Los Angles Times

Sunday, June 8, 1997
Orange County Edition
Section: PART A
Page: A-1

Technology Is Still a Promise, Not a Panacea;
CLASSROOM COMPUTERS: A Progress Report * First of two parts

By: SANDY BANKS and LUCILLE RENWICK
TIMES STAFF WRITERS

But if the ideal is a school where technology stimulates learning and enhances achievement, then computers are so far proving to be less than perfect partners.

Hefty investments in school computers have, thus far, produced few academic gains at most schools. The machines work fine, and students benefit from learning to operate computers. But educators are finding that even the best technology cannot make students smarter or teachers more capable.

Billions of education dollars and millions of work hours are being spent nationally to acquire, install and teach children to work computers. But relatively little is being invested in teaching the teachers how to harness the power of computers to improve learning.

The result is that in many schools expensive machines are little more than a convenience--a supplemental tool for math or spelling drills, or a device for students to brighten their reports with rainbow colors and snappy graphics.

"The computer can be a fabulous tool. . . . But the dirty little secret is that no one really knows what to do with this stuff," said Warhaftig, who runs teacher training sessions for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

In Orange County, many schools in recent years have taken long strides toward improving technology: adding computers in classrooms, putting CD-ROMs into reference collections and wiring schools into the Internet.

But James A. Fleming, superintendent of Capistrano Unified School District, cautioned that computers are not a cure-all for a public anxious for better schools and higher test scores.

"One of the things that has been forgotten in our rush for technology is the computer is nothing more than a tool," Fleming said. "It's not a silver bullet that will improve student learning."

Fleming said, though, that technology is vital.

"As we move ahead, it's important to have access to the Internet, ties into the Library of Congress, to have links from Maine to Southern California, but we can never forget they're tools, and the basic element in the learning process is the teacher."

In California, stung by studies showing the state 45th in the nation in student access to technology, officials are scrambling to bring the state's 8,000 public schools online and up to date.

State schools Supt. Delaine Eastin has made linking every classroom and school library to the Internet a key goal. Gov. Pete Wilson has pledged to spend $500 million on technology over the next four years to prepare high school graduates "to go online and get in line with the global competition of the 21st century."

And in the giant Los Angeles school district, schools are spending millions of dollars in state grants on computers, printers and the security devices to keep them safe. It is money doled out with little debate, even though schools could use those funds for anything from textbooks and air-conditioning to teachers' aides and playground repairs. Obstacles to Achievement

Computers have been in Los Angeles classrooms for almost 20 years, but enthusiasm--and spending--to advance their use has never been higher. Still, a review by The Times of technology programs in the nation's second-largest school system suggests there are major obstacles blocking technology's impact.

* High price tag: Los Angeles schools spent more than $8.5 million on technology in the 1995-96 school year, yet many of its campuses are still saddled with antiquated equipment. Across the country, schools will spend $4 billion on computer technology in 1997--but that is just a fraction of what it will cost to adequately supply schools with the computers, Internet access and teacher training.

* Lack of teacher training: Many new teachers enter classrooms unfamiliar with the use of educational technology, and few veteran teachers have been taught to incorporate computers into their lessons. Studies show that a well-trained teacher corps is the key to the successful use of classroom computers.

* No consensus on best use: Experts agree that high school students need to be familiar with technology. But there is little research showing how--or even whether--computers can improve the academic performance of younger students.

"Basically, we're making some very expensive, long-range decisions in the absence of any evidence that shows this is the solution to the problems of public schools," said William L. Rukeyser, a former state Education Department official who now coordinates a nonprofit group, Learning in the Real World, formed to challenge the use of computers in schools.

"You can think of the computer as an electronic gizmo that, the moment you take it out of the box and plug it in, begins to become obsolete," Rukeyser said. "Or you can think of it as a way of inoculating your children against economic uncertainty, of guaranteeing their happiness in the future.

"And when someone comes along peddling [computers] as a panacea, then millions of dollars seem like a relatively small price to pay for salvation."

Little real-world research on the impact of technology on education exists, in part because computers "remain marginal contributors in most [school] settings," according to a study completed last year by the Rand Corp., a Santa Monica-based think tank.

There are a few shining lights on the technology horizon--schools that have been able to transform learning through the sophisticated use of computers. High Price of Success

In the tiny Port Hueneme School District in Ventura County, Blackstock Junior High has emerged as a national model, its "smart classrooms" lauded by everyone from Bill Clinton to Bill Gates for the way computers are used to help children learn science, history, English and math.

The school has one computer for every two children. Its students are mostly Latino from low-income families; one-quarter of them speak little English. But test scores are rising and grades are improving. "The technology has had a huge impact on the kids," said school technology coordinator Steve Carr.

But Blackstock's success took almost 10 years and $3 million to achieve, and sustaining it requires a level of commitment that few other public schools could muster.

Using state and federal grants, the school gave several teachers a year off with pay to redesign their curricula to incorporate computers. Portions of the campus have been reconstructed to accommodate the new technology, which goes beyond computers to include a satellite dish, video cameras and laser discs.

The school spends more than $380,000 a year on its technology program--including equipment, software and teacher training--or almost five times what the average school spends per student.

Rand studied Blackstock and four other model public schools and found that successful schools did more than just install computers. Some changed the structure of the school day to create longer periods and more interdisciplinary programs.

Others dissolved classrooms and formed multi-age teams, where children worked on "self-paced" research projects. All had a highly trained teacher corps and clear goals for student outcomes.

But schools like these are rare, the Rand study found. For despite talk of an education revolution in the nation's schools, "few . . . have used [technology] to transform the content and mode of instruction," the report said.

A review of funding requests in Los Angeles Unified reveals a stunning disparity in technology programs from campus to campus.

As of last fall, there were nearly 47,000 computers spread among the district's 738 magnet, elementary, middle and high schools.

They ranged from antiquated models to modern Pentium PCs and Power Macintoshes. About 23,000 were located in classrooms, and 16,000 more in separate computer labs. The rest were in school libraries, offices and media centers. The Rush to Sign Up

Fewer than half the campuses in the Los Angeles district have access to the Internet, compared to 65% of schools nationwide. Some schools, such as Foshay Learning Center in South Los Angeles, have all their classrooms connected to the Internet and equipped with computers and printers.

Others, like Sylmar's El Dorado Avenue Elementary, are still trying to buy enough computers to put one in every class. The school is spending its entire state block grant this year--$40,000--on computers.

Other campuses are into their second wave of computer buying, replacing old and outmoded equipment donated or purchased decades before.

Dodson Junior High in San Pedro is spending its entire $103,000 grant on its computer lab, replacing the Apple II computers it purchased in the 1980s with 30 new Pentiums equipped with CD-ROM drives. Cleveland High in Reseda is scrapping its lab of 20-year-old computers and spending $80,000 on a new lab to train students and teachers.

Washington Preparatory High is spending $20,000 to replace computers stolen last year, and $30,000 more to construct a wrought-iron fence to keep them safe. The rest of its $134,000 grant will go to renovate the athletic field and buy the marching band its first uniforms.

Behind all the investment of scarce resources is a belief--promoted by President Clinton, business leaders and some top educators--that classrooms without computers are ill-equipped to meet the needs of today's students.

"It makes the children enjoy learning, and that's worth a lot," contended Sally Bowman Alden, head of the Computer Learning Foundation, a Palo Alto group aimed at promoting school technology and funded, in part, by software manufacturers.

"We hear, 'Is this going to improve children's reading and writing and arithmetic?' That's almost irrelevant," she said. "It's the tool of our children's day."

Some teachers, however, consider the massive outlay of money and energy on computer technology a potential boondoggle created by high expectations rooted in hope rather than evidence.

"I think we're relying on testimonials, and in education, testimonials are the most dangerous thing," said Michael Becker, a fifth-grade teacher at Los Angeles Unified's Corona Elementary School, who does not use computers in his class. "They're like the weight-loss ads that tell you they've lost all this weight, but you're never sure if it's for real."

In the Los Angeles district, few schools--even those with up-to-date equipment--can squeeze enough money from tight budgets to keep their computers in good working order or supervise their use. Fairfax High recently shut its after-school computer lab to save money; now students can only use the lab during school hours.

Even fewer schools are setting aside money to teach teachers to use computers. It is this lack of adequate training, some experts say, that could cripple the technology movement. Effectiveness Questioned

A recent national survey by Educational Testing Service found that few teachers are prepared to use computers effectively in class. Only 15% of teachers nationwide have received at least nine hours of training in educational technology.

Federal legislation is pending that would require districts that receive some types of federal grants to train and assess their teachers for computer literacy. Now, most school systems spend less than 15% of their technology budgets on teacher training, while federal studies recommend twice that much.

In most California districts, training is largely ad hoc, with teachers taking classes only if they are willing to give up evenings or Saturdays, without pay. Only six states require veteran teachers to receive any computer training.

The Los Angeles district operates five campus technology centers where teachers can learn to use computers. That system was set up two years ago after teachers complained that they had access to computers but no knowledge of how to make the best of them, said Vic Placeres, the district's director of school information systems.

To receive a credential in California, prospective teachers must take a single introductory computer class--a course that varies from college to college and is typically broad enough to cover everything from how to log onto the Internet to how to evaluate educational software.

"Most colleges of education spend very little time and effort getting teachers good at thinking about how technology is used in the classroom," said Dave McArthur, senior computer scientist at Rand and a specialist in computers in education.

It is a waste of time and money, he said, "to have teachers do the same thing they've always done, but on computer."

Still, that is precisely what is happening in many Los Angeles classrooms, even at some schools with model technology programs. From Students, Positive Reaction

At Corona Elementary in Bell, when fifth-grade teacher Diane Schwartz recently sat at a computer and launched her students on an essay assignment, there was little talk about structure, grammar or punctuation; their questions were about fonts and proper spacing between words and sentences.

Schwartz's students were retyping essays they had written earlier by hand. Ten-year-old Hilda was one of the first to complete the assignment and, after a quick click on the mouse to save her file, she moved among her classmates, showing them how to open files and change font styles as they typed.

But when Schwartz checked Hilda's essay, she discovered spelling and grammatical errors galore. She was not surprised. Although the girl is enthusiastic and proficient on the computer, she is doing poorly academically, and her teacher has not been able to use the technology to help her improve.

Hilda spends most of her free time in the school's computer lab, traversing the Internet and e-mailing her teacher. It is a good way to practice reading and writing skills, her teacher says. But it has made little difference in her grades or test scores.

Corona was one of four L.A. schools to share a $500,000 state grant in 1985 to pioneer a model technology program. The money lasted for six years, providing Corona with computers, printers, editing equipment and teacher training.

But the changes did not register on the school's test scores.

Still, most teachers who use computers in class say it makes their students more enthusiastic and makes learning more fun.

The immediate feedback of a computer program can help children who are struggling to master basic skills. And Internet access opens up new avenues to information for students who might never set foot in a library.

Clinton has proposed spending $2 billion over the next five years to bring every classroom online. But a 1995 study estimated that it would cost $109 billion over the next 10 years to equip the nation's schools with one computer for every five students, connect them to the Internet and train teachers to use them.

And while schools line up to purchase and install computers, that is only the first--and perhaps easiest--step in the expensive and frustrating process of integrating technology into schools.

Many schools need rewiring to handle Internet access. There is an acute shortage of school technicians to repair and maintain computers; in big districts like Los Angeles Unified, broken machines can remain out of commission for months. And despite stepped-up security provisions, the pricey computers have prompted a sharp increase in school thefts and break-ins, Los Angeles school police say.

In addition, the rapid evolution of computer technology--a model purchased today may need updating next year--means schools must commit a continual stream of cash to keep their systems current.

Many states, including California, are focusing their technology dollars on high schools, targeting students about to enter college or the workplace.

But others go further, adding computer skills to the list of subjects that even kindergarten students must learn.

North Carolina, for example, has set statewide standards spelling out what tasks students should be able to perform on the computer at every grade level.

That push to get computers into elementary classrooms alarms some education researchers, who question whether young children should be encouraged to spend their formative years in front of a computer screen.

"In terms of what can a kid learn that will be useful for the rest of his or her life, they are mostly skills that, frankly, the computer cannot teach," said Rukeyser, whose group opposes the use of computers in primary classes.

Rukeyser watched scores of education debates unfold during his nine years in the Education Department as special assistant to the superintendent. But he said he has seldom seen the kind of unquestioning acceptance the computer discussion generates.

"The nearest thing I can draw a parallel to is a theological discussion," he said. "There's so much an element of faith here that demanding evidence is almost a sign of heresy."

But others contend there is no better way than to dive straight into the murky waters of technology: We might founder, wasting money, but eventually we'll get it right.

"It is a step into the unknown, no question about it," said Stuart Biegel, professor of law and education and information studies at UCLA. "So the question is, do we take the step or do we sit back and let somebody else do it?"

Times staff writers Eric Slater and Leslie Helm contributed to this story.

Next: How--and why--the technology industry markets to schools.

Copyright, 1997, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted by permission.