The Challenge: To improve student academic achievement through the use of technology.
The Solution: Teach children how to use the technological tools available to them and integrate that technology into the curriculum to improve student achievement.
HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN WORK WELL IN SCHOOLS
No Child Left Behind focuses on how teachers and students can use technology
Previous federal programs focused on increasing access to more technology. In an effort to improve student achievement through the use of technology, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige announced a new Enhancing Education Through Technology (ED Tech) initiative. The goals of Education Technology are to:
- Improve student academic achievement through the use of technology in elementary schools and secondary schools.
- Assist students to become technologically literate by the time they finish the eighth grade.
- Ensure that teachers are able to integrate technology into the curriculum to improve student achievement.
Percentage of students who reported using a computer at school at least once a week, by grade.
Technology must enhance learning
- It's not enough simply to have a computer and an Internet connection in the classroom if they are not made part of the learning process.
- Technology is a tool like any other and the value comes not from having access to it, but rather in how it is used.
- Enhancing Education Through Technology (ED Tech) under No Child Left Behind will improve the quality of education by developing new ways to apply this tool to teaching and learning.
It expands options and provides better information on education
- Several components of No Child Left Behind allow schools to purchase technology resources to support program goals. The result is technology aligned with specific goals tied to state academic standards.
- Online tests deliver reports on children's progress instantaneously instead of weeks later. When designed well, curriculum software can engage students in solid academic curriculum like never before.
Download this fact sheet. (It is in PDF format.)
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Official U.S. Department of Education web site.