August 2005 — Exclusive
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A Second Look at the Nature of Technology in the Classroom
Helping a School In Need
Recently, I visited more schools and spoke with more teachers and technology coordinators. I wanted to see how computers were now being used to support school-improvement efforts spawned by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In particular, I looked for schools where computers were used in ways I recommended in my book.
First a disclaimer: none of the schools were responding to my recommendations. I merely report on them, I didn't cause them. Also, as with my earlier study, I do not use the actual names of schools, school personnel, or software programs in this article.
So what did I recommend, see, and hear as I renewed my visits to the schools? My first recommendation was to focus computer use on those students who will benefit most; don't dilute the value of computers by insisting that all students have equal access (William Pflaum, The Technology Fix: The Promise and Reality of Computers in Our Schools, ASCD, 2004).
That's what they did in the Alexanderville district I had visited two years earlier. At that time, Alexanderville was a 4,000-student district in administrative disarray. Superintendent turnover, a revolving door on the technology office, acute performance shortfalls by an outside technology support firm, and a severe budget squeeze had left equipment debilitated by viruses, as well as the district without a vision or plan for technology.
One of the district's schools, Henderson Elementary, had been in academic emergency for three years. Two more years and it stood in danger of being reconstituted. This year, however, it emerged from that category, and I visited them to find out why.
As I approached the school on a hot August day, I see the principal waving goodbye to the last afternoon bus. I meet district assistant technology coordinator Bob Jacobson in the school lobby. He stands in front of a bulletin board that displays information about school uniforms. As Jacobson and I walk to the classroom of technology coach Beth Adler, I savor the freshly painted, bright yellow walls and the gleaming waxed floors.
School is about to begin-you can just feel the special vigor that comes with the opening of a new school year.
From outside of Adler's room we hear voices. Jacobson looks in, Adler comes to the door, apologizes that her sixth-grade team meeting has run late, and asks for 15 more minutes. So, Jacobson and I settle in a fifth-grade classroom across the hall where he tells me the story of Henderson's previous year-the year it emerged from academic emergency.
Jacobson tells me that he and Adler applied for a federally supported Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) grant. The proposal was successful and brought Henderson $158,000 in hardware, software, and professional development-more than $500 for each of the school's 300 students; next year, another $42,000 will come from the grant. To date, no other school in the district has anything that even compares to the resources focused on this school in need.
And need there is: 90 percent of Henderson's students qualify for free or reduced lunches. Student turnover is about 30 percent a year, but faculty turnover is light and the cohesive group works well together. 'There's a lot of love here,' Jacobson tells me. 'Love for the kids and respect for one another.'
