1

TEACHER USE OF COMPUTERS AND

THE INTERNET IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

NCES 2000–090

NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS

April 2000

U.S. Department of Education

Office of Educational Research and Improvement

Stats in Brief

Since 1994, the National Center for Education Statistics

(NCES) has documented the large increase in access to computers and the Internet in the nation’s public elementary

and secondary schools (U.S. Department of Education 2000).

These increases have led to a need to understand the extent

and types of teacher use of computers and the Internet, as

well as teachers’ perceptions of their own preparedness to

use these tools in their classes. To address these critical

information needs, NCES commissioned a survey using the

Fast Response Survey System (FRSS) that was conducted in

the spring of 1999. The survey found that 99 percent of

full-time regular public school teachers reported they had

access to computers or the Internet somewhere in their

schools. This Stats in Brief focuses on those teachers.

How do teachers use computers and the

Internet at school?

Teachers were asked the degree to which they used computers or the Internet to prepare for and manage their classes.

Thirty-nine percent of public school teachers with access to

computers or the Internet in their classroom or elsewhere

indicated they used computers or the Internet “a lot” to

create instructional materials, and 34 percent reported using computers “a lot” for administrative record keeping

(table 1). Less than 10 percent of teachers reported using

computers or the Internet to access model lesson plans or to

access research and best practices.

Newer teachers were more likely to use computers or the

Internet to accomplish various teaching objectives. Teachers with 9 or fewer years of teaching experience were more

likely than teachers with 20 or more years of experience to

report using computers or the Internet “a lot” to communicate with colleagues (30 percent with 3 or fewer years, 30

percent with 4 to 9 years, versus 19 percent with 20 or more

years) and gather information for lessons (21 and 22 percent versus 11 percent for the same three groups). Also,

teachers with 4 to 9 years of teaching experience were more

likely to report they used computers or the Internet “a lot”

to create instructional materials (47 percent) than were teachers with 20 or more years of experience (35 percent).

Teachers’ use of computers or the Internet at school varied

for some types of uses by school poverty level (the percentage of students in the school eligible for free or reducedprice lunches). Teachers in schools with a school poverty

level of less than 11 percent were more likely to use comTable 1.—Percent of teachers indicating they use computers or the Internet “a lot” at school to accomplish various objectives, by school

and teacher characteristics: 1999

Multi- Access

Admini- Commu- Gather media research Communi- Access

Create strative nicate information classroom and best cate with model

School and teacher instructional record- with for planning present- practices parents or lesson

characteristics materials keeping colleagues lessons ations for teaching students plans

 All public school teachers with

 access to computers or the

 Internet at school 39 34 23 16 8 7 7 6

Teaching experience

 3 or fewer years 43 38 30 21 10 11 6 11

 4–9 years 47 38 30 22 8 10 10 8

 10–19 years 38 35 22 14 9 7 6 6

 20 or more years 35 30 19 11 6 5 5 5

School instructional level

 Elementary school 37 29 25 14 7 7 7 6

 Secondary school 44 47 21 19 8 8 6 7

Percent of students in school

 eligible for free or reduced-price

 school lunch

 Less than 11 percent 52 43 31 20 11 9 9 8

 11–30 percent 42 37 27 19 7 9 8 8

 31–49 percent 35 36 23 13 6 5 6 4

 50–70 percent 35 30 15 10 8 5 4 4

 71 percent or more 32 24 19 15 8 7 5 8

NOTE: Less than 1 percent of all public school teachers reported no computers or Internet were available to them anywhere in their school. These teachers were not

included in the estimates presented in this table.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System, “Public School Teachers Use of Computers and the Internet,”

FRSS 70, 1999.
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Table 2.—Percent of teachers reporting using computers or the Internet for instruction and the percent assigning various uses to students

to a moderate or large extent, by school and teacher characteristics: 1999

Teacher Solve Produce Graphical CorresSchool and uses for Computer Research problems Research multimedia present- Demon- pond

teacher classroom applica- Practice using the and analyze using reports/ ations of strations/ with

characteristics instruction tions1 drills Internet data CD-ROM projects materials simulations others2

 All public school

 teachers with

 access to com-

 puters or the

 Internet at school 53 41 31 30 27 27 24 19 17 7

School instructional level

 Elementary school 56 41 39 25 31 27 22 17 15 7

 Secondary school 44 42 12 41 20 27 27 23 21 7

Percent of students in

 school eligible for free

 or reduced-price school

 lunch

 Less than 11 percent 61 55 26 39 25 32 29 26 22 7

 11–30 percent 52 45 29 35 29 27 23 18 16 9

 31–49 percent 53 39 33 29 26 30 23 16 17 11

 50–70 percent 47 33 33 25 27 24 25 19 13 5

 71 percent or more 50 31 35 18 27 19 22 19 16 3

Hours of professional

 development

 0 hours 30 21 19 20 14 16 16 10 8 4

 1–8 hours 46 36 26 28 24 24 20 16 13 7

 9–32 hours 61 47 35 32 30 31 26 21 19 8

 More than 32 hours 71 55 43 42 41 34 37 31 29 9

1 Use computer applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, etc.

2 Correspond with experts, authors, students from other schools, etc., via e-mail or Internet.

NOTE: Less than 1 percent of all public school teachers reported no computers or Internet access were available to them anywhere in their school. These teachers were not

included in the estimates presented in this table.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System, “Public School Teachers Use of Computers and the Internet,”

FRSS 70, 1999.

Teacher assigns to a moderate or large extent

puters or the Internet “a lot” for creating instructional materials (52 percent) than teachers in schools with a school

poverty level of 71 percent or more (32 percent). This pattern also held for teachers who used computers for administrative record keeping (43 versus 24 percent for the same

groups).

How do teachers direct their students to use

computers and the Internet?

Sixty-six percent of public school teachers reported using

computers or the Internet for instruction during class time

(table 2). Forty-one percent of teachers reported assigning

students work that involved computer applications such as

word processing and spreadsheets to a moderate or large

extent; 31 percent of teachers reported assigning practice

drills and 30 percent reported assigning research using the

Internet to a moderate or large extent (table 2).

The ways teachers direct students to use computers or the

Internet varied by instructional level, main teaching assignment, and the school poverty level. Elementary school teachers were more likely than secondary school teachers to assign students practice drills using computers (39 versus 12

percent) and to have their students use computers or the

Internet to solve problems (31 versus 20 percent). Secondary school teachers, however, were more likely to assign

research using the Internet (41 versus 25 percent). Teachers

in the lowest poverty schools were more likely to report

assigning students work involving computer applications,

research using CD-ROMs, and research using the Internet

to a moderate or large extent than teachers in the highest

poverty schools (table 2).

Teachers with more professional development in the use of

computers and the Internet over the last 3 years were more

likely to assign students various types of work involving

computers or the Internet. For example, teachers with more

than 32 hours of professional development were more likely

to assign problem solving (41 percent) than were teachers

with 0 hours (14 percent) or those with 1 to 8 hours (24

percent), graphical presentations (31 compared with 10 and

16 percent for the same groups), and demonstrations or

simulations (29 compared with 8 and 13 percent for the

same groups).

How well prepared do teachers feel they are to

use computers and the Internet in their

teaching?

When teachers were asked to focus specifically on the variety of potential uses of computers or the Internet in the classroom, 23 percent of public school teachers reported feeling

well prepared and an additional 10 percent reported feeling

very well prepared to use computers and the Internet in their

teaching (table 3).1 Teachers who reported assigning students work that involved corresponding with experts, authors, or students from other schools were more likely to
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The Stats in Brief series presents information on education topics of current interest. All estimates shown are based on samples and are subject to sampling variability. All

differences are statistically significant at the .05 level. In the design, conduct, and data processing of NCES surveys, efforts are made to minimize the effects of nonsampling

errors, such as item nonresponse, measurement error, data processing error, or other systematic error.

This Stats in Brief was prepared by Cassandra Rowand of Westat. This Stats in Brief was desktopped by Allison Pinckney and Carol Rohr of PCCI. For further information or

additional copies, contact Edith McArthur at 202–502–7393 or e-mail Edith_McArthur@ed.gov. NCES publications are also available on the Internet at http://nces.ed.gov.

Table 3.—Percentage distribution of teachers with access to computers or the Internet at school according to the level of preparedness

they feel to use computers and the Internet by school and teacher characteristics: 1999

School and teacher Not at all Somewhat Well Very well

characteristics prepared prepared prepared prepared

 All public school teachers with access to computers

 or the Internet at school 13 53 23 10

School instructional level

 Elementary school 12 55 23 10

 Secondary school 15 50 23 12

Percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price

 school lunch

 Less than 11 percent 10 53 25 12

 11–30 percent 13 52 25 10

 31–49 percent 14 51 24 10

 50–70 percent 16 58 16 10

 71 percent or more 13 55 22 10

Teaching experience

 3 or fewer years 10 46 31 13

 4–9 years 10 49 28 13

 10–19 years 14 55 21 10

 20 or more years 16 58 19 8

Hours of professional development

 0 hours 32 46 15 6

 1–8 hours 19 55 20 6

 9–32 hours 4 61 25 10

 More than 32 hours 1 32 37 29

Type of work assigned to a moderate or large extent

 Use computer applications such as word processing,

 spreadsheets, etc. 4 45 33 19

 Practice drills 4 54 27 14

 Research using the Internet 4 43 34 19

 Solve problems/analyze data 3 49 29 19

 Research using CD-ROM 3 42 33 21

 Produce multimedia reports/projects 5 38 33 24

 Graphical presentation of materials 4 38 35 22

 Demonstrations/simulations 2 34 37 28

 Correspond with experts, authors, students from other

 schools, etc., via e-mail or Internet 4 32 34 30

NOTE: Less than 1 percent of all public school teachers reported no computers or the Internet were available to them anywhere in their school. These teachers were not

included in the estimates presented in this table. Percents may not add to 100 because of rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Response Survey System, “Public School Teachers Use of Computers and the Internet,”

FRSS 70, 1999.

report feeling very well prepared to use computers and the

Internet than teachers who assigned practice drills to a moderate or large extent (30 versus 14 percent).

Teachers with fewer years of experience and those with more

hours of professional development felt better prepared to

use computers and the Internet for classroom instruction.

Teachers with 3 or fewer years of teaching experience were

more likely to feel well prepared to use computers and the

Internet than teachers with 20 or more years of experience

(31 versus 19 percent). Teachers with more than 32 hours

of professional development in the use of computers and

the Internet within the last 3 years were more likely to report feeling very well prepared than teachers who had received 0 to 32 hours of formal professional development

(29 versus 6 to 10 percent). Teachers without recent professional development were more likely to report feeling not

at all prepared to use computers and the Internet in classrooms than teachers who had received one or more hours

of professional development.

A more extensive discussion of the results of this survey will

be available in a report forthcoming in Summer 2000. The

report will focus on the relationships between school characteristics such as school level, school poverty level, school

location, and school size and uses of computers and the

Internet.

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 These figures differ somewhat from those presented in a

previous report (U.S. Department of Education 1999) containing similar information. These differences are discussed

in the report to be released Summer 2000.

References

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education

Statistics. 1999. Teacher Quality: A Report on the Preparation and Qualifications of Public School Teachers. Washington, DC: NCES 1999–080.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education

Statistics. 2000. Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and

Classrooms: 1994–99. Washington, DC: NCES 2000–086.
Teacher Use of Computers and the

Internet in Public Schools NCES 2000–090

The Stats in Brief series present information on education topics of current interest.

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