Dive Brief:
- At least five states are considering legislation this year to limit or ban ed tech to some extent in classrooms — moving beyond widespread prohibitions on students’ personal devices to also include those issued by districts during the school day.
- Those states include Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. One bill currently advancing in Tennessee’s legislature — HB 2393 — would ban public school districts and charter schools from allowing students in grades K-5 to access digital devices and would prohibit employees from using digital devices for instruction in those grades.
- Another bill in Virginia, S.B. 568, already passed that state’s Senate last month. The proposal would require the Virginia Department of Education to develop model policies and procedures for school boards statewide that would limit or cap instructional screen time by grade level in schools.
Dive Insight:
Some state bills are gaining momentum at a time when ed tech is beginning to see more public pushback — and after school cellphone bans proliferated in districts and states nationwide in recent years.
In January, for instance, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a hearing where legislators and witnesses discussed the urgent need for solutions to address the youth mental health crisis. Two witnesses suggested banning 1:1 device programs in schools, with one adding that younger students should return to analog learning with pencil and paper and have technology integrated into the classroom as they get older.
Ahead of that Senate hearing, a coalition of education, library, and non-profit leadership organizations, sent a Jan. 13 letter to the Senate committee’s leadership denouncing sweeping bans of all technology in the classroom. Rather, they said it would be more useful for the government to invest in resources for professional development and technical assistance so schools can have the most effective safeguards and online filters on their devices.
“It is essential to distinguish between largely unsupervised, entertainment-driven technology use at home and the intentional, monitored, and carefully curated use of technology in schools — where digital tools are employed to support learning and prepare students for future academic and workforce demands,” the coalition’s letter said.
Some members of the coalition include AASA, The School Superintendents Association, The Consortium for School Networking and national teacher’s unions like the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.
At the same time, groups like Fairplay and the Distraction-Free Schools Policy Project have been advocating for stricter guardrails around technology use in schools — including for 1:1 devices, which surged during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic when schools had to switch to fully remote instruction.
Distraction-Free Schools Policy Project, in particular, developed model legislation recommending states to enact policies that would prohibit all use of screen technology in grades K-5, prohibit students in grades 6-8 from taking home school-issued devices, and ban school technology that uses generative or conversational artificial intelligence at every grade level. The project also suggests states prohibit addictive design features in ed tech used in schools as well as provide families the ability to opt their children out of ed tech in schools.
“Online and digital products marketed to schools often provide unsafe, ineffective, or inappropriate experiences and collect and share student data without appropriate consent,” Distraction-Free Schools Policy Project stated on its website. The initiative is part of a joint effort between the Becca Schmill Foundation and Smartphone Free Childhood U.S.
A bill introduced this year in Kansas would also require schools to not let K-5 students use digital devices in the classroom, with all instructional materials "print-based" and "hands-on," including assessment materials.
Students in grades 6-8 would be limited to using school-issued devices for up to one hour per day, they would not be allowed to use digital textbooks, and 1:1 device programs would not be permitted for these students.
High school students, however, would be allowed to receive their own device from the school, but they may only use those devices for no more than 1 1/2 hours per school day, among other guardrails.
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