Reply to I'm an MCPS elementary school teacher...AMA

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You also need to take into account that ten years ago, public schools became majority students in poverty and everything that goes with that. [/quote]

There is lots of research tying increased access to distracting screens at schools to worse academic performance. Examples cited below

[quote]In most countries, feeling lonely at school increased while academic performance on standardized tests in math, reading, and science declined, particularly between 2012 and 2022. Thus, declines in adolescent well-being and academic performance are international rather than isolated to only some countries. Increases in loneliness and declines in academic performance were larger in countries with greater increases in adolescent smartphone access and in countries where adolescents reported spending more time using electronic devices for leisure purposes during school hours.[/quote]
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jad.70058

[quote]The situation in Finland, once known for having one of the best school systems in the world, is telling. In 2022, teenagers in Finland admitted to using their devices during the school day for noneducational purposes for nearly 90 minutes. Perhaps as a result, the test scores of Finnish students plummeted between 2006 and 2022. In countries such as Japan, where students spend less than a half-hour on devices for leisure during the school day, academic performance has remained fairly steady, especially in math and science.[/quote]
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/opinion/laptop-classroom-test-scores.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

[quote]One study of nearly 300,000 fourth and eighth graders in the United States found that students who spent more time using digital devices in language arts classes performed worse on reading tests. A 2018 meta-analysis found that reading on paper, compared with reading digitally, led to significantly better comprehension among students, from elementary school to college. Across 24 studies, college students who took handwritten notes were 58 percent more likely to get A’s in their courses than those who typed notes on laptops. In contrast, students who typed notes were 75 percent more likely to fail the course than those who wrote them by hand.[/quote]
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/opinion/laptop-classroom-test-scores.html?smid=nytcore-android-share[/quote]

Yes, most teachers agree with you! Please tell that to MCPS central office. While I’m sure some teachers may over-rely on screens, I don’t believe the majority of teachers advocate for excess screen time. I would not mind teaching actual keyboarding skills but that’s another issue.

Having said that, one challenge we have at our Title I school is the number of students entering K without socializing skills — instead of attending pre school, they have been “babysat” by phones, iPads and tablets while staying with a babysitter or an older relative because mom works two jobs. Same thing happens for many of our older students after school. It has become harder to engage students each year because no matter how captivating or animated I am, it’s impossible for me to compete with the huge dopamine boost they get from screens.

I don’t think many parents (at my school) realize the detrimental effects of letting young kids constantly be on a screen. Many parents think it’s cute that their three year old knows how to open the phone with the passcode and go on YouTube; some parents and caregivers just don’t want to deal with the constant whining and crying to use the tablet. I’m not saying this in a snarky or judgmental way — I think these parents do want the best for their kids but just need more education and awareness about the issue.

-Not OP but a MCPS elem teacher [/quote]

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