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After a US$30 billion investment in educational technology, United States schools face stagnant results, increased classroom distractions, and a decline in Gen Z performance, while teachers resume using handwritten drafts and reignite the debate over textbooks
The United States’ billion-dollar investment to replace textbooks with screens in schools has come under scrutiny after years of high spending, stable test results, and signs of declining Gen Z performance in math, literacy, and creativity.
In 2002, Maine became the first American state to provide laptops to all seventh-grade students. The initiative distributed Apple iBooks to 17,000 students in 243 elementary schools, aiming to reduce the digital divide and connect classrooms to the internet.
The program became one of the first major statewide tests of educational technology in the United States. Over the years, however, the experience showed that equipping a classroom with computers did not automatically mean improved learning.
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Maine Became a Laboratory for Replacing Textbooks with Screens
Maine’s experience began with a straightforward proposal: to bring internet and computers to all students at a specific stage of the school system. The state began spending US$12 million annually on laptops for students, a policy that continued for several years.
By 2016, Maine schools already had approximately 66,000 laptops and tablets. The annual cost had stabilized at around US$12 million, equivalent to about 1% of the state’s total education spending.
Fifteen years later, NPR found that statewide standardized test results remained stable. Even with the massive presence of equipment in schools, there was no measurable increase in student grades.
Amy Johnson, an educational policy researcher at the University of Southern Maine, assessed that the problem lay in the initiative’s execution. Schools received computers, but teachers did not receive sufficient training to practically use the technology in the teaching process.
She told NPR that the lack of significant learning advancements indicated the need to help schools and teachers better understand how to use technology to benefit students. The challenge, therefore, was not just in purchasing the equipment, but in how it integrated into the pedagogical routine.
Program Widened Inequalities Between Schools
The NPR report also highlighted a significant difference between school districts. In wealthier areas, students used laptops for creative and collaborative activities, with a broader use of the possibilities offered by technology.
In poorer and rural schools, usage was more limited. In these locations, students primarily opened programs like PowerPoint and Microsoft Word, without the same variety of applications observed in more affluent districts.
As a result, a program designed to reduce inequalities ended up creating new disparities. Access to equipment was expanded, but the way it was used varied according to the conditions of each school system.
Then-Governor Paul LePage called the initiative a “colossal failure.” The assessment was later cited by Fortune magazine as one of the harshest political verdicts on the long experiment conducted in Maine.
American Schools Spent US$30 Billion on Educational Technology
Maine’s experience preceded a national shift. The rest of the United States followed suit and greatly expanded the use of screens in schools over the subsequent years.
Bloomberg reported in February 2026 that American schools spent approximately US$30 billion on educational technology in 2024. This amount was ten times greater than the sum allocated to textbooks in the same year.
Bloomberg’s editorial board noted that this spending could double in six years. The growth occurred amidst an increasing presence of digital devices in daily school life.
Student performance, however, has not kept pace with this expansion. The same Bloomberg analysis pointed out that IQ scores in Western countries rose for over a century, during a period marked by the expansion of schooling.
About two decades ago, this trend reversed. Generation Z began to show lower results than their parents in math, literacy, and creativity tests.
The analysis indicated that this is the first generation, in modern academic records, to show this type of decline. This data contrasts with the increase in spending on educational technology and the growing presence of screens in schools.
Screens occupy a large part of the school day
Screen time also became a central point of the debate. A 2021 survey by the EdWeek Research Center showed that 55% of teachers stated that students spent one to four hours a day using educational technologies.
Another 27% reported more than five hours of daily use. Only one teacher in a hundred said that students did not use any technology during their school routine.
The presence of screens, therefore, ceased to be occasional and began to occupy a significant part of students’ day. The question became not only the availability of equipment, but what students do while in front of them.
A study published in 2014 in the journal Computers and Education tracked laptop use in a university classroom with nearly 3,000 enrolled students. The research combined direct classroom observation and questionnaires administered to students.
The results showed that students spent 63% of screen time on non-class-related activities. In the questionnaires, the reported percentage was 61%.
Among course-related activities, taking notes was the most common. Among behaviors unrelated to class, browsing social media came in first place.
The researchers observed that, in a large auditorium, students practically ran no risk of being distracted by the class itself. Although the study analyzed higher education, the pattern is similar to reports observed in other educational settings.
Teacher started requiring handwritten drafts
James Welsch, an American politics teacher at Gorham High School in Maine, lives this dilemma in the classroom. His classes operate almost entirely with screens, and students write blog posts, share articles, and display videos during discussions.
Over time, Welsch noticed changes in the essays submitted digitally. The texts arrived truncated, with entire sections that seemed copied and lacked the fluency he expected to find.
In response, he changed part of the routine. In some courses, he began to require that the first drafts be handwritten, moving students away from laptops during the initial stage of text production.
The case summarizes the tension created by more than two decades of investment in educational technology. Even while maintaining blogs, videos, and online debates, the teacher resorts to paper when it’s time to organize the first draft.
Apps compete for students’ attention
Another factor highlighted in the material is the power of apps present on screens. A Baylor University study, published in 2025 in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, compared three short-video platforms.
TikTok surpassed Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts in three design characteristics: ease of use, accuracy in content recommendations, and the ability to frequently surprise the user.
Meredith David, co-author of the study and professor of marketing at Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business, stated that ease of use is the central prerequisite. Without it, the other factors would not have the same importance.
TikTok starts playing videos as soon as the app is opened, while competing platforms require a click. This direct entry was pointed out by researchers as part of the mechanism that favors deep engagement and compulsive use.
David added that TikTok’s own materials acknowledge that users can become addicted to the platform in less than thirty minutes. The study concluded that design features increase addiction primarily through engagement, causing users to lose track of time.
The sources do not treat a school laptop as equivalent to a social media feed. The data set, however, shows that the United States spent tens of billions of dollars to put screens in front of students, while the first major statewide test did not raise grades.
In the end, the experience rekindles the discussion about the role of textbooks, notebooks, and screens within the school. In Gorham, Welsch still teaches mostly online, but puts away the laptops when students need to write the first draft.
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