Georgia’s Schools Make the Grade in National Tech Study

By Julie Hubbard, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

May 4–Having a “virtual high school” and a sophisticated student ID system that tracks public school students’ test scores helped Georgia earn a high ranking for its use of school technology.

Technology Counts 2006, a report scheduled for release today by Education Week, gave Georgia a grade of B for its use of technology in the classroom, and the report ranked Georgia fifth out of 50 states and the District of Columbia for its state-maintained education database.

“Technology is an important tool in helping us reach students in the 21st century,” said Michael Hall, Georgia’s deputy superintendent for educational technology. “Just as we would not expect a business or corporation to run without technology, the same is true for our schools. …

“No Child Left Behind (legislation) has forced teachers to move to … individualized, data-driven instruction, and technology is the only way that can happen.”

The report examined states for students’ access to computers, the types of education data collected and how the information is used at the state and local levels.

The study found that Georgia met the national average for its students’ access to computers at 3.8 students per computer. The report also looked at whether educators have access to data and whether they are trained to use it.

It was the first time that researchers graded states on their classroom technology.

“Some states and districts are building luxury sedans, while others have economy cars,” project editor Caroline Hendrie said during a conference call Wednesday.

With the demands of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation putting pressure on states to increase student achievement, states are using more and more data to improve, she said.

In recent years, states have spent about $973 million to build data systems, to collect data for use in creating policies and for educators to extract student information, Hendrie said.

Hall noted that in Georgia in the last two years, the state started a virtual high school, which allows students to take online courses not offered in their own school. It served 2,000 students this school year, he said.

An estimated 21 percent of Georgia classes are wireless, and the state just created a data warehouse that tracks students and the services that students receive, he said.

“In the case of Georgia, it has a unique student ID system with transcripts, student characteristics … and teachers have IDs with their certification level, salaries,” said Chris Swanson, director of editorial projects for the Education Research Center. “Georgia can take the good student data and good teacher system data and link the two together.”

Georgia is one of just five states that can link data on both students and teachers, he said. Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio and Tennessee are the other states with those capabilities.

COULD DO BETTER AT SHARING

But while Georgia has the data, it doesn’t do a good job sharing the information with teachers.

“Tennessee and Georgia have robust data systems but lag behind when it comes to giving educators full access,” Swanson said. “Educators don’t have any more access than the public.”

Arkansas and Louisiana are among the most advanced states, and Florida is on the verge of offering teachers access to the state-maintained student data, he said.

Julie Christopher, Bibb County schools’ assistant superintendent for information technology, said student data is collected at each school and sent to the state daily.

Using a system called SASSY, daily reports of a student’s attendance and other things such as discipline, grades, classes taken and test scores are sent to the state and stored, she said. Other demographics such as whether a student receives a free or reduced-price lunch are also included.

The data can help, for example, if a student in Cobb County wants to transfer to Bibb County schools. In that event, the student’s records could be downloaded from a file without making copies of school records, she said.

Principals can look up how well their students are performing and compare that with another school in Georgia if they want, she said.

“The state is working diligently so all schools in the state are using the same data,” Christopher said. “At this point, because they are making sure its adequate for the districts, it’s not readily accessible for the teachers.”

State technology programs are funded through federal Title II dollars, which are being cut, and that has made advances more difficult, according to the state.

Georgia provides state test results to educators through a centralized information system, something 27 other states do.

Georgia is also among half of all states that track students’ tests scores over time, and it is among 20 states that allow teachers to compare their own school data with others around the state of similar size.

To contact Julie Hubbard, call 744-4331 or e-mail jhubbard@macontel.com [mailto:jhubbard@macontel.com].

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

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