A new federal study gives us a surprising answer. Find out what the results were after a major two-year study using computer software for reading and math.
Federal Study
For two years, the federal government monitored 9,424 students. They were divided into these categories:
- 1st grade early reading
- 4th grade reading comprehension
- 6th grade pre-algebra
- 9th grade algebra
The Software
The products were chosen from more than 160 products and the companies are well known to those in education.
- PLATO Inc.
- Carnegie Learning Inc.
- Houghton Mifflin Co.
- Scholastic Inc.
- iLearn
- Leapfrog Schoolhouse
- Autoskill International Inc.
- Pearson PLC
- Headsprout Inc.
Random Selection
Teachers volunteered for the study and were either asked to use the products or taught according to their own curriculum guides and tools. 439 teachers participated in 132 schools and 33 districts. Teachers that were selected to use the specified software used them in reading and math. The teachers in the control group taught as they normally would. [Andrew Trotter, Education Week, edweek.org, April 4, 2007]
Results
In the Report to Congress, the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, the following was stated:
- Test scores were not significantly higher in classrooms using the reading and mathematics software products than those in control classrooms.
- Although the study collected data on many school and classroom characteristics, only two characteristics were related to the variation in reading achievement. For first grade, effects were larger in schools that had smaller student-teacher ratios. For fourth grade, effects were larger when treatment teachers reported higher levels of use of the study product.
Complications
This, of course, will "complicate things for the advocates of technology in education who are lobbying the Bush administration and members of Congress to continue providing millions of dollars annually in support for classroom technology" [Education Week, April 10, 2007] The study did not evaluate each software product separately.
Use of Government Money
There are now many rumblings about the use of federal tax funding for grants that don't produce results. Several officials, including Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, have commented recently that the public has not seen much of a return on the federal government's investments of millions of dollars in grants to states and school districts for educational technology. [Education Week, April 10, 2007]
Conclusion
We learn again that --
- There is no magic pill or bullet.
- One-on-one relationships with students can not be replaced with computers.
- Smaller classrooms yield better results.
- Good teaching is as important (or more) than the latest technology.
However, technology is important in the future of every student. It is the wave of the future. And, whether students significantly improve with technology or without it, technology will be with us at a fast pace. Thomas Frey, of the DaVinci Institute, has a vision of how technology will change education in the future.
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Read previous articles on Educational Issues.
Copyright article 2007 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.
