APE and tech (APS)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of all the things I care about, elementary school iPad usage is the least of my concerns. If APE talked to their teachers and principals, they would find that even in upper elem, they aren’t even used that much. It’s mostly used for differentiation, so that teachers can put the class on Lexia or Dreambox so that they can do small group work. Anything more will cost money for more teachers to supervise, and we all know what’s going on with the budget. And yes, many standardized tests are administered electronically. You will have to go to Richmond for that.

So tired of APE taking all the oxygen out of the room, so we can’t talk about more salient issues affecting APS. ArlNow is now their mouthpiece.

APS pays teachers less than relative to other districts, we have mainstreamed kids with challenges, and ramped up testing. There will be times when the teacher needs to focus on on a small group, often times this will consume a large portion of the day, so what would the kids do before iPads? They would watch a movie. Or worksheets. This may or may not be better, but the real problem is the classes are too large now, and there’s too much differentiation effort to allow them to actually teach the class as one

You think a kindergarten teacher will put most of their class on an iPad so they can focus on a small group for a large portion of the day??? I don't think so. That's not how kindergarten kids work. Their attention spans don't last long at all.

They’re called digital pacifiers for a reason.

+1 and when you try to take them away from some kids they have a major meltdown

Like the meltdown APE is having over tech, lol

No. Not everything they do is a meltdown. Their behavior during Covid was bad. This is productive

[Anonymous]

No devices sounds great. Until there is some event and kids can’t go to school in person for whatever reason.

March 12 2020 - no one really was thinking pandemic that closes everything down
March 13 2020 - there is a pandemic and everything is go to shut down

now replace pandemic will some other event that will close down a school. It will never happen you think until it happens.

Look how many teachers and admins didn’t even know what Zoom was or for that matter an online meeting.

APS had no idea how even get the tech setup for online meetings.

The bottom line is that devices have to be part of planning for events that might disrupt in person school. Id they drop it when needed the curve to get things on track will be even bigger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No devices sounds great. Until there is some event and kids can’t go to school in person for whatever reason.

March 12 2020 - no one really was thinking pandemic that closes everything down
March 13 2020 - there is a pandemic and everything is go to shut down

now replace pandemic will some other event that will close down a school. It will never happen you think until it happens.

Look how many teachers and admins didn’t even know what Zoom was or for that matter an online meeting.

APS had no idea how even get the tech setup for online meetings.

The bottom line is that devices have to be part of planning for events that might disrupt in person school. Id they drop it when needed the curve to get things on track will be even bigger.

The only students who wouldn't have 1:1 devices would be K-2 and, as a parent who supervised that age in virtual instruction during COVID, nothing short of another deadly global pandemic would necessitate virtual instruction for that age group. And even then it might not be worth it unless the closure went on for months and months. I'm willing to take that risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of all the things I care about, elementary school iPad usage is the least of my concerns. If APE talked to their teachers and principals, they would find that even in upper elem, they aren’t even used that much. It’s mostly used for differentiation, so that teachers can put the class on Lexia or Dreambox so that they can do small group work. Anything more will cost money for more teachers to supervise, and we all know what’s going on with the budget. And yes, many standardized tests are administered electronically. You will have to go to Richmond for that.

So tired of APE taking all the oxygen out of the room, so we can’t talk about more salient issues affecting APS. ArlNow is now their mouthpiece.

APS pays teachers less than relative to other districts, we have mainstreamed kids with challenges, and ramped up testing. There will be times when the teacher needs to focus on on a small group, often times this will consume a large portion of the day, so what would the kids do before iPads? They would watch a movie. Or worksheets. This may or may not be better, but the real problem is the classes are too large now, and there’s too much differentiation effort to allow them to actually teach the class as one

You think a kindergarten teacher will put most of their class on an iPad so they can focus on a small group for a large portion of the day??? I don't think so. That's not how kindergarten kids work. Their attention spans don't last long at all.

They’re called digital pacifiers for a reason.

+1 and when you try to take them away from some kids they have a major meltdown

Like the meltdown APE is having over tech, lol

No. Not everything they do is a meltdown. Their behavior during Covid was bad. This is productive

It’s distracting. Why aren’t they lobbying their buddy, Youngkin, to not reduce APS funding? They are a lobbying org that theoretically wants to support our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s significant that APE and AEA are in agreement with this. I support it as well as APS staff/parent

I don't take educational "recommendations" from a lobbying group that twists the "science" to fit its agenda. No thanks.

+1

I don’t trust stealth Republicans no matter what they might say to embed themselves in the community.

So is the head of the teachers' union a "stealth republican" then? Truly, there is no limit to APE's insidious, corrupting influence!

The issue isn’t that they think iPads in k-2 are bad; everyone agrees that they’re not ideal. The issue is that they are shifting the conversation to it. I agree that K-2 shouldn’t spend much time on iPads, but given they don’t actually spend a lot of time on them (and they need them for state testing), it’s a low-priority “issue”. There are many more important issues they should be addressing.

Their goal is to scream about APS and pretend like they’re building community consensus. They don’t actually address the hard issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s significant that APE and AEA are in agreement with this. I support it as well as APS staff/parent

I don't take educational "recommendations" from a lobbying group that twists the "science" to fit its agenda. No thanks.

+1

I don’t trust stealth Republicans no matter what they might say to embed themselves in the community.

So is the head of the teachers' union a "stealth republican" then? Truly, there is no limit to APE's insidious, corrupting influence!

The issue isn’t that they think iPads in k-2 are bad; everyone agrees that they’re not ideal. The issue is that they are shifting the conversation to it. I agree that K-2 shouldn’t spend much time on iPads, but given they don’t actually spend a lot of time on them (and they need them for state testing), it’s a low-priority “issue”. There are many more important issues they should be addressing.

Their goal is to scream about APS and pretend like they’re building community consensus. They don’t actually address the hard issues.

If they don’t spend a lot of time on them why do we need 1:1? We could reduce that and have a classroom set of 4-6
-former APS K teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s significant that APE and AEA are in agreement with this. I support it as well as APS staff/parent

I don't take educational "recommendations" from a lobbying group that twists the "science" to fit its agenda. No thanks.

+1

I don’t trust stealth Republicans no matter what they might say to embed themselves in the community.

So is the head of the teachers' union a "stealth republican" then? Truly, there is no limit to APE's insidious, corrupting influence!

The issue isn’t that they think iPads in k-2 are bad; everyone agrees that they’re not ideal. The issue is that they are shifting the conversation to it. I agree that K-2 shouldn’t spend much time on iPads, but given they don’t actually spend a lot of time on them (and they need them for state testing), it’s a low-priority “issue”. There are many more important issues they should be addressing.

Their goal is to scream about APS and pretend like they’re building community consensus. They don’t actually address the hard issues.

Huh? Did you read the article? APE brought it up at March budget meeting as a way to save money. 1:1 devices in K-2 is something that could be cut that wouldn't hurt K-2 education while making room in the APS budget. As far as I know addressing the budget is a super important issue right now.

I'm not an APE supporter, but rejecting this proposal because it is also supported by APE is stupid.

[Anonymous]

Which assessments are on computers for grades K-2?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s significant that APE and AEA are in agreement with this. I support it as well as APS staff/parent

I don't take educational "recommendations" from a lobbying group that twists the "science" to fit its agenda. No thanks.

+1

I don’t trust stealth Republicans no matter what they might say to embed themselves in the community.

So is the head of the teachers' union a "stealth republican" then? Truly, there is no limit to APE's insidious, corrupting influence!

The issue isn’t that they think iPads in k-2 are bad; everyone agrees that they’re not ideal. The issue is that they are shifting the conversation to it. I agree that K-2 shouldn’t spend much time on iPads, but given they don’t actually spend a lot of time on them (and they need them for state testing), it’s a low-priority “issue”. There are many more important issues they should be addressing.

Their goal is to scream about APS and pretend like they’re building community consensus. They don’t actually address the hard issues.

We all have to remember that APE is a LOBBYING Group. APE is not starting with research and science and studies to study the hard problems in education and arrive at the best outcome. They do it the opposite way. First they come up with an agenda based on what their members want. Then they cherry pick data or misrepresent or misconstrue it to make it look like the science supports their agenda. This is exactly what they did during the pandemic when they wanted schools open so they manufactured the justification for it. Remember the ludicrous claim that Covid doesn’t spread in schools? And follow the science as if it was a given that it was on their side?

And don’t even get me started on their pretended expertise.

It’s the same here. They dislike tech (triggered by virtual learning maybe?) and they have an agenda. We need to figure out the right balance of teach in our schools, but APE has zero credibility or qualifications as we do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s significant that APE and AEA are in agreement with this. I support it as well as APS staff/parent

I don't take educational "recommendations" from a lobbying group that twists the "science" to fit its agenda. No thanks.

+1

I don’t trust stealth Republicans no matter what they might say to embed themselves in the community.

So is the head of the teachers' union a "stealth republican" then? Truly, there is no limit to APE's insidious, corrupting influence!

The issue isn’t that they think iPads in k-2 are bad; everyone agrees that they’re not ideal. The issue is that they are shifting the conversation to it. I agree that K-2 shouldn’t spend much time on iPads, but given they don’t actually spend a lot of time on them (and they need them for state testing), it’s a low-priority “issue”. There are many more important issues they should be addressing.

Their goal is to scream about APS and pretend like they’re building community consensus. They don’t actually address the hard issues.

Huh? Did you read the article? APE brought it up at March budget meeting as a way to save money. 1:1 devices in K-2 is something that could be cut that wouldn't hurt K-2 education while making room in the APS budget. As far as I know addressing the budget is a super important issue right now.

I'm not an APE supporter, but rejecting this proposal because it is also supported by APE is stupid.

So they’re arguing over a tiny amount vs addressing a huge cut in the budget by Youngkin.

It’s a distraction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of all the things I care about, elementary school iPad usage is the least of my concerns. If APE talked to their teachers and principals, they would find that even in upper elem, they aren’t even used that much. It’s mostly used for differentiation, so that teachers can put the class on Lexia or Dreambox so that they can do small group work. Anything more will cost money for more teachers to supervise, and we all know what’s going on with the budget. And yes, many standardized tests are administered electronically. You will have to go to Richmond for that.

So tired of APE taking all the oxygen out of the room, so we can’t talk about more salient issues affecting APS. ArlNow is now their mouthpiece.

APS pays teachers less than relative to other districts, we have mainstreamed kids with challenges, and ramped up testing. There will be times when the teacher needs to focus on on a small group, often times this will consume a large portion of the day, so what would the kids do before iPads? They would watch a movie. Or worksheets. This may or may not be better, but the real problem is the classes are too large now, and there’s too much differentiation effort to allow them to actually teach the class as one

You think a kindergarten teacher will put most of their class on an iPad so they can focus on a small group for a large portion of the day??? I don't think so. That's not how kindergarten kids work. Their attention spans don't last long at all.

They’re called digital pacifiers for a reason.

+1 and when you try to take them away from some kids they have a major meltdown

Like the meltdown APE is having over tech, lol

No. Not everything they do is a meltdown. Their behavior during Covid was bad. This is productive

It’s distracting. Why aren’t they lobbying their buddy, Youngkin, to not reduce APS funding? They are a lobbying org that theoretically wants to support our kids.

Good question. APE never stands up for APS with their bud Youngkin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s significant that APE and AEA are in agreement with this. I support it as well as APS staff/parent

I don't take educational "recommendations" from a lobbying group that twists the "science" to fit its agenda. No thanks.

+1

I don’t trust stealth Republicans no matter what they might say to embed themselves in the community.

So is the head of the teachers' union a "stealth republican" then? Truly, there is no limit to APE's insidious, corrupting influence!

The issue isn’t that they think iPads in k-2 are bad; everyone agrees that they’re not ideal. The issue is that they are shifting the conversation to it. I agree that K-2 shouldn’t spend much time on iPads, but given they don’t actually spend a lot of time on them (and they need them for state testing), it’s a low-priority “issue”. There are many more important issues they should be addressing.

Their goal is to scream about APS and pretend like they’re building community consensus. They don’t actually address the hard issues.

Huh? Did you read the article? APE brought it up at March budget meeting as a way to save money. 1:1 devices in K-2 is something that could be cut that wouldn't hurt K-2 education while making room in the APS budget. As far as I know addressing the budget is a super important issue right now.

I'm not an APE supporter, but rejecting this proposal because it is also supported by APE is stupid.

So they’re arguing over a tiny amount vs addressing a huge cut in the budget by Youngkin.

It’s a distraction.

They know what they are doing, they are all lobbyists and PR. They could pressure Youngkin for funds if they wanted to. They don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s significant that APE and AEA are in agreement with this. I support it as well as APS staff/parent

I don't take educational "recommendations" from a lobbying group that twists the "science" to fit its agenda. No thanks.

+1

I don’t trust stealth Republicans no matter what they might say to embed themselves in the community.

So is the head of the teachers' union a "stealth republican" then? Truly, there is no limit to APE's insidious, corrupting influence!

The issue isn’t that they think iPads in k-2 are bad; everyone agrees that they’re not ideal. The issue is that they are shifting the conversation to it. I agree that K-2 shouldn’t spend much time on iPads, but given they don’t actually spend a lot of time on them (and they need them for state testing), it’s a low-priority “issue”. There are many more important issues they should be addressing.

Their goal is to scream about APS and pretend like they’re building community consensus. They don’t actually address the hard issues.

Huh? Did you read the article? APE brought it up at March budget meeting as a way to save money. 1:1 devices in K-2 is something that could be cut that wouldn't hurt K-2 education while making room in the APS budget. As far as I know addressing the budget is a super important issue right now.

I'm not an APE supporter, but rejecting this proposal because it is also supported by APE is stupid.

THIS!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The iPads in APS are the only way my 1st and 4th grade gifted children are being challenged with differentiated work. If the iPads go, we need an actual gifted program or kids need to be grouped with academic peers. They also need real grades. What’s the point in working hard if the best mark you can get is “meets”.

Hmm. Learning, perhaps?

The problem is that many kids can "meet" 99% of grade level standards before the year even starts. So the report card doesn't reflect learning OR effort. At least with grades you could see that kids were putting in effort to earn the grade by completing assignments.

What?
How does your comment relate to the point about gifted differentiation and the point of working hard only to get a "meets?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s significant that APE and AEA are in agreement with this. I support it as well as APS staff/parent

I don't take educational "recommendations" from a lobbying group that twists the "science" to fit its agenda. No thanks.

+1

I don’t trust stealth Republicans no matter what they might say to embed themselves in the community.

So is the head of the teachers' union a "stealth republican" then? Truly, there is no limit to APE's insidious, corrupting influence!

The issue isn’t that they think iPads in k-2 are bad; everyone agrees that they’re not ideal. The issue is that they are shifting the conversation to it. I agree that K-2 shouldn’t spend much time on iPads, but given they don’t actually spend a lot of time on them (and they need them for state testing), it’s a low-priority “issue”. There are many more important issues they should be addressing.

Their goal is to scream about APS and pretend like they’re building community consensus. They don’t actually address the hard issues.

Huh? Did you read the article? APE brought it up at March budget meeting as a way to save money. 1:1 devices in K-2 is something that could be cut that wouldn't hurt K-2 education while making room in the APS budget. As far as I know addressing the budget is a super important issue right now.

I'm not an APE supporter, but rejecting this proposal because it is also supported by APE is stupid.

So they’re arguing over a tiny amount vs addressing a huge cut in the budget by Youngkin.

It’s a distraction.

They have talked about. And told people to email about it. Besides the General
Assembly rejected the Youngkin budget and passed on with higher funding.