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NEW BEDFORD — From the moment new kindergarteners step foot inside Taylor Elementary, the school is laser-focused on “getting kids ready for middle school, high school, and beyond,” said Rafaela DeFigueiredo Spence, the principal. And, “they do need to know how to use technology,” she said.
When younger students finish their lessons early, they sign onto a Chromebook to practice their letter sounds. Older kids complete bonus multiple choice questions on reading assignments. And everyone is taking quizzes and tests on their computers these days.
In short, the ed-tech revolt that many districts, cities, and states are now feeling — especially parental pressure to reduce screen time at school — has not arrived in New Bedford. The district recently signed a Chromebook lease agreement that will cost $500,000 every year to ensure New Bedford’s roughly 2,600 middle schoolers have a device — while their current Chromebooks will become hand-me-downs to the elementary schools.
Six years after schools reduced themselves down to a laptop screen during the pandemic, a nationwide backlash is growing against screens in class. Los Angeles public schools, the nation’s second largest district, will enforce daily screen time limits. Tennessee, Alabama, Utah, and Iowa have already enacted laws for screen limits or partial bans. Even Fall River no longer allows middle schoolers to take their Chromebooks home, according to reporting from the Boston Globe.
In New Bedford, screen time has gone way down since the dog days of remote learning. At Taylor Elementary, kids average an hour of screen time or less per day, said DeFigueiredo Spence. “It’s not a huge portion of their school day,” she said.
Still, New Bedford is defending its investment in Chromebooks while other schools take a step back.
“There’s a large number of tasks that devices support outside of teaching and learning,” said Andrew O’Leary, New Bedford’s superintendent. “Our Chromebook purchase and other investments are mostly about ensuring basic equitable access.”
Many low-income students may not have access to the internet — which is among the district’s primary modes of communication for both academic and non-academic purposes. Applying to college, applying to a job, or doing research are all tasks that mostly require a computer these days.
O’Leary also points out that if spending reflects priorities, the $500,000 annual price tag of the Chromebook lease “looks modest when compared to our biggest investment in teachers and staff.”
Last year the district spent more than $160 million on instructional costs — supporting more than 1,300 teachers and nearly 300 paraeducators.
Still, researchers think it’s worth taking a hard look at how embedded technology has become in schools.
“We just allowed these things to come into kids’ lives. We didn’t do a lot of investigation and evaluation that says these things are great, and let’s introduce them,” said Paul Morgan, a social and health equity professor at the University at Albany.
After researching health and academic outcomes related to screen time and social media use, Morgan describes himself as “skeptical” about the benefits of educational technology. “I don’t know if there’s really good evidence that laptops help with learning,” he said. “Is this the best way to spend our money to have a net benefit on kids’ lives?”
“There’s a lot of ways to spend money, and [schools can] spend money on things that are showing good evidence for the allocation,” said Morgan. Good investments might be more tutors or paraeducators, he said, but “I wouldn’t put laptop access toward the top of that list.”
How do kids spend their time on devices?
“I think Chromebooks are amazing,” said DeFigueiredo Spence, the principal at Taylor. However, the roughly one hour each day that her students spend on screens is comparatively low.
Across American schools, 40 percent of middle and high schoolers are using devices for three hours or more at school, according to a survey from the New York Times. Elementary students are less screen-bound, but still 32% are on a device for one hour or more at school.
“We’re utilizing [Chromebooks] as another tool in the classroom to enhance instruction, not to take the place of instruction,” said DeFigueiredo Spence.
And it’s true: some of what kids can do with technology in the classroom is unique and innovative.
How much time do your kids spend on a screen at school?
“Students had the opportunity to code robots, turning lines of code into directions that control the robots’ movements through a pathway they built in the classroom,” said Nicole Brine, principal of Pacheco Elementary School in New Bedford.
Students also used a 3-D printer to build “dream playgrounds, bookmarks, picture frames, and models of the school mascot,” Brine said.
Bringing these opportunities to the students at Pacheco — 86% of whom are “low-income,” according to state data — is a feat.
But anyone who’s used modern technology also knows that distractions can interfere.
The Light hoped to speak with teachers about how they use technology in the classroom — and how they combat against the onslaught of potential distractions. The New Bedford Educators Association did not respond to outreach, nor did any among more than a dozen middle school teachers and learning specialists.
Supporters of technology in the classroom have helped create a windfall for technology companies. The education market for technology was recently estimated at $164.5 billion, with growth projected to reach toward $350 billion by 2030. The Washington Post reported that between $15 and $35 billion of federal pandemic relief funds were spent on classroom technology.
Meanwhile, heavy screen use has been found to correlate with worse health outcomes and anxiety and behavioral problems.
Morgan, the Albany professor, summarized the research, saying, “There’s a lot of correlational evidence to support that using devices, screens, and social media displaces healthy activity that children might otherwise engage in.”
But whether schools decide to use technology or not, he said, “The parents should know. It’s taxpayer money.”
Email Colin Hogan at chogan@newbedfordlight.org
If you are not computer proficient you can not work, for more than minimum wage, mostly.
How many times do you click or swipe past something. The information is not absorbing into the child’s brain. Whoops it’s gone!
Computers are babysitting devices. Just like the old printout of games and puzzles was. Just like the old video vhs dept was a babysitting source. No wonder why the kitchen ds are failing. Whe you go for a job like vanity fair/Kay Windsor they would give you a paper test to see if you know math. Computers are not good unless the knowledge in the them is known without them!
Understood!
They would give you an on line test .
Wrong! They want to make sure the person knows the answer, not able to for figuring out problems. A paper to scribble out to come up with the answer. To prove they know how to add, subtract, divide and multiply. Not push buttons!
It’s 2026, you add, subtract, divide and multiply by pressing buttons.
Cashiers do not use paper and scribble to come up with the answer .
You are wrong, really wrong.
Albert, you are wrong. Many retailers do give a physical test on paper to know that the person applying for a job, knows the money side of the job. Where there is a self check out is where theft is. That makes us all pay for the companies loss. I would not hire someone if they could not figure out mathematical equations, myself!
Great idea now you can layoff the translators and translate through the app. On the chrome book
Charlie, you are brilliant! Save the city money!
A lot of good comments here, while computers are big part in today’s world, classroom screen time should only be part of their daily schedule. It’s of great importance that we still have strong teacher and student interaction that creates academic engagement and helps develop communication skills.
Well said, Jeff!
Too bad these aren’t real computers in the sense that students aren’t learning the operating systems and software environments they’ll actually encounter in many colleges and workplaces.
Imagine spending your entire public school education on locked-down Chromebooks, then arriving at college or a job and using Windows or macOS for the first time. That’s a real disadvantage.
This decision may make financial sense and may help with basic internet access, but let’s be honest about what it is: a cost and device-management strategy. That’s different from asking what best prepares kids technologically for adulthood or to how best spend their childhood.
Chromebooks have an operating system and a software environment.
“Key Features of ChromeOSCloud-First: Optimized for web-based tasks and integration with Google Drive, Docs, and Gmail.Security: Features include automatic updates, sandboxing, and verified boot to protect against threats.
App Ecosystem: Supports Android apps via the Google Play Store and Progressive Web Apps (PWAs).
Speed: Known for fast boot times (often under 10 seconds).Linux Support: Allows developers to enable a terminal and run standard Linux applications.”
Where’s the link you got that from. You’re suppose to note it otherwise it’s plagiarism! Or did you not learn that is in school? Most other comments include a link or mention AI generated. You know how most students will answer questions without actually learning anything just st AI generated. Wow you just proved the issue with using computer for instruction.
You cannot do the same on a Chromebook as you can on a windows device!
Learning with your brain and writing and configuring problems with you hands. Lifetime of knowledge. Be trained all on computers, not sleeping in the brain. When there’s no power, the person has nothing to continue on!
Calculators can’t give answers without batteries or electric. So when they are not available, they are useless. That’s the future of New Bedford students!