Participating teachers and facilitators cite exposure to students in diverse communities as a value of the distance learning program. Minuses The two-year funding limitation continued to present a severe limitation on project activities. Particularly for new projects, the first year was spent building the necessary support for the technological infrastructure, including providing equipment, training teachers, and gathering materials. The time constraint was particularly problematic for complex projects using multiple technologies, those developing new applications of existing technologies, and those seeking to reach new audiences. Aside from the staff development benefits accrued from providing teachers with models of exemplary instructional practices, staff development remains a problem for Star Schools projects.
Projects have little information about who participated and benefited.
Alternative, more focused, and more effective models of staff development are seldom used in the Star Schools Program. Successful implementation and positive impact of Star Schools activities are largely influenced by conditions at the district and school levels. Star Schools projects do not attend sufficiently to school-site concerns and, therefore, are not as successful as possible. Curriculum experts in mathematics, and science rated Star Schools curricula as low in the attention to students' learning how to learn and communication. There was great variability in the extent to which curricula could be used with diverse learners.