THE EFFECT OF THE AVAILABILITY OF TECHNOLOGY ON TEACHERS¡¯ USE OF TECHNOLOGY AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT ON STANDARDIZED TESTS
Open Access
- Author:
- Chung, Ji-Sook
- Graduate Program:
- Instructional Systems
- Degree:
- Doctor of Education
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 18, 2002
- Committee Members:
- Kyle Leonard Peck, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
William L Harkness, Committee Member
Jamie Myers, Committee Member
Susan M Land, Committee Member - Keywords:
- School Reform
Teacher Education
Use of Technology - Abstract:
- Educators and policymakers expect to improve student learning by integrating technology in schools and classrooms. It is difficult to measure a direct causal link between the number of computers or Internet connections and student achievement, because computer technologies influence achievement on many levels and many other factors are also involved in producing student achievement. However, we can examine how technology fulfills educators¡¯ and policymakers¡¯ expectations with regard to standardized tests. This is a study of four relationships: (1) between the availability of computers and Internet connections in a school and students¡¯ standardized test scores; (2) between the availability of computers and Internet connections in a school and the percentage of low-income children in a school and students¡¯ standardized test scores; (3) between the number of computers and Internet connections in a school and the ways teachers are using the technologies available (as reported by school principals and classified according to Bloom¡¯s Taxonomy); and (4) between how teachers use the available technology (as reported by school principals according to Bloom¡¯s Taxonomy) and students¡¯ standardized test scores. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the availability of technology on teachers¡¯ use of technologies and student achievement as measured by standardized tests. Teachers¡¯ use of technologies was defined as how much time teachers assigned students to use technologies for higher-order skill development and basic skill development. Student achievement was defined as the school¡¯s results on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), which included 5th grade reading mean scores in 2001, 5th grade reading mean gain scores from 2000 to 2001, 5th grade math mean scores in 2001, and 5th grade math mean score gains from 2000 to 2001. This study also investigated the extent to which the effects of the availability of technology on student achievement might be attributed to a school¡¯s socio-economic status (SES), using the percentage of low-income children in a school as an indicator of SES. Results indicated that: (1) while controlling SES, neither the ratio of students per computer nor the ratio of students per Internet connection had a significant effect on student achievement. However, when SES was used as a factor, effects were found, primarily for schools with many low-income students; (2) on the reading and the math tests, among schools with a high percentage of low-income children (Low SES), students in schools with either a high or a middle ratio of computers per student performed significantly better than those in schools with a low computer/student ratio; (3) on the math test, among schools with the middle percentage of low-income children (Middle SES), students in schools with a high computer/student ratio performed significantly better than those in schools with a low computer/student ratio; (4) on the reading test, among schools with a high percentage of low-income children (Low SES), students in schools with a high Internet connection/student ratio performed significantly better than students in schools with a low Internet connection/student ratio; (5) on the math test, among schools with a high percentage of low-income children (Low SES), students in schools with a high Internet connection/student ratio performed significantly better than students in schools with either a middle or a low Internet connection/student ratio. Results of a survey of school principals about technology use among their fifth grade teachers also indicated that teachers are more likely to assign students to use technologies to develop both higher-order skills and basic skills when they have many computers and Internet connections. Implications for educators and future research are discussed.