{"id":4202,"date":"2026-07-25T15:40:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T15:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4202"},"modified":"2026-07-25T15:40:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T15:40:47","slug":"schools-across-america-are-quietly-admitting-that-screens-in-classrooms-made-students-worse-off-and-are-reversing-years-of-tech-first-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4202","title":{"rendered":"Schools across America are quietly admitting that screens in classrooms made students worse off and are reversing years of tech-first policies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Administrators found that without their phones, students were using school laptops for distracting activities like watching YouTube or playing games, rather than learning. Some were even using their school Gmail accounts to tease other students, the New York Times<\/em> reported earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Read more Can Apple\u2019s incoming CEO bring back the product design mojo of the Steve Jobs era?<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, the school has transitioned to using laptops only for specific teacher-assigned activities. Meanwhile, the unused laptops sit in carts in the back of classrooms, and children take notes the old-fashioned way: on pen and paper.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis technology can be a tool. It is not the answer to education,\u201d said McPherson\u2019s principal, Inge Esping, who won Kansas\u2019s middle school Principal of the Year award for 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Students who want to use the laptops for extra work at home can also borrow a Chromebook from the school library, the Times <\/em>reported.<\/p>\n

Increasingly, schools like McPherson in other states such as North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Michigan are rethinking their policies about buying and assigning a laptop to every student and the millions of dollars they spent on them, as studies show implementing technology in schools has reportedly coincided with either decreasing test scores or no progress at all for students.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maine, which in 2002 was one of the states to first adopt a policy of putting laptops in public school did not improve its test scores after 15 years of its laptop initiative, NPR<\/em> reported in 2017. Jared Cooney Horvath, a neuroscientist and former teacher, said in before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, math and science scores have decreased as technology has been introduced in classrooms. <\/p>\n

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Citing the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study <\/em>(TIMSS<\/em>), Horvath said: \u201cFrequent in-class computer use correlates with significantly lower math and science performance across both high-income and middle-income countries.\u201d This study showed fourth-graders\u2019 and eighth-graders\u2019 test scores correlated with whether they were using laptops almost never on the high-end versus almost daily on the low-end.<\/p>\n

Google Chromebook laptops, which are manufactured by PC makers like Lenovo, Acer, and Dell, have a tight grip on America\u2019s schools. The laptops are relatively low-cost, averaging between $300 and $400 per device. In schools, Chromebooks also have an advantage by leveraging ChromeOS, which uses built-in web apps like Google Docs rather than installed apps like Microsoft Office, which can be costly. Similarly, tools such as Google Classroom have become a mainstay of America\u2019s K\u201312 schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more SpaceX may have missed its window to buy Tesla<\/a><\/p>\n

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Google\u2019s education push has proved lucrative. Education accounts for 60% of global Chromebook market share as of 2025, boosting the Chromebook\u2019s total market to $14 billion.<\/p>\n

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Schools in North Carolina spent $448 million in pandemic-related federal funding on computers and equipment for students and staff, according to news station WRAL<\/em>. But after these funds dried up, schools have struggled to replace broken or outdated devices, which last on average less than a decade despite Google\u2019s efforts to extend device life spans. During a 2025 committee meeting, Robert Taylor, superintendent of North Carolina\u2019s largest school system, in Wake County, said the district needed to move away from its one-to-one laptop policy.<\/p>\n

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Another North Carolina school district has tried to diminish laptop use for educational reasons, reported Carolina Public Press<\/em>. In western North Carolina\u2019s Burke County, home to fewer than 100,000 residents, the school board passed a resolution for Burke County Public Schools to encourage learning with paper and printed materials, and limit screen time only \u201cfor activities where technology offers clear, evidence-based instructional advantages.\u201d As a result, in February, parents and educators reported improvements in reading comprehension and test scores, as well as a decrease in homework-related stress that many attributed to the pro-paper resolution.<\/p>\n

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Earlier this year, a school district in Wexford County, Mich., which has a population of 34,000, banned screens for elementary school students to mitigate its reading proficiency issues. More than 65% of the third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders in one elementary school alone were \u201cnot proficient\u201d or \u201cpartially proficient\u201d on state standardized tests, according to Interlochen Public Radio.<\/p>\n

The trend of schools moving away from technology comes as evidence emerges that access to screens does not improve student outcomes and could instead be holding them back. Horvath, in his written testimony before the Senate, claimed Gen Z is the first generation in modern history to score lower than their parents\u2019 generation on standardized tests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Distractions are a major culprit of this degradation of learning, Horvath previously told Fortune, <\/em>adding that refocusing attention after it\u2019s been diverted takes time to recover. Educational systems \u201cscrewed up,\u201d he told Fortune. <\/em>\u201cAnd I genuinely hope Gen Z quickly figures that out and gets mad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more What it\u2019s like to be a founder of the most high-stakes startup ever, OpenAI<\/a><\/p>\n

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A version of this story originally appeared on Fortune.com on April 10, 2026<\/em>.<\/p>\n

More on education<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Study finds AI boosted homework scores 18%\u2014then tanked exam results 20%<\/li>\n
  • Mathematicians grapple with a \u2018very rapid and very unsettling change\u2019 as AI cracks yet another century-old problem<\/li>\n
  • America\u2019s math and reading scores tanked after schools ditched textbooks for screens\u2014and AI could worsen the brain rot<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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