Katy ISD survey: Chromebooks widely used daily but parents and teachers flag battery, Wi‑Fi and weight issues

Katy Independent School District officials presented results Jan. 13 from a fall 2024 survey of the district’s third‑through‑twelfth grade one‑to‑one Chromebook program, saying students use the devices frequently but that recurring hardware and connectivity issues merit further attention.

“The Chromebook program ... was launched this past fall,” Andrea Grooms, the district communications lead who presented the results, told trustees. The program, she said, “emerged out of the Bond 2023 initiative in which the community approved Chromebooks, designed to provide a standardized and secure device to every third through twelfth grade student.”

Survey highlights - Participation: Grooms reported strong responses from elementary students (about 73% participation among that cohort), 53% participation for junior high students and 21% participation for high school students; overall response counts in the full reports were about 15,000 elementary student responses, about 11,000 junior high responses and roughly 6,500 high school responses. - Sentiment…