Week+2+Reflection

Week 2 Reflection This week has proven to be a challenge. With Thanksgiving in the middle I felt rushed at the beginning of the week to complete the readings before I left town and unfortunately thoughts of this course drifted in between bites of turkey and dressing. However, it is good knowing this is the last major holiday that will overlap with a class!

Schacter states, "On standardized tests including vocabulary, reading comprehension, mathematics concepts, and work-study, ACOT students performed no better than comparison groups or nationally reported norms who did not have access to computers or to the teaching and learning reforms implemented in ACOT schools."

This shocked me. The research was completed in 1994 and I am curious to know if these results, with more current technology, would show a different outcome. Last year I was chosen for a technology pilot classroom for the district. I received a Promethean Board, Active Slate, ActivExpresions, and a document camera. Even in one year I noticed an increase in my students’ scores on standardized tests. There seems to be so much more interactive software now that they did not have in 1994 and from what I have seen students with access to these technologies are scoring higher on standardized testing than those without.

I did a little looking around and I found an article a little more recent than 1994 with some great facts about how far technology has come since 1994. Cummins, Brown, and Sayer stated:


 * Between 1994 and 2003, the percentage of public schools with access to the Internet increased from 35 to almost 100 percent.
 * Internet access was available in 93 percent of instructional rooms in 2003 compared to just 3 percent in 1994.
 * In 2003, the ratio of students to instructional computers with Internet access in public schools was 4.4 to 1, a decrease from the 12.1 to 1 ratio in 1998.
 * Schools with the highest poverty concentration in 2003 had 5.1 students for each instructional computer with Internet access, whereas schools with the lowest poverty concentration had 4.2 students to each instructional computer with Internet access.

I feel these facts show we need more current research to show the results of standardized testing from students with access to technology and those without. I do feel the method in which technology is used is more of a factor than just using it alone. Any lesson you want the students to truly benefit from must push the students to use high-level thinking. If technology is used simply for drill and practice you will not see positive results in scores on standardized tests.

Works cited: Schacter, J. (1999). The Impact of educational technology on student achievement what the most current research has to say. //Milken Exchange on Educational Technology//, Retrieved from [|**http://www.milkenexchange.org**]

Cummins, J., Brown, K., and Sayer, D. (2007). Teaching for success in chaning times. // Literacy, Technology, and Diversity //. Retrieved from [] on Novemeber 30, 2009.