AI and Teacher Workload: What the Gallup Survey Shows

In short: A Gallup and Walton Family Foundation survey of 2,232 US public school teachers, published on June 24, 2025, found that 60% had used AI tools for work and that teachers who use them weekly estimate they save 5.9 hours a week, about six weeks over a school year. The figures are self-reported, they cover the United States only, and the benefit is much smaller for occasional users. It is evidence about teacher time, not about student learning.

Key Takeaways

• 60% of surveyed US teachers used AI tools for work; 32% used them at least weekly, and 28% monthly or less.
• Weekly users estimate they save 5.9 hours per week, which Gallup extends to about six weeks across a 37.4-week school year.
• The most common uses were preparing to teach (37% monthly or more), creating worksheets and activities (33%) and modifying materials for student needs (28%).
• Between 57% and 74% of teachers said AI improved the quality of their work at least somewhat, depending on the task, and fewer than 16% said it made it worse.
• The time savings are teachers' own estimates, and the survey does not measure what students learned.

What Is the Evidence?

The source is a Gallup report published June 24, 2025, produced with the Walton Family Foundation. It surveyed 2,232 US public K-12 teachers between March 18 and April 11, 2025, using the RAND American Teacher Panel, a nationally representative panel. Gallup reports a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, with results weighted to school and teacher demographics.

What Does the Technology Do for Teachers?

Teachers in the survey used AI mostly for the paperwork around teaching rather than teaching itself: lesson preparation, worksheets, adapting materials, and administrative work. In plain terms, the tool drafts a first version and the teacher edits it. Time savings were estimated by teachers in half-hour steps, task by task.

What Changed?

A majority of surveyed teachers now report using AI for work. Gallup's main framing is that the benefit scales with regular use: weekly users report greater savings than monthly users, and are twice as likely to report "much higher quality" work. Gallup also notes from its qualitative data that teachers reinvest the time they save.

Who Benefits?

Within the survey, the beneficiaries are teachers who use AI regularly. Administrative work saw the highest share reporting better quality (74%), and grading and feedback the lowest (57%). Indirectly, students may benefit if saved time goes back into teaching, but the survey does not test that. For what students themselves gain or lose from AI, see the trial evidence in AI tutoring and personalized learning: what the trials show and the OECD's view in OECD on AI in education: performance is not learning.

What Are the Limitations?

• Self-reported. Gallup says teachers estimated the savings themselves, so these are perceptions, not timed measurements.
• Weekly users are a subset. The 5.9-hour figure applies to the 32% who use AI at least weekly, not to all teachers.
• US only. Nothing here tells us how teachers in Nepal or South Asia work, where we found no comparable survey in this research.
• No student outcomes. The survey does not show whether students learned more.
• Quality is opinion. "Improves quality" is the teacher's judgement, and a minority (under 16%) reported lower quality.
• Policies and concerns were not covered in the parts of the report we could read, so we make no claims about them.

What Happens Next?

This is expectation, not a finding. If schools want these savings, Gallup's own pattern suggests regular, supported use matters more than a one-off trial. The open questions are whether saved time reaches students, whether AI-drafted materials stay accurate, and whether lower-resource schools can get the same benefit. For the wider picture of who actually uses AI, see how AI is changing everyday life: what usage data shows.

The Short Version

In one large US survey, six in ten teachers use AI for work and the regular users say it gives back almost six hours a week. That is a promising signal for teacher workload, held back by self-reporting, a single country, and no evidence yet on student learning.

Related Insights

• AI Tutoring and Personalized Learning: What the Trials Show
• OECD on AI in Education: Performance Is Not Learning
• How AI Is Changing Everyday Life: What Usage Data Shows
• Why AI Matters for Nepal: What the Evidence Shows

Sources

• Gallup and Walton Family Foundation, Gallup report on teacher AI use and time savings, June 24, 2025