SPS kindergarten teachers give school board their opinions on technology use, devices

A survey of Springfield kindergarten teachers and their principals showed 94% wanted access to technology in their classroom — and the most popular option was the touchscreen Chromebook.

Of the 84 educators who responded, 82% preferred to have one device for each student, 6% wanted no devices and the rest were fine with a set of 10 devices or a technology cart shared with one other teacher.

Six school board members voted Feb. 26 to buy 1,867 HP touchscreen Chromebooks — enough that each child enrolled in kindergarten will have access to one — but not until after a lengthy discussion.

Much of the back-and-forth was prompted by board member Kelly Byrne, who abstained from the vote.

He tried unsuccessfully to separate the $550,000 needed for the kindergarten devices from the larger $2.3 million proposal, which included 6,790 replacement HP Chromebooks for students in grades 1-9.

"Now that we're voting on both of these together, this leaves me in a predicament because ... I am very conflicted about the kindergarten Chromebooks yet I do acknowledge that we need these in the rest of the grades and teachers need what they need to do their job," Byrne said.

The devices are used for internal testing to measure skills and growth at all grade levels. In grades 3-8 and at the end of specific courses in high school, they are also used for state-mandated exams. All of those required tests are administered online.

They are also the portal through which students access pieces of the curriculum, and practice reading, writing and math skills at different intervals.

A year ago, four board members — Byrne, Steve Makoski, Scott Crise and Maryam Mohammadkhani — voted against buy a fresh round of devices for kindergarten students.

They cited different reasons for their vote. Reasons included a preference for pencil and paper at that age and the high cost of providing one device for each kindergarten student given steps by Superintendent Grenita Lathan to scale back use in the early grades.

Lathan, who has acknowledged heavy reliance on technology during the pandemic, has advocated for a more balanced approached and reduced use in the classroom and how often the devices are allowed to go home.

"I support the responsible use of technology and I appreciate Dr. Lathan's commitment to move away from the overuse of technology," said board president Danielle Kincaid.

At the time, a survey showed a majority of kindergarten teachers wanted the devices and, specifically, the touchscreen option.

"Textbooks, reading time, screen time"

Much of the discussion at the meeting was focused on the eight pages of comments from kindergarten teachers and their principals about what technology use looks like in their classroom.

They were also asked to provide insight into the kindergarten device selection and technology integration. The answers to both varied and length and the names of schools and employees were not attached.

More: 'Here we go again,' SPS board member questions request to buy laptops for kindergarten

In the 50-minute discussion, board members highlighted different responses.

"As I read through this, a couple things became clear to me. One of which is apparently the kindergarten teachers are having issues with logging into iPads," Byrne said.

"... The other overwhelming response here as to why they wanted Chromebooks was to meet the district's requirement for (internal) assessments."

The third-party screener Galileo provides a snapshot of student learning at various posts during the school year — typically, the beginning, middle and end — to pinpoint skill gaps for individual students or an entire class. It also allows teachers, and the district, to track progress over time.

Byrne said the totality of the responses reaffirmed his belief that district should be moving away from technology use in the early grades.

"A lot of the responses on here seem to indicate agreement with that and that those (students) that are using them surely aren't using them all day," he said.

Byrne questioned if paper and pencil testing might be better for students in K-2, before they start taking the state-mandated Missouri Assessment Program or MAP tests in third grade.

"I'm in favor of Galileo but in these early grades, especially before it's a requirement to do MAP testing, I wonder if it is worth the trade off," he said.

Byrne said his goal was to make a decision that would result in students becoming more proficient in reading and math. "I think we all agree that we're living up to exactly where we want to be."

Board member Shurita Thomas-Tate said the comments were enlightening.

"I do read the comments differently than my board member to my left," she said of Byrne.

She said "as one of two board members who are educators" — Judy Brunner is a retired teacher and principal — she understands the challenge of not having one device for each student.

"Time on task is something that teachers are accountable for and trying to get enough opportunity for instructional time in classrooms is hard when you have to spend time with transitions," she said.

Thomas-Tate, an associate professor at Missouri State University who works with early childhood reading and language, said young students need to learn different ways and technology is just one tool.

"We don't sit our kids at a table for the whole school day with a paper and pencil in kindergarten either because play is important also for them," she said.

She noted children are growing up at a time where they need to have good reading and writing skills and know how to navigate technology.

Brunner said the comments indicated a balance "between textbooks, reading time, screen time."

"I didn't' see anything in here that alarmed me, that students were spending an unnecessary amount of time on the computers when they had them," she said.

Mohammadkhani said several comments said technology use in early grades was not developmentally appropriate, and she agreed.

She previously asked for the district to develop a comprehensive plan for technology use, which the district said is in progress.

Mohammadkhani said she has repeatedly raised concerns about the amount of technology use, particularly in early grades, during her time on the board.

"It seems reasonable that after almost three years of talking about it, we should be at a point or be able to say that for the youngest of learners we are committed to healthy habits, which in my opinion, is no tech learning and no tech testing," Mohammadkhani said.

"... I did not say no tech or no tech skills training."

Byrne, Mohammadkhani and Thomas-Tate voted to pull the purchase of the kindergarten devices out of the overall proposal, to be voted on separately, but it failed for lack of a majority.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: SPS kindergarten teachers offer input on technology use, devices