Introduction

The Missouri Census of Technology (COT) is designed to assess Missouri’s continuing investment in K-12 education technologies and to help guide efforts ahead.  It provides important data to share with state and national decision-makers to increase public awareness and advance public policy and support for education technology.  It provides local school districts with data to help identify needs and develop strategies to facilitate school improvement processes.

The Census of Technology has been collected annually since 1997. Prior to the 2001 COT, the Department contracted the University of Missouri ‘s Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis (OSEDA) to administer the project. In 2001, the census was incorporated into the April cycle of the Department’s online core data collection system.  The census has two parts: a district census and a building census. Forms are to be completed based on the census date of March 1.

The District Census assesses the levels of planning and training for the district as a whole and concentrates on hardware, software and levels of connectivity for the administrative buildings and offices. Completed by district-level administrators and/or technology specialists, the census includes information for all Missouri school districts (524). The 2001 COT is the first to be completed by all of the districts; 504 districts completed the 2000 COT.

The Building Census assesses planning and training needs for individual school buildings and focuses on hardware and levels of Internet connectivity in computer labs, libraries and classrooms. Completed by building-level administrator or technology contacts, the census includes information for 2253 public schools, as compared to 2132 buildings in 2000. All K-12 attendance centers were required to complete the COT. Exempted buildings included preschools and juvenile centers.

This 2001 Missouri Census of Technology Report arranges the data for both the district and building levels, according to the following areas: technology planning, technology professional development, hardware and support, Internet connectivity / distance learning, technology usage, and technology funding.  Where feasible and appropriate, this report presents and compares information from previous years.  Aggregated responses for the district and building census forms are provided in Appendix A and B.

This report is a one of several documents that examine the use and effectiveness of educational technologies in Missouri. Other evaluative information can be found in the Missouri Education Technology Strategic Plan and annual status reports, eMINTS Program research studies, annual technology program reports, project descriptions and annual evaluation narratives, and a series of Newsline articles.

For additional information regarding the Census of Technology, contact the Instructional Technology section by telephone (573-751-8247) or email (instrtech@mail.dese.mo.gov).