As apprehension has mounted over how much time students spend with their eyes glued to screens, Miami-Dade school board member Roberto Alonso in May requested district experts conduct an analysis of how much time K-12 students spend on computers as part of their learning
From kindergarten to 8th grade, Miami-Dade County schools aims for students to use digital learning tools no more than 90 minutes a week in the classroom, the report's authors said.
The analysis comes after a wave of backlash this year from parents and education advocates against the prevalence of "EdTech," or education technology, in classrooms.
The Miami-Dade County Public Schools report was presented Wednesday at a School Board committee meeting.
" I believe that the report really reassures to our parents that Miami-Dade County Public Schools is not replacing our teachers with computers," Alonso said at the meeting, "our students are not sitting in front of a computer all day long."
The report measures digital tool use in grades as early as pre-school, in which students spend 15 minutes a week on a program to help develop literacy and numeracy.
The online instruction paired with teacher-guided learning is also used for specific programs, not just core subjects, like bilingual education. From kindergarten to senior year of high school, the usage of the online tool to support English-learning spans from half an hour to an hour per week.
" We know that teacher-driven instruction is the most effective strategy," said Daniel Mateo, assistant superintendent of schools of choice and parental options. "These are supplemental tools or enrichment tools that we use to engage students in other ways."
Mateo explained that when they pull metrics on program usage, they compare it to student performance.
" All of that analysis is strictly correlative. There is no way to say that a particular platform is 100% tied to performance," he said.
Some students who need more support may get extra screen time for reading, math or ESOL intervention. For grades 6-8, for instance, the screen time baseline in 90 minutes a week. But math intervention could result in an extra hour.
Screen time for high school courses vary more than K-8 because of different expectations in district courses, Advanced Placement, Career and Technical Education and others.
" We have to really ensure that all these products and all these solutions that we're putting in front of our kids have a clear educational purpose," Alonso said. "If it doesn't have an educational purpose that is supported by research and improves outcomes, we cannot be part of the problem."
The report focused specifically on how much time students at each grade level spend using digital learning tools such as i-Ready Reading and Mathematics, websites intended to help students improve and track their progress.
But the report doesn't capture how much time students spend on the computer or other device when it's a course-specific or teacher-specific assignment. For example, an eighth grader assigned to research and type an essay for English Language Arts.
More than half of educators who work for public school districts nationwide — 61% — say that most parents and caregivers feel there’s too much technology in schools. On the other hand, 37% of families feel the amount is “just right,” according to a survey of nearly 600 districts and educators by the EdWeek Research Center earlier this year.
Nearly 20% of Florida parents are more likely to have kids use screens for homework compared to the national average, according to a new report by LingoKids, an interactive, play-based learning app for young children.
Getting parents involved
The district is also doing parent outreach to inform adults and caretakers about healthy tech use and suggestions around setting regulations for device use at home.
Mateo and other officials put together a website parents and caretakers will be able to use to learn more about how much screen time is appropriate for each age group and the potential dangers of allowing more than that. (Mateo told WLRN they used Gemini AI to develop the website for parents.)
Dr. Mona Amin is a board-certified pediatrician in Fort Lauderdale, founder of PedsDocTalk and the medical advisor for LingoKids.
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For school-age children over the age of six, her advice to parents is to limit screen time at home until all other activities and responsibilities have been completed.
"Maybe they have homework, maybe they have an extracurricular activity, time with the family, dinner time, meals, connection, they got physical activity during the day," she told WLRN. And, importantly: "You're prioritizing sleep [for your child.]"
The district's report differentiated between passive screen time, mindlessly consuming media, and active screen time, using it as a tool that actually engages cognitive skills.
Amin agrees that the distinction is important, as they have different developmental outcomes.
"Scrolling any device — that is considered passive because it's just consumption," she said. "Active can mean so many different things. It can mean anything that allows meaningful engagement, decision-making, fostering maybe creativity. So this can include educational programming apps, entertainment apps, coding skills. Some school-aged children might take a coding class, and that involves a screen."
As backlash against technology in classrooms has grown, Amin wants to reassure parents that not all of it is problematic.
"I think we can't really get away from ed tech," she said. "I think it's really important to go down to your values and think what's important [and] talk to the schools about how they incorporate technology."
Embracing artificial intelligence
School districts across the country, including in South Florida, have incorporated artificial intelligence in classrooms for both students and teachers as a means of better preparing students for an increasingly tech-driven workforce.
And while many see it as necessary for students to be well-rounded by the time they graduate, the embrace has been highly controversial. Both because of concerns that it could diminish critical thinking skills among students, and also because of fear that it could lead to more screen dependency and less teacher-instructed learning.
Board member Monica Colucci, who agrees with the "wonderful possibilities" of AI, made it clear she's keeping her focus on human-led interactions in the classroom.
"When it comes to children, we must, we must, we must allow them to develop cognitively so that they can think for themselves, and when they use AI, they can differentiate and say, 'You know what? I'm the one putting in the information, and I'm the one to distinguish because of what I've studied and what I know if it is accurate or not.'"
