The study offers a more encouraging result in the area of professional development. Teachers who had received any amount of professional development with computers within the past five years were more likely to use computers in ways that Wenglinsky found to be effective than teachers who had not received such training. In addition, 8th graders whose teachers had had technology training performed more than a third of a grade level better than those with teachers who lacked such training. The training also was linked to gains at the 4th grade level, although the effect was indirect and the difference in scores was smaller. It's not surprising that technology falls into this camp.
School systems appear to be waking up to the important role played by teacher training.
Survey results from the 1996 NAEP show 81 percent of the nation's 4th graders had teachers who had received professional development with computers within the past five years, and 76 percent of 8th graders had math teachers who had received such training within the past five years. And given teachers' frequent complaints about the quality of professional development in general, many education experts believe that most technology training likely leaves plenty to be desired. Wenglinsky, in fact, says he was struck by the fact that any amount of professional development translated into student achievement gains. Despite his findings, Wenglinsky says that much about the computer's role in raising achievement remains unknown. Because the study is based on a single year of data, it can't prove effects over time.