The Waldorf School of Garden City is (nearly) tech-free. Here's how it works.

On a recent June morning, about a dozen students in Katie McCarthy's fourth grade class pushed their wooden desks to the edges of the room. One by one, the students took turns hopping over a rainbow-colored jump rope while singing a rendition of the traditional folk song "Turn the Glasses Over."

"I've been to Harlem, I've been to Dover, I've traveled this wide world all over," the students sang as the rope clapped rhythmically on the floor.

In some ways, McCarthy's bright green classroom at The Waldorf School looks like any other on Long Island. There are shelves filled with books and supplies and the walls are decorated with children's art work. But what's notable is what you don't see: There is no smart board at the front of the room and on the desks, there are no Chromebooks or iPads — technology that often dominates traditional classrooms.

The private Garden City school, where annual tuition ranges from $18,800 for nursery students to more than $40,000 for high schoolers, prides itself on being nearly tech-free. Students do not use computers in class until sixth grade and there are no smart boards or other technology offered until seventh grade. Educators even withhold calculators until ninth grade.

"We want to make sure we’re using it [technology] as a tool and it’s not using us," said the school's faculty chair, Deirdre Burns Somers.

The school's approach is in stark contrast to that of many others on the Island and across the nation, where the use of technology in the classroom has been hotly debated.  A recent survey of nearly 600 U.S. teachers found that 85% believe students spend too much time on screens during class, with many expressing concern that students have "shortened attention spans and difficulty focusing without digital stimulation."

Recently, the nation's second-largest teachers' union, the American Federation of Teachers, called for a ban on digital devices and screens for students in pre-kindergarten through second grade and stricter limits for other students. The New York State United Teachers also supports restrictions for young students.

Manny Vega, The Waldorf school’s director of admissions, said he has seen an increase in applications since the pandemic. The school, which enrolls 311 students ranging from almost 3 years old through 12th grade, receives on average about 200 to 300 applications annually.

"More families are seeking us for our media and tech mindfulness and intentionality," Vega said. "More families who are wanting to prioritize outdoor education. Families who are wanting their children to be in an environment that teaches different learning modalities and not just doing rote memorization and worksheets or work on tablets and Chromebooks."

'Complex' issue

The debate around technology in the classroom, like so many other issues involving education, is nuanced.

Kris Perry, executive director of Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development, said screen time can impact a child's development.

Perry said it’s important for students to practice how to "hold someone's gaze" and process what they're learning and hearing, as well as develop relationships with adults. The more time students spend on "low-dopamine, high-friction activities, the more likely [they] are to achieve those developmental tasks," she said.

Perry said there is no perfect time to introduce a digital device, but kids should be at an age where they can better understand them.

"A very young child can only understand certain things," Perry said. "They don’t understand algorithms."

But some educators said there are positives to using digital devices and technology in schools. 

Tim Eagen, president of the Suffolk County School Superintendents Association and superintendent of the Kings Park district, said students, especially younger ones, need to learn how to interact with one another and grow their language and social skills, but also to get comfortable with technology. In college, for example, he noted students often take exams online and use digital textbooks.

"That’s a reality and they need to be proficient in all those skills, so they could hit the ground running in college, career or the military," Eagen said.

In his district, Eagen said smartboards are in most of the classrooms. Fourth to 12th graders all have Chromebooks, while kindergarten to third grade students have laptops available to them for certain assignments, he said.

"The issue with technology is a complex one because of screen time," he said. "We want to be purposeful, and we want to take the age of the student into account."

Susan B. Neuman, who teaches childhood and literacy education at New York University's Steinhardt School, pointed to research from the American Academy of Pediatrics that says children under 2 should not be given screens. Parents can then slowly introduce brief educational content.

Consuming too much screen time takes away from activities like interaction with other children, conversations and reading with parents as well as learning from observations, she said.

But Neuman said there is evidence that shows that a child's vocabulary can grow when they consume appropriate digital content.

"So it's not screen time is always a bad thing. The problem is that it's being abused," she said.

Bean bag lessons and handmade 'textbooks'

Back in McCarthy's fourth grade class, students stood in a circle and began tossing bean bags at one another. The point of the game, McCarthy explained, was to help students practice their multiplication tables and memorization skills.

"It’s knowing your times table. It’s also orienting in space," she said. "It’s resolving problems."

She added, "They were able to do all that without an adult overlay. That builds balance in the body and in the brain."

Down the hall from McCarthy's room, Ericka Conlon was teaching a lesson on women's rights and the suffrage movement to a group of eighth grade students.

Pencils in hand, the students then translated what they learned into their "textbooks" — notebooks filled with written essays and drawings related to the lesson.

It's not clear how this tech-free philosophy translates in terms of academic success. Waldorf conducts educational assessments in certain grades, but they only serve as a diagnostic tool, educators said.

Waldorf officials said this year's graduating senior class has an average SAT score of about 1300. Nationally, the average SAT score for high school seniors in 2023 was 1028, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

High school senior Arnav Kohli, who transferred to Waldorf from a public school in eighth grade, sees the impact of his new school's philosophy most when he is in social settings with friends. 

He said his public school friends sometimes have a harder time engaging with one another without technology.  

"At dinner, they're scrolling on their phones," he said. "My rule is I put my phone away because that's something I learned in Waldorf."

He believes at Waldorf, technology is not shunned but rather treated like just another tool in the academic toolbox.

"We still understand technology and we know how to use it, but...we're using it to aid us and not completely do the work for us."