Managing the complex interplay of computers, curriculum, and teacher training is a tall order, especially for districts struggling just to get the buildings wired. But it's critical if technology is really going to improve student achievement. The barriers are formidable. A 1999 report on those four cities, published by Education Writers Association with Joyce funding, reported that the sheer scale of urban districts, and the size of many urban schools themselves, made it harder for them to adopt new ideas than it is for smaller, more flexible schools and districts. Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee also have many older schools, which means thick walls, asbestos and other problems just getting them wired to accept new technologies.
Help is available for at least part of that task.
The program has expanded Internet access considerably in all four cities, according to a Benton Foundation evaluation, funded by Joyce, of the first two years of the program. But that's just a start. Pressure on test scores in particular, says SRI's Barbara Means, leads to a focus on basic skills. With Joyce funding, Means is studying the often very different attitudes toward technology in urban and suburban schools. Meanwhile, the testing pressure may lead educators eager to get computers into classrooms to overpromise, leading politicians to demand rising scores as the quid pro quo.