How can we advocate against Ed tech in elementary in dcps?
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Anonymous
That’s weird because this says that Basis uses a math curriculum called Spork that is “delivered by a tablet.” https://enrollbasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/dc-tour-kit.pdf |
Anonymous
OMG, are you for real??? Are you seriously advocating schools use screen in 3-8 year olds? Tech in work and life as an adult is totally different than in young kids. It is absolutely unnecessary and inappropriate. Go talk to your pediatrician and stop being ignorant. And au contraire, screens use starting young leads kids to NOT being able to focus and with very short attention span. Forget about them focusing later. |
Anonymous
I am saving screens are not toxic, correct. You are engaging in hyperbole which is just going to get you dismissed as a PITA parent. You need to start learning a lot more about the issue. |
Anonymous
It is not hyperbole saying screens are not developmentally appropriate in young kids. Why don’t you talk to veteran teachers today about the differences in kids now compared to before screens. What exactly is there to learn about screens in 3-8 year olds? It’s a huge problem in DCPS esp title 1 schools and teachers here are saying so. If you want to be in denial or vague so be it. It won’t help the issue and families will just opt out of DCPS altogether. |
Anonymous
That’s an outdated link. BASIS doesn’t use Spork anymore. It uses Envision Math. |
Anonymous
If DCPS is trying to push for more instruction by app, it sure makes how hard the union fought to keep schools closed during Covid, even after the vaccine was available and teachers had been given preference to get it, look pretty short-sighted, doesn't it? Personally I want my kids in a classroom learning from a teacher. It's weird how rarely that goal seems to be shared by teachers and schools though. Be careful, indeed. |
Anonymous
Bye Felicia. Hope you enjoy Waldorf. |
Anonymous
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A lot of parents are using screens at home instead of, you know, parenting, and therefore their kids don't know how else to learn.
That's why you hear these parents advocating for more screens in the classroom. Differentiation? Why not give an advanced reader, I don't know, an advanced book to read? Why do they need to be on a tablet? But if you use screens as a babysitter and a way to placate your kid all the time outside of school, of course you'd rather they have the tablet. It will keep them calmer. It's a pacifier. You can't have schools trying to operate without them when parents are using them for hours a day in lieu of actually teaching their kids how to handle boredom or their own emotions. |
Anonymous
Oh ok. And that is a textbook? |
Anonymous
DP but: nope. PP just understands something you don't. It's like when people became convinced kids learned reading via osmosis, and then some of us figured out that was BS. It took a few years, but now everyone agrees with us. You're just burying your head in the sand and your kids will suffer for it. But 5 years from now there will be bans on screens in ECE classrooms and policies that limit how much time kids are allowed to spend on screens throughout the day, especially in elementary. You'll see. |
Anonymous
Oh I see. This is a way for you to prove you are a superior parent. The new “I don’t give my kid sugar.” We see you. |
Anonymous
There will never be a ban on screens because all the testing and assessment is done on computers. And kids need to learn to type. You can’t just see this from the perspective of a 3 year old. maybe screens will be banned in PK, sure. But beyond that, not gonna happen. |
Anonymous
 As a teacher I find this insulting. I truly do not care how you felt about Covid, your feelings are irrelevant. Funny how you can’t see from actual data that the red states who opened earlier certainly aren’t doing better overall -so spare me your thinly veiled hostility.
And to teachers who are worried about ‘AI taking our jobs’ do not be. Like most jobs AI will change the field, sure. However it is not a replacement for what a skilled human can do, especially for younger children. Lastly, most teachers want to be in the classroom, just because we do not want to do it at the cost of our safety does not mean that is no longer the goal. I will never apologize for not meeting some parent’s standards on what safety is. Also if you do not know the history of vaccines and black people, shame on you. |
Anonymous
As a teacher… I will absolutely be advocating for less screen time, especially under 2nd grade. To be clear I don’t think any teachers are wanting NO screens (except PK/K), but to limit the amount of time kids spend on them at school. And I wish at home too. Also the typing argument is moot. I didn’t learn how to type until 3rd grade and I’m certainly proficient. Most research actually supports starting formal keyboarding around 3rd–4th grade because many kids don’t even have the hand size or motor coordination before then (occupational therapists widely agree). Typing is not a hard skill. You know what IS hard? Emotional regulation, executive functioning, critical thinking, creativity. A 2023 JAMA Pediatrics study (Radesky et al.) found that regularly using devices to calm young children was associated with increased emotional dysregulation over time. As the lead researcher put it: “A mobile device doesn’t teach a skill - it just distracts the child away from how they are feeling.” And about things like iReady, Zearn, Starfall, and similar platforms -here’s what people aren’t saying: the efficacy research on these tools is almost entirely on grades 3–8 students, not K–2. The Zearn studies? Grades 3–5. The iReady efficacy studies? Grades 3–8. An independent 2024 study in Louisiana found Zearn’s effect on state test scores was a modest 0.03 standard deviations -statistically significant but small. A meta-analysis of educational apps for young children (Kim et al., 2021) found that positive effects were mostly on narrow drill-and-practice skills, not deeper learning like reading comprehension or problem solving. And effects shrank when measured by standardized tests rather than researcher-created ones. Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Michigan found that most “educational” apps marketed to young children don’t reflect how kids actually learn and they lack scaffolded feedback, are heavy on extraneous rewards and ads, and aren’t developed with input from child development experts. We need to stop talking about “screens.” That is a reductionist argument. What teachers are actually talking about is what the screen displaced: unstructured and guided play, boredom, messy sensory experiences, conversations with adults who aren’t performing for a camera, and learning the way children’s brains are wired to. The slow, essential work of childhood development that doesn’t have a metric or an app. A 2022 NIH-funded study of nearly 4,000 children found that screen time directly displaced peer play and that displacement was the mechanism linking screen time to developmental delays. Some people think this is crunchy mommy anxiety but there is a ton of research out there and those who are privileged are aware, you do not see their kids going to a school that uses something like ‘iReady’ in kindergarten… |
Anonymous
Sure kids need to take tests on screens but learning doesn’t have to be on a screen. My kid went to one of the immersion charters and never had a screen until 3rd for testing. Screens were not used as a substitute for teaching. Teachers did recommend a typing app at home if kids wanted to get used to typing. My kid rarely did it and now at DCI, is typing fine. For those parents who don’t want screens in early years, look at charters then. And those parents who are trying to justify screen use so young, well good luck to that. |