Academic Technology
Technology is one tool among many in a St. Mary's Academy education. We use it when it strengthens learning, expands access, supports assessment, encourages creativity, enables collaboration, or helps students practice skills they will need beyond SMA.
Our approach is intentionally balanced. We want students to become empowered digital citizens who can use modern tools thoughtfully and effectively. We also recognize that technology can weaken learning when it is overused, poorly matched to the task, or allowed to distract from attention, relationships, reflection, and hands-on experience.
The right balance changes by age, subject, assignment, and year. Because academic technology changes quickly, SMA regularly reviews and refines its practices.
Our Commitments
Purpose before platform.
Technology should serve a clear educational purpose. Teachers consider whether a tool improves learning, supports access, or helps students create, practice, research, communicate, assess, or demonstrate understanding.
Developmentally appropriate use.
Younger students benefit most from hands-on, relational, play-based, and teacher-guided learning. As students grow, they gradually take on more responsibility for using digital tools with focus, care, integrity, and independence.
Academic tools are different from personal devices.
Students may learn with school-approved tools, managed devices, classroom platforms, and digital resources while still having strong limits on personal phones, smartwatches, and other connected personal devices during the school day.
Active learning over passive consumption.
When students use screens, we prefer uses that ask them to think, create, solve problems, communicate, design, annotate, organize, assess, or reflect. Passive screen use should be limited and directly connected to an educational purpose.
Safety, privacy, and responsible access.
Student access is guided by school expectations, approved apps and platforms, content filtering, device management, and age-appropriate supervision.
What Families Can Expect
Early Learning
Technology use is limited, purposeful, and teacher-guided. Students do not use individually assigned school devices. The center of Early Learning remains play-based, hands-on exploration, social growth, movement, creativity, language, and curiosity.
Lower School
Individual student technology use is introduced gradually and with close teacher direction. Digital tools may support skill practice, accessibility, annotation, creativity, assessment, research, design thinking, and classroom projects. Lower School students are not permitted to have personal smart devices, including cell phones and smartwatches, during the school day.
Middle School
Students are ready for more independence, but clear routines and boundaries matter deeply. Technology supports assignments, research, Canvas use, digital annotation, accessibility, assessment, creative work, STEAM projects, and communication with teachers. Students also learn about responsible use, attention, academic integrity, privacy, digital citizenship, and distraction as they gradually gain access to the devices while following structured daily routines. Personal smart devices may be brought when families determine they are needed before or after school, but they must be checked in at the beginning of the school day and remain there until the student departs.
High School
Technology use reflects the realities of college, work, research, collaboration, creativity, and independent academic life. Students are expected to use technology with increasing independence, integrity, and judgment. Personal cell phones are not permitted to be out from bell to bell except when a specific allowance has been made, such as teacher-directed academic use, student government photo or video work, or a class activity that uses phones as sensors or data-collection tools.
For more details about student devices through the academy, see our Student Device Guide.
Screen Time and Instructional Balance
SMA does not use a single Academy-wide daily screen-time maximum. A fixed number would not reflect differences between grade levels, subjects, projects, accessibility needs, assessments, and ordinary variation across the year.
At the same time, screen time matters, and not all screen use is the same. A teacher using slides, images, video clips, digital modeling, or other shared visual materials to guide a lesson is different from students spending that same time working independently on individual devices. Shared instructional screens are usually one part of a teacher-led lesson. Individual-device use affects student attention, task management, and opportunities for distraction differently.
For that reason, SMA pays particular attention to individual-device screen time: when students use iPads, laptops, or other devices for practice, research, assessment, annotation, creation, communication, or independent work. This use should be age-appropriate, purposeful, and balanced with non-digital learning.
Digital Safety, AI, and Family Partnership
SMA uses expectations, instruction, device management, approved apps, filtering, and supervision to support student safety and learning. No filtering or monitoring system is perfect, so technical safeguards are paired with student education, adult supervision, family partnership, and clear consequences for misuse.
Artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are part of the academic landscape that students will inherit. SMA teaches students to engage these tools with integrity, discernment, and age-appropriate boundaries. AI may not be used to cheat, replace a student's own thinking, impersonate others, create harmful content, violate privacy, or misrepresent authorship.
Because academic technology is part of the SMA educational program, families should expect students to participate in school-approved technology activities when those activities are part of instruction, assessment, accessibility, or required coursework. SMA may consider reasonable adjustments when appropriate, but the school generally does not create fully customized device settings, app lists, or technology programs for individual families. Families are encouraged to contact teachers, advisors, division leadership, or the IT Department when concerns arise.