From a research perspective, Project Explore has enabled researchers to look comparatively at a cohort of students who have had deep and sustained access to networked technologies, and a comparable cohort of students who have school-only access to technologies. All students, however, have been beneficiaries of the district s comprehensive reform agenda and have been participating in a curriculum that emphasizes project work, critical analysis, and interpretation skills over rote memorization and practice. New Jersey administers a statewide test, the Early Warning Test, to all eighth-grade students in the state. The Union City schools also administer nonsecured versions of the test to their seventh and ninth graders. This increase is not due to the technology alone but to increased expectations and to the dedication of teachers and administrators in ensuring that this group of students would excel.
Writing is the one area where deep and sustained access to technology makes a difference.
At the seventh, eighth, and ninth grade levels, Explore students do significantly better than their non-Explore peers on the writing portion of state tests. Although the findings clearly indicate that the reforms are having a substantial impact for all students in Union City, the role of technology is less clear. Although sustained access to technology has a measurable effect on students middle school writing scores, students who have been in the district for a minimum of four years are performing at the same level as the Explore cohort by the tenth grade. In addition, although the Explore group appears to do significantly better than their district peers in mathematics, the cause is not technology-related. A subgroup of Explore students who participated in an Algebra I class as 8th graders do significantly better than Explore and non-Explore students who did not take this class.