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Resources

Internet Safety Labs

Internet Safety Labs mission is to ensure product safety in connected products and services. They measure the behavior of software to catalyze safer products for everyone.

Everyschool.org designed a framework for EdTech called The EdTech Triangle. This framework is a four-level inverted pyramid and the first research-based model of healthy classroom tech use. It’s open-source and can be applied consistently and effectively in one classroom or across an entire school or District.

Supporting research and data included.

These are highlights from the book, Screen Schooled, which delves into how the rising reliance on digital devices in education might be affecting our kids.

The Ed Tech Law Center helps people exercise their rights to force the EdTech industry to serve students, not shareholders. The EdTech Law Center (ETLC) works to hold education technology companies legally accountable for the harm they inflict on students and their families.

Every School is an organization that wants "happier, healthier and smarter schools." They want to spread awareness and share resources about digital wellness and research-based classroom tech use to school communities. They use research to guide the creation of our resources.

Supporting research and data included.

Recommended Articles

National Review, by Frederick M. Hess, August 2024 Highlights in the article: "The problem is that education technology tends to be more about the technology than about the education. But it needn’t be... To repeat, it’s not the technology that matters — it’s what we do with it... But harnessing it isn’t about joining the pell-mell race for new gadgetry or helplessly enabling the algorithm-fueled culture of distraction. Rather, it requires an unwavering commitment to learning. Whether tomorrow’s technology is beneficial for students will ultimately be far less about what Silicon Valley dreams up than whether schools can rise to the challenge."

New York Times, by Jessica Grose, April 2024 Highlights: Grose explores the benefits of Educational Technology. She "spoke with people who’ve seen real upsides from using tech in their classrooms. Their experiences back up some of the available research, which shows that ed tech can help teachers differentiate their material to meet the needs of students with a wide range of proficiencies. Further, teachers report that students with disabilities can really benefit from the assistive technologies that screens and apps can provide... She also heard from several teachers who said that assistive technology has been a game changer for students with special needs... The technology isn’t going away. We need to start creating better frameworks to think about how students and teachers are using technology in our schools."

New York Times, by Jessica Grose, March 2024 Highlights: "Increasing access to devices didn’t always lead to positive academic outcomes. In a couple of cases, it just increased the amount of time kids were spending on devices playing games. They wrote, 'We found that simply providing students with access to technology yields largely mixed results. At the K-12 level, much of the experimental evidence suggests that giving a child a computer may have limited impacts on learning outcomes but generally improves computer proficiency and other cognitive outcomes.'... They also explained that in the classroom, computer programs may help teachers meet the needs of students who are at different levels, since “when confronted with a wide range of student ability, teachers often end up teaching the core curriculum and tailoring instruction to the middle of the class.” A good program, they found, could help provide individual attention and skill building for kids at the bottom and the top, as well. There are computer programs for reading comprehension that have shown similar positive results in the research... 'I don’t want to be black and white about this. I think there are really positive things coming from technology.' But he said that they are 'meaningful supports on the margins, not fundamental changes in the modality of how people learn.'"

Digital Dystopia: The Danger in Buying what the EdTech Surveillance Industry is Selling Us.

An ACLU research report, examines the EdTech Surveillance (educational technologies used for surveillance) industry in U.S. K-12 schools. Using in-depth investigation into industry products, an incident audit, student focus groups, and national polling, this report scrutinizes industry claims, assesses the efficacy of the products, and explores the impacts EdTech Surveillance has on students and schools. The report concludes by offering concrete actions school districts, elected officials, and community members can take to ensure decisions about using surveillance products are consistent and well-informed. This includes model legislation and decision-making tools, which will often result in the rejection of student surveillance technologies.

New York Times, by Jessica Grose, April 2024 Highlights: Grose spent a few weeks "speaking with parents, teachers, public school administrators and academics who study educational technology. And while she found there are certainly benefits to using tech as a classroom tool, she is convinced that when it comes to the proliferation of tech in K-12 education, we need “a hard reset”... We need a complete rethink of the ways that we’re evaluating and using tech in classrooms; the overall change that she wants to see is that tech use in schools — devices and apps — should be driven by educators, not tech companies... It’s unrealistic — and considering that we’re in a tech-saturated world, not ideal — to get rid of every last bit of educational technology. But we’re currently failing too many children by letting it run rampant... See article for her recommendations which includes: 1) At the State and Federal Levels: Privacy Protections and Better Evaluation, 2) At the District Level: Centralize the Tech-Vetting Process, 3) At the Classroom Level: Ruthlessly Evaluate Every Tool, 4) Students Deserve Authentic Connection"

New York Times, by Jessica Grose, April 2024 Highlights: "A middle school assistant principal said, 'I don’t know how often teachers are using YouTube in their curriculum.' That acknowledgment gets to the heart of the problem with screens in schools...no one seemed to know, and no one seemed to be keeping track... We’ve allowed Big Tech’s tentacles into absolutely every aspect of our children’s education, with very little oversight and no real proof that their devices or programs improve educational outcomes... Grose is convinced that the downsides of tech in schools far outweigh the benefits... The issue goes beyond access to age-inappropriate clips or general distraction during school hours. Several parents related stories of even kindergartners reading almost exclusively on iPads because their school districts had phased out hard-copy books and writing materials after shifting to digital-only curriculums. There’s evidence that this is harmful: A 2019 analysis of the literature concluded that 'readers may be more efficient and aware of their performance when reading from paper compared to screens.' One Elementary teacher said, 'It seems to be a constant battle between fighting for the students’ active attention (because their brains are now hard-wired for the instant gratification of TikTok and YouTube videos) and making sure they aren’t going to sites outside of the dozens they should be'.. Some teachers said they have programs that block certain sites and games, but those programs can be cumbersome. Some said they have software, like GoGuardian, that allows them to see the screens of all the students in their classes at once. But classroom time is zero sum: Teachers are either teaching or acting like prison wardens; they can’t do both at the same time... You can have designated classes to teach children how to keyboard, code or use software that don’t require them to have laptops in their hands throughout the school day... But the drawbacks of constant screen time in schools go beyond data privacy, job security and whether a specific app increases math performance by a standard deviation... The good news is that sometimes when the stakes become clear, educators respond: In May, Dr. Prater said, 'we’re going to remove access to YouTube from our district devices for students.' He added that teachers will still be able to get access to YouTube if they want to show instructional videos."

Alex Molnar and Faith Boninger are experts in the field of education policy and beyond. Alex Molnar is the Director of Publications for the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) and a research professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. His work has examined curriculum and instruction topics, market-based education reforms, and policy formation. Faith Boninger is NEPC's Publications Manager and Co-Director of NEPC's Commercialism in Education Research Unit. She brings to her research a background in social psychology (Ph.D., Ohio State University), particularly an interest in persuasion, social influence, and communication processes.

Podcasts/Videos

Podcast: Scrolling 2 Death, 55 min, 9/14/24, Interview with Jamie Liddell (Founder of Ed Tech Law Center)

Podcast: Screen Strong, 43:34 (min/sec), 4/24/24, Join Mandee Hamann as she chats with Dory Suttmiller, an experienced educator and Screen Strong Ambassador, about the changing role of technology in classrooms. Dory shares insights into fostering better student-teacher interactions and offers practical tips for creating a healthy learning environment amidst digital distractions. Whether you're a teacher or a parent, this episode provides valuable advice for navigating technology's impact on education. Tune in to learn how Dory was able to establish a Screen Strong Classroom and improve the learning environment for her students.

Video: May 2024, 12:18 (min/sec) Gaia Bernstein - Parents often blame themselves for their children's excessive screen time, seeing it as a failure of their parenting strategies. In this talk, professor and technology policy expert Gaia Bernstein challenges this view, pointing to the real problem: the tech industry's intentionally addictive designs. By comparing technology companies to the Big Tobacco of the 21st century, she highlights how these corporations manipulate user behavior for profit. Bernstein calls for a shift in blame towards these tech giants and urges us to unite in collective action - in our communities and courtrooms - to reform their harmful practices. Gaia Bernstein is a professor, author, speaker, and technology policy expert. She is a Law Professor and Co-Director of the Institute for Privacy Protection at the Seton Hall University School of Law. Bernstein believes we need to stop blaming ourselves for our overuse of technology and shift the responsibility to the tech industry, which designs its products to addict. She is the author of the widely praised book Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies. In 2017, Bernstein created and spearheaded a nationally acclaimed school outreach program for children and parents on technology overuse. She soon learnt that self-help measures did not help parents solve their families’ screen time problem. She is now dedicated to supporting lawmakers, families and kids to solve the problem through collective action, legally and in communities.

Podcast: Scrolling 2 Death, 47 min, 9/12/24, Interview with Chris McKenna (Founder of Protect Young Eyes)

Video: Global Silicon Valley, 18:41 (min/sec) Dan Meyer (Director of Research, Amplify) explores the difference between great AI and great teaching at ASU+GSV SHOW. Generative AI has received the most intense and sustained marketing campaign of any consumer product of our lifetimes. Yet usage in schools has underperformed expectations and the promised transformation for students and teachers seems far away. Let’s look at the expressed needs of students and teachers and think about how GAI does and doesn’t meet them, and what technologies might instead.

Parental Controls

Quick & easy ways parents can have more control over your student's cellphone and chromebook.

Boise School District - Educational Technology Resources

If a family member or student has a tech related question, the fastest way for a response is by submitting an IT Ticket/Submit a Request.

​Go Guardian is a software service used by schools (e.g., BSD) to help parents monitor student activity online, filter content, and alert school officials to possible suicidal or self-harm ideation.

BSD Ed Tech - information on district-issued devices.

BSD Ed Tech - information on the Restricted Access Policy. Families may put their student onto this Restricted Group Access List which limits most websites on their 1:1 devices. Please see webpage for pros and cons and if this would be an appropriate option for your student.

Quick & easy ways parents can have more control over your student's cellphone and chromebook.

BSD Ed Tech - information for families on all district related technology.

Ed Tech Guidelines for Families and Educators

Fairplay - A guide for families and educators on how to integrate technology in a research-based and safe manner.

EverySchool.org has created a succinct one-pager to help educators embrace research-based best practices when using technology the classroom

Fairplay and The Screentime Consultant

Kailan Carr, Prioritize Play - Blog

Fairplay - Andover Education Association, Educational Technology Report, A Critical Analysis of Ed Tech in the Classroom.

From The Screentime Consultant, Emily Cherkin

Ed Tech Strategic Plans & Guidance for Schools

Arlington Public Schools created a Educational Technology Strategic Plan for their district on Sept 24, 2024. This can be used as a guide for other districts looking to be more transparent and intentional with their school community.

This is an excellent tool for school administrators. Montgomery County Public Schools has created a resolution on digital balance to provide a guide for educators to evaluate their tech materials, suggests thoughtful guardrails on the responsible use of technology and evidence to support these recommendations.

Digital Citizenship and Wellness Education

Defend Young Minds organization has developed a digital safety curriculum/course for families.

CoSN - Consortium of School Networking, used by BSD

Screen Strong has developed an online and print educational course designed for schools and families, guiding kids on how to engage with technology in a healthy way.

Fortify Your Kids is a subscription-based service that provides high-quality videos and blogs made to teach about the complexities of online risks. The content covers educational stories, detailed analyses of technology and app environments, and practical steps to make your home safe and your children secure. This program is free for any Idaho state school or school district.

Skill Struck is a platform to help schools integrate computer science and digital citizenship into the curriculum.

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