Evaluation of the Texas Technology Immersion Pilot: Findings from the Second Year
Author: Shapley, Kelly
Date: 2007-05-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Middle Schools,Public Schools,Technology Integration,Academic Achievement,Pilot Projects,Program Effectiveness,Program Implementation,Fidelity,Middle School Teachers,Middle School Students,Grade 6,Grade 7,Teacher Characteristics,Student Characteristics,Learner Engagement,Computer Literacy,Ideology,Teacher Collaboration,Economically Disadvantaged,Technology Uses in Education,Independent Study,Laptop Computers,Access to Computers,Mathematics Achievement,Reading Achievement,Writing Achievement,Hierarchical Linear Modeling

The Technology Immersion Pilot (TIP) sets forth a vision for technology immersion in Texas public schools. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) originally directed more than $14.5 million in federal Title II, Part D monies toward funding a wireless learning environment for high-need middle schools through a competitive grant process. A concurrent research project funded by a federal Evaluating State Educational Technology Programs grant is evaluating whether student achievement improves over time as a result of exposure to technology immersion. The Texas Center for Educational Research (TCER)--a non-profit research organization in Austin--is the TEA's primary partner in this four-year endeavor. The overarching purpose of the study is to scientifically investigate the effectiveness of technology immersion in increasing middle school students' achievement in core academic subjects as measured by the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). Technology immersion encompasses multiple components, including a laptop computer for every middle school student and teacher, wireless access throughout the campus, online curricular and assessment resources, professional development and ongoing pedagogical support for curricular integration of technology resources, and technical support to maintain an immersed campus. The evaluation employs a quasi-experimental research design, and in the first year, included 22 experimental and 22 control schools. In the project's second year, however, the research design was modified when two middle schools in one district (one experimental and one control) were lost due to damage caused by Hurricane Rita on the Texas Gulf coast. Thus, second-year results (for the 2005-06 school year) are for the remaining 21 treatment and 21 control schools. A re-analysis of baseline data for the new sample revealed that school and student characteristics generally were unchanged and differences between comparison groups remained statistically insignificant. In the second year, researchers examined the nature of project implementation at the immersion sites. Additionally, they gauged the effects of technology immersion on teacher and student mediating variables as well as the effects of immersion on students' reading, mathematics, and writing achievement. Some of the second-year findings include: (1) Immersion teachers grew in technology proficiency and in their use of technology for professional productivity at significantly faster rates than control teachers; (2) Technology immersion had no statistically significant effect on Cohort 1, seventh graders' achievement in reading, mathematics, or writing; and (3) Most of the middle schools struggled in the second year to implement the prescribed components of technology immersion. Appended are: (1) Theoretical Framework for Technology Immersion--Literature Review; (2) Survey Items and Scale Reliabilities; (3) Measuring Implementation Fidelity; (4) Effects of Technology Immersion on Schools; and (5) Technical Appendix--Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM). Individual chapters contain footnotes. (Contains 17 figures and 63 tables.)