A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

An Educator's Guide to Evaluating the Use of Technology in Schools and Classrooms - December 1998

Overview of Handbook

Purpose of Guide

Your school has just received a grant to purchase new computers and to train teachers to integrate technology into their teaching - activities that will enable the school to achieve some of the goals outlined in both the district and school technology plans. Everyone is excited about the new technology and the possibilities it has for improving teaching and learning.

However, people have questions. The agency funding the grant wants to know if it is getting its "money's worth"; the superintendent wants to know if teachers are using technology in their instruction and whether the technology is affecting student work and motivation; parents want to know if the new technology is improving standardized test scores; and the district professional development coordinator wants to know the effect of training on teacher and student technology skills. Someone has to try to answer all of these questions. For better or worse, this someone is you!

Yes, there are strings attached to the grant. In this age of limited resources, people want to know if the money they are spending is producing results, and they want answers soon. Yes, your time is limited. You are still trying to coordinate the purchase of the new equipment and make sure that it is running properly. You are also trying to make sure that teachers are getting the training they need so that the technology will be used appropriately. And on top of all of this, you must set up an evaluation that will satisfy many different interests. So the question becomes: How do I do this evaluation and how can I make it useful to me as well as everybody else?

This guide is designed to help you through the evaluation process and to make it as painless as possible. Primarily geared to educators or administrators with little or no research experience, it is intended for use at the district or school level.

Basic Organizing Questions

As you begin the evaluation process, you will have a number of questions. This guide is organized in sections by typical questions one might ask in going through the evaluation process. Within each section, a number of materials will guide you in answering questions for your particular program. Materials will consist of tips and "tricks of the trade" along with worksheets and ideas for additional resources. The following questions are addressed:

In addition, throughout this guide, you will have the opportunity to follow a sample school district (Rivers) through the evaluation process. It is hoped that this example will give you "real life" ideas for your own evaluation.

So, let's get started! Below is an overview of "Rivers."

Introduction to Rivers School District *

Rivers School District serves 6,000 primarily working-class students just outside of a large metropolitan city. The district consists of one high school, two middle schools, and four elementary schools. The district has grown fairly steadily over the years, with much of the growth coming from a large minority population moving out of the city.

The school district has many issues to deal with:

  • The attendance rate has dropped from 95 to 85 percent.
  • The dropout rate has been climbing slowly but steadily.
  • Standardized test scores have remained consistently below the state average for the past decade, with reading scores exceptionally low.

Also, Rivers has only recently jumped onto the "technology bandwagon." Two years ago, administrators formed a technology planning committee to determine how technology could be used to improve student learning. The committee finished devising a technology plan last year that outlined two ways in which technology could help alleviate some of the problems at Rivers. First, learning centers could be set up in the libraries in the elementary schools that could be used not only during the school day but could also be open after school hours for students to do homework and receive extra tutoring. In addition, as only 10 percent of the teachers had Internet accounts and only 5 percent of them had used technology in their classes, the committee felt that professional development was an absolute necessity.

Just after the committee released the technology plan, the district superintendent learned that funds were available for educational technology through the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, a Federal program that assists states to implement their technology plans. The committee wrote a proposal that incorporated the activities above and received $200,000 in funding.

The $200,000 in funding was used for the two main activities outlined in the technology plan. First, media centers with Internet connections were set up in the libraries of the elementary schools. Second, summer training was offered to all teachers in the district at two levels. There was a course on basic computer applications and computer use as well as a course on designing lessons incorporating technology. Each course lasted approximately two weeks.

As part of some additional state funding for technology, Kathy Wilson, a teacher, was appointed the district "technology coordinator" and charged with overseeing the implementation of grant activities. In addition, Kathy was given the responsibility of evaluating the program. As a teacher, not a researcher, Kathy has a lot of questions about how to evaluate a new program.

* Rivers is a name used for illustrative purposes only. Any resemblance to an actual district is purely coincidental.
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[Preface] [Table of Contents] [Why Am I Evaluating?]