The Education Word of 2024 Is ...

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A swirl of political, societal, technical, and practical currents converged to help a phenomenon鈥攖he 鈥渃ellphone ban"鈥攔ise to prominence in 2024, making it 澳门跑狗论坛鈥檚 word (or phrase) of the year.

Concerned about students鈥� mental health and declines in academic performance, education administrators saw curtailing or prohibiting the use of the devices at school as a way to boost concentration in the classroom and address factors that could contribute to bullying, anxiety, and depression.

They were joined by state schools chiefs, governors, and legislators who put new mandates in place, requiring districts to set and enforce policies that would ban cellphones or limit their use during school hours. And those efforts were buttressed by countless think pieces, social media debates, and kitchen table conversations about how to help 鈥淜ids These Days鈥� form healthy screen time and social media habits.

At the center of those discussions: social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, whose book, The Anxious Generation, was quickly deemed a must-read for parents, educators, and policymakers upon its March publication. Haidt鈥檚 book鈥攎et with both criticism and praise鈥攑osits that developments like the smartphone, the front-facing camera, and more advanced social media platforms have led to a 鈥渞ewiring of childhood.鈥�

An explanation of our process for selecting 澳门跑狗论坛鈥檚 2024 word of the year: 澳门跑狗论坛 staffers made our selection after gathering suggestions from reporters and editors covering every sector of K-12 education鈥攆rom technology to curricula. We then ran a few internal polls and pored over the most read stories of the last year for a look for trends that aligned with the top picks. Hey presto鈥攚e had ourselves a winner.

Our process looks a bit different from that of the Oxford English Dictionary, which makes its annual pick by considering new and emerging words, and expressions that are quickly ascendant in the cultural lexicon.

Interestingly, matches up closely with 澳门跑狗论坛鈥檚. According to OED: 鈥溾€楤rain rot鈥� gained new prominence this year as a term used to capture concerns about the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media.鈥�

That explanation sounds a lot like a teachers鈥� lounge conversation about cellphones.

OED鈥檚 past picks include 鈥渧ape鈥� in 2014, 鈥渧ax鈥� in 2021, and 鈥渞izz鈥� in 2023.

澳门跑狗论坛鈥檚 picks are a little less novel, largely because the field isn鈥檛 known for such frequent, dramatic shifts in word usage (unless you count ever-evolving student slang, bruh). Our 2023 word of the year was 鈥渕ath,鈥� which experienced a swell of attention in light of declining test scores and hopes of bringing the same changes the 鈥渟cience of reading鈥� brought to early-literacy instruction.

What almost made the list? Finalists for 澳门跑狗论坛鈥檚 2024 word of the year that鈥攍ike the first runner-up in a Miss America pageant鈥攚ill step in should 鈥渃ellphone ban鈥� not be able to fulfill its duties are: AI and disruption.

Both words are reportedly sleeping in their tiaras and sashes and practicing their dramatic crying faces, ready to take on the top job at any moment. (And both say they鈥檙e still committed to world peace.)

Why students鈥� cellphones got so much attention this year

Haidt spoke with governors, policymakers, and international media in 2024, arguing that children should have less time on social media and more time for unstructured play that would allow them to explore their agency and develop stronger social relationships.

鈥淢y central claim in this book is that these two trends鈥攐verprotection in the real world and underprotection in the virtual world鈥攁re the major reasons why children born after 1995 became the anxious generation,鈥� he wrote in The Anxious Generation.

In June, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for a warning label on social media platforms, citing studies that found a correlation between frequency of social media use and symptoms of depression and anxiety in adolescents.

Arkansas is leading the way in phone-free schools.

It was great to have in Arkansas to see the progress we鈥檝e made and how we plan to chart a path forward.

Together we can change the country!
— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee)

By December, at least 19 states had passed laws or enacted policies that ban or restrict students鈥� use of cellphones in schools statewide, or recommend local districts enact their own such policies, an 澳门跑狗论坛 analysis found.

Both teachers and principals told 澳门跑狗论坛 that Haidt鈥檚 book made their recommended reading lists. But, while many educators said they see the merit in restricting their use, schools faced complicated questions about enforcing cellphone rules students have learned to evade. Some educators reported parents, accustomed to contacting their children at all hours of the day, are resistant to new restrictions. Some said tragedies like school shootings are a reminder of the need for access to phones during the school day.

And some critics argued the rush to regulate cellphone use is merely a Band-aid that doesn鈥檛 do enough to address the complex factors behind students鈥� mental health and academic declines.

鈥淚 am now in my 25th year of teaching and I can say that it is hard to build a case for the unrestricted use of phones in classrooms,鈥� New York City teacher Tom Moore wrote in an August opinion piece. 鈥淭hat said, it is also hard to see how a phone ban will be, as some suggest, the cure for the anxiety, lack of engagement, and general anomie felt by teenagers today.鈥�

Why our runners-up were in the running

AI took the education sector by force as the technology鈥檚 rapid development outpaced both federal regulations and district policies.

Schools reported using new generative AI platforms for everything from writing job listings to augmenting lessons for students with disabilities. States used AI to weigh school funding decisions. And administrators faced a raft of ethical questions about detecting and disciplining AI-abetted cheating, as well as using AI technology in place of traditional metal detectors at school entrances and even facial recognition in schools.

Disruption colored the last quarter of the year, starting with the September deadline for schools to commit their remaining federal COVID-19 aid. Without that fiscal lifeline, many districts face tough decisions about declining enrollment, closing campuses, and discontinuing programs.

Disruption is also a key word used to describe the education plans of President-elect Donald Trump, who says he wants to shake up the system in favor of more school choice and less bureaucracy. Nine of 澳门跑狗论坛鈥檚 25 most-read stories in 2024 are stories about Trump鈥檚 plans after he won a second term. They include a story about whether Trump can really dismantle the Department of Education, and a story about Trump鈥檚 announcement of former wrestling executive Linda McMahon as his nominee for education secretary.