Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Saturday, December 15, 2018

Baltimore County Spends $147 Million On School Laptops; Four Years Later Test Scores Still Terrible

Alas, the ambitious plan has failed to translate to an increase in achievement - as test scores are generally flat for students in grades three through eight, according to the Sun, which notes that many of those students 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. -Baltimore Sun

"These devices do not seem to be improving my kids’ school experience," said parent Suzanne Persaud - whose three middle and high school boys have had access to the laptops. The school system is "giving them the hardware," said Persaud, "but not the courses to advance beyond the devices."

More

5 comments:

Paladin said...

To all,
All of the money in the world will not fix an educational system. The plain truth is that education is work, and the vast majority of students come from homes where a work ethic is not instilled in them.


Regards,

Paladin

Anonymous said...

How many have been destroyed, stolen, misplaced? How many has had to be replaced? Baltimore gets no more State tax dollars. Baltimore wants to spend money raise the Cities taxes. Don't use my State tax dollars.

Anonymous said...

Perform a search on all the computers histories and I’ll bet not much of it will be schoolwork being done on them. Way to waste money!

Anonymous said...

So just because the mechanic has a big tool box doesn't mean he knows how to fix cars.

Anonymous said...

Probably increased his or her gaming skills though