Why Elementary Students Need Access to Screens

Just as schools are preparing to open, New York City is putting new limits on technology use. As reported in The New York Times and Chalkbeat, there will be no individual screens before third grade and recommended caps on screen time for older students.

I understand where this is coming from. Students need to talk, play, move, build, draw, read, write, collaborate, and interact with teachers and classmates. Students should not spend their days sitting at desks consuming information and doing rote work, but taking away individual screens is not the same thing as improving learning.

As I wrote recently in Screen Time Is the Wrong Unit of Measurement, the problem with screen-time rules is that they measure the device rather than what students are doing with it. That's particularly problematic with young children because sometimes the screen is the thing giving a child access to learning.

Sometimes the screen is an accessibility tool

Think about what an individual device can provide: text-to-speech, speech-to-text, enlarged text, captions, adjustable text, dictionaries, audio, translation, and access through a refreshable braille display. For some students, these aren't extras. They're how they access learning.

Accessibility also extends beyond students with an official disability designation. A child learning English may need translation. A struggling reader may benefit from hearing a word or passage while following along. Another child may need larger text. If a student needs one of those supports before third grade, an individual-screen restriction becomes more complicated.

Technology can help children learn to read

There's also an assumption in some of these discussions that screens and literacy are in opposition. The research is much more nuanced. A large systematic review comparing children's reading on paper and digital devices found that no difference was the most common result. Print had advantages in some circumstances. Digital had advantages in others, including vocabulary, engagement, and support for diverse learners. Knowing which platform is best for the learning goal is key.

I've seen the potential firsthand with Footsteps2Brilliance, an early literacy program. Research I’ve shared about the program has found strong literacy outcomes when young children use it consistently. What is best for students is using what works for the child and the learning goal, not dictating the platform. 

Sometimes the screen is the library

A laptop or tablet isn't just a screen. It can be a child's personal library. Young children should have physical books and access to digital ones. However, a classroom has only so much shelf space and providing books at all reading levels and languages is not practical. Digital libraries can provide thousands of additional choices along with features that paper can't easily provide. Students can enlarge the text, hear or define an unfamiliar word, translate something, or listen to a book while following along.

Access to learning by providing more books in more formats is something we should be expanding, not restricting.

Individual screens also make individualization possible

Elementary classrooms don't contain children who all read at the same level, learn at the same pace, speak the same language, or need the same supports. Technology can help with that. Tools such as Newsela can provide content at different reading levels while students explore the same topic. The student sitting next to them doesn't need to know which version they're reading. That's not just differentiation. That's dignity.

Technology can also provide additional practice, immediate feedback, audio, translation, and other supports while the teacher works with individual students or small groups. A teacher can't simultaneously rewrite every text at five reading levels, translate it into several languages, read it aloud at different speeds, and provide individual feedback to every student. Technology can.

Who should decide?

There's another problem with blanket restrictions. They take decisions about learning away from the people closest to the learning: teachers and students.

Teachers know their students. They should have the expertise to know when a device is helping a child and when it's getting in the way. Students also know things about how they learn that policymakers sitting far from the classroom don't.

One student may benefit from listening to a book while another does better with the print version. A student may discover that enlarging text helps them concentrate or that hearing a word helps them understand it. Another may be better off putting the device away because pen and paper works best.

Those are learning decisions. There will be times when young students should put the screen away, and there will be times when that screen gives a child access, choice, independence, or a better way to learn. A blanket policy making those decisions in advance puts agency in the wrong hands.

We should give teachers and students guidance for making good choices about technology, then trust them to make those choices.

Increase Screen Time to Increase Literacy Proficiency

Like it or not, educators and parents of young schoolchildren know (or will soon find out) the rigorous literacy demands being placed on students today. A friend shared she was surprised by the reading level and number of books her six-year-old was supposed to be reading. She'd been reading bedtime stories to her daughter. What she didn't realize was that schools today expect young children to be reading their own stories with proficiency at such a young age.

The research

This is happening despite research that indicates we are pushing children to learn before they are developmentally ready. Doing this can have harmful consequences for children.

In their report Reading in Kindergarten: Little to Gain and Much to Lose, education professor Nancy Carlsson-Paige and her colleagues write about the hazards of early reading instruction. They warn: “When children have educational experiences that are not geared to their developmental level or in tune with their learning needs and cultures, it can cause them great harm, including feelings of inadequacy, anxiety and confusion.

Unfortunately, if you’re a teacher or parent, even if you feel this way your job and/or child’s success depends on how they meet today’s expectations.

What not to do

One of the worst things a parent or teacher can do is to associate reading with anxiety and failure. One way to avoid this is to make reading fun with as many scaffolds as possible.

While for some families this may mean investing in expensive programs or tutors to help their child keep up, there is another way.

Finding high-quality early literacy apps.

Solution: Increase Screen time

If you’re lucky enough to be in a district that purchases and provides a platform such as Footsteps2Brilliance students will be more likely to meet today’s demands. Their research shows that in just one month students have measurable results in vocabulary acquisition, critical thinking, and comprehension. Outside research shows that students who used Footsteps2Brilliance gained 7 months of vocabulary acquisition on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test in just 1 month. That is almost an entire year’s worth of academic progress.

Unfortunately, you may not be in a district that uses advanced tools for advanced literacy. Fortunately, there is an app now available to any parent or teacher for students. The app can be downloaded even if their school or district has not invested in it. 

It’s called Rivet. It’s free! It also has no ads and it’s COPPA compliant.

The app contains more than 2000 leveled books for students in grades K-2. The app has a kid-friendly interface with word help to decrease frustration level. It has a read along feature enabling the book to read aloud to children. It is personalized so kids can choose their favorite books, avatars, and skins. It also has authentic, real-world reflection. Readers can rate and review each story they read. They can also save favorite stories and play games based on the stories they enjoy the most.

Using an app like Rivet means increased screen time results in increased reading time. What does that look like for readers using Rivet?

• +20% more time reading
• 29 average minutes per day reading
• 4.2 nights per week read
• 5.3 books read per day

The Verdict

While click-bate headlines love to scare parents and educators about the risks of screen time, it’s not that simple. Intelligently directed screen time with adult guidance and support can be the very thing kids need for success.

Your Turn

What do you think? Are apps like Rivet or Footsteps2Brilliance something that could help the students with whom you work? Have you tried them? Have you had success with something else?

iPad Literacy Program Increases Reading & Writing Ability

Footsteps2Brilliance (F2B) is an impressive educational game platform that supports students in prek - 3rd grade in learning to read and write. Their Academic Language Program for Students (ALPS) teaches young children the 1,000 key words they will need to develop a powerful reading and writing vocabulary through animated ebooks and games. There is a back end management system tracks mastery of each child's vocabulary and comprehension development as well as standards-based concepts.  The program was developed in response to the landmark Hart-Risley study on language development that shows that an underprivileged child enters school with 25% of the vocabulary they need to succeed academically.  This program helps to rectify this situation by creating a language rich environment for all children.