How Lower-Income Parents View Classroom Technology Infographic

How Lower-Income Parents View Classroom Technology Infographic

Lower-income parents generally see classroom technology as beneficial to their children’s education, according to a survey from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. The survey gauges how lower-income parents are responding to changes in classroom learning–most notably, an increase in technology tools and use.

Many initiatives encourage educators to integrate technology into their classrooms, and 80 percent of surveyed lower-income parents think using technology in the classroom improves education quality, while 18 percent think classroom technology use is a distraction that hurts education quality and 2 percent are unsure of its impact.

Most parents said their children are using technology frequently at school–30 percent said their children use computers or tablets in school every day, and 37 percent said their children use technology at school a few times a week.

Sixteen percent of parents said they don’t know how much time their children spend using computers or tablets in the classroom. Those proportions are higher for Hispanic parents (23 percent) and black parents (19 percent) than for white parents (11 percent). They also are higher for parents who did not graduate from high school (26 percent) than for parents who are college graduates (12 percent).

Most lower-income parents said they are satisfied with the amount of class time their children spend using technology–76 percent said they think their child spends “the right amount of time” using technology, 15 percent said they think their child needs more time with technology, and 7 percent said they think their child spends too much time using technology.

Eighty-five percent of parents whose children use computers or tablets in the classroom think technology helps prepare their children for important tests, but parents also worry that classroom technology use can hurt the quality of student-teacher relationships.

Roughly 25 percent of responding parents worry that their child’s teacher knows less about their child’s individual needs because of class time spent using technology. Those fears are more pronounced among immigrant Hispanic parents–75 percent worry about this change in classroom relationships.

They survey revealed that parents see potential for both opportunity and risk in their children’s technology use in and out of school: 89 percent said technology helps their child learn important new skills; 88 percent said it exposes their child to important new ideas and information; and 78 percent said it offers their child new and interesting ways for self-expression.

Despite those opportunities, 74 percent said they worry their child will be exposed to inappropriate content online; 63 percent said the time their child spends with technology takes away from other important things such as friendships, family and time spent outdoors; and 51 percent said being online exposes their child to bullying.