County laptops fail to impact
Providing computers hasn’t boosted test scores in Balto. Co.
It has been four years since Baltimore County’s first elementary school children excitedly put their hands on their own laptops, beginning a $147 million rollout aimed at giving students from first to 12th grade access to technology and transforming the way lessons are taught.
But the ambitious program has yet to show the results many had hoped for. Despite the saturation of technology, Baltimore County ranks near the bottom of the state in passing rates on standardized tests. The scores are generally flat for students in grades three through eight, many of whom have had the computers for at least three years.
An evaluation of the program by Johns Hopkins researchers found that third-grade results at 10 schools that have had laptops longest have shown some increase over four years, but it’s too soon to say if that will continue.
“The impacts of the [laptop program] on student achievement remain encouraging, but still indeterminate given the still relatively short duration of the initiative,” the report said.
Absent across-the-board increases in student achievement, some parents and teachers are questioning whether the computers are worth the investment.
“These devices do not seem to be improving my kids’ school experience,” said Suzanne Persaud, the parent of three middle and high school boys. The school system is “giving them the hardware,” she said, “but not the courses to advance beyond the devices.”
With the majority of the school board turning over this month, the future of the initiative seems in doubt. While there haven’t been calls to end the program, some have suggested scaling it back so that not every student has their own device. See LAPTOPS, page 20