Classroom Controversies: Binghamton University experts weigh in

Cell phones, chronic absenteeism, the politicization of curriculum and the potential of the Community Schools model were the hot-button topics covered in a recent online panel discussion hosted by Newswise, an online news service connecting media and leading research organizations. The panel featured subject matter experts from the Department of Teaching Learning and Educational Leadership in Binghamton University's College of Public and Community Affairs, including Lightning Jay, Suzanne McLeod and Kathleen Provinzano.

Phone bans in classrooms

Cell phone use in the classroom is arguably one of the most pressing topics in education nationwide. According to an Education Week analysis, 12 states have passed laws or enacted policies that ban or restrict students' use of cell phones in schools or have recommended that local districts enact their own limiting policies. New York state is currently reviewing a state-wide ban on smartphones in the classroom.

"Phones in the classroom are generally bad for learning," said Lightning Jay, assistant professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership (TLEL), who explained that focus is critical for information retention. "The most important resource in the classroom is attention."

Citing data from studies, he explained that even the presence of phones in the classroom harms learning, not only occupying the user's attention but also serving as a detriment to surrounding students through a phenomenon called attention or distraction contagion. Additionally, cell phone use distracts educators; their cognitive load, or finite attention, is being impacted by constantly monitoring student attention and technology use.

Before cell phones, parent-student interaction during the school day was conducted through the school's main office. Now, parents or families are texting and emailing students during class. "I'm not sure why that [previous] standard isn't something we can return to, but that's something that requires consensus building. We can't just assume families are ready to make that move," Jay said.

This is why Jay believes that bans work better at the administration level, with family buy-in. "Parents want connectivity with their students, so we will need to find a way to honor that while removing the onus on teachers as the enforcement mechanism," he said.

Suzanne McLeod, TLEL's coordinator of educational leadership, noted a recent article suggesting that cell phone use in the classroom may also be limiting students' speech.

"According to this article, teachers report that students are essentially 'self-canceling.' They're not speaking up in class because they're afraid if they say anything, it's going to make its way onto social media, and they will then be harassed, or, even worse, canceled and ignored," she said.

Learned behavior and the acculturation of cell phone use is a big part of this problem - and its possible solution.

"I think cell phone bans are an important step for teaching and learning," said Jay, "and a lot of research supports that. But I also see it as part of a much larger mission, relearning the work of being together."

Chronic absenteeism on the rise

McLeod explained that issues around chronic absenteeism "burst on the scene about a decade ago." According to the federal government, chronically absent children are generally defined as those absent for more than 18 days, or 10% of the school year, whether the absences are excused or unexcused.

Last year, the New York State School Boards Association reported that 30% of high school students in the state are chronically absent. Chronic absenteeism is most prevalent at the beginning and end of the K-12 spectrum, with kindergarten and 12th grade reporting the highest percentages of absenteeism. According to McLeod, chronic absenteeism is a strong indicator of three major deficits, the first of which is academic performance.

"It is pretty logical," McLeod said. If you're not there, you're not going to learn math. If you are not there, you are not going to learn to read. If you are not there, you are not going to be prepared for your standardized assessments or, here in New York State, your Regents exams."

McLeod also explained how poor attendance in elementary school directly correlates to higher high-school dropout rates and how early attendance habits can affect later adult behaviors. Many of the school districts she works with are focusing on ways to reduce chronic absenteeism: "If it is not their top goal for the upcoming year, it is absolutely in their top five."

The politics of curriculum

While the current political climate seems especially fractured, Jay believes that the politicization of curriculum is not new and that it can and should be addressed.

"If you look at the history of classroom curriculum in the United States, it's always been fraught. It's always been something we argued about," Jay said.

However, Jay expresses concern about how certain fact-based historical events are labeled "controversial" in attempts to remove them from the curriculum.

"I've heard people say the history of slavery is controversial. It's not; it's a fact. It's a series of things that happened. There's no controversy about whether slavery existed or whether it was bad. No serious historian questions that," he said. "But if you call it controversial, kids in Oklahoma aren't allowed to learn about it."

Community Schools: Building relationships

Associate Professor of Community Schools Kathleen Provinzano explained how Community Schools can help educators and parents overcome many of the abovementioned challenges by creating a supportive framework for student success.

"When you think about the Community Schools strategy," Provinzano said, "think of it in terms of an approach to public schooling where educators, local community members, families and students are working together collaboratively toward the primary goal of strengthening conditions for student learning."

Provinzano describes a model built on relationship building.

"It's about Community Schools' directors and teachers meeting new kindergarten students and families in their homes or neighborhoods before the first day of school starts so that relationships and expectations are established early in the process," she said. "And this is how you create a supportive network, where students are better positioned to succeed academically because they can rely on these existing connections between the home, the school and the local community in which they reside."

Provinzano described how the Community Schools model positively impacts student academic outcomes using data that compares middle school students who attended an elementary school in a Community Schools district with those who did not.

"We looked specifically at math and science end-of-year grades in grade eight," she said. "We know these are good predictors of a number of different outcomes for students in terms of career and college readiness. We found that students who attended a community school outperformed students who did not attend a community school."

Education moving forward

McLeod advises parents to encourage student attendance. She also suggests parents understand and support their school's cell phone policy and monitor their child's social media presence. Additionally, McLeod cites a study by the UCLA School of Psychology on how participation in extracurricular activities, at least two per year, can directly impact student achievement.

"First, it separates the kids from the phone and some of social media's negative influences," she said. "Secondly, through the activity, kids in the group learn social behaviors and how to take direction, whether from a coach or group leader, and this can carry over to school and overwhelmingly improve academic performance."

Jay believes schools must encourage dialogue and discourse and give teachers the authority to present factual and empirical information.

"Establish facts and give students space to reason," he said. "We do a disservice by not introducing facts or encouraging a moderated dialogue based on facts. Let teachers do their jobs - insist they do their jobs - and I think that's how we make progress."

Watch a recording of the Classroom Controversies Expert Panel here >

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