Across the U.S., we are slowly starting to face a discouraging reality—our students’ progress in school is not improving, but declining. And what is especially discouraging is that this decline may in part be due to the excessive use of technology devices, both at school and outside of school.

And the experts agree. Recent days have seen an explosion of opinions on the too-much-technology issue.

On May 13, the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University issued their annual “Education Scorecard.” One finding of the Scorecard is that in recent years our students’ reading and math performance has gotten worse, not better. And the authors cautiously attribute this decline in part to technology use, that “The slowdown in learning coincided with a dismantling of test-based accountability and a rise in social media use.”

On May 20, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an Advisory on “The Harms of Screen Use.” The Advisory recommended limiting screen time, making more use of paper textbooks and paper classroom assignments, and reverting from one-on-one device coverage to the use of computer labs.

And on May 27, Randi Weingarten, the President of the American Federation of Teachers, gave a speech at the National Press Club on “Devices Down, Eyes Up, Hands-On: 10 Points to Boost Student Learning and Success in the AI Era.” Weingarten proposed a plan for the use of technology in schools, which included a ban on screens for students in prekindergarten through second grade.

But why can’t we make technology work for our kids? Why can’t we make sure our use of educational technology is achieving its promise and improving the learning experience for our students, while we work to minimize any negative impacts?

Some uses of technology can be very valuable for our students—these technologies should be put to work and used effectively.

The best place to begin is to not throw out the baby with the bathwater. We need to look at the technologies that provide a high potential to benefit our students, assess whether these technologies are working well, and make sure our students are getting the benefit from them we had hoped for.

Maybe the best example of a high-potential technology is personalized learning (or “adaptive learning”) software for reading and math instruction. An example is HMH’s Personalized Path software, which is part of a larger traditional reading curriculum.

In our students’ early years in school we walk them through a graded structure in which all students receive the same reading and math instruction at the same pace. This works well for many students. But if students fall behind the graded pace, they may be doomed. This is particularly tragic for students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Personalized learning software addresses this problem by providing each student with materials and lessons at their current skill level, while continually reevaluating the student’s progress. This helps not only students who are lagging behind but also those with the potential to soar ahead. And, the personalized learning software provides the teachers and school staff with constant updates on the student’s progress and status.

In addition to personalized learning, another “don’t throw out” technology is productivity software, such as word processing, spreadsheets, and slide show development. We certainly want students to learn how to use and take advantage of these powerful tools.

At the middle school and high school level, students need access to technology for STEM and CTE classes, in subjects such as software coding.

And one more valuable technology application is learning management system software, such as Google Classroom. LMS products can issue and grade assignments and host asynchronous discussions.

But yes, we also need to emphasize valuable forms of learning that use little or no technology.

While we resist throwing out valuable technology applications, what can we also do to lessen our use of computer devices and increase human interaction?

The exercises in personalized reading we discussed above must mostly be online. But otherwise, reading on a computer device doesn’t work that well—when a student reads on a device, it is more likely that they will start skimming through the text, or worse yet get diverted to more alluring applications.

What is better is to make more energetic use of paper books and reading materials. One benefit of paper books is that the tactile experience of holding the paper in our hands makes it easier to hold our attention.

And so this is the time to rebuild paper book libraries both at the school level and in the classrooms, and work to have the students take these books home. An important feature of these libraries is to have interesting books at all the needed reading levels, and to somehow discretely mark each book with its level.

And as with paper books, there are advantages to learning through tactile materials. Rather than working out a puzzle on a laptop, a student can use wooden or plastic manipulatives. And especially in the primary grades, there is an advantage to having students write and draw with old-fashioned paper and pencil.

Another way to mitigate the use of devices is to call on students to set the devices aside and engage in group discussions and small group projects.

Older students can do hands-on workin STEM labs. And at the high school level, students can work with career and technical education (CTE) labs. As we noted above, some STEM and CTE activities require technology and devices. But other career-oriented activities are hands-on, with at most tangential use of devices.

Schools need to regulate the use of technology during the school day, to avoid distractions and unproductive use.

Having activities that don’t require a device opens the door to a key strategy in controlling device use, which is to break up the day into computer and non-computer periods.

If a period is devoted to an activity not requiring computers, the teacher can simply declare, “Everyone please close your laptops now.” Better yet, the students can stash their laptops in a cart or rack.

This still leaves the door open to the danger that during periods when laptops are used the students will venture off task. To guard against this, the school should use filtering products that prevent students from accessing social media and similar sites.

A battle that now seems to have been won is implementing bans on phones during the school day.

Schools of course have limited ability to dictate how students use devices at home. Even so, schools might be wise to work with families to help them mitigate device addiction and inappropriate uses of products such as social media.

It is time for a fresh look at these issues.

After decades of using technology in school, you would think we would have figured all of this out by now. But it seems like we need a fresh start. As Shakespeare said, “Once more unto the breach.”