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Temple University Center for Research
in Human Development and Education |
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A pioneer in
the effort to reach across the gulf that too often separates
poor families from their schools is the case of Union City,
New Jersey. In 1993, faced with the prospect of an imminent
state takeover unless academic progress improved, the school
district, in partnership with Bell Atlantic, initiated a
project in community networking. They delivered high-speed
Internet connectivity to all 11 schools in the district and
linked more than 2,000 PCs in classrooms, library media
centers, computer labs, and teacher and student homes
through a district-wide Intranet. Between 1992 and 1995,
reading scores improved by 53.6%, writing scores by 42.9%,
and math scores by 29% (Honey & Henríquez, 1996). The
impressive turnaround in the schools' capacity to help a
large, transitory immigrant population caught national
attention and has been the subject of a number of well known
studies. Clearly, the influence of Union City, New Jersey's
approach can be felt in the design of Pennsylvania's
"digital community" program, which challenged school
districts in that state to come up with creative ways to
link home and school. In 1999, three districts were each
awarded two million dollars to develop exciting and
innovative ways to bridge the divides between home and
school and between advantaged and disadvantaged populations.
One of the winners, Carlisle School District, used its
funding to provide high-speed home Internet connections to
all of its students. The service
included a customized
online tutorial program
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from home. In addition, it enabled
parents and students to access the child's homework
assignments, read their teachers' comments, and engage in
e-mail correspondence with them at their own pace and
convenience. Another grantee, the Spring Cove School
District, hopes to reduce its digital divide by providing
residents with low-cost home Internet connectivity and
community kiosks. The third grant recipient, Quaker Valley,
is using the funding to provide each student in Grades 3
through 12 with wireless network notebooks and e-books in
addition to providing students and their families with
24-hour Internet access via wireless service.
Evidence from pilot programs that offer
home access to parents suggest that such methods are helping
to close the digital divide and increase parental contact
with the schools (Wilhelm & Reynolds, 2002). As wireless
technologies become more affordable, schools may be able to
offer high-speed broadband connections to homes in the
surrounding region as was realized in Allegany County,
Maryland (http://gov.allconet.org).
New Opportunities for the Internet
The No Child Left Behind Act's
requirements to share school performance information with
parents could provide a new incentive for schools to enlist
the Internet as a medium of communication with parents.
Statutory provisions require schools to notify parents if a
school is identified as failing, consult parents on any
remedial plan that is developed, provide data to parents
that compare achievements of specified groups against the
state's annual measurable objectives for each subgroup, and
disseminate to parents various data concerning the
professional qualifications of teachers and the percentage
of teachers with emergency or provisional credentials.
One way for school districts to comply with these
requirements is to construct sophisticated websites where
school data can be accessed and queried. By providing this
data electronically, parents could easily search for
information pertaining to their child's school. Districts
could track how many parents are receiving the information
and making inquiries via the Internet. The new legislative
requirements could spur schools to enter the "information
age" and NCLB could well mark an important turning point for
schools to see the Web glass as "half full" rather than
"half empty."
References
Ames, C. (1995). Teachers' school-to-home communications
and parent involvement: The role of parent perceptions and
beliefs. (Report No. 28) East Lansing, MI: Center on
Families, Communities, Schools, and Children's Learning,
Michigan State University.
Henderson, A.T., & Berla, N. (1994). A new generation of
evidence: The family is critical to student achievement.
St. Louis, MO: Danforth Foundation, Flint, MI: (C.S.)
Foundation.
Honey, M., & Henríquez, A. (1996, April). Union city
interactive multimedia education trial: 1993-95 Summary
Report. (CCT Report Issue No. 3). Retrieved November
2002, from
http://www.edc.org/CCT/ccthome/tech_rept/CCTR3/CCTR3.html#ex
NetDay Survey: The internet, technology and teachers.
(2001, May). Retrieved October 11, 2002, from
http://www.netday.org/anniversary_survey.htm
Olson, L. (1999, January). A closer look: What makes a good
report card? Quality Counts '99, Education Week.
Retrieved October 6, 2002, from
http://www.edweek.org/sreports/qc99/opinion/aplus.htm
Pew Internet & American Life Project. (2002, November 17).
Parents online. Retrieved November 18, 2002, from
http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/reports.asp?Report=75&Section=ReportLevel1&Field=
Level1ID&ID=331
Wildstrom, S. (2002, September 9). High schools are flunking
tech. Business Week, Technology and You. Retrieved
October, 1 2002, from
https://www.eecs.umich.edu/cgi-bin/news/shownews.cgi?54
Wilhelm, T., Carmen, D., & Reynolds, M. (2002, July 8).
Connecting kids to technology: Challenges and opportunities.
Retrieved from
http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/content/stories/index.cfm?key=244
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Copyright 2001 © MARTEC
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