Among schools with one-to-one computing programs, 70 percent reported their students’ achievement scores on high-stakes tests were on the rise. But this figure was 85 percent for schools that employed certain strategies for success, including the use of electronic formative assessments on a regular basis, frequent collaboration of teachers in professional learning communities, and—most importantly—strong principal and school district leadership.
To understand why many districts have yet to see improvement, even after investing so much money in technology, consider the size of the hurdles they face. The simple answer is that too many districts haven’t followed this blueprint for success—but there’s more to it than that.
As Kyrene’s example shows, tight school district budgets have become an impediment to sustaining ed-tech initiatives. Funding constraints have been exacerbated by an ever-multiplying series of challenges, such as growing populations of ESL and special-needs students and the creeping effects of poverty on school district operations.
The Times story alluded to a jump in the number of Kyrene students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches, which the district explained as largely a result of the recession. That mirrors a trend happening in school districts nationwide: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans living in poverty last year surged to 46.2 million—the most in at least 50 years—as household incomes fell sharply.
Problems such as poverty have always existed, but what hasn’t is the idea that schools should be responsible for educating every child, regardless of his or her circumstances. As a society, we’ve made this promise as part of No Child Left Behind, but we haven’t backed it up with the funding that is needed to make good on this promise—preferring instead what we think are quick solutions, such as merit pay for teachers … or technology in classrooms.
In his “Learning Leadership” column this month, Dan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, writes that improving student achievement isn’t a mystery.
“If children and schools are failing, it is not because we lack the knowledge to provide them with the proper education,” he writes. “It is because we refuse to provide them with the resources and the opportunities they need to succeed.”
Just as the Times asked the wrong question about school technology use, Domenech believes we’re asking the wrong question about achievement in general. The real question isn’t how to improve public education, he says—it’s: Do we really want to? And that’s a question we’ve been avoiding as a society, because the answer might require a level of commitment we’re not prepared to make.
For advocates of educational technology, Domenech’s argument is compelling. In the wealthiest country in the world, it would be nice to think that school districts like Kyrene shouldn’t have to choose between technology and teachers. It would be nice to think they could afford both.
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