Reply to How can we advocate against Ed tech in elementary in dcps?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Hi, I'm a parent of an older kid who has been in DCPS since PK3. For those of you with younger kids, I want to give you some feedback on where the challenges might be to addressing tech use in DCPS schools.

1) I-Ready. Some of you likely have exposure to I-Ready, though if your kids are in PK maybe not. I-Ready is an ed tech program that is used throughout DCPS in order to do educational assessments, usually three each year (beginning of year, middle of year, end of year). Because DCPS uses I-Ready for assessments, there is a lot of pressure to use the app for learning -- using I-Ready math and reading lessons both in class and for homework. It's possible for kids to do well on I-ready assessments without using I-ready a ton as a learning tool (my kid did this) but lots of I-Ready exposure will generally boost scores. The program also sets score goals for the year (ordinary and "stretch" goals) and schools want to see lots of kids hit their stretch goals. I think this leads schools to push for more I-Ready use. We always fought it, but some teachers are much more intense about it and make it harder to avoid.

2) CAPE. This is a computer-based assessment. The scores are very important to schools even if not that important individually for kids, especially in elementary. Because it's computer based, schools need kids learning certain computer skills in order to do well on the exams. This leads to more computer time starting in 3rd, when CAPE testing starts, plus assignments to practice typing and typing assignments at home. Learning to type is important and the skills they learn for CAPE are mostly good skills. It's more that the pressure to get those skills in time for CAPE results in a lot of screen time in class, and dealing with the often terrible wifi and computer resources in schools (so many days where they are spending absurd amounts of time just getting a computer to work or logging into a program). But schools have to administer CAPE, and they have to prep for it. Their hands are somewhat tied here. This is most painful in 3rd and 4th, after which kids generally have the computer skills they need and they don't have to dedicate as much class time to it.

3) Parents who are fearful about their kids being left behind on tech. You need to understand that different parents view this issue differently, and there are lots of parents who want more tech in the classroom and highly value having a "high-tech" classroom. I would encourage you not to view these parents as automatically wrong. They are approaching these issues differently than you would and they have good reasons for that, often their own bad experiences with schools that had weak tech and having to overcome that later in life, or just general anxiety about their kids being ready to compete in a highly technical work environment. Their concerns are reasonable. The key to working with these parents is to find common ground. Talk about good uses of tech versus bad uses of tech. Think about where tech in classrooms CAN actually be good and maybe start by acknowledging that rather than starting right in on "we have to get screens out of classrooms." If you turn this into a battle of pro-tech parents v. no-tech parents, you will lose because that's just not where society is going. I'm on your side, I think we need to be thinking really critically about how over reliance specifically on Ed Tech and getting phones and social media out of the classroom because these are unnecessary distractions. But you don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater -- some tech in classrooms is important, and helps kids learn, and makes teaching better. The key is figuring out what tech that is and supporting it while also clearly identifying the bad tech that we want out of schools.[/quote]

Good post! You are much more persuasive than I am ;)

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