Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is weighing screen time limits in classrooms and will ask parents, teachers and students for their thoughts. The request comes after parents pushed for less tech in schools earlier this year.
CMS officials want community members to weigh in on two options between now and January.
One would curtail screen use in classrooms from pre-K to fifth grade — with some exceptions, like required assessments, learning accommodations or specific interventions.
Another option would set strict screen time limits that vary by grade: no more than 30 minutes per day for preschoolers, with a weekly limit of 2.5 hours. Other grades would have no weekly limit but daily caps of 30 minutes for kindergarteners; 45 for first- and second-graders; and 90 for third through fifth grade.
CMS Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Beth Thompson said both options were drafts and could be revised as the community responds. In both cases, teachers would emphasize reading, writing, movement, discussion and hands-on activities, and CMS would encourage teachers to treat time limits as maximums, not goals.
“The concern is how consistently we can track minutes and whether schools might treat the limit as a target,” Thompson said. “If selected, we would need practical monitoring guidance, reasonable documentation expectations and family-friendly examples of what counts as student screen time.”
CMS will gather opinions through surveys, virtual information sessions and focus groups.
The district is also seeking thoughts on how it should use i-Ready, an online learning platform and screening tool that many parents criticized earlier this year.
The state requires districts to use a universal screening tool to identify students who need help. CMS uses i-Ready. But it also uses the technology to do supplemental instruction tailored to students’ skill level. Currently, CMS recommends all students use i-Ready around 45 minutes per week in each content area.
That gives students who are performing above their grade level time to work with more advanced content, Thompson explained. But CMS is proposing an alternative option that would use i-Ready only as a targeted intervention for struggling students.
Parents in CMS and in districts across the country have questioned i-Ready’s efficacy and argue it leads to increased screen time.
