Education Program
USING TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
NCSL Foundation for State Legislatures
Contact:
Heather Grinager, NCSL Education Program
Bob Boerner, NCSL Legislative Information Services Program
This 15 month effort will bring together state legislators, legislative staff, and education technology professionals to explore the promise of technology for improving student achievement and closing the achievement gap.
Technology holds the potential to dramatically improve teaching and learning, but many state legislators have not yet fully incorporated technology strategies into statewide education reform. There are several reasons: legislators have not yet seen convincing evidence that the investment in education technology results in significant improvement in student achievement; the legislative role in designing policy and funding is not clear; and in tough state economies, it is hard for legislators to think about making significant investments into technology. Several recent state legislative evaluation reports highlight the relationship between the use of technology and student achievement. However, research, experience, and local models show the remarkable potential for technology in education. As one legislator recently said, “today’s kids grow up in a high tech world – they are high tech learners. We can’t expect teaching and learning not to incorporate high technology into the daily curriculum.”
This project seeks to inform a national legislative audience about the promise and potential of technology in education. A first endeavor is the collection and dissemination of “the state of the art” of education technology infrastructure. This will result in a primer on how technology is currently being used in education. We would collect information on the number of schools and students using technology. We want to explore the state of the art of distance learning at the K-12 level by examining how many states are utilizing high tech educational options such as virtual high schools, and e-learning. We will examine how many states are supporting lap top computer initiatives. How do states and schools keep up with the quickly changing technology infrastructure? What do we know about what states are spending on technology and what revenue streams, including the "E-Rate," they are tapping? What impact will new technologies, such as Voice over the Internet Protocol, have on the Universal Service Fund and the "E-Rate?" We will probe for other state and local models that illustrate the innovative use of technology in education. We will examine the states who are leading the way in education technology and chronicle what they are doing and with what results.
We also hope to explore new and emerging issues, such as technologies (such as wireless); the digital divide and patterns of access to technology; teacher training and professional development in technology and incorporating technology into teaching; the use of electronic material such as digital text books. We believe the Partners will be able to help us identify other such emerging issues.
The second activity is the exploration of what the research shows about the impact of technology on student learning by incorporating it into daily instruction and the curriculum. Legislators have been cautious about making a significant investment in technology because there are no definitive answers about the return on that investment. We will develop a brief that explores what we know from research. For example, what states have technology standards, how are school incorporating technology into the curriculum and instruction, and how are teachers being trained to use technology to improve student achievement. How is learning different in a high tech environment?
The third activity would explore some of the key policy questions legislators are asking about the application of technology in the new era of education. For example, how are states using technology to provide school choice and supplemental services in response to NCLB? What impact have state tax incentives and other incentives made in providing more broadband services available to schools? Are there other incentives needed? Or how are states using technology to meet the requirements for highly qualified teachers and how teacher quality can be improved through technology-based professional development. There is a decade of work on policy issues that have been done in this area by important groups and organizations, such as the Partnership for 21st Century Schools, that can help inform our research and recommendations.
Products of the project will include the three briefs as detailed above and three session on relevant topics and issues at NCSL meetings. We hope to sponsor site visits to an interesting and innovative location at both the 2005 and 2006 NCSL Annual Meetings. We will develop and maintain a Web Page on Partners Project and on the issue. The project would last 15 months, beginning in April 2005 and culminating in a major event at the August 2006 NCSL Annual Meeting in Nashville, TN.
The current sponsors of the Education Technology (ET) Project are:
If you interested in joining the partnership program, please contact Caroline Carlson at (303) 364-7700 or caroline.carlson@ncsl.org.
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