Digital Balance and Well-Being Self-Assessment

Part 3: Grade-band digital well-being lens

Use the same questions and scoring rubric, but interpret results through developmentally appropriate expectations for reducing screen time, strengthening human skills, and supporting healthy digital habits:

• Grades K–2: Emphasize play, conversation, movement, sensory learning, creativity, co-regulation, and adult-guided digital choices. Strong support means students have frequent device-free opportunities to build attention, language, social connection, and self-management foundations.
• Grades 3–5: Emphasize balance, focus, healthy habits, empathy, responsible communication, and early digital citizenship. Strong support means students are learning when technology helps, when a device-free approach is better, and how to manage attention and relationships across both settings.
• Grades 6–8: Emphasize distraction, identity, peer relationships, stress, comparison, privacy, self-regulation, and belonging. Strong support means students receive explicit guidance, practice, and adult follow-up as they build independence with devices and offline relationships.
• Grades 9–12: Emphasize agency, digital reputation, information quality, ethical use, productivity, mental wellness, relationships, and preparation for life after graduation. Strong support means students can make intentional choices about technology, protect well-being, seek help when needed, and balance digital demands with offline learning, work, and relationships.

Part 4: Leadership action guide by support level

Needs stronger support (Total score: 0–8): Prioritize a schoolwide digital well-being plan

• Audit screen use by subject, grade, purpose, duration, accessibility need, and student well-being impact.
• Replace low-value screen use with discussion, creation, inquiry, play, movement, reflection, collaboration, and hands-on learning.
• Build explicit instruction in attention, self-management, empathy, conflict resolution, responsible decision-making, and healthy digital habits.
• Design routines that require students to pause, reflect, collaborate, and attempt offline problem-solving before turning to a device.
• Provide direct practice in empathy, conflict resolution, sustained attention, help-seeking, and responsible choice-making during both digital and device-free learning.

Developing support (Total score: 9–16): Strengthen consistency and shared expectations

• Define when screen use is essential, beneficial, optional, or replaceable, and align expectations across classrooms and grade levels.
• Build common routines for screen breaks, movement, quiet reflection, conversation, hands-on work, and device-free collaboration.
• Examine whether engagement depends on novelty, passive consumption, or adult redirection instead of meaningful learning, connection, and student agency.
• Plan regular moments for students to explain ideas aloud, ask thoughtful questions, listen to peers, and solve problems without digital prompts.
• Teach students to notice when screens support learning and when they may reduce focus, patience, persistence, emotion regulation, or face-to-face connection.

Strong support (Total score: 17–24): Maintain and deepen practices

• Identify digital well-being practices worth protecting, especially routines that strengthen attention, relationships, self-regulation, and offline engagement.
• Collect student, teacher, caregiver, and counselor feedback each semester to verify that reduced screen time is improving focus, belonging, learning, and well-being.
• Review whether technology use is intentional, developmentally appropriate, accessible, and clearly connected to learning or student support.
• Reinforce attention, listening, turn-taking, reflection, and peer conversation as daily habits alongside purposeful screen use.

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