Today, even in Catholic schools, the number of Chromebooks, digital teaching tools and other technology in classrooms is held out as a barometer of a modern, effective learning environment. 

The more we’re learning about the shortcomings of educational technology (EdTech), however, the greater the opportunity for Catholic schools to establish a strong leadership position in realigning classrooms back to proven analog learning methods. 

In the United States, more than $70 billion is now spent on EdTech annually. That money creates a major incentive to ignore the science and the data. When education gets hijacked by powerful, moneyed interest groups, learning suffers along with the Church’s goal of forming the next generation of strong, productive Catholic citizens. 

Catholic schools can lead the nation in returning to reliance on physical books, handwritten note-taking, and greater emphasis on English writing skills. A renewed commitment to programs that encourage reading and handwritten reports, particularly at the elementary and middle school level, will send a message that Catholic education is as strong as our faith.

The science is well settled that taking handwritten notes is more effective at reinforcing comprehension and retention because that combination of deliberate actions involves higher brain functioning than keyboarding. 

It’s called encoding and is a multi-sensory approach to processing, organizing, internalizing and understanding information. This skill is essential for success in all academic disciplines.

A large and growing corpus of research is showing that keyboarding is inferior to handwritten cursive notes. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the percentage of American students who achieve “basic” proficiency in reading has fallen by nearly 10 points since 2013 to only 67%. The slide coincides with increases in spending on EdTech and its use, which have grown by an order of magnitude since.

Catholic schools should recommit to programs like one in my kids’ school that integrate hardcopy books and a more intensive English language reading program with basic technology to test comprehension. Increased attention should also be paid to writing skills.

EdTech wants us to invest in computers and platforms, but Catholic schools should know we need to double down on investing in teachers who are competitively paid, well-trained and more capable of teaching children in a Catholic context. 

While American public schools have dumped billions into technology, only to watch competency scores drop, Catholic institutions should allocate resources to upgrade facilities. There’s a strong argument to be made that renovated gyms and auditoriums, new sports fields and expanded libraries add demonstrably more to a dynamic school environment than laptops and iPads. 

A return to more analog approaches can also address another serious concern for Catholic educators and parents, namely, the real ability for EdTech interests to manipulate digital content, thereby injecting anti-Catholic or even anti-American ideologies into our schools with the click of a button. 

A recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development analyzed data from dozens of countries. It reported, “Students who use computers very frequently at school do a lot worse in most learning outcomes.” The study also found that the technology does little to bridge the skills divide between advantaged and disadvantaged students.

Another study of American K-12 students found that “even small daily amounts” (30 minutes) of digital device use in classrooms was negatively related to reading comprehension scores. It is logical to assume that AI integration into the classroom can have the effect of exacerbating these conditions.

EdTech is failing. Certainly, it has a role to play in education, but literacy and reasoning are declining overall in society — and increasingly, screens are to blame. Learning loss from COVID lockdowns, poor pedagogy focused on woke indoctrination, and the challenges of the most diverse population in the world only go so far in explaining why America’s students are consistently falling behind.

In 2023, Sweden became the first country to announce a return to hardcopy books and refocusing on handwritten notes. Schools across Europe and South Asia are now dialing back student-facing EdTech in the classrooms. 

We were told by the tech giants that social media would create a digital town square and better connect people. It has largely had the opposite effect, and it’s not hard to imagine our fascination with EdTech is also causing harm that requires honest analysis and reassessment. 

EdTech is about industrializing education. It may be a great investment for venture capitalists, but it’s cutting against our kids’ future. Catholic education is well-positioned to lead a correction.

Catholic schools have a responsibility to guard the school environment against the creep of ideas that are incompatible with Church teaching. Well-curated, hardcopy books in Catholic school libraries and classrooms help guard against that threat. 

Unshackled from the nation’s left-wing public-school teachers’ unions, Catholic schools have greater flexibility to control their own destinies. They can innovate and test new strategies. They can also assess effectiveness and adjust to improve performance more easily. This freedom, guided by a firm foundation of the Church’s theological and intellectual patrimony, has always been one of the greatest strengths of Catholic education. 

Growing dioceses — including Knoxville, Tennessee; Fort Worth, Texas; and Charlotte, North Carolina — can serve as proving grounds for this approach to inspire broader change. 

Catholic schools don’t deliver stronger results because they conform to the newest fad or trend. They should avoid the temptation of allowing EdTech to tamper with their long-proven formula for success by making the old ways new again.