How 2 schools are dialing back screen time

“Districts and schools trying to cut down on screen time in the classroom are trying a variety of approaches, from reading on the rug and in front of the classroom, to hands-on activities like penmanship, art projects and board games. These changes are happening as some parents, state policymakers, federal leaders, and more recently, a national teachers union have called for more limits on screen time and school-issued devices in classrooms, particularly for younger students. At McPherson Middle School in Kansas, students turned in their Chromebooks before the winter holiday break, retaining the ability to check them out for homework and in-class projects during the spring semester. School leaders hope the pivot away from screens will boost learning and student mental health with tasks like penmanship. McPherson Middle School began its shift in January and has needed to determine how to provide students with rapid feedback when assignments are no longer being completed online, said Principal Inge Esping. “Folks have relied heavily on veteran teachers to create systems and rethink what we used to do” before online grading, she said. “They’re developing systems of, ‘What are the assignments that demonstrate deeper knowledge?’ And giving grades on those, rather than all of the small, daily assignments.” To date, students seem to be enjoying the penmanship activities, with half of students in an English language arts class recently choosing to handwrite their thesis papers when also given the option to type, Esping said. “They feel more focused and engaged during class times,” she said. “And teachers are using more graphic organizers to not only teach handwriting skills but how to organize notes and things like that.” Teachers have cut back on screens more than she initially envisioned, and students have appreciated the mental health boost from the drop off in online communication, which sometimes led to cyberbullying , Esping said. “They’ve commented that we’ve taken that ability away,” she said. “They have so little time [on the screens] that they focus on the task at hand — a quick check of their grades, or a quick check of email.” At Floyd M. Jewett Elementary School in northern Michigan , where more than 65% of 3rd through 5th graders were either “partially proficient” or “not proficient” on state English language arts tests in the 2024-25 school year, Chromebooks and iPads have been mostly removed from classrooms this semester in favor of books and other tactile materials. Superintendent Jack Ledford of Mesick Consolidated Schools, a Michigan district with about 500 students total, said the policy change came in February after he talked with the elementary school principal about the literacy scores. While it varied somewhat by teacher, students were spending a significant amount of time on their Chromebooks and relatively little time hearing their teachers read books to them. “To me, that used to be a staple of elementary classrooms,” he said. “I think reading to kids is a great motivator. So I said, 'let’s then flip that script and take the Chromebooks away. ... I know it’s February, the middle of the year, but let’s start that as soon as we can, talk about this with staff, and explain our reasoning.'” The gamified aspects of screen time release dopamine “hits” that can become addictive, Ledford said. “The games are much more inviting than physical books,” he said. To counter that, he said, “We’re equipping classrooms with books that are high-interest,” such as the “Captain Underpants” series and “Junie B. Jones,” with plans to add professional development in the near future. Jewett Elementary has emphasized fine motor skills like penmanship as well as art projects that involve cutting and pasting, Ledford said. “I talked to teachers in our junior and senior high building and asked how many kids could read and write in cursive. They said, ‘Basically no one,’” he said. “The more I dug into it, the more I saw the social aspect, the mental health aspect — there are so many layers to this, where technology is an obstacle to child development.” Ledford has begun to put together plans for the junior and senior high building for the 2026-27 school year, which will not eliminate Chromebooks but require that they be used very intentionally. While the district hasn’t formalized lesson plans, scope and sequence, “We needed to start somewhere,” Ledford said. “We thought, the best time to do it is right now. We brainstormed different ways to roll this out to staff because we thought we would get more pushback. We haven’t. They’re very much on board.”

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