Digital Smarts - Parent Advocacy Group Discusses Educational Technology Concerns

Advocacy group Parents Across America recently called on school districts and states to be "far more cautious, diligent, transparent, and accountable about their technology decisions," citing threats to children's health and well-being from rising screen time, increased testing and data collection, and what some view as misguided teaching strategies. While the group is not against the "appropriate" use of technology in schools, they "are speaking out for balanced, healthy classrooms for our children," said Laura Bowman, head of the group's Roanoke, Va. chapter, in a statement. "We strongly oppose the push to increase student screen time, replace teachers with packaged lessons delivered by digital devices, and continuously test students, data-mining the results."

Parents Across America, which got its start with the help of funding from the country's largest teacher's union, is explicit in its opposition to what the group describes as "corporate school reform." The growing push for more technology in the classroom will financially benefit corporations, but is based on limited research about educational effectiveness, PAA maintains. The group has consistently fought against excessive standardized testing, charter schools, the Common Core State Standards, and test-based teacher evaluation efforts, positioning itself as an opponent to many of the efforts pushed by the Obama administration and large philanthropies such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.