IT Infrastructure & Management

Smartphones Evolve Into Popular Tool for High Schoolers

By Sean Cavanagh — June 11, 2013 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A new nationwide survey reveals the extent to which mobile devices have become an inextricable part of students’ and families’ lives—while also indicating that parents see potential benefits, and drawbacks, to those technology tools.

By the time they enter high school, 51 percent of all students are carrying a smartphone to school with them every day, the survey of parents shows. Nearly a quarter of all students in K-12, overall, are doing so, while 8 percent of students in grades 3-5 are bringing a smartphone to school.

It’s unclear, however, whether that tech usage results in benefits for students during the school day. Just 16 percent of all K-12 parents say their children’s schools require students to use family-owned devices in classrooms.

Family Technology Ownership

BRIC ARCHIVE

Source: Grunwald Associates LLC

Nearly the same portion of parents, 17 percent, say their children’s school requires students to use at least one portable device or mobile device in school.

Those results suggest that “there are a significant portion of mobile devices that are just being turned off when students get to school, or are being used under the radar,” Peter Grunwald, the president of Grunwald Associates LLC, told Education Week. His organization conducted the survey of parents, in coordination with the Learning First Alliance.

The survey found that parents were largely optimistic about the potential academic benefits of mobile devices. But they were also cautious about the pitfalls that come with using those tools.

A version of this article appeared in the June 12, 2013 edition of Digital Directions as Smartphones Evolve Into Popular Tool for High Schoolers

Events

School & District Management Webinar Crafting Outcomes-Based Contracts That Work for Everyone
Discover the power of outcomes-based contracts and how they can drive student achievement.
School & District Management Webinar EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
What issues are keeping K-12 leaders up at night? Join us for EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
Teaching Students to Use Artificial Intelligence Ethically
Ready to embrace AI in your classroom? Join our master class to learn how to use AI as a tool for learning, not a replacement.
Content provided by Solution Tree

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

IT Infrastructure & Management Sizing Up the Risks of Schools' Reliance on the 'Internet of Things'
Technology is now critical to both the learning and business operations of schools.
1 min read
Vector image of an open laptop with octopus tentacles reaching out of the monitor around a triangle icon with an exclamation point in the middle of it.
DigitalVision Vectors
IT Infrastructure & Management How Schools Can Survive a Global Tech Meltdown
The CrowdStrike incident this summer is a cautionary tale for schools.
8 min read
Image of students taking a test.
smolaw11/iStock/Getty
IT Infrastructure & Management What Districts Can Do With All Those Old Chromebooks
The Chromebooks and tablets districts bought en masse early in the pandemic are approaching the end of their useful lives.
3 min read
Art and technology teacher Jenny O'Sullivan, right, shows students a video they made, April 15, 2024, at A.D. Henderson School in Boca Raton, Fla. While many teachers nationally complain their districts dictate textbooks and course work, the South Florida school's administrators allow their staff high levels of classroom creativity...and it works.
Art and technology teacher Jenny O'Sullivan, right, shows students a video they made on April 15, 2024, at A.D. Henderson School in Boca Raton, Fla. After districts equipped every student with a device early in the pandemic, they now face the challenge of recycling or disposing of the technology responsibly.
Wilfredo Lee/AP
IT Infrastructure & Management Aging Chromebooks End Up in the Landfill. Is There an Alternative?
Districts loaded up on devices during the pandemic. What becomes of them as they reach the end of their useful lives?
5 min read
Brandon Hernandez works on a puzzle on a tablet before it's his turn to practice reading at an after school program at the Vardaman Family Life Center in Vardaman Miss., on March 3, 2020.
Brandon Hernandez works on a puzzle on a tablet before it's his turn to practice reading at an after-school program at the Vardaman Family Life Center in Vardaman Miss., on March 3, 2020. Districts that acquired devices for every student for the first time during the pandemic are facing decisions about what to do at the end of the devices' useful life.
Thomas Wells/The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal via AP