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Editor's Notes
As parents, educators, policy-makers, and community members, we want our school district to shine above all others as leading in not only technological advancements, but also in student achievement. If we show our student that they are worth it, they WILL reward us with significant improvements in reading, mathematics, and science. Hello, I am Erin Ellingson and I was asked to educate you in why technology investment is worth it for your school district.
Cradler, McNabb, Freeman & Burchett in their 2002 completed research to answer frequently asked questions about how technology influences student achievement and academic performance in relation to three primary curricular goals. These three goals consist of 1. Content Area Achievement 2. Higher-Order Thinking and Problem Solving Skill Development 3. Workforce PreparationContent Area Achievement – A recent study by Bain & Ross showed how alignment between content-area learning standards and carefully selected technology uses can significantly increase test scores. Higher-Order Thinking and Problem Solving Skill Development – Technology can enable the development of critical thinking skills when students use technology presentation and communication tools to present, publish, and share results of projects. Workforce Preparation – Research shows that when students learn to use and apply applications used in the world of work they acquire some of the prerequisite skills for workforce preparedness.
Brabeck, Fisher & Pitler in their 2004 study found that high quality instruction that has the potential of maximizing student achievement is ensured by building lessons on research based foundations of effective strategies and adding appropriate technologies. A single technology application or process will help address a number of different instructional strategies. Examples of such technology include: Word ProcessingWeb ResourcesOrganizing and Brainstorming SoftwareData Collection Tools Multimedia Let’s take a look at how a number of different technology applications are used in daily instruction in this Elementary School Classroom (click on clip art)
A West Virginia study showed an increase in test scores resulting from the use of reading and mathematics instructional software for basic skill development (Mann, Shakeshaft, Becker, & Kottkamp (1999) This study found that gains in student test scores appeared attributable to the alignment of the targeted curriculum standards with the software, teacher instruction, and tests. The two graphs shown give you an idea as to how instructional software in the math department in the last year, along with more instructional time helped improve student test scores here. Now think if we used similar instructional software with our reading program how our scores could rise in this area also!
Jones, Valdez, Nowakowski, & Rasmussen in their report entitled,Plugging In: Choosing and Using Educational Technology give a variety of ideas as to how to spend our limited dollars wisely. Internet and Technology changes how information and resources get to schools and other agencies – when a school receives a new student they no longer need to wait for all the “paperwork” for that student to arrive from the previous school, with new technology programs, schools are able to access this information as soon as that student walks through the doors of their “new school.” 2. Textbooks – Are printed textbooks our schools’ primary source of content? Electronic publishing allows many different kinds of information providers toserve schools. Printed textbooks may no longer be schools’ primary sources ofcontent. This reconfiguration must be planned with our learning goals for studentsas the top priority. – Many textbooks now offer online versions, would it be cheaper for our school to purchase access to this online software, than to every 5 years purchase the ever changing textbooks that are being replaced by online resources? Are we spending our money wisely if we decide to put more money on technology growth, staff development, and staffing? 4. Access to technology and technology-enhanced programs must be equitable, and notpromulgate and extend differences in educational quality among schools. Decisionmakers must ensure that poor schools, especially those with students who areacademically at risk, have the same opportunities to access and use technologiesas schools that are financially better off.
Do you want higher content area achievement, higher order thinking skills and greater workforce preparation among out students? Do you want maximized student achievement through better instructional strategies? Are you willing to use instructional software in reading and math? Are you looking at new formats through technology to lower costs and spend our limited dollars wisely? Research has proven that the integration of technology into education has given others positive results, how would you like to b shining amongst these other stars?