I have concluded that I am disappointed with the National Technology Plan. It is not that the plan fails to establish clear goals. The seven action steps that are proposed are concrete enough that decisions concerning how money or time might be spent might be prioritized. What bothers me is that the plan lacks an internal logic that I can follow. Issues are identified and expounded upon that would lead me to very different conclusions and different priorities. I have the personal experience of reading along thinking I understand where the argument is going and finding that the conclusions reached are not just different but sometimes in opposition to what I feel the arguments support.
Here is my simple summary of the document:
1) Education is in trouble because math and science performance will not allow the U.S. to compete in the new world economy. Read the first three paragraphs of the executive summary if you do not believe me. (Note: This argument annoys me on several levels. There are clearly other content areas that lend themselves to adult productivity, testing practices differ and may invalidate country to country comparisons [see Berliner and Biddle], and the notion that these two skill areas need to be prioritized ???for all students??? as a solution to the nation???s inability to compete may not be valid.)
2) If you have not noticed, the document argues that the world has changed. Technology has energized productivity outside of school and has become second nature for new generations of learners. Students have found meaningful ways to use technology outside of school to learn, to communicate, and to answers questions meaningful to their lives. However, the productivity of technology and the expectations of new generations of learners does not carry over to influence what happens in the school setting.
a) Why? More technology is available in the school setting. ???Today???s students, of almost any age, are far ahead of their teachers in computer literacy.??? [this is a quote]
3) Goals of No Child Left Behind. The report summarizes data on inability of students to meet goals of performance as established by ???National Assessment of Educational Progress.??? Reading, math and science scores of minority students show very high proportion fail to meet expectations. In fact, in the 12th grade, nearly all students fail to meet competence expectations for math and science (???By 12th grade, only 3 percent of African Americans, are proficient in mathematics, only 4 percent of Hispanics, 10 percent of Native Americans, 20 percent of Whites, and 34 percent of Asian Americans???).
a) Such problems will be remediated by principles of NCLB ??? 1) hold schools accountable to show students are learning, 2) Increase flexibility for school in reaching goals, 3) Provide options for parents with students attending low performing schools, and 4) Use research on what works best [Note: I found it ironic that there was not a single citation to a research publication in the bibliography for this report.]
4) List of technology related action steps:
a) Strengthen leadership
b) Consider innovative budgeting
c) Improve teacher training
d) Support elearning and virtual schools
e) Encourage broadband access
f) Move toward digital content
g) Integrate data systems
Missing action steps ??? what I wish the report would have said:
a) Need a strong commitment to what type of learning experiences should be increased in frequency.
After spending all of the space in this document outlining what new generations of students can do and value, why avoid the issue of what types of learning experiences fit with these existing skills and values. The section on digital content could have been the place for a commitment to what types of learning experiences fit ???how students learn??? and what kinds of capabilities are important.
b) Align assessment with standards and also with the kinds of learning students say they value and the skills they feel able to apply to learning.
The present reality seems very much like me both recommending to students that they read chapter 7 because the content is valuable and telling students that chapter 7 will not be covered on the examination. When pressure on teachers and schools is increased, they will attend even more closely to how they will be evaluated and will invest time and money in these priority areas. Standards and learning experiences that students find meaningful are not what establish priorities. Scores on standardized tests are what continue to be used to evaluate ???improvement.??? Until either the tests are diversified or more diverse demonstrations of some type are used as markers of progress, No Child Left Behind will continue to narrow rather than expand how and what students learn.
My guess is those who disagree with me would argue that nothing in NCLB or the new technology plan would oppose the types of learning activities or assessment options I support. The problem with such a perspective is that it simply ignores the reality of ???behavioral principles.??? When consequences (reinforcement and punishment) are emphasized, behaviors that appear unrelated to consequences are extinguished. Unless assessment procedures are expanded to cover what standards value, certain standards will be ignored.
