The Wall St.Journal 24Feb2020

R6| Monday, February 24, 2020 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

JOURNAL REPORT |BIG ISSUES

Technology has steadily worked its way into

classrooms around the world, from kindergarten to

graduate school. Its use in schools has been

strongly supported by the U.S. Education Depart-

ment, among others, and it is widely viewed as a

valuable tool—even a necessity—in education.

But its use has critics, as well. They worry about

digital devices taking time away from teacher-stu-

dent interaction, especially in the early school years.

And they question how effective technology is in

helping students from lower-income families narrow

the performance gap in the classroom.

BY LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND

Tech Can Help

Teachers Teach and

Kids Learn

School Supplies

Whatteacherssay

theirclassesuse

Source: MDR online survey of 4,397

U.S. public-school teachers,

Nov. 2017-Jan. 2018

26%

14

14

11

6

12

16

Mostly

Chromebooks

Manydifferent

typesofdevices

MostlyPCs

MostlyiPads

Other/noanswer

Weallow

studentsto

bringtheirown

devices

Wedon’thave

personaldevices

inmyclassroom,

butmyclass

wouldbenefit

fromthem

students are more likely to use

computers in the classroom—

the problem isn’t lack of access to

technology, it’s overexposure.

In a typical elementary school, the

day is divided into reading and math

blocks, during which students rotate

through learning stations in the class-

room. Typically, at least one of those

stations requires students to work in-

dependently on digital devices.

Even when the subject is math—

where the evidence for technology be-

ing helpful is strongest—children get

distracted more easily in these inde-

pendent activities. Devices can’t moti-

vate them like a teacher can, and

there’s no group discussion.

With reading, the prevailing ap-

proach prioritizes comprehension

skills and strategies, like finding the

main idea and making inferences. The

theory is that if students practice

reading skills on books or passages

easy enough for them to read inde-

pendently, they’ll be able to under-

stand more complex text later.

But that theory is mistaken. Com-

prehension depends far more on

knowledge of the topic than on gener-

ally applicable skill. To boost compre-

hension, schools need to build knowl-

edge through systematic instruction

in social studies, science, and the arts.

Theoretically, digital devices could

build students’ knowledge about any

topic. But that would require software

grounded in a content-rich curriculum

that genuinely adapts to students’ ex-

isting vocabulary and knowledge. In-

stead, our neediest students are get-

ting technology that deprives them of

both human connection and a mean-

ingful education.

Ms. Wexleris an education

journalist and author. She can be

reached [email protected].

DotheBenefits

OfDigitalDevicesin

Classrooms Outweigh

TheDownsides?

How technology is used is key.

When technologies try to replace

teachers—especially when they are

used like electronic workbooks to drill

students on rote skills—research con-

sistently finds no benefit to students.

But there is a burgeoning field of digi-

tal technology that is making a differ-

ence in many ways: providing support

for students with disabilities; spark-

ing greater academic success for at-

risk students using it to write more

proficiently, understand math prob-

lems better and learn through science

simulations; and supporting students

in their own inquiries into the world

around them. Young people are using

technology for research and to pro-

duce newspapers, projects and web-

sites, as well as to program new apps.

Sometimes that technology enables

them to engage in inquiries that ad-

dress real-world problems with ex-

perts and other students around the

world.

If there is anything to be concerned

about when it comes to technology in

the classroom, it is not that there is

too much, but that there is a deep in-

equity in access.

Equalizing access for low-income

students is particularly important.

While wealthy families can purchase

technology as they see fit, lower-in-

come families have far less access to

the most up-to-date and useful tools

and the bandwidth needed to use

them. Schools can help bridge that

gap.

With well thought-out approaches,

we can use the tools available to help

our children learn in new and power-

ful ways that allow them to fully en-

gage the world around them.

Ms. Darling-Hammondis president

and CEO of the Learning Policy

Institute. [email protected].

Yes No

BY NATALIE WEXLER

Devices May

Help, but Not as

Used Today

N

EW TECHNOLOGIESare as

essential to students today

as reading, writing and

arithmetic were when they

were the hot new things in

the early 19th century. In addition, tech-

nology use in schools is a powerful tool

to close the opportunity gap.

There are detractors who say that

the introduction of technology into

classrooms has failed to meet the high

expectations its proponents hoped for,

noting correctly that flooding class-

rooms with computer tablets without

productive curriculum plans does not

improve educational outcomes and may

even hurt students when it leads to

overreliance on computers rather than

support from teachers.

But that is a shortsighted argument.

Shortcomings in the use of technology

can be overcome; instances of misuse

shouldn’t overshadow the many bene-

fits technology can provide.

Today’s technology is not a magical

cure to end education woes, but it is a

tool that, when used well, can help us

prepare students to succeed in our mod-

ern society. We fail our students if we do

not teach them how to master the tech-

nologies that can support their learning

and success in the rest of their lives.

D

IGITALdevices have the

potential to yield benefits

in the classroom, but the

way they’re commonly

used only exacerbates ex-

isting inequalities. A different ap-

proach would change that, but there’s

no saying when that might happen,

and meanwhile the education of many

students is suffering.

A study of high-school students in

the 36 member countries of the Organi-

zation for Economic Cooperation and

Development found heavy computer

use at school had a negative impact on

achievement. And a study by the non-

profit Reboot Foundation of American

fourth- and eighth-graders showed that

the more hours they spent on comput-

ers for English-language arts, the lower

their reading scores.

Contrary to hopes that technology

could help narrow the achievement

gap, vulnerable students are the most

likely to be harmed by it. The Reboot

study found that the gap between the

test scores of students who use tech-

nology frequently and the higher

scores of those who don’t is largest

among students from low-income

families. Even worse, in many schools

serving students from those families,

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