Be wary of Chromebooks in Vermont schools
Wide use of Chromebooks are used in our public schools for over 10 years and in some schools being issued to every student. Chromebooks were introduced to the students around 2011 to 2015. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is also called “The Nation’s Report Card,” is set by the National Assessment Governing Board to describe what students should know and be able to do in a subject (math, reading and science) at a given grade. NAEP reported in 2024, that, from 2002 to 2015, scores were steady or slightly increasing in Vermont public schools. From 2015 to 2024, scores started to decline to a level similar in 2002. This also follows the trend from The Vermont Agency of Education report through the VTCAP-Vermont Comprehensive Assessment Program, which evaluates academic proficiency at that grade level.
In the COVID era, technology was immensely used for education for months, replacing pencil and paper 100% and some reports even state that the students learning may have set them back years.
According to a Jan. 28, 2026, article by EducationHQ News Team: “Evidence indicates that indiscriminate digital expansion has weakened learning environments rather than strengthened them…,” author and neuorscientist Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath concludes.
In April 2026, K.G.M. vs META Platforms, Inc lawsuit was a major landmark verdict redefining social media addiction. A jury found Meta Platforms, Inc., and Alphabet Inc.’s Google LLC, (Google) negligent for designing products that harmed a young users mental health and failed to warn users of associated risks.
Tik Tok, Snap Chat and YouTube, settled out of court March of 2026.
Vermont uses the International Society for Technology in Education and Common Sense Media for product vetting. They are approved by the state of Vermont. Ironically enough, the top funding sources for these organizations are Meta, Google, TikTok and YouTube.
How safe are our children using these platforms on Chromebooks (Google Docs and YouTube for example) if these funding sources, for our vetting confirmation, are the same ones that are being sued for billions of dollars?
Is this one of the reasons for our nations decline in academic proficiency at grade level?