI in formal and non-formal education through 4-H and the Cooperative Extension System.” While this is an acknowledgement of learning that occurs in non-formal settings such as 4-H programs, 5.7 million young people participate in a myriad of other afterschool programs that offer STEM learning opportunities as well. Afterschool programs are already working to bridge the gap between what is learned during the school day and workforce opportunities. Some afterschool programs have been engaging young people in AI through a variety of partnerships for years, demonstrated in programs such as STEMarts Lab in New Mexico and Technovation across the country. This Executive Order provides an opportunity to highlight how afterschool programs and afterschool educators are not only enhancing AI literacy but are also engaging young people in critical discussions on the responsible and thoughtful role of AI in society and how young people can be creators and innovators rather than simply consumers. 

We urge the administration to direct all the relevant agencies to include afterschool and other informal learning environments in their AI education initiatives. The nation must take an "all-hands-on-deck" approach to AI education, and afterschool programs must be viewed as essential partners with adequate resources devoted to both programs and afterschool educator professional development.

The Afterschool STEM Hub has been working over the past year and a half to engage both the AI education community and policymakers to ensure that afterschool is included in AI education legislation and other AI literacy initiatives. For instance, we have been working with the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee staff to ensure that afterschool, summer, and other out-of-school time STEM educators are included as eligible grant recipients in any legislation providing professional development on teaching AI literacy. Examples of introduced legislation we have been engaging on include the NSF AI Education Act and the LIFT AI Act. Most recently, we have been engaging with the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee staff to ensure afterschool programs and educators are included in federal AI education and workforce initiatives. Earlier this year, we also participated in the Ashby Workshops, hosted by Fathom, joining leaders from a vast array of disciplines and sectors in discussing and planning critical action steps for AI governance. Our goal of attending this invite-only workshop was to ensure afterschool, summer, and other out-of-school time STEM programs, including youth voice and perspective, continue to be included in the conversation.

A directive for agencies to prioritize AI literacy for all young people is an important step toward achieving this goal. In order to ensure that all young people have meaningful access to AI education and literacy, the AI Task Force and policymakers will need to take steps to guarantee that all communities have reliable digital connections, that AI engagement takes place on platforms working diligently to decrease algorithmic bias, that young people’s creativity and data are protected, and that the educator professional development programs are available to afterschool educators in addition to school-day teachers. Such an approach would realize the potential of afterschool programs to be partners in the effort to ensure youth in communities across the country are not left behind in the AI revolution.

• Access the fact sheet on the Executive Order
• Read the full Executive Order