Research Findings: Instructional Technology
and Student Achievement

As the need for accountability increases in schools and financial resources become more scarce, district and community stakeholders are looking at current technology implementations in their schools and are asking, "What are we getting for our money? Where is the evidence that technology increases student achievement?" These hard questions need to be addressed, and yet it is sometimes difficult to know where to go to get the answers.

In the summer of 2003, Rita Hale, the School Improvement Specialist at ESD 112 in Vancouver, Washington, conducted a review of several meta-analyses of research findings on these key questions. Her work provided the answers to questions such as:

• What is the relationship between technology and student achievement?
• What is the relationship between technology and student engagement?
• In addition to effective technology use in the classroom, what other factors played key roles in increased student achievement?
• What kind of results are seen when students "learn from computers," and how to the results differ from students "learning with computers?"
• How does technology's role is an "instruction-based classroom" differ from its role in a "construction-based classroom?"
• In the most successful technology-rich schools, what kinds of things happened PRIOR to the introduction to technology?
• How is professional development best delivered for maximum results in the classroom?
• What level of computer access best leads to improved learning, and what is the recommended location for computers in a school?

This website was designed to help district leaders in technology and curriculum to answer these very important questions. It contains links to websites where research findings can be located. Please feel free to use this website as you look for the answers to your questions about technology's role in classrooms of this new millenium.

Access to Research Findings

Go to Educational Technology Development Center's (ETDC) website to view the research.
Go to ETDC's website to read research articles on educational technology.

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