Educators insist computers are valuable in school but admit they can't say yet whether technology actually improves achievement or merely lays the foundation to learn by sparking imagination, motivation and enthusiasm.
Research provides only sketchy pictures of technology's value.
A study for a Microsoft and Toshiba laptop program in 53 elementary, middle and high schools found changes in student attitude, motivation and behavior within a very short time for those participating students. Evidence of improved student achievement was anecdotal. Educators and politicians are undaunted by the lack of consensus. The right answer is to look in those sites and correlate what they have done and ask about student performance in those particular schools. But I would argue that this is a new basic, a new literacy that complements the traditional curriculum.