Sidebar
Connecting public K-12 schools to the NII could produce a variety of educational benefits. Clearly, it would enable students to build computer and networking skills. Early evidence indicates that it could also support both traditional teaching approaches and new methods oriented toward teaching problem solving and critical thinking skills. Certainly, students find the technology exciting and engaging, it provides them access to a wide range of information resources, and it opens up communication with subject-matter experts, other students, and teachers.
Providing students with access to networked computers helps prepare them for the economy and society they will face in the 21st century. Basic competence in the use of computers and electronic networks is becoming a fundamental requirement for employment in the better jobs in the U.S. economy. According to research conducted by the Children's Partnership, 47% of jobs in 1993 required computer and/or networking capability-up from 25% in 1984. (1) By the year 2000, this study forecasts, 60% ofjobs will require these skills and will reward them with a 10-15% pay premium over jobs that do not require such capabilities. In addition, the growing availability of on-line information and research resources gives a competitive advantage to students and workers who can effectively use these tools in their studies or jobs.
These facts alone convince many educators and policymakers that connecting schools to the NII, and thus giving public school students exposure to computers and networking, is important. In addition, demonstrating that computers and connection to the NII can make a fundamental difference to students' achievement in academic subjects would persuade a broader constituency about the importance of deploying this technology in the schools.
To date, the evidence is strongest concerning the use of stand-alone computers in teaching. Currently, stand-alone computer applications are both the most widespread (2) and well-researched use of technology in classrooms. The Effectiveness of Technology in Schools, 1990-1994, presents a comprehensive review of over 130 recent academic studies. (3) The review found that using technology to support instruction can improve student outcomes in a wide range of subjects including language arts, math, social studies, and science. In a study of writing skills, for example, researchers found that the papers of eighth graders using word processors were consistently superior to handwritten papers in mechanics, organization, and focus. (4) In another study, third and fifth grade math students received either computer-assisted instruction (CAI) or traditional classroom instruction for 71 days. The students who received CAI demonstrated gains, measured in months of grade placement, about twice that of the students receiving traditional instruction. (5) Since the study was controlled for time on task, the results were largely attributed to the effectiveness of CAI. Even more striking, the study quantified the cost of gaining a month of grade placement by various methods, and concluded that CAI was a more cost-effective approach to raising mathematics scores than tutoring, increased instruction time, or reduced class size. (6)
The use of computers seems to have even greater effects with low achieving and remedial students. A review of New York City's Computer Pilot Program, focused on educationally disadvantaged students, found that participating students achieved gains of 80% for reading and 90% for math. (7) In a review of 20 studies of the effect of word processing on writing quality, researchers found a 27% improvement overall but a 49% improvement where remedial students were involved. (8)
A few reports have attempted to quantify the pattern of results emerging from the hundreds of individual studies. In a review of 254 controlled studies, researchers found that CAI helped students to learn 30 percent faster than students receiving traditional instruction. (9) The implication of this 30 percent gain is that students receiving CAI would gain a year relative to their peers for every three in school.
Many schools and districts have used CAI and other technology as part of their strategies to boost achievement. For example, the Carrollton City School District in Georgia implemented a computer lab, among other changes, to reduce the failure rate in 9th grade algebra from 38% to 3%. Students at the Clearview Elementary School, in Chula Vista, California, typically scored in the bottom 10% on standardized achievement tests until the school underwent restructuring, including the deployment of advanced technology. Within 2 1/2 years, test scores reached the 80th percentile. (10) The Christopher Columbus Middle School went from performing well below New Jersey state averages on standardized tests to above average in reading, language arts, and math within a few years of implementing reforms including extensive use of networked computers at school and home. (11)
The method by which stand-alone computer technology appears to deliver these benefits differs by subject. Student writing skills seem to improve because computers enable students to write two to three times as many words in the same amount of time and make rewriting much easier. (12) For subjects like mathematics, where symbolic logic plays an important role, computer applications allow students to visualize the concepts they are studying. (13) Computers also permit a greater degree of individualization in instruction: interactive software paces exercises at a tempo and difficulty level appropriate for the individual student, and provides immediate feedback and reinforcement. (14)
Networking and networked applications can support the use of CAI by making software more easily available to students; by providing wider access to skilled teachers, experts, and resources; and by creating opportunities for collaboration that make learning activities more engaging. For example, students using electronic mail have demonstrated significant increases in reading and writing skills. (15) In a controlled distance learning experiment, students at seven high schools received anatomy and physiology instruction via satellite, with a local science teacher facilitator, while students at another seven high schools received face to face instruction. The students receiving distance learning achieved "at a significantly higher level" than their peers. The difference may have been in the skills of the distance learning teacher. (16)
Today, many educators are focusing increasing attention on a cross-disciplinary teaching approach that emphasizes critical thinking, synthesis, and investigative skills. Based on interviews and visits to schools, we believe that connection to the NII and widespread use of computers have the potential to support this new approach. On-line resources give students rapid access to information from diverse sources in various forms. Thus, the challenge of finding the facts can quickly give way to the challenge of synthesizing and interpreting the facts. Simulation software develops problem-solving skills by allowing students to tackle life-like challenges and experiment with different solutions in real time. For example, the Dalton School's "Archaeotype" program places students in the role of archaeologists on a dig. They work in teams to access and analyze multiple sources of electronic, printed, and human information. Networking the computers further facilitates team-based projects in and across classrooms, building skills that many educators and employers believe are important for students' development.
Admittedly, the research literature is thinner with respect to technology's contribution to building critical thinking and synthesis skills. (17) Though researchers point to improved student ability to solve multi-step word problems, (18) or even 50% overall improvement in critical thinking ability, (19) the exact sources of these improvements are still difficult to isolate. But looking at what actually goes on in the classrooms of innovative schools makes these improvement figures seem reasonable. A visit to the Hueneme School District in California illustrates this point. As explained in the side bar ("Case Study Hueneme"), this school district has, over the last 12 years, changed most aspects of its educational approach. New classroom layouts, new curricula, involvement of parents in the education process, and teacher-led innovation in instruction have all contributed to a dramatic increase in academic performance. Students seem highly engaged in the learning process, and teachers relish their new roles as coaches rather than lecturers.
Such vigorous and creative integration of technology into daily classroom teaching can bring about fundamental changes in the way schools carry out their educational mission. But it requires more investment in hardware, courseware, and professional development for teachers than would be necessary just to teach basic technology skills or support stand-alone computer applications. It requires more time to implement. And it requires the courage to be a pioneer: best practices for integrating technology into the classroom are still being discovered-they have not yet been meticulously researched and measured. However, pioneering schools like those in the Hueneme District have shown that students can benefit substantially from careful integration of technology into the classroom, supported by well-trained teachers.
Even when deployment is much less sweeping and sophisticated, connectivity still brings new resources to schools. Specialized teachers, subject matter experts, remote libraries and databases, and virtual field trips enrich the educational experience of students connected to the information superhighway. Distance learning, in which students participate in courses offered at other locations via video technology, can be especially useful for rural or inner city schools with limited resources. This interactive video technology enables these schools to expand their menu of courses and supplement their roster of teachers.
Connectivity further enriches the learning environment by providing new channels of communication. For example, electronic mail facilitates communication among students and their teachers, administrators and parents. Many students raise issues and ask questions through electronic mail that they would be reluctant to pose to an adult face-to-face. The Internet and other on-line services also allow students to communicate with a wide variety of professionals and other students around the world, broadening the educational community.
It seems clear that the impact on student motivation levels is significant. The Christopher Columbus School, which extensively uses networked computers, has its district's best attendance record for both students and faculty. (20) In the Carrollton District, the dropout rate declined from 19% to 5% after deployment of technology. (21)
Sidebar
Connecting schools to the information superhighway also helps teachers and others to better help students; in fact, connectivity can provide benefits for a wide range of stakeholders (see Exhibit 2: "Benefits to Education Stakeholders"). Importantly, network technology frees teachers from the isolation of the classroom. Communicating easily with other educators is a significant benefit for teachers who spend most of their time in the classroom and, consequently, have traditionally had little contact with other professionals with whom they could share experiences and ask questions. By contrast, today there are dozens of education-focused discussion groups on the Internet, addressing a wide range of topics from best practices in distance learning to reviews of new software and textbooks. For example, a science teacher we met in the Hueneme School District is constantly sharing his experiences using his school's new educational technology with other teachers through the Internet. Connecting to the NII helps teachers such as this one form a learning community that can advance a variety of educational goals.
Voice mail, electronic mail, and administrative applications (e.g., attendance-taking, grade record-keeping) can also improve communications among teachers, as well as parents and administrators. At the Math and Science Technology magnet school in Los Angeles, California, Greta Pruitt, the principal, told us: "E-mail allows teachers to pose questions to each other and to me when they have the time. On the system, we can respond to each other at our convenience and we avoid the 'let's talk later' syndrome that is part of working with children."
Parents also benefit through increased connection with their children's learning process. Linking parents to the school network-through home computers or through after-hours sessions at a school, library, or community center-can involve them directly in their children's education (e.g., by allowing them to follow along with homework assignments or to correspond more easily with teachers). At the Dalton School in New York, for instance, parents use electronic mail extensively to discuss classes and the performance of their children. Parents and children at the Union City school in New Jersey make use of the lab after-hours to work jointly on assignments.
While this report focuses primarily on the benefits the NII can bring to schoolchildren, the necessary infrastructure, once deployed, can clearly benefit other constituencies as well. Once in the school, computers and networks can provide wide access to services provided by the information superhighway. The Ralph Bunche School in New York offers use of its computers to parents, who come in after hours to develop computer and network literacy and accelerate their learning of English. In fact, activities such as these could potentially bring in revenue to help defray the cost of building technology infrastructure in schools.
It follows that as more schools network with each other, the possibilities for sharing learning multiply. The same principle applies to connecting schools with homes, local libraries, and community centers involved in promoting lifelong learning. Indeed, some communities in Tennessee, New Mexico, and elsewhere are now experimenting with community-wide networks that link up schools, libraries, community centers, and other organizations to provide a wide range of educational and social benefits for diverse groups of local stakeholders (see sidebar on "Libraries, Community Centers, and Community Networks.")
Footnotes
1 America's Children and the Information Superhighway (Washington, D.C.:September 1994). 2 See University of California, Irvine, Department of Education, Analysis and Trends of School Use of New Information Technologies (U.S. Department of Commerce, National Technical Information Service, 1994), pp. 30-44. 3 Ellen R. Bialo and Jay Sivin-Kachala, Effectiveness of Technology in Schools, 1990-1994 (Washington, D.C.: Software Publishers Association, 1995). 4 Ronald D. Owston, Sharon Murphy, and Herbert H. Wideman, "Effects of Word Processing on Student Writing in a High Computer Access Environment" (North York, Ontario: York University Centre for the Study of Computers in Education, June 1991); discussed in Effectiveness of Technology, supra note 3. 5 J.D. Fletcher, D.E. Hawley, and P. K. Piele, "Costs, Effects, and Utility of Microcomputer Assisted Instruction in the Classroom," American Educational Research Journal, vol. 27, no. 4 (Winter 1990), pp. 783-806. Students in the third grade demonstrated relative gains of 5.70 months for CAI versus 2.86 months for traditional instruction; for the fifth grade students, the gains were 8.89 versus 4.94 months. 6 Ibid., pp. 800-802. 7 F. Guerrero, M. Mitrani, J. Schoener and Swan, "Honing in on the Target: Who Among the Educationally Disadvantaged Benefits Most from What CBI?," Journal of Research on Computing in Education (Summer 1990), pp. 381-403; discussed in Effectiveness of Technology in Schools, supra note 3, p. 9. 8 Bangert-Drowns, "The Word Processor as an Instructional Tool: A Meta-analysis of Word Processing in Writing Instruction," Review of Educational Research, 63 (1), 1993, pp. 69-93; discussed in Effectiveness of Technology in Schools, supra note 3, p. 3. 9 Chen-Li Kulik and James A. Kulik, "Effectiveness of Computer Based Instruction: An Updated Analysis," Computers in Human Behavior, 7 (1991), pp. 75-94. The technique used by the researchers is termed meta-analysis; it provides a method for normalizing results across studies employing different measurement approaches. To further put the results in perspective, 94% of the statistically significant cases reviewed favored CAI. See also A.W. Ryan, "Meta-Analysis of Achievement Effects of Microcomputer Applications in Elementary Schools," Educational Administration Quarterly, 27 (1991), pp. 161-184 (meta-analysis of 40 studies focused on elementary school children that also found 30% gains in learning). Another meta-analysis found an achievement effect of 50% from videodisc- and videotape-assisted instruction based on a review of 63 studies; see Barbara J. McNeil and Karyn R. Nelson, "Meta-Analysis of Interactive Video Instruction: A Ten-Year Review of Achievement Effects," Journal of Computer-Based Instruction (Winter 1991), pp. 1-6. 10 Interview with Carol Welsh, Program Manager, 21st Century Education Initiative, Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network, September 1995. 11 "The Haves and the Have-Nots," Newsweek (February 27, 1995), p. 50. 12 Given at least 15 minutes of practice a day, third graders learned to type 20-30 words per minute with 95% accuracy over a six-week period. Third grade children typically write nine to eleven words per minute by hand. David Dwyer, "Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow: What We've Learned," Educational Leadership (April 1994), pp. 4-10. 13 M.P. Alexander, "The Effective Use of Computers and Graphing Calculators in College Algebra," Dissertation Abstracts International, 54/06-A, 1993; discussed in Effectiveness of Technology in Schools, supra note 3, p. 32. 14 See F. Guerrero, et al., supra note 7. 15 See for example Patrick O. Rooney, The Report of the Evaluation of the Model Technology School Program in the Hueneme School District (Hueneme School District Board of Education, 1992). 16 E.D. Martin and L. Rainey, "Student Achievement and Attitude in a Satellite-Delivered High School Science Course," The American Journal of Distance Education, 7(1), pp. 54-61. 17 In part this is true because achieving benefits of this type requires many pedagogical changes, making it difficult to isolate the impact of technology per se. It is also true that longitudinal studies are needed to measure differences in student achievement over time; few if any such studies have yet been completed simply because connectivity in the schools is a very recent phenomenon. 18 Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt University, "The Jasper Series: A Generative Approach to Improving Mathematical Thinking," This Year in School Science (Washington, D.C.: American Association for Advancement of Science, 1991). 19 Rooney, supra note 15. 20 U.S. Department of Education, Telecomputing for Teaching and Learning: Stories of People Using Computer Networking for Learning (November 1994), p. 9. 21 For more information, see "Case Study: Carrollton School District, Georgia," infra p. 39.