IV

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. RES. 295

Urging the establishment of a commission on technology and education.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 27, 2001

Mr. FERGUSON (for himself and Mr. DAVIS of Illinois) submitted the following

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the

Workforce

RESOLUTION

Urging the establishment of a commission on technology

and education.

Whereas elementary and secondary schools in the United

States need to prepare students for the 21st century and

an economy that requires an educated and skilled workforce, with an increasing focus on technology as a central

component;

Whereas there is widespread concern about the poor academic

performance of United States students relative to their

counterparts in many other industrialized nations;

Whereas this anxiety about the academic competitiveness of

United States students, coupled with changes in needed

work skills, has heightened interest in integrating technology into the curricula of elementary and secondary

schools;
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Whereas there are 8.2 million instructional computers in the

Nation’s elementary and secondary schools, with approximately 5 million additional multimedia computers needed;

Whereas elementary and secondary schools need $128 billion

of infrastructure work, related specifically to the incorporation of technology in the classroom;

Whereas the resources of elementary and secondary schools

are limited and the overall financial cost of acquiring,

maintaining, and using technology in schools, though significant, remains unknown;

Whereas after nearly 2 decades of technological development,

the extent to which elementary and secondary schools

provide students with continuing and effective access to

new information technology still remains limited, making

it difficult to realize current technology’s educational benefits;

Whereas despite gains in the ratio of computers to students,

the average computer in the Nation’s elementary and secondary schools is 7 years old, illustrating the sizable

stock of outdated technology in many of these schools;

Whereas a recent survey by National Center for Education

Statistics concluded that only 20 percent of American

teachers feel prepared to use new computer applications

and know how to integrate them into their classrooms;

Whereas there is no single authority directing or coordinating

technology in education and the General Accounting Office reports that there are 35 Federal programs administered by eight different agencies that could support telecommunications and information technology programs at

local elementary and secondary schools;
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Whereas the administration has recommended a single program that will facilitate comprehensive and integrated

education technology strategies that target the specific

needs of individual elementary and secondary schools;

Whereas the Department of Education is currently conducting an integrated study on educational technology, to

be released in spring 2002, that is designed to aid policymakers to fill the gaps in educational technology in the

Nation’s elementary and secondary schools;

Whereas the integrated study on educational technology will

measure the current state of the financial and technical

support for the implementation of educational technology,

including the influence of the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund established pursuant to the Elementary and

Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et

seq.) and the so-called E-Rate program under subsections

(b)(6) and (h) of section 254 of the Communications Act

of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) for providing discounted telecommunications services;

Whereas the integrated study on educational technology will

pinpoint which local educational agencies have benefitted

from a variety of existing programs, as well as the role

of these programs in supporting effective use of educational technology for improved teaching and learning;

Whereas the integrated study on educational technology will

assess the current state of professional development in

educational technology and the circumstances under

which professional development in the instructional use of

technology results in improvements in teaching and learning;
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Whereas the integrated study on educational technology will

provide policymakers and program managers with the information needed to inform future decisionmaking about

Federal investments in educational technology;

Whereas the administration has asserted that elementary and

secondary schools should use educational technology as a

tool to improve student academic achievement and that

using the latest technology in the classroom should not

be an end in itself; and

Whereas a team of specialized experts could best coordinate

national educational technology policies and objectives,

since the nature of technology itself, which grows at exponential rates, hinders a deliberative body from being

able to devote the necessary time and resources to monitor these developments: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives urges

2 the creation of a commission on technology and education

3 that would—

4 (1) provide clear and focused goals for the fu5 ture of classroom educational technology and make

6 recommendations to efficiently implement technology

7 to accomplish these goals;

8 (2) make recommendations to improve and ex9 pand programs that train both educators and stu10 dents to use educational technology;

11 (3) to promote local control over the implemen12 tation of education technology in local elementary

13 and secondary schools; and
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1 (4) be comprised of education and technology

2 stakeholders, including educators, academics, par3 ents, industry leaders, and policymakers.

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