What did the survey find?
The Hartford Courant (reporter Livi Stanford, republished by Government Technology on 20 October 2026) reports on a survey by the Connecticut Education Association, the state's teachers' association. It questioned 113 teachers the month before. Most of them believe phones and other devices have contributed significantly to weaker reading stamina and a smaller vocabulary among students.
- Most of the teachers still assign chapter books, although the number each year varies.
- More than half said it is harder to get students to finish a chapter book than it was five years ago. Only ten disagreed.
- Teachers described shorter reading time in class, more reading aloud, and students relying on AI or Google summaries instead of reading full texts. Some also noted that interest in reading has increased since COVID.
What worries the teachers most?
The association's president, Kate Dias, says the biggest worry is students' ability to keep going with independent reading. She also voiced concern that AI could replace reading and other thinking work, arguing that students cannot learn to read and understand without actually reading. An English teacher at Woodland Regional High School, Meghan Hatch Geary, says students now need more explicit instruction on making sense of a text than when she started teaching.
What do the test scores say?
The report mentions that statewide English Language Arts scores rose slightly, from an average of 64.7 last year to 65.0, against a target of 75 in every category. The survey, with 113 teachers, is a modest sample and reflects teachers' own perceptions, so it points to a trend teachers feel rather than proving its cause.
What can a school head take from this?
These four ideas are our own general suggestions, not statements from the report:
- Protect a daily reading block. Even 15 to 20 minutes of silent, device-free reading builds stamina, and it needs no budget.
- Ask for the pupil's own words. A short summary written without a screen shows whether the text was actually read.
- Count something simple. Pages read per week or books finished per term tells you more than a general impression.
- Set one clear rule on phones and AI. Pupils follow a rule they can repeat in one sentence, for example "no phone during reading time; summaries are written by you".