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Little Impact of ChatGPT Availability on High School Student Test Score Performance

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  • Nick Huntington-Klein

Abstract

In educational settings, AI can be used as a learning aid, but can also be used to avoid schoolwork, thereby passing classes while learning little. Many existing studies on the impact of AI on education focus on AI use in controlled settings or with specialized tools. In this paper, the dropoff in ChatGPT activity during non-school summer months in 2023 and 2024 is used to identify areas with heavy educational AI use and thus estimate the educational impact of AI as it is actually used. I find no meaningful impact of AI usage on high school test score averages in either direction. These results imply that, to the extent that high school students use AI to avoid learning, it either does not matter much for their test performance or is cancelled out by positive uses of AI in the aggregate.

Suggested Citation

  • Nick Huntington-Klein, 2026. "Little Impact of ChatGPT Availability on High School Student Test Score Performance," Papers 2605.08812, arXiv.org, revised May 2026.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2605.08812
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