John Thompson, father of an eighth-grader at Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie, feels similarly. He purchased a used laptop for his daughter for Christmas. They talk about getting more computers, but they don't put the emphasis on it. As with other school systems in the region, the ratio of computers to students and number of computers varies among Prince George's 185 public schools, according to the survey. There are also wide differences in the way teachers and students make use of computers.
Some classes incorporate technology into lessons more than others.
That finding was cited in a recent study by the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education, a coalition of business leaders working to reform education, which found that while more students are using computers in schools, they are not using them in the way that state education and business leaders would like. State educators said they are working to get more teachers to use computers to research, access, analyze and supplement data for lessons. In Prince George's, Roland Moore, acting director of information technology, points to schools such as Eleanor Roosevelt in Greenbelt and Oxon Hill high schools as examples where computer usage is not perfect, but approaching the ideal. In these schools, said Moore, teachers and students are coming up with innovative ways to incorporate technology into every lesson. Moore said he also likes how teachers and students are integrating computers into lesson plans at Hyattsville Elementary, William Paca Elementary in Landover and Heather Hills Elementary in Bowie.