ERIC ED427759: The Last Silver Bullet? Technology for America's Public Schools.

286 Pages·1998·3.6 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
IR 019 412
ED 427 759
Solmon, Lewis C.; Chirra, Kalyani R.
AUTHOR
The Last Silver Bullet? Technology for America's Public
TITLE
Schools.
Milken Family Foundation, Santa Monica, CA.
INSTITUTION
1998-00-00
PUB DATE
NOTE
284p.
Evaluative (142)
Reports
Books (010)
PUB TYPE
MF01/PC12 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
Case Studies; *Computer Uses in Education; Costs;
DESCRIPTORS
Educational Development; Educational Finance; Educational
Policy; Educational Practices; *Educational Technology;
Elementary Secondary Education; Federal Legislation;
Financial Support; Government Role; *Information Technology;
Models; Partnerships in Education; Postsecondary Education;
*Public Schools; School Business Relationship; Tables
(Data); Teacher Education; *Telecommunications; Training
Infrastructure; *Technology Implementation; *Technology
IDENTIFIERS
Integration; Technology Plans
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this book is to introduce ideas, methods, and
people that could be of assistance to those who will utilize educational
technology in teaching and learning, especially to those whose responsibility
it is to put in place the policies necessary to make this happen. Analogies
comparing school technology to earlier massive national efforts to build
America's infrastructure are offered. An introductory chapter presents a case
for technology in schools; remaining chapters discuss various issues related
to technology integration in K-12 schools. Several chapters include case
"Technology for
studies for illustration. The chapters are as follows:
(1)
"Economic
"Can a Few PCS Make Socialism Work?";
American Schools";
(3)
(2)
"The Cost of Education Technology";
Benefits of Education Technology";
(4)
"Can the Private Sector Solve
"The Imperative of Teacher Training";
(6)
(5)
"Can the Federal Government Take on This Task?"(including
the Problem?";
(7)
background and a chronology of the Telecommunications Act of 1996);
(8)
(9) "Allocation and Implementation Issues";
"State Funding for Technology";
and (10) a concluding chapter that refutes the top ten reasons not to put
technology in schools. An appendix discusses a model to estimate gains in
labor market productivity. Statistics are presented in 30 figures and tables
throughout the text. (Contains 147 references.)
(AEF)
********************************************************************************
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
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THE
LAST
SILVER
BULLET?
Technology for America's Public Schools
by
LEWIS C. SOLMON
and
KALYANI R. CHIRRA
5
BEST COPY
AVAILABLE
4-
dar
.411111b
published by
MILKEN FAMILY FOUNDATION
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG
CARD NUMBER: 98-66845
01998 LEWIS C. SOLMON
I
II
^
list of tables and figures
a
foreword
a2
preface
a6
acknowledgments
a14
chapterl
TECHNOLOGY FOR AMERICAN SCHOOLS
1
chapter2
CAN A FEW PCS MAKE SOCIALISM WORK?
20
Case Study: A Lesson from the Private Sector
35
Case Study: Lessons from the Past: The Television Experiment in Education
38
chapter3
ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
50
Case Study: GI Joe and the Post-World War II Economy
58
chapter4
THE COST OF EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
62
chapter5
THE IMPERATIVE OF TEACHER TRAINING
76
Case Study: Phantom Lake Elementary School
87
chapter6
CAN THE PRIVATE SECTOR SOLVE THE PROBLEM?
96
chapter7
CAN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TAKE ON THIS TASK?
120
Telecommunications Act of 1996: A Background and Chronology of Events
127
Case Study: The Interstate Highway System
150
chapter8
STATE FUNDING FOR TECHNOLOGY
162
Case Study: California Education Technology
166
Case Study: Debt Financing in Arizona
171
chapter9
ALLOCATION AND IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES
180
chapter10
CONCLUSION
198
Top 10 Reasons Not to Put Technology in the Schools, But...
207
Case Study: When Voices for Education were Heard: Special Education
210
appendix
THE MODEL TO ESTIMATE GAINS IN LABOR MARKET PRODUCTIVITY
224
bibliography
236
endnotes
246
about the authors
266
I
S
Table 1-1
4
INTERNATIONAL LITERACY RATES
Table 1-2
1950-1996
7
AVERAGE EXPENDITURE PER STUDENT IN THE UNITED STATES,
Table 4-1
64
FULL MODEL: TOTAL FOUR-YEAR PLAN COST
Table 4-2
66
REDUCED COST MODEL
Table 4-3
68
ADJUSTED FULL-MODEL AND ADJUSTED REDUCED COST MODEL
Table 4-4
PAST, CURRENT, AND PROPOSED EXPENDITURES ON K-12
70
EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
Chapter Appendix 4-1
73
COST ELEMENTS
Figure 5-1
CURRICULUM GUIDELINES FOR ACCREDITATION OF
82
EDUCATIONAL COMPUTING AND TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMS
Table 6-1
98
EMPLOYMENT IN HIGH-TECHNOLOGY MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES
Table 6-2
SHARE OF EMPLOYMENT IN HIGH TECHNOLOGY FIRMS RELATIVE
99
TO TOTAL MANUFACTURING
Table 7-1
ALLOCATING $4 BILLION FROM A FEDERAL EXCISE TAX TO
137
THE STATES
Table 7-2
147
PUBLIC'S REACTION TO SPENDING $50 BILLION ON TECHNOLOGY
Table 7-3
147
FEDERAL TAXES
Table 7-4
148
STRONGLY FAVORED TAXES
Table 7-5
160
FEDERAL AND STATE MOTOR-FUEL TAX RATES BY YEARS, 1932-1994
a
Figure 7-1
FEDERAL GAS TAX RATE COMPARED TO FEDERAL DEFICIT
161
Table 8-1
POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS
165
Table 8-2
CALCULATION OF TRUE PRINCIPAL FROM ARIZONA BOND PAYMENT SCHEDULE
173
Table 8-3
LOTTERY FUNDS FOR EDUCATION
176
Table 8-4
WHAT ARE YOUR FUNDING PRIORITIES?
178
Table 8-5
PUBLIC FUNDS ALLOCATED TO STADIUMS AND ARENAS
179
Table 10-1
EXPENDITURES FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION
222
Figure 10-1
ESTIMATED TOTAL SPECIAL EDUCATION EXPENDITURES IN 96 $
223
Figure 10-2
FEDERAL ON-BUDGET FUNDS FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION (1996=100)
223
Table A-1
DISTRIBUTION OF EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT BY AGE
229
Table A-2
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT OF CURRENT 0-YEAR-OLDS FROM 16 TO 65
230
Table A-3
EXPECTED MAXIMUM EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT (BY AGE 31) OF CURRENT
POPULATION (000) AGED 0-14
231
Table A-4
ESTIMATED AVERAGE ANNUAL LABOR INCOME (96 $) BY AGE AND
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT FOR PEOPLE CURRENTLY 0-14 YEARS OLD
231
Table A-5
AVERAGE ANNUAL LABOR INCOME PREMIUM (96 $) FROM SCHOOLING
USING TECHNOLOGY BY AGE AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
233
Table A-6
NET PRESENT VALUE OF LIFETIME EARNINGS PREMIUM FROM COMPUTER
USE FOR THE 1996 POPULATION AGED 0-14 BY MAXIMUM LEVEL OF
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT (96 $000)
234
a 1
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BEST COPY
AVAILABLE
foreword
For the last several years, the Milken Family Foundation has been studying the significant impact
education technology can have on student learning. The use of modern information and
commu-
nications technology properly employed should be commonplace in the life of
every school, teacher
and student. Needless to say, however, this is not the case. Indeed, the K-12 education industry is
the only "knowledge business" still debating the utility of technology. While in 1995, 75 percent of
all Fortune 500 companies already were completely networked, by 1997
we estimate that about 10
percent of all instructional rooms even had Internet access. (I might add that in 1996, 80 percent of
Fortune 500 companies had Web sites, but in the same year fewer than 4 percent of schools had
a
Web site.) We shall learn in this book that America's public schools are less than one-third of the
way
to achieving their technology implementation goals.
That is unfortunate because education technology offers much of the assistance that schools need in
order to serve children fairly and well. This is not a hunch. It's what we've observed in schools from
coast to coast, and it's what we've concluded from extensive research and personal involvement. It is
clear to us that in schools where educators have laid a solid groundwork, technology works well. High
standards, linked to assessment and accountability, are essential to that groundwork and, indeed,
are unlikely to be realized without the kind of support that telecommunications, multimedia
databases and computers supply.
The effective implementation of education technology systems requires:
a school-wide plan to
integrate these systems across the disciplines, anchored in course content and reflecting the
diverse needs of teachers and students; appropriate hardware and software that create the
connectivity that links the classroom to the world; the technological curiosity and fluency of the
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