Council Member Morano questions DOE on assessment screen time exemptions

Okay.

Thank you very much, Chairs, and thank you very much.

Thanks so much, Councilman McShulman.

I think that last question is a very important one, too.

And I think, you know, there's a standardized test, but there's also the everyday assessments, math and everything else that are happening digitally.

And I do think it's worth the O.E.

Considering other ways to opt out of that to take these assessments.

I want to recognize that Councilmember Maloney is here.

And now we're going to turn it over to Councilmember Morano.

Thank you, Chair.

First of all, I'm aware of the irony of me reading questions off of a laptop that I just typed.

But I think it goes to show there's an appropriate place for technology.

You're a lost cause.

Exactly.

Clearly.

Thank you.

And I want to give the DOE.

credit for recognizing that technology should be used sparingly and shouldn't crowd out teachers' books, hands-on learning, and interaction with other kids.

I want to focus, I want to pick up where my colleague, Councilmember Schulman, left off, the one exception in your policy.

You say that digital assessments and diagnostics don't count towards screen time limits.

So if an elementary school student has 30 minutes of instructional screen time and then spends another hour taking digital assessments, that additional hour doesn't count as screen time under the current policy.

Is that right?

That would be correct.

But we would also ask our schools to be very mindful that if this is your day that you're administering a screener, that on this day you are also balancing that out by minimizing or not using at all

screen time that would otherwise be part of the curricular day.

But here's what I don't understand.

The child's eyes and brains don't know DOE has classified that hour as an assessment.

If we're concerned about the effects of screen exposure on children, why wouldn't all screen time count as screen time?

Yes, thank you for that question.

We just, it is part, that is a great question.

And I think for us, our current ability to keep a pulse on our students are our screener assessments.

They are digital.

And that is why we were asking our schools that on these days, in order to get this data to understand how kids are performing, what interventions or accelerations they might need, that we are able to maintain those screeners.

And if we need to continue to revisit as we look at this policy over the next year, the kinds of screeners that we have and where that...

Plays in digital, we will make those adjustments.