Currently, there are at least twenty-five million illiterate people in this country and this number is increasing rapidly. By 2050 the African-American and Hispanic population will increase from 20 - 40%. Unfortunately, these are the cultures currently struggling in school. Students that come from poor homes grow up in families where adults can barely read well, where books are difficult to obtain and where an appreciation of education is lacking. In school, they fall behind at an early age and can never catch up and thus the cycle continues (Bennett, 2002).
Businesses and other organizations throughout the world have made gigantic strides as a result of better applications of technology. Schools, despite their acquisition of millions of computers, are still slow at using it. Today's technology could bring advances that would significantly improve literacy. It benefits the slow learner and reduces restraints on bright students.
On January 8th, 2002, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. The new law encompasses major changes in the education reform plan for Elementary and Secondary Education. It details four basic education reform principles, including an emphasis on proven teaching methods (Introduction: NCLB, 2002). The NCLB act will target education dollars to research-based programs that use scientifically proven ways of teaching children to read.
One of the programs targeted by NCLB is Title II-D-1&2 - Enhancing Education Through Technology (Ed Tech). The goal is to improve student academic achievement through the use of technology (The Facts About..., 2002). The plan is to teach children how to effectively integrate the technology available to them to improve student achievement and to become technologically literate by the 8th grade.
Technology should enhance learning. There is no value in just having access to it but more important how it is used. The ED Tech initiative plans to constantly develop new ways of applying technology into teaching and learning. In order to educate the public about the NCLB act, U.S. Secretary of State Rod Paige embarked on a 25-City No Child Left Behind Tour Across America. Paige (Denver, CO - Tour Stop 15, 2002) believes that "By harnessing technology, we can expand access to learning and close the achievement gap in America." One way is by e-learning which is a powerful option for parents and schools. With a click of a mouse button any student anywhere has the opportunity to learn. It increases flexibility for schools and promotes individual instruction to meet the needs of each student. Paige (New York, NY - Tour Stop 25, 2002) had a similar message in New York where he believed that "Technology is connecting parents to teachers, and, it is helping connect parents to assessments so we can measure the progress of every student".
The need for technology in the classrooms for improving literacy is also seen in the national and state standards. The National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) Project is an ongoing initiative of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and a consortium of distinguished partners and co-sponsors (ISTE - NETS Main, 2002). The main goal is to develop national standards for educational uses of technology to enhance educational and literacy improvements in schools. The NETS Project defines standards for students, integrating curriculum technology, technology support, and standards for student assessment and evaluation of technology use. The organization believes that in order to survive in today's competitive and information-rich culture, students must be able to use technology effectively. Technology in the classroom can help students become capable users, information seekers, problem solvers and decision-makers. Additionally, each subject has also incorporated technology into its standards. For example, Key Idea 1 for the commencement level of the NYS-ELA standard 1 (The University of the State of NY, 1996) indicates that "......and using knowledge from oral, written, and electronic sources". This aligns with Standard #3 of the technology standards for all students (NETS Technology Foundation Standards, 2002), which indicates that "Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity". The use of technology research tools (skill #5) suggests that "Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources" and "Students use technology tools to process data and report results". Similarly, there is a correlation between NYS-ELA-Std 4, National-ELA-Std 4 (NCTE/IRA Standards, 2002) and Technology-Std 4. The ELA standards expect students to read, write, listen and speak for social interaction while the Technology standard expects students to use telecommunications to interact and publish. If one looks carefully, one can similarly find associations between technology and the various subjects. For example, the New York State Math, Science and Technology Standard 2 deals with Information Systems which expects students to access, generate, process and transfer information using appropriate technologies. Standards 6 and 7 both involve the use of technology.
Thus in order to teach to the standards and enhance literacy in this multicultural environment, technology has to be integrated into the classroom in one way or another.
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