Exemplary Technology-Supported Schooling Cases in the USA





Project Overview The intention of the “Exemplary Technology-Supported Schooling Case Studies" project was: To try to identify the most exemplary schools in the United States with innovative classrooms that incorporated technology to improve learning in a major way, and To understand the programs of educational improvement underlying the innovations, including the specification of success factors. To accomplish these objectives, eleven school sites were selected and in depth case studies conducted in each. The study began in 1999 and will be completed at the end of 2003.


Six site selection criteria were developed with the assistance of a national advisory group and researchers in the U. S. Department of Education. The site selection process was arduous, and included input from many experts, diverse organizations, and searches of publications, databases, and websites. Many weeks were spent interviewing key personnel at candidate study sites, reviewing school documents, and discussing each proposed study site with our advisors. At each of the eleven sites selected, two researchers spent a week interviewing staff, students, and parents, and observing several classrooms. (For technical details on the study including (1) the methods used in site selection, data collection, and analysis, and (2) a summary of the demographic characteristics of the school sites, view a pdf of the Methodology Report.) The eleven sites in which case studies were conducted included elementary, middle, and high schools. In four of the schools the percent minority was 90% or higher. Four of the schools were located in urban settings and the remaining were situated in suburbs or small towns. In five of the schools over 75% of the students qualified for free or reduced cost lunch. The nature of the innovative and school improvement programs were highly diverse. A case report (available on this website from the School Reports link at left) was prepared for each school site with the intention that teachers and other educational decision-makers would benefit from learning about how schools make technology work for their needs and interests. Multicase reports (available on this website from the Multicase Reports link at left) are being written on various topics to synthesize the wealth of knowledge compiled and integrate it into the ongoing body of educational research conclusions. As more multicase reports are written they will be added to the reports available here. Acknowledgements: This study was funded by a grant from the U. S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research Improvement, which evolved into the current Institute of Education Sciences. In addition, funds for planning the study were provided by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The views expressed here and in the project reports are those of the authors and not necessarily the sponsoring organizations. International Comparative Study Participation This project investigates innovative cases in the United States, but the research procedures were coordinated with two major international studies. One is the OECD's Organizational Case Studies project and the other is the IEA's SITES-M2 (Second International Technology in Education Study, Module 2). Over 30 countries have been participating in one or both of these studies, each one conducting case studies similar to ours, but with each country determining its own case selection criteria. Selected case results from this project were provided to both international projects. ICT and the Quality of Learning, the OECD case studies project, is a major international initiative organised by the Center for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) within its work on Schooling for Tomorrow. This initiative was concerned with the implications that ICT (Information and Computer Technology) has for education and learning and involved many of the 30 OECD member countries. The final project report and cases from participating countries can be accessed at http://iol3.uibk.ac.at/ICTandSchooling/caseStudies/ IEA’s Second International study of Technology in Education (SITES) consists of three modules. SITES Module 2 (M2) is an international qualitative study of innovative pedagogical practices using ICT and involved over 25 countries. The study overview and a list of participating countries can be found at http://www.sitesm2.org/SITES_Research_Projects/SITESM2/sitesm2.html A preliminary report from eight countries was provided in a symposium at AERA 2002, for which several papers are available the following web page: Leading Edge, Technology Supported Teaching Practices. These papers were published as a special issue of the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Vol. 18, No. 4 (December 2002). The final report of the IEA SITES M2 study has been published by ISTE for release at NECC2003.
HOME \| PROJECT OVERVIEW \| SCHOOL REPORTS & VIDEOS \| MULTICASE REPORTS \| CONTACT
© 2003 Sara Dexter and Ron Anderson. All rights reserved. Please contact us if you would like more information about the project.