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Computers Display School Differences

Posted on: Monday, 18 July 2005, 15:01 CDT

Jul. 17--One of the things MaryAnn Egbuna likes best about being a student at Brewbaker Technology Magnet High School is the access she has to an array of computers.

"We have a lot of computers that are available to help us with many different skills," said Egbuna, who will be a senior in the medical academy at Brewbaker Tech this fall. "Later on, those computer skills are going to be very handy to us in our different career fields. I think we are very lucky to have as many computers as we do."

A look at computer-to-student ratios across Montgomery Public Schools shows that students at Brewbaker Tech are fortunate when it comes to technology. The school has the highest computer-to-student ratio in the school district -- 1,296 computers for 454 students, a nearly 3-to-1 ratio.

But if a student at Brewbaker Tech were to cross the street and visit Brewbaker Junior High School, they would find the lowest number of computers per pupil in the district -- 137 computers for 1,170 students, a ratio of one computer for every nine students.

The computer-to-student ratio districtwide is one computer for every four pupils.

Montgomery Schools Superintendent Carlinda Purcell said although Brewbaker Tech boasts a curriculum that can prepare students for higher education and careers in many computer-related fields, many other schools do not have that capability.

That disparity and the large number of aging computers and computer software are among some of the top concerns Purcell outlined in the June release of her 120-day plan.

"The infrastructure in Montgomery Public Schools seems to be in place, but we have a lot of aging technology," Purcell said. "Our children are going to go to work in a technology-based world. Almost everything we do on a daily basis relies on technology."

Purcell said the system has lots of computers, but many of them are outdated.

"When a student leaves our school system, we want to make sure he or she has had every opportunity to become proficient in basic computer skills," she said.

More than $18 million has been spent during the past several years upgrading technology in Montgomery Public Schools, allowing 100 percent of the system's classrooms to be wired for the Internet, Purcell said.

"Unfortunately, 67 percent of the computers available to students are more than 3 years old and many are more than 5 years old," Purcell said. "The state requires a technology plan, but there are few resources available to address the need for systematic replacement of old machines."

Purcell said she is committed to improving the system's hardware and software.

"We must give our students the most modern and up-to-date technology and computers available," she said. "Many of the materials and software we bring into the classroom are dependent upon up-to-date hardware. We are asking our teachers to make the programs work, but we aren't giving them the technology they need to do that."

Purcell said computers and other hardware are replaced by the system as funds become available.

Jason Lowe, principal at Blount, said local funding helped the school get rid of outdated computers this past school year.

"The PTA helped us with our fall festival and that was a huge success," he said. "We were able to completely refurbish our computer lab and bought 24 new Gateway computers. We were also able to buy a new computer for every homeroom and each specialist."

Lowe said one of the major problems with outdated computers is the effect they can have on students.

"Twenty-five percent of a student's reading grade comes from taking computerized Accelerated Reader tests, and at the beginning of the year we were in a position where the computers we had didn't support the programs we had. Students would come in and be prepared to take the test but couldn't because of the computers."

Lowe said the state does provide schools with money to buy computers, but the amount is distributed throughout the school system.

"It's a very small amount," he said.

Beyond the classroom, Purcell said she wants to work on getting one warehouse where the school system can store all of its important data.

"Each department has data they maintain, whether it be about student assessment, human resources, child nutrition or financial matters," she said. "We need to have it in one place where it would be easy to find and print out, kind of like getting it all to come out of the same faucet."

Purcell said she also would like the system to provide some professional development to district employees in the area of technology.

"I'd like to see some training on how we can use technology to make our job easier, not harder," she said. "There is a lot of technology out there that could teach us how to do smarter work."

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Source: Montgomery Advertiser

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