Arlington "options" elementary schools - screen use?

[Anonymous]

Hi all, I know there's no guarantee of access to an options (lottery) school, but I'm curious how the 3 non-Montessori options schools (my understanding is this is only Key, Campbell, ATS?) compare to the neighborhood publics in terms of technology/screen use in elementary school? We are looking for an elementary with limited screen time. Our neighborhood public is Discovery — also curious what screen use looks like there especially in younger grades.

[Anonymous]

ATS doesn’t use screens at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ATS doesn’t use screens at all.

Wow. Sounds amazing!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS doesn’t use screens at all.

Wow. Sounds amazing!!

It is. No idea why APS doesn’t duplicate the model for mainstream schools. I think it’s more work for the teachers maybe?

[Anonymous]

We saw on the Discovery website that they say students in grades 3-5 use iPads an average of 90 minutes (!!) a DAY. Can any current Discovery parents say whether or not this is true? That seems ludicrously high.

Source on the Discovery website seems to be a 2016-2017 review, so maybe they have decreased screen use since then? https://discovery.apsva.us/techpractices/

[Anonymous]

I don't understand people who approach this issue in such a black and white way.

I have a much older kid who had to learn his math facts the "old fashioned" ways. Flashcards, times tables, etc. Just repetition and memorization. It was pretty brutal.

Guess what they have on the terrible ipads. Something called Reflex that makes learning their math facts pretty painless. Such an improvement. It's an example of good use of technology.

Don't ask or look for no screens. Ask how the screens are being used.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand people who approach this issue in such a black and white way.

I have a much older kid who had to learn his math facts the "old fashioned" ways. Flashcards, times tables, etc. Just repetition and memorization. It was pretty brutal.

Guess what they have on the terrible ipads. Something called Reflex that makes learning their math facts pretty painless. Such an improvement. It's an example of good use of technology.

Don't ask or look for no screens. Ask how the screens are being used.

The issue is not repetitive training; that is something of an improvement.

But writing math, reading texts on paper stimulates the brain differently and offers less distractions.

Many lessons have just become “watch video” and don’t get me started on the screentime as incentive — hurry up and rush through classwork so you can get time to play some psuedoeducational game.

I’m sure it’s way higher than 90 minutes, but I need to check screentime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand people who approach this issue in such a black and white way.

I have a much older kid who had to learn his math facts the "old fashioned" ways. Flashcards, times tables, etc. Just repetition and memorization. It was pretty brutal.

Guess what they have on the terrible ipads. Something called Reflex that makes learning their math facts pretty painless. Such an improvement. It's an example of good use of technology.

Don't ask or look for no screens. Ask how the screens are being used.

The issue is not repetitive training; that is something of an improvement.

But writing math, reading texts on paper stimulates the brain differently and offers less distractions.

Many lessons have just become “watch video” and don’t get me started on the screentime as incentive — hurry up and rush through classwork so you can get time to play some psuedoeducational game.

I’m sure it’s way higher than 90 minutes, but I need to check screentime.

Agree with you. I was responding to people applauding ATS for saying no screen time at all. To me, that is just virtue signaling and not smart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS doesn’t use screens at all.

Wow. Sounds amazing!!

It is. No idea why APS doesn’t duplicate the model for mainstream schools. I think it’s more work for the teachers maybe?

Is this really true? That they don’t use iPads at all in any grade at ATS? I’ve never heard that before, and the ATS website says students are issued iPads. So they just literally never use them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand people who approach this issue in such a black and white way.

I have a much older kid who had to learn his math facts the "old fashioned" ways. Flashcards, times tables, etc. Just repetition and memorization. It was pretty brutal.

Guess what they have on the terrible ipads. Something called Reflex that makes learning their math facts pretty painless. Such an improvement. It's an example of good use of technology.

Don't ask or look for no screens. Ask how the screens are being used.

Gamification of everything is making them unable to handle life. Sometimes life and work is boring and brutal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS doesn’t use screens at all.

Wow. Sounds amazing!!

It is. No idea why APS doesn’t duplicate the model for mainstream schools. I think it’s more work for the teachers maybe?

Is this really true? That they don’t use iPads at all in any grade at ATS? I’ve never heard that before, and the ATS website says students are issued iPads. So they just literally never use them?

In ATS iPads are only for homework (something else that other elementary schools do differently: no homework).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand people who approach this issue in such a black and white way.

I have a much older kid who had to learn his math facts the "old fashioned" ways. Flashcards, times tables, etc. Just repetition and memorization. It was pretty brutal.

Guess what they have on the terrible ipads. Something called Reflex that makes learning their math facts pretty painless. Such an improvement. It's an example of good use of technology.

Don't ask or look for no screens. Ask how the screens are being used.

The issue is not repetitive training; that is something of an improvement.

But writing math, reading texts on paper stimulates the brain differently and offers less distractions.

Many lessons have just become “watch video” and don’t get me started on the screentime as incentive — hurry up and rush through classwork so you can get time to play some psuedoeducational game.

I’m sure it’s way higher than 90 minutes, but I need to check screentime.

Agree with you. I was responding to people applauding ATS for saying no screen time at all. To me, that is just virtue signaling and not smart.

Your opinion MUST be the only correct one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand people who approach this issue in such a black and white way.

I have a much older kid who had to learn his math facts the "old fashioned" ways. Flashcards, times tables, etc. Just repetition and memorization. It was pretty brutal.

Guess what they have on the terrible ipads. Something called Reflex that makes learning their math facts pretty painless. Such an improvement. It's an example of good use of technology.

Don't ask or look for no screens. Ask how the screens are being used.

The issue is not repetitive training; that is something of an improvement.

But writing math, reading texts on paper stimulates the brain differently and offers less distractions.

Many lessons have just become “watch video” and don’t get me started on the screentime as incentive — hurry up and rush through classwork so you can get time to play some psuedoeducational game.

I’m sure it’s way higher than 90 minutes, but I need to check screentime.

Agree with you. I was responding to people applauding ATS for saying no screen time at all. To me, that is just virtue signaling and not smart.

I’m only modestly onboard with reflex, I would prefer no screens all day except when programming or maybe writing papers.

Some remedial kids would benefit from reflex, but for kids who will need stamina and rigor of more advance math, doing things the hard way helps build their reserves and attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand people who approach this issue in such a black and white way.

I have a much older kid who had to learn his math facts the "old fashioned" ways. Flashcards, times tables, etc. Just repetition and memorization. It was pretty brutal.

Guess what they have on the terrible ipads. Something called Reflex that makes learning their math facts pretty painless. Such an improvement. It's an example of good use of technology.

Don't ask or look for no screens. Ask how the screens are being used.

Gamification of everything is making them unable to handle life. Sometimes life and work is boring and brutal.

To say nothing of the fact that memorization and drilling are core cognitive processes that, when developed as youths, pay dividends in adult life. People used to memorize entire long blocks of poetry or prose. Avoiding it altogether does kids a disservice. I would love to see data comparing reflex vs rote memorization for math facts. I suspect memorization will almost always win.

[Anonymous]

This whole thread is people talking out of their asses with their own biases, but what else is new on DCUM.

Would be interesting to see some actual data on the math fact question.