STaR Report: Rate your school's digital prowess

Ever wondered just how high your school rates on the educational technology barometer? For a reading on how your school stacks up and what "low tech" and "high tech" mean when it comes to schools, take a look at a report released last fall by the CEO Forum on Education and Technology, a consortium of 21 U.S. business and education leaders.

Among other things, the report defines four levels of school technology use: low tech, mid tech, high tech, and target tech. About 59 percent of American schools are considered low-technology schools, according to the CEO Forum's "School Technology and Readiness Report" (see chart).

In low-tech schools, the so-called STaR report says, most of the computers are outdated and lack enough memory and processor speed to use web browsers or access multimedia content. Less than half of the computers in these schools have processors as or more powerful than an Intel 386, the lowest level of processor necessary to access graphics on the web. In low-tech schools, there is only one CD-ROM player for every 250 students, and computers are likely to be found in a lab environment rather than in classrooms. Also, only about a quarter of these schools have access to a local area network, about 60 percent have Internet access, and there are about 13 students per computer and 25 students per multimedia computer.

The report says 26 percent of American schools have reached the "mid-tech" level. The biggest problem in these schools is the lack of professional development and technical support. Because of that, most students in these schools rarely use computers for research or creative projects, and software is not regularly upgraded. In mid-tech schools, there are eight students per computer, 15 students per multimedia computer, and 90 students per CD-ROM player. In addition, 56 percent of all computers in these schools have processors equal to or more powerful than an Intel 386; 70 percent of these schools have access to the Internet; and 55 percent have access to a local area network.

About 12 percent of American schools are deemed high tech, according to the STaR classification system. At these schools, most teachers have integrated technology into the classroom, and students use the technology to conduct research, develop creative projects, and communicate with each other and people outside of the school. In high-tech schools, technology use often is required as part of most school and homework assignments. Here, there are five students per computer and eight students per multimedia computer; 66 percent of all computers have processors equal to or more powerful than an Intel 386; there are 31 students per CD-ROM player; 80 percent of these schools have Internet access; and more than 75 percent have access to a local area network.

The highest level cited in the report is the "target-tech" school. Only 3 percent of American schools fall into this category. In these schools, there are highly skilled technical assistants and regular professional development sessions for teachers seeking to master new ways of using technology. Also, the structure of the school day tends to be different, with longer class periods to accommodate in-depth projects that use technology. In these schools, there are three students per computer and four students per multimedia computer; 72 percent of all computers have processors equal to or more powerful than an Intel 386; there are nine students per CD-ROM player; 93 percent of these schools have Internet access; and 84 percent have access to a local area network.

Bill Gates, look behind you Justin Su's father might have suspected what his mechanically gifted son could accomplish after the family's trip to Disneyland. Young Justin was more interested in seeing how and why Space Mountain worked than in actually riding the theme park roller coaster. Su first started tinkering with technology when he was 4, and he began building and selling computers at 12. "Now," says his father, Kok Djen, when it comes to the Internet, "I'm the one starting to ask him, 'What does it all mean?''' Su might not have all the answers. But he's doing pretty well for an 18-year-old high school graduate with his own Internet service provider firm, customers throughout Washington and Oregon, and a workforce of 26 employees--many older than he. LinkPort Communications, which Su founded more than a year ago, has more than 2,000 subscribers and is adding new ones at the rate of 30 to 40 a day. Su, the chief executive officer, draws a $60,000 annual salary, but he doesn't plan to take home all of it until LinkPort is profitable, which he predicts will happen sometime this year or in 1999. Su began formulating a business plan in 1992, he says, when "nobody really knew what the Internet was." He started surfing local networks through Delphi, an early commercial online service, and through several college accounts. His Internet service, which became "live" last January, attracted millions of dollars in venture capital from investors his father knew in Indonesia. "Justin still has tons to learn," says one employee, a 20-year veteran of Silicon Valley. "But we're very fortunate. He's still very moldable." Last year, Su walked in graduation exercises at Hood River Valley High School, though he left the school about three years ago. He and his employees have wired the school's science department and donated a high-speed T-1 line to help students tap into the Internet. "Information is crucial," Su says. "Schools have to have up-to-date equipment. The Internet's the great equalizer. There's no point in having all this wonderful technology if only the techno-people can use it."

As most folks know who've tried to download elaborate graphics or large documents, the Internet is fast becoming as gridlocked as the Los Angeles freeway system at rush hour. For now, you'll just have to get used to the delay, but don't lose hope: New initiatives are under way that should speed the ride. The Clinton administration has committed $100 million per year for three years to the Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative to "foster partnerships among academia, industry, and government that will keep the U.S. at the cutting edge of information and communications technologies." According to a July 1997 concept paper, the NGI initiative will coordinate federally funded research with the aim of creating more powerful and versatile networking applications, services, and infrastructure. Meanwhile, a group of universities is developing a second Internet--dubbed Internet2--that allows computer users to send and download data nearly 100 times faster than is possible via the current Internet. University researchers who have been frustrated by seeing complex images or simulations freeze on their computer screens can now send those images and simulations easily. The researchers say the technologies used to develop Internet2 could be available for use on the commercial Internet within the next two years. The Internet2 effort was started about a year ago and now involves 112 educational institutions. Those institutions have invested more than $50 million in the new Internet, which is designed primarily for use by university researchers. As a consequence, it's still questionable when and to what degree Internet2 will become available to public schools. Even so, researchers say there are likely to be benefits as high-speed technologies developed by the Internet2 project are made available to the regular Internet. The average user at a public school, for instance, might be able to send large files over the Internet at close to real-time speeds and have the power to pick up clearer video images and high-quality sounds. The immediate benefit to public schools, however, will be a little more open space on the regular Internet. As research universities and federal laboratories rely more heavily on Internet2, space will be opened on the regular Internet for the ordinary computer user. And the end might not yet be in sight. As J. Gary Augustson, a computer scientist at Penn State University and chairman of the Internet2 steering committee, puts it, "If we're successful with Internet 2, it will be cluttered, and we'll probably go to Internet3."

Laboratory for learning

At one computer station, Leslie Hazle conducts a virtual dissection of a frog. Nearby, later, she taps into the power of a hypertext program to access video clips of Shakespeare scholars analyzing passages from Hamlet. And at yet another computer station, she talks into a microphone to conduct a simulated interview using voice-recognition software.

Welcome to the National Demonstration Laboratory for Interactive Information Technologies, a subsidiary of the Academy for Educational Development in Washington, D.C. The technologies demonstrated by Hazle, the lab's deputy director, are just a few of the more than 200 multimedia educational programs available at the lab. Educators from across the country have visited the lab to view these technologies and learn more about them.

Demonstrating current or emerging educational technologies is a key role for the lab but not its only purpose. The lab also offers teacher training in using the Internet and a host of other technologies to computer novices and experts and works with schools to define and clarify their technology goals. It assists with long-range technology planning, giving advice on everything from budgets to facility design; recommends strategies for aligning technology with district curriculum; and helps educators identify books, web sites, listservs, articles, and research studies that will help them learn how to incorporate technology into their schools.

Jacqueline Hess, director of the national lab, says schools are spending millions of dollars on technology without first considering how they are going to use it. And that, she says, is a serious problem because schools might not get the results they are looking for, and people will conclude that technology does little to improve student achievement.

Educators, she says, need to use their years of teaching experience to harness the powers of new technologies. But they also must be well-trained in using technology. Otherwise, the power of technology will never reach its potential.

"There's nothing about technology that's magic," says Hess. "Teachers should not put their common sense on hold."

The lab is currently putting together its Millenium Project, which will be a far-reaching effort to get educators together to talk about how technology should change education.

For more information about the National Demonstration Lab or the Academy for Educational Development, call 202-884-8700.

Welcome to the rat raceway Put down your mouse and meet a computer rat--a living, breathing rodent named Rattie--who's helping wire California schools for the computer age. Rattie had retired from her life in lab research when Dr. Judy Reavis, a physician and computer executive in Benicia, Calif., trained the 7-inch albino rodent to pull a string in impossible-to-reach places between walls and above ceilings. With the string tied to a network cable (and inspired by cat food and Gummi Bears at journey's end), Rattie has brought eight schools online. She's also become somewhat of a celebrity. Rattie has her own web page, where fans can ask technology questions and hear her sing and talk--with a little help from her friend Judy, that is.

Photo By: Gabrielle S. Revere, Berkeley, CA. Image Colored By: Emily DuBois

Isn't that Junior under the desk?

Big Brother might not want to watch what's going on in your classrooms, but Mommy and Daddy should be very interested. At least that's what some companies are banking on as they plan to market surveillance cameras that will allow parents to watch their kids' classes over the Internet.

Simplex Knowledge Co. has already installed "kiddie cams" at a dozen day-care centers, but "where we want to end up is the public schools," says company president Jack Martin. The company, which has already had a couple of nibbles from school districts in Georgia and Ohio, plans to begin marketing to public schools in the spring.

"We know [teachers unions] will go insane," says Martin, but parents need to know what their kids are doing. Otherwise, he says, a "kid can be 7 or 8 years old and already out of the loop."

In the day-care centers that offer such surveillance, parents access the web sites with a password and click from camera to camera to view still photographs that are updated every few seconds. "Every half-hour, I check in to see where my daughter is," says Judi Stoogenke, a commercial interior designer whose 3-year-old is enrolled at The Children's Corner in Ridgefield, Conn. "I watch her have lunch practically every day."

And who else might be watching? The day-care centers say they are careful to restrict access to their web sites. Chris Klein, owner of a firm that helped develop a surveillance system for Cathy's Kids Club in Tustin, Calif., says designers "do everything we can to keep strangers out: encryption, regularly rotating passwords, anything and everything to keep kids safe."

But David Banisar, an attorney with the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., worries about the long-term implications of having the cameras record children's (and teachers') every move. "It's very Orwellian," he says. "It sets a precedent for a generation of kids who could grow up thinking that surveillance is normal."

Confused about the e-rate? Here's help It seemed so simple--just download the application forms, fill in the blanks, and presto! Your schools would be eligible for discounted telecommunications services, thanks to your friends, the feds. Well, nothing good is ever easy--and that goes for the e-rate, too. At press time, the application forms were still awaiting approval, and a number of thorny issues, such as whether the discounts apply to existing contracts, were still being hashed out. For guidance, frustrated school folk can dial up a new e-rate hotline and speak to a real, live specialist. Just call (800) 733-6860. Or, visit the hotline's web site, to read the answers to common questions or to post your own. Both hotline and web site are sponsored by EdLiNC, a coalition of more than 35 national education and library organizations, with support from Bell Atlantic.

Score One for Laptops

If you want to change the way teachers teach and kids learn in your school, give 'em laptops. That's the lesson Microsoft Corp. and Toshiba America hope you'll learn from the first year of their Anytime Anywhere Learning research project.

The two companies hired Rockman Et Al., an independent research firm in San Francisco, to study the impact of laptops on teaching and learning at 52 schools nationwide. (The schools--and in some cases, the students themselves--bought the hardware and software at a discount.)

As both companies surely hoped, the results were mostly positive. The schools reported, among other things, improvements in student writing, presentation, and decision-making; more individualized instruction for students with special needs; better behavior and more motivation among participating students; and an increase in the use of student-centered and project-based teaching methods.

But the Rockman report also tells of problems: "Teachers, parents, and students were frustrated by 'glitches' such as frozen screens, broken latches, and easily damaged screens." Teachers complained that up to 30 percent of the laptops were out of commission each day, and some seemed to be "lemons," according to the report. Problems were also reported concerning parent education, curriculum integration, classroom implementation, and students' keyboarding skills.

Copies of the research report and information about participating in the continuing study are available from the project's web site.

If Jack Christie has his way, 4 million Texas schoolchildren will begin their day by switching on a computer instead of opening a textbook. Christie, chairman of the Texas Board of Education, recommends furnishing students with multimedia computers and software instead of traditional texts. The unprecedented move would broaden access to technology, provide students with the most up-to-date information, and save the state millions in textbook costs, he says. "Why wait for the rest of the nation?" Christie says. "Let Texas be the example." Christie made the proposal in September, as the state board announced plans to spend $1.8 billion on textbooks over the next six years. By investing in computers, he said, the state would save money over the long run and possess disks and CD-ROM texts that could be easily updated. "Why wait for six, seven, eight years to update history [textbooks]?" he asked the board. "[Students] need it today." Some state leaders were skeptical. Board member Donna Ballard said the state should focus on more immediate concerns, such as ensuring that all children learn to read. Others questioned the need to constantly update subject material. "When I was in school, we never got past World War II," said Robert Junell, chairman of the state House Appropriations Committee. "How much change do you make in a history textbook?" Gov. George Bush has expressed interest in the plan but suggested it be tried as a pilot program in a large school district before being adopted statewide.

What KIDS should know about technology Kindergartners don't have to know what a technological system is to see how one works in their lives. All they have to do is bake a cake. "A system," says the first draft of the Standards for Technology Education, "is a group of parts that work together to do something collectively that could not have been done separately." Like baking a cake. Can the children name the individual parts that, together, make a cake? (Butter, flour, eggs, etc.) Do they see how the parts work together to make the whole? Can they assess the system's performance--decide if the recipe was good enough to use again? If so, they have taken a small step toward technological literacy. The cake-baking example is one of many offered in the technology standards, which are being developed through the Technology for All Americans Project. Sponsored by the International Technology Education Association (ITEA), the document defines what students in grades kindergarten through 12 need know about and do with technology. The first draft of the standards was posted on the Internet in October. Educators, parents, and others are encouraged to review it and comment through an online evaluation form. The standards are extensive, and ITEA says some portions could take two hours to evaluate. Based on the online responses and other input, the standards will be revised this year and field tested, with the final document scheduled for release in March 1999. As the cake-baking example shows, technology, whether simple or complex, is an integral part of our lives and our identity. "Technology is human innovation in action," the draft document says. "This involves the generation of knowledge and processes to develop systems that solve problems and extend human capabilities." The document outlines the content and structure of technology study through grade 12. Its goal, according to the ITEA newsletter, "is to make technological literacy an essential part of educational curriculums across the United States." The project is funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. ITEA has also published a book for educators, policy makers, and others interested in technology education called Technology for All Americans: A Rationale and Structure for the Study of Technology. Copies are available from the International Technology Education Association, 1914 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191, phone (703) 860-2100, fax (703) 860-0353, e-mail itea@iris.org.

What TEACHERS should know about technology Tomorrow's teachers need to understand the deep impact of technology on work, communications, and the development of knowledge. They must know that information can be found from a variety of electronic sources--and then use those tools in their classrooms. And they must have a fearless attitude toward new technology, inspiring them to take risks and become lifelong learners. That profile of the technologically savvy teacher is part of Technology and the New Professional Teacher: Preparing for the 21st Century Classroom, a report released in September by a task force from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). The report includes several proposals for integrating technology into teacher preparation programs. NCATE "should require institutions to have a vision for technology use in teacher preparation," the report says. Colleges and universities should be able to describe how their graduates will use technology in elementary and secondary schools. The report also says the accreditation process can be improved by ensuring that technology use is an integral part of accreditation standards. It says NCATE should create pilot projects with colleges to evaluate new technology. And it says that NCATE's own operations can be improved through technology, suggesting, for example that on-site accreditation teams be technologically competent. For a copy of the report, contact NCATE at (202) 466-7496, or send e-mail to tracy@ncate.org.

. . . If only schools were like business. Per computer, the total cost of technology (TOC) in schools is only half that of the TOC in business, according to a white paper by the International Data Corp., sponsored by Apple Computer Inc. Why the cost differential? Well for one thing, schools average just 1 technical support person for every 500 students, compared to a ratio of 1 to 50 in the business world. And in business, the ratio of computers to users is a tidy 1 to 1. So far, that's an unattainable dream in schools, where the ratio is 8.4 students for each computer. . . .

. . . Partner power. Through its new Dell Education Alliance, Dell Computer Corp. has joined forces with leading education software publishers and technology providers to deliver a full range of curriculum and administrative computing solutions to K-12 schools. Partners include Computer Curriculum Corp., Follett Software Co., Jostens Learning Co., Microsoft Corp., National Computer Systems, Prentice Hall School Division, Riverside Publishing, SkillsBank Corp., and PITSCO. . . .

. . . The customer's friend. A survey of the top 25 ed tech publishers puts Jostens Learning first in customer service--including pricing, tech support, customer training, and overall satisfaction. The report, "Top 25 Technology Companies: Customer Ratings of Service, Support, Pricing and Training," was compiled by Education Market Research. . . .

. . . Ya gotta have art. Ideas, resources, and advocacy for arts education are available online through ArtsEdNet, a program of the Getty Education Institute for the Arts. The service also includes an online discussion group where arts educators can chat and network. . . .

. . . A toe in the online waters. What good is the Internet in school if teachers don't use it? Sink-or-swim professional development isn't the answer, so together, the National Cable Television Association and Tech Corps. launched an Internet teacher-training program called webTeacher. The program is designed to let teachers learn to surf the net wave by wave, at their own pace. . . .

. . . Not your father's shop class. With an estimated 190,000 high-tech jobs now available in U.S. corporations, Cisco Systems has started a program to teach and certify high school and college students to design, build, and maintain computer networks. To kick-start the new Cisco Networking Academies, the company will contribute approximately $18 million in curriculum, equipment, and resources. Programs are already in place in 57 high schools, colleges, and technical schools in seven states--Arizona, California, Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, and North Carolina. . . .