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Bridging the Digital Education Divide
The technology state isn't teaching kids
to use technology
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Business New Haven
4/17/2000
By: George F. Garrity II
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The state of Connecticut ranks second in the country in the percentage of jobs that require knowledge of computers. But depending on which group of statistics you look at, the state ranks anywhere from fifth to a dismal 42nd in preparing elementary and high school students to use computers.
Either way, Lt. Gov. M. Jodi Rell has a plan to improve the situation.
Last November, Rell submitted a report to Gov. John G. Rowland outlining the research that she conducted and recommendations to address the rankings issue.
The 42nd rating basically said this is the ratio of computers to kids or the ratio of computers to population,'' Rell explains. “I believe very firmly that, while we like to know those things, that shouldn't be how we are ranked. What we should be ranked on is how we use our computer technology, how we integrate it into the curriculum and how our kids come out understanding it. When you rank it that way, we ranked number five.''
Continues Rell: “The governor asked me to put together a comprehensive plan: where we are, how we got there, and what we need to do to bring our schools and libraries into the 21st century.
“Without knowing exactly where we were, we couldn't tell what we needed to do,” says Rell. “I visited about 27 schools and discovered that we are really a lot further along than people have given us credit for, but we are also lagging in areas where we should not be lagging.''
Rell says the state has invested some $30 million in state money and another $22 million in federal funds over the last four or five years in an effort to wire all public schools for access to the Internet.
“When I started traveling around, I realized that the money we had spent put us with only a little better than a third of our [school] buildings wired for computers and Internet access,” Rell says. “I figured that we needed about $30 million more to complete the job. We are currently spending about $700 million in school construction money. That money is spent on new buildings and upgrades to existing schools. If you couple the $30 million we are spending with the $700 million on school construction and federal dollars, it will go a long way toward wiring all our schools.''
Rell would like to see all Connecticut students “cyber-ready'' by the sixth grade. This would include competency in the use of technology for life-long learning, specific skill training such as computer and technology literacy, information literacy and the ability to integrate technology effectively in all aspects of learning. She wants the state Board of Education to develop model benchmarks and have them distributed to local school districts by mid-year.
“The governor recognizes the need to speed this up, '' Rell says. “That is why he has recommended that we use some of the surplus money and not necessarily bond it over the next three to five years, but use some of it immediately.''
Other highlights of the Rell report include:
n All Connecticut K-12 classrooms be fully wired and connected to the Internet and to a local area network by Jan. 1, 2004.
n The development of a Connecticut education network that would connect all Connecticut colleges, universities, libraries, elementary and secondary schools to a high-speed statewide network. The network would provide video, voice and data transmission.
n The establishment of a digital library to ensure online access by all students and citizens to essential library and information resources.
n The creation of a “Parent Academy'' to train parents of K-12 students in computer technology usage.
n A provision for reducing adjusted gross income by up to $1,000 for licensed teachers who purchase or upgrade their home computers.
n A provision which would allow Connecticut-based businesses a $75,000 tax credit for donating new or less-than-two-year-old computers to local school districts.
n Encourage local school districts to target at least two percent of their annual budgets solely to technology-related purchases, programs and services.
n Require that all teacher candidates participate in compulsory course work and achieve minimum standards of proficiency in understanding, using and implementing technology in education.
Former state senator and current Republican congressional candidate in the 5th district, Mark Nielsen, says the issue of computer literacy and education was unexpected.
“The explosion of information technology and access to the Internet has taken a lot of people by surprise,” Nielson says. “This is a cultural change that has sneaked up on a lot of people, and educators are no exception.''
Nielsen points out that Internet usage has spread across America ten times faster then inventions like the automobile or the telephone. And he says Rell is doing an important service by trying to focus the educational establishment on the need to update what Connecticut children are learning in school to reflect this new reality.
But Nielsen also feels the education issue goes beyond simply offering the classes and installing hardware and software programs. He advocates tenure, reform and merit pay for Connecticut teachers.
“While we are investing more to reduce class size and better equip classrooms, we also need to insist on higher standards and better accountability,” says Nielson. “We need to stand up to the entrenched teachers' unions and insist upon higher standards and better accountability so that we can be sure we are getting good results for our money.''
Nielsen says that it should be easier for teachers who are not performing to be terminated. “And we should make it easier for teachers who are performing above and beyond the call of duty to receive compensation in the form of merit pay.''
In the final analysis, Beth Howley Bye, director of the School for Young Children at St. Joseph College and president of the Connecticut Association for the Education of Young Children, says: “Teachers who have been trained and know how to use computers in their classrooms provide children with another wonderful medium that enhances learning. The question is no longer should computers be in the classroom, but how can teachers best use them.”
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