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The keys to raising student achievement are to provide students with a solid foundation of basic skills and to motivate them to learn. Numerous research studies on the impact of technology on student achievement have demonstrated that technology can help accomplish this goal.
A review of the literature resulting from these studies supports the following conclusions:
• Students in technology rich environments experience increased achievement in preschool through higher education for both regular and special needs children.
• Students in technology rich environments experience positive effects on achievement in all major subject areas.
• The more regularly students use computers throughout the writing process to write papers for school, the better the perform on the MCAS English/Language Arts test.
• Technology is less effective or ineffective when learning objectives are unclear and the focus of the technology use is diffuse.
• Students' recreational use of computers at home to play games, explore the Internet for fun, and chat with friends has a negative effect on MCAS reading scores.
• Technology engages students, and as a result they spend more time on basic learning tasks than students who use a more traditional approach.
• Technology offers educators a way to individualize curriculum and customize it to the needs of individual students so all children can achieve their potential.
• Students who have the opportunity to use technology to acquire and organize information show a higher level of comprehension and a greater likelihood of using what they learn later in their lives.
• By giving students access to a broader range of resources and technologies, students can use a variety of communication media to express their ideas more clearly and powerfully.
• Technology can decrease absenteeism, lower dropout rates, and motivate more students to continue on to college.
• Students who regularly use technology take more pride in their work, have greater confidence in their abilities, and develop higher levels of self-esteem.
• Students, especially those with few advantages in life, learn basic skills—reading, writing, and arithmetic—better and faster if they have a chance to practice those skills using technology.
Sources
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, eMINTS Evaluation Team Policy Brief, January 29, 2002, http://emints.more.net
O'Dwyer, Laura, M., Russell, Michael, Bebell, Damian, and Tucker-Seeley, Kevon R. "Examining the Relationship Between Home and School Computer Use and Students' English/Language Arts Test Scores," The Journal of Technology, Learning, and Assessment (Vol. 3 No. 3), January, 2005. www.bc.edu/research/intasc/studies/USEIT/pdf/USEIT_r10.pdf
Russell, Michael, Bebell, Damian, Cowan, Jennifer, and Corbelli, Jennifer. An AlphaSmart for Each Student: Does Teaching and Learning Change with Full Access to Word Processors? April, 2002, www.intasc.org
Sandholtz, Judy, Ringstaff, Cathy, and Dwyer, David C., Teaching with Technology: Creating Student-Centered Classrooms, 1997
Schacter, John, The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement: What the Most Current Research Has to Say, 1999, www.milikenexchange.org
Sivin-Kachala, J. Report on the Effectiveness of Technology in Schools: 1990-1997, 1998
Valdez, Gilbert, McNabb, Mary, Foertsch, Mary, Anderson, Mary, Hawkes, Mark, and Raack, Lenaya, Computer-Based Technology and Learning: Evolving Uses and Expectations, 2000, www.ncrel.org/tplan/cbtl/toc.htm
Wenglinsky, H. Does it Compute? The Relationship Between Educational Technology And Student Achievement In Mathematics, 1998
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