A growing number of students are doing their schoolwork on Chromebooks, and an increasing number of teachers are managing their work with free tools from Google, according to “K-12 Classroom Technology Survey Report 2016,” a new report from Simba Information (www.simbainformation.com).

Chromebooks, which represented less than 2% of education market device sales a few years ago, now are found in more than one-quarter of classrooms. Chromebooks follow the legacy classroom desktop computer as the available device having the biggest impact on student achievement. Chromebooks follow iPads as the device teachers would most like to add for student use.

"The percentage of teachers using Google Classroom, a free platform for managing assignments and communicating with students, was more than three times that of any other learning management system when Simba Information and MCH Strategic Data surveyed K-12 teachers this year," said Karen Meaney, a senior analyst in Simba Information's Education Group. "Additionally, Google educator communities ranked in the top three responses when teachers were asked what online communities they worked with to share ideas and find resources."