Part of it is pressure from district administration, wanting to make sure they’re providing a “21st century learning experience.” Part of it is a result of the STEM/STEAM pushing the last decade+ that seeks tech integration at all levels to prime students to learn to code and think like an engineer or whatever to proletarianize the tech sector (it’s working!). It also helps district IT budgets justify their costs and staffing. However, most importantly, and it is the primary place these policies came from, is COVID. I should know. I’ve been working in K12 IT for at least 12 years now.

When Covid hit, we didn’t have a 1:1 Chromebook program. We definitely didn’t have a 1:1 iPad program. I think at that time we only had iPads for 1st grade, and those were in carts that needed to be shared, 2 classes worth of iPads for 4 classes. Then the state and federal governments gave district IT departments a shot in the arm with all the money they were tossing around to get remote education off the ground. That shit was wild. Pallets of iPads rolling in. Money for enterprise-level Mobile Device Management software. We bootstrapped remote learning in less than a month from nothing.

Ultimately, remote schooling was a total failure. I don’t know what the alternatives would be, but Kindergarten over Zoom was worthless, and every grade after that was effectively worthless for all kinds of reasons. Turns out kids need structure (shocking), and when you get rid of that structure in a sudden and abrasive way and try to replace it was what amounts to F-tier Ms. Rachael, kids fall behind.

But falling behind isn’t the only legacy left behind by COVID. We now have a 1:1 program from K to 12th grade. Our IT budget has increased every year since COVID. Our team has grown with it. As the years have passed, the district has seen pushback from parents. For a few years, there were mixed signals about whether kids needed to take iPads home or not. Parents rightfully didn’t like this device being forced on them and their home. Now the iPads stay in the classroom at the end of the day, so the parents have won some ground in that regard.

We’re seeing some pushback about Chromebooks going home in middle school. Homework is still a thing, but now its digital, which means the Chromebooks go home. Which means YouTube goes home unless the parents are hyper vigilante. YouTube isn’t simply bocked because there is so much content on the platform that is truly educational. YouTube has effectively replaced the VHS/DVD player of yesteryear. For all the parents who have gotten this far without getting their kids chained to an iPad or phone, it’s a real nightmare. Mainly because the parents have no structure around devices because they never needed to. The net result of the Chromebook situation is the expansion of parental control software provided by the district to parents. It’s at least a bone for the parents and gives them some control over the device, and I don’t think it provides history for the parents, so it doesn’t expand the panopticon into the home, thankfully.

Many districts were unable to expand their budget to accommodate this sudden growth in devices. They never hired more IT people. They never hired more or any tech integration specialists. Some might not have been able to afford the proper remote management software to lock down the devices. There is a real gap in technical skills when it comes to IT professionals in the education space, and almost every school district in the country manages MORE devices on LARGER networks with almost 1/5th the staff and skill level.

So in numerous instances, these choices are being made by untechnical people, or people who do not have a keen understanding of both technology and education, only one or the other.

I would investigate the policy of your district and see if you can have the device left in the classroom instead of taken home at the end of the day. I know that in our district, the K-level kids are really only using it a couple of times a day for very specific and vetted educational apps that aid in phonics and writing. There is no reason it should go home, from my experience.

That sounds like my kids’ dream week, and that’s a lot to fit in there. Sounds like you’re doing a great job if you can handle so much close together