Education Technology and the Failure of American Schools

Abstract

This book looks at the progress of American education in the use of technology since the publication of Stallard and Cocker's last book, The Promise of Technology in Schools: The Next Twenty Years. Fifteen years after its publication, they find little significant difference in the way K-12 schools are using technology to improve student achievement. Education Technology and the Failure of American Schools offers a broad and penetrating look at the American educational system to determine why progress is so lacking. What is found is a system that has far outlived its functionality in terms of governance, organization, and professional practices. American schools are compared to those of nations whose students regularly outperform them on international tests of achievement. The authors offer a bold approach to educational reform that will irritate many who now consider themselves educational leaders. The final chapter makes offers a new approach to education in the primary grades, one that will surprise those lobbying for more computers for those early learning years. This is a must-read for anyone concerned about American education.

The contributors of this book:

• Offer clear examples of what is missing in the average school experience

• Explain why teaching and school administration are not true professions

• Discuss levels of failure from the federal level to the local school administration

• Describe how the present system came into being

• Compare educational reform efforts with those in actual professions

• Explain the basic misapplication of technology in the present system