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April 2008
Technology: It's Everywhere. Or Is It?
Is your child getting
the technology he or she needs at school?
Parents need to know. Having
enough computers in the classroom, good Internet access,
and the knowledge to use them are all vital parts of your
child's education. Technology, when correctly used in the
classroom, can improve both your child's learning and his
or her teachers' instruction.
Fortunately, you can learn the
state of technology at your child's school, and how it compares
with schools across the state. Every year, the Maryland
Business Roundtable for Education (MBRT) carries out a detailed
survey of technology in Maryland public schools. Here's
a quick summary of where things stand this year:
- According to the MBRT survey, 97%
of teachers surveyed use technology regularly to communicate
with staff members and other colleagues. Eight out of
10 teachers regularly use technology to maintain data
on students, however, and only two-thirds regularly use
technology to analyze and/or report student or school
improvement data.
- The MBRT survey also indicates that
teacher knowledge and skills with respect to technology
have risen slightly. Seventy-four percent of teachers
rate themselves at an intermediate skill level or higher
in the use and integration of technology, compared to
72% when the survey was last conducted in 2005; 72% rank
themselves at an intermediate level regarding Internet
use, compared to 70% in 2005.
- Student proficiency with technology
also appears to have stagnated, particularly in areas
that research suggests should provide the greatest dividends
for learning. The number of students using technology
to manipulate and analyze data rose slightly since the
previous MBRT survey, from 38% to 39%, while 30% of students
reported using technology to perform measurements and
collect data compared to 29% in 2005.
- The new MBRT survey - like its predecessors
- shows that a Digital Divide still exists between the
use of technology in low-poverty versus high-poverty areas.
The survey shows that the higher the poverty level of
schools, the less frequently technology is being used
for tasks that require higher-level thinking and meaningful
application of knowledge and skills.
- While in-school access to technology
nationally is 80% for students from both low-poverty and
high-poverty areas, there is a huge divide in access to
technology in the home. Home access to technology for
low-poverty students nationally currently stands at 88%,
while in-home access for high-poverty students drops to
37%.
The new MBRT survey results are posted
online at www.mbrt.org. The results are available by county
and by school.
(see the detailed report>
)
What can parents do?
To start with, you can look up the technology survey summary
of your child's school and see how it compares with county
and statewide averages. Go to MBRT's Web site at www.mbrt.org,
click on "Technology Resource Inventory," and then look
at Technology Inventory Results by school.
If you have questions or concerns,
talk with your child's teacher, the principal, or the person
responsible for technology in your child's school. Make
sure your child is getting the technology he or she needs
for the future - now.
Technology In Schools:
Facts For Parents
DID YOU KNOW?
Internet access in schools
has skyrocketed. In 1994, according
to a national survey, 35 percent of public schools in the
United States had access to the Internet. By 2001, that
number had climbed to 99 percent.
(Source: Internet Access in
U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994-2001, National
Center for Education Statistics, 2001)
Everyday use of technology in schools
is increasing. Forty percent
of Maryland schools say that students use technology to
work with written text every day or nearly every day, down
from 42% in last year’s survey. Fifty-one percent
of schools say that students gather information from the
Internet and from reference software, up from 49% last year.
(Source:Technology Resource
Inventory, Maryland Business Roundtable for Education, 2004)
More than half of U.S. schools provide
Internet access outside of school hours.
In 2001, 51 percent of American public schools with access
to the Internet reported that they make these computers
available to students outside of regular school hours. This
was more common in secondary schools than in elementary
schools, and more common in large schools (1,000 students
or more) than in smaller schools.
(Source: Internet Access in
U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994-2001, National
Center for Education Statistics, 2001)
A large majority of U.S. schools
have Web sites. In 2001, 75% of
public schools in the U.S. reported that they have Web sites.
Of these, 76 percent said their Web sites provide schedules
of school events, 73 percent said they provide staff directories,
70 percent said they provide information on school programs
and classes, 64 percent said they provide information for
parents, and 61 percent said they provide Web links to educational
tools for students.
(Source: Internet Access in
U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994-2001, National
Center for Education Statistics, 2001)
Technology In Your Child's Schools:
What Parents Can Do
DID YOU KNOW?
If you are the parent of a
high-schooler, middle-schooler, or grade-schooler:
- Look up the technology survey summary
of your child’s school. Go to www.mbrt.org,
click on “Technology Resource Inventory,”
and then look at Technology Inventory Results by school.
You’ll see exactly how your child’s school
stacks up when it comes to having technology in the classroom.
- If you have questions or concerns,
talk with your child’s teacher, the principal, or
the person responsible for technology in your child’s
school.
- If your child’s school has
a Web site, visit it. Be sure your child uses the tools
the Web site offers (such as links to resources and posting
homework assignments), and be sure you know what information
the site provides for parents.
- Keep a close eye on your child’s
Internet activity at home, especially games and chat rooms.
Not all online resources are good resources.
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