Pardon for the cross posting. I spotted this on a local education
list/serve and was wondering if anyone had thoughts on the merits of
the statement or the study.
Paul Mondesire - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
$14 Million Study Proves Student Laptops Ineffective Academically
Another in a long line of studies showing no learning benefits from
providing students w/ laptops. And yet states and districts continue to
adopt such policies.
DOE initially proposed giving laptops to every public school student, and
this was part of their CFE plan; now the laptop initiative seems to have
been cut back, but the spending on technology increased in the current
capital plan to over $1 billion.
This particular study, funded by the US DOE to evaluate a Texas middle
school laptop program, concludes:
"We found that after one academic year of implementation, there were no
positive effects of immersion on either reading or mathematics scores. After
controlling for prior achievement and other important student
characteristics, there were no significant differences in the spring 2005
reading or mathematics TAKS scores of students in immersed and control
schools. In fact, students in immersed schools had slightly lower scores
than comparison students. "
Here are links to the full study:
http://www.txtip. info/projecteval uation.html
http://www.txtip. info/images/ 06.05.06_ eTxTIP_Year_ 1_Report. pdf
The program included not just laptops for each student, but extensive
training programs for their teachers.
Below is a summary by laptop critic Donna Garner, followed by excerpts from
the study itself. As the study points out, this is only the first year
evaluation, with more years to follow.
Leonie Haimson,
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.classsizematter s.org
"$14 Million Study Proves Student Laptops Ineffective Academically"
Saturday, July 15, 2006
by Donna Garner
Our country has been waiting for a scientifically conducted study on
laptops. Now we have it. Presented below are excerpts from the $14 Million
Texas Technology Immersion Pilot (April 2006 report -- funded by the U. S.
Department of Education) which is supposed to prove whether student
immersion on laptops by middle-school students will raise their academic
achievement. So far as I know, this study is one of a kind and is much
needed since technology companies are pushing their laptops into classrooms
through aggressive marketing tactics.
No expense was spared in this study. The 22 Texas schools which participated
were given the best technology available, and their staffs were extensively
trained. "Package costs ranged from about $1,100 to $1,600 per student. Of
the 22 immersion sites, 6 middle schools selected the Apple package, 15
selected the Dell package, and 1 school selected the Region 1 ESC package
(Dell computer)." As stated in the report, "Technology immersion
encompasses multiple components, including a laptop computer for every
middle school student and teacher, wireless access throughout the campus,
online curricular and assessment resources, professional development and
ongoing pedagogical support for curricular integration of technology
resources, and technical support to maintain an immersed campus."
To find out the results after the first year, please read the following
comments which have been taken directly from the newly released April 2006
report. I will give you a clue: The technology companies won't like the
results.
Also, please read the comments which I wrote on August 3, 2005, when our
Texas legislature was running hell-bent to push laptops on every student and
teacher in Texas at an estimated price tag of $3 Billion. The leader of that
political movement was Rep. Kent Grusendorf, and thankfully he was
unsuccessful in his attempt to force laptops on our Texas schools. He also
was unsuccessful in his attempt to get re-elected last November to the Texas
House.
For those of you who have questioned the huge expenditures of time and
effort to bring laptops into your local school districts, this study will
give you scientifically based evidence to prove that everyone needs to step
back and take a hard look at the educational value of student laptops. I
think it is particularly interesting that the authors of the study stated,
"... there were no positive effects on students' personal self-directed
learning, and based on classroom observations, the availability of laptops
did not lead to significantly greater opportunities for students to
experience intellectually challenging lessons or to do more challenging
school work."
Donna Garner
[EMAIL PROTECTED] rr.com <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] rr.com>
EVALUATION OF THE TEXAS T ECHNOLOGY IMMERSION PILOT
First-Year Results
April 2006
Prepared for Texas Education Agency
Prepared by: Texas Center for Educational Research
CTexas Center for Educational Research
Research funded by the U. S. Department of Education
Excerpt from this study:
We found that after one academic year of implementation, there were no
positive effects of immersion on either reading or mathematics scores. After
controlling for prior achievement and other important student
characteristics, there were no significant differences in the spring 2005
reading or mathematics TAKS scores of students in immersed and control
schools. In fact, students in immersed schools had slightly lower scores
than comparison students.
http://www.txtip. info/projecteval uation.html
http://www.txtip. info/images/ 06.05.06_ eTxTIP_Year_ 1_Report. pdf
Effects of Immersion on Academic Achievement
There was no significant effect of technology immersion on sixth graders
achievement in reading or mathematics. The ultimate goal of technology
immersion is increasing middle school students' achievement in core academic
subjects as measured by the state assessment (TAKS). In Texas, sixth graders
complete TAKS assessments for reading and mathematics. We found that after
one academic year of implementation, there were no positive effects of
immersion on either reading or mathematics scores. After controlling for
prior achievement and other important student characteristics, there were no
significant differences in the spring 2005 reading or mathematics TAKS
scores of students in immersed and control schools. In fact, students in
immersed schools had slightly lower scores than comparison students.
Several factors help to explain the discontinuity between the many positive
effects noted for schools, teachers, and students at immersed campuses and
the absence of a positive effect on student achievement outcomes. First,
implementation fidelity was an important factor. Limited project
implementation almost certainly influenced outcomes (e.g., the small number
of days that students actually had laptops, the minimal use of digital
resources). In our theoretical model, we hypothesized that students in fully
immersed schools would experience school and classroom environments that
would lead to changes in students, which in turn, would lead to increased
achievement. While we found noteworthy improvements in some areas (e.g.,
changes in teacher proficiency and technology use, improvements in students'
proficiency and school engagement), there were no positive effects on
students' personal self-directed learning, and based on classroom
observations, the availability of laptops did not lead to significantly
greater opportunities for students to experience intellectually challenging
lessons or to do more challenging school work.
Furthermore, although technology use increased in the first year and
surpassed control schools, laptops were used infrequently for learning in
core subject classes, especially mathematics . Using laptops for lessons
once or twice a week, or once or twice a month in math classes, may be
insufficient to make a difference in achievement. Unfortunately, students in
Texas middle schools do not complete social studies assessment until eighth
grade or a science assessment until tenth grade, so we did not have academic
outcome measures for those content areas.
It is also important to remember that this is a longitudinal study , and
while we expected that some impacts might emerge in the first year, it was
also considered likely that changes in student academic performance would
require more than one year to surface. Additionally, the findings reported
here represent only a first step in analyzing first-year data. Additional
analyses will further examine the relationships among school, teacher, and
student mediating variables and academic achievement. We also intend to
delve more deeply into the relationships among the fidelity of
implementation, mediating variables, and outcomes
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