We talk a lot about leadership decisions related to AI in this newsletter. (Hence the name: AI for Admins, right?)
Recently, I’ve started to see proposed legislation that goes beyond AI and impacts the use of devices entirely in schools.
Some states are proposing bans on devices; others aim to limit screen time.
I’m all for balance. In my own classroom, we don’t use devices all day every day. Rather, I’ll have students pull them out when it makes sense and when it adds to instruction.
I also see the troubling reports about the harms of cell phones and social media with students (and their impacts on adults, too, for that matter).
What concerns me about all of this? Some of the legislation being proposed is pretty far-reaching and would take tools and tech out of the hands of teachers and students in situations where it might actually help.
I’m all for doing what’s right for students. But I also worry about the direction some of this is going.
In today’s newsletter, I share some of the things I’ve found and what it’s making me think.
But I’d like to hear from you! Please respond to today’s poll — and feel free to hit “reply” if you have more to say. I’ll compile thoughts from AI for Admins readers like you and share what you have to say in next week’s newsletter.
In this week’s newsletter:
📺 FREE WEBINAR: My Spring Google Roundup
📚 New AI resources this week
📢 Your voice: Artificial intelligence professional development
🗳 Poll: The proposed bans and limits
⚖️ Legislation about screen time and device bans in schools
📺 FREE WEBINAR: My Spring Google Roundup
Spring is the perfect time to refresh your toolkit.
Join Trafera and award-winning author Matt Miller from Ditch That Textbook for a fast-paced, idea-packed 45 minutes built for everyone who supports learning — teachers, instructional coaches, curriculum leads, IT directors, and tech coordinators alike.
Matt will rapid-fire his favorite tips, tools, and creative strategies for getting more out of Google for Education tools — the kind of practical, ready-to-use ideas that work in the classroom and across your entire district.
📚 New AI resources this week
1️⃣ Is Your School’s Approach to AI Too Flexible? (via Education Week) — A timely warning that “guidelines-only” approaches can create confusion for teachers and students, making the case for clearer, system-level AI policy.
2️⃣ Google Expands AI Training to 140,000+ Educators (via Google Blog) — A major national initiative aims to scale AI literacy training through educator networks, signaling continued investment in teacher capacity-building.
3️⃣ AI Governance Teams Are Emerging in School Systems (via K-12 Dive) — Districts are creating dedicated AI leadership teams and pilot programs to evaluate tools and guide implementation at scale.
📢 Your voice: Artificial intelligence professional development
Last week’s poll: Where is your school right now with AI PD?
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Meaningful, ongoing AI PD (8)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 A session or two but limited (34)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Planning it but haven't implemented (3)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Haven't addressed AI PD yet (9)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Other ... (1)
Meaningful, ongoing AI PD: We've introduced AI programs and features over the last 2 years. We are seeing teachers beginning to be more comfortable using AI in the classroom with their students. We just finished our "Day of AI" where every teacher touched on AI in some way. It is a process and we learn to adjust where needed. — T. Applegate
Haven’t addressed AI PD yet: There are so many moving pieces, tech exhaustion, whitelisting this/blacklisting that, and AI wariness with teachers. Many see AI as the big bad wolf used by students to do their assignments. Some teachers have embraced doing THEIR work via AI, but have no idea or desire to introduce into their classrooms. — M. Calhoun
Meangingful, ongoing AI PD: We've built a comprehensive AI PD program over the last 3 years. Year 1 - we started with a book study (your AI for Educators). Our teachers found it very helpful and craved more PD on AI. Year 2 - we offered a couple of one-off sessions (focused on basic AI literacy and use cases for education). Again, these sessions were popular with our staff. Year 3 (this school year) - we've offered an entire focused pathway specifically focused on AI. — M. Winstead
What would you like to read in AI for Admins?
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🗳 Poll: The proposed bans and limits
Instructions:
Please vote on this week’s poll. It just takes a click!
Optional: Explain your vote / provide context / add details in a comment afterward.
Optional: Include your name in your comment so I can credit you if I use your response. (I’ll try to pull names from email addresses. If you don’t want me to do that, please say so.)
How do you feel about proposed legislation regarding device bans and screen time limits?
⚖️ Legislation about screen time and device bans in schools
Legislators, parents, educators, and admins have opinions on the place of devices in classrooms and schools. (Illustration: Google Gemini)
It’s starting to pop up in the news, in community discussions … and now, in state legislatures.
There’s increasing pressure to remove digital devices — laptops, Chromebooks, iPads — from schools and classrooms and/or limit their use.
They’re being brought on from social media posts claiming that “we gave students Chromebooks and took away their brains” (according to one video I saw).
They’re also fueled by some recent books …
The Anxious Generation (by Jonathan Haidt) — The smartphone-based childhood that took hold around 2012 is the primary driver of the teen mental health crisis.
The Digital Delusion (by Jared Cooney Horvath) — Claims that educational technology (including laptops, tablets, and education software) is having a negative impact on learning.
Here’s what’s happening right now
The most recent round of proposed bills are looking at limits to screen time.
Some recent reports in the news:
However, there’s a growing number of states that are considering limits or bans on digital devices, too …
This is a pared-down version of the bill that originally proposed a full ban on digital devices in K-5.
In short: It seems like all of this legislation is coming on quickly. It started with restrictions on screen time, and in some places, it’s escalating to all-out bans on devices.
And you know that folks in more states are discussing this and making plans. If your state isn’t on the list, it could be very soon.
What concerns me about all of this
I totally get the concern about screen time, social media, and cell phones.
I have three kids at home — one in college, two in high school. All have cell phones. We’ve talked a number of times about what they use the cell phones for, how they feel about them — and how they feel after using them too much. I see the effects of social media and my cell phone on myself.
I’ll bet you see it, too.
What worries me is that we have lawmakers (and parents) (and lobbyists) — folks that haven’t seen the inside of a classroom — trying to create unclear restrictions … restrictions that will take quality tools and teaching methods out of the hands of teachers and students.
Here are some specific concerns that I have …
Not all devices are the same — Some folks are talking about screens in general as the culprit. There’s a huge difference between “doomscrolling” social media for too long and using it for specific instructional purposes.
Not all edtech is the same — To justify their restrictions and bans, some folks are trying to say, “Look at how terrible programs like i-Ready and IXL are.” There’s a lot to dislike about i-Ready and IXL … but those are VERY different programs from other edtech apps that students and teachers use every day (like Adobe Express, Book Creator, FigJam, and other creation / collaboration tools.)
Terms are defined terribly — The Iowa screen time bill calls for capping “digital instruction” at 60 minutes per day. What constitutes “digital instruction” — and how are we measuring it, exactly? The Tennessee device bill allows for device use as long as it provides a “clear educational benefit.” How is that defined — and who decides that? The entire concept of “tech use” (tech users vs. non-tech users) is incredibly vague, too.
What they’re worried about isn’t actually happening in lots of places — We hear concerns about “students looking at screens all day” … but when I walk through elementary schools, I don’t see that. Then we have quotes like this: "At the same time, digital devices have become the default method of instruction for many of our youngest learners," said the bill's sponsor, Tennessee state Rep. Michele Reneau. (Government Technology) Honestly, I don’t know ANY school (except for virtual/online schools) that use digital devices as the default method of instruction for their youngest learners!
In my own classroom — and in the experiences of educators I talk to — I’ve found that certain tech platforms, if used in instructionally appropriate places, can really help students.
In short: Use it when it makes sense. Don’t use it when it doesn’t help.
A response from an AI for Admins reader
Here’s what a fellow AI for Admins reader (who didn’t provide her name but responded to last week’s poll) said. It relates to our discussion today!
“As a regular ed classroom teacher for 20+ years, I have watched as districts have mandated that students go 1:1 and that teachers must use technology in every classroom to "teach" students how to use technology.
“However, the biggest failure of that mandate was to put devices in everyone's hands with no actual training or understanding of how to use tech as a tool. Therefore, students who were not yet at the age of self-control were given what they perceived to be "really cool" gaming devices and were off to the races using the tech as a major learning disruption.
“Meanwhile, teachers became tech police, trying to monitor and shut down gaming and social media, and real and meaningful learning became the victim of the shift.
“In all of this, the major tech companies have created a generation of consumers who will buy the next and best gadget, who will spend hours scrolling mindless rot, and who will rely on the newest app as a replacement for learning, communicating, and being authentic human beings. Not only has this been perpetrated on the innocent students, but teachers have been used as the reason this all needed to happen.
“I can tell you that 20 years ago, when the first whiff of 1:1 started to permeate faculty meetings and district agendas, teachers were telling administrators students didn't need 1:1 and that having so much technology in school every day would lead to problems, distractions, and actual learning would go away ... and it has!”
I share this because I think our reader here elaborated where we are and how we got to this point very accurately. The assertion at the end has some truth. I personally don’t think that tech itself has caused “actual learning to go away” … but it definitely isn’t the revolutionary cure-all that some people believed it to be.
What do we do now?
I don’t know about you, but I’m still gathering information about all of this — the reports and statistics about tech use, the proposed legislation, and the anecdotal stories of folks who are actually in schools and classrooms.
I’m still making sense of all of it. (I’m not sure if anyone will fully make sense of it!)
All in all, we have to figure out what’s best for students and advocate for it. It’s safe to say that “more tech” isn’t the answer … but “no tech” isn’t a great answer, either.
Where we fall on that spectrum depends on what our students need and how we use it.
If we’re trying to determine next steps, here’s what’s top of mind for me …
Make sure tech use supports learning — Teachers have to be able to decide whether their use of technology is any better than non-tech alternatives.
Break down the pressure to use tech when it doesn’t make sense — There’s been this pressure over the last decade-plus to integrate tech … maybe from the incredible financial investment in it, maybe from folks who see it as a way to solve education’s problems. We have to empower teachers to choose what’s best for kids — whether it involves tech or not — without being pressured.
Make your voice heard — As legislation is proposed (and debated), our lawmakers need to hear from us. Parents need to hear from us. If these folks are making decisions and aren’t in classrooms and schools, they need to hear from folks who see the realities of this — and have to make instructional decisions — every day.
Highlight great use cases — We’ve seen examples of technology being used effectively. If we can show what works, it helps teachers know what to emulate — and can show our stakeholders what’s possible if we use tech effectively.
Prioritize solid professional development — Professional development around tech use needs to be focused on best instructional practices and strategies … not on what an app does or its newest features. Teachers need to know how tech empowers and elevates instruction — not just what the buttons do in a new program.
What do you think?
This is all just me thinking (and writing) out loud to make sense of this.
Let me know what you think — either in the poll question above or by hitting “reply” to this email directly.
I’ll compile responses I get and share them here.
I hope you enjoy these resources — and I hope they support you in your work!
Please always feel free to share what’s working for you — or how we can improve this community.
Matt Miller
Host, AI for Admins
Educator, Author, Speaker, Podcaster
[email protected]
