Notes on edtech
Halfway into 2024, most parents have some awareness that “technology use in school” is pretty different from our own childhoods. Before the pandemic, 60% of school administrators in the U.S. provided 1:1 digital devices for every middle and high school student. For elementary schools, it was about 40%.
In 2021, a year into the pandemic, the rates for middle and high school 1:1 programs rose to 90% and for elementary schools, it was 84%.
And three years later, these numbers have gone up, not down. In fact, when a parent recently emailed me to ask, “Do you know of any middle or high school in America where there is no 1:1 or tech-based curriculum?” (with the exception of perhaps some Waldorf schools), I knew of no other options.
This is kind of insane, when you think about it. Even just a decade ago, elementary schools used tech minimally, perhaps via classroom computers or labs to teach skills like typing and research. But somehow, in part thanks to remote learning, today it’s very difficult to find schools still operating under the “less is more” approach to technology in schools.
