Executive Summary

Of the 55,905 classrooms reported in Missouri public schools, 84% or 47,059 are wired for the Internet – up from 82% in 2000, 74% in 1999, and 56% in 1998. Of the 2253 school buildings that completed surveys, over 97% report connections to the Internet - up from 97% in 2000 and 95% in 1999. The overall number of students per computer is currently is 3.8; the number of students per Internet-capable computers is 4.2.

The 2001 Census of Technology shows that Missouri schools have come a long way in providing educational technologies to administrators, faculty, staff, and students. More classrooms are wired, more schools are connected, and students-to-computer ratios have decreased.

The proportion of teachers, technology support staff, and principals estimated to have intermediate and/or advanced technology skills have increased incrementally each year. The percent of principals estimated to have intermediate and/or advanced technology skills was 82% in 2001, up from 80% in 2000, 77% in 1999 and 65% in 1998. The percent of technology support staff with intermediate and/or advanced skills was estimated to be 97%, up from 83% in 2000, 75% in 1999, and 76% in 1998.

Below is a shortened list of some of the 2001 COT results.

Technology Planning

District Technology Plans

522 districts (99.7%) report having a technology plan
99% of the plans address hardware/peripherals and staff training; over 95% address equipment maintenance and requirement review; 92% cover software and internal connections; 82% curriculum integration; and 59% electrical wiring capacity
504 (96%) of the plans are state approved
97% of the districts indicate that teachers are involved in district decision making regarding technology acquisition and use; over 90% of the districts involve technology committee members, library media specialists and principals; 88% instructional technology directors; and at least 70% include school board members, chief financial officers, business partners, and superintendents
513 districts (98%) have a technology component in comprehensive school improvement plans

Building Technology Plans

1929 school buildings (86%) are included in district technology plans; 1879 buildings (84%) have their own technology plans
Over 80% of the building technology plans address hardware/peripherals, staff training, and software; over 70% also address curriculum integration, internal connections, and equipment maintenance
Over 80% of buildings report that the principal, teachers, and technology committee members are involved in developing, implementing, and evaluating the building’s technology plan; 73% also include the library media specialist
1914 buildings (85%) report having their own comprehensive school improvement plan, with 75% of these plans having technology as a component of the CSIP

Technology Professional Development

Technology Staff

83% of districts have district staff responsible for technology maintenance / support; 78% are assisted by outside vendors
91% of buildings report that district staff are responsible for the technical training and/or support of the building staff; 68% also report the involvement of school certificated staff
An average of 3.25 district staff FTE and .8 building-level staff FTE are responsible for all training and support
Only 2% of schools estimate the number of staff responsible for technical maintenance / support will decrease, while 53% estimate the FTE will stay the same and 45% estimate an increase in FTE

Training Priorities

78% of districts rank curriculum integration and instructional integration as top technical assistance priorities, followed by networking (46%), and technology planning (45%)
68% of buildings rank instructional delivery / instructional technology as the top training priority for faculty, followed by curriculum development (60%), basic computer operations (53%), Internet applications (47%), word processing (45%), and evaluating Internet information (41%)
70% of buildings rank curriculum development as the top training priority for support staff, followed by technology planning (43%), LAN applications (36%), community awareness (34%), and network / wiring (33%)
On average, schools schedule two days for professional development activities where teachers can learn or upgrade their technology skills

Technology Skills

83% administrative / district office staff have intermediate (65%) or advanced (18%) skills in the use of technology
86% of principals have intermediate (64%) or advanced (22%) skills
72% of teachers have intermediate (54%) or advanced (18%) skills
97% of technology support staff have intermediate (31%) or advanced (66%) skills
10% of districts and 17% of buildings require teachers to demonstrate technology skills for employment or continued employment with the school

Hardware and Support

District Hardware

District administrative / office staffs use 17,523 computers, of which 89% are PCs or PC-compatible and 11% are Apple/Mac machines
Of the PC-compatible computers, 79% run on Windows, 20% on Novell, and 1% on Unix / Linux; 81% of the Apple/Mac machine operate on OS 7.x, 10% on OS 8.x, and 9% on OS 9.x or higher
Districts planned to purchase an additional 1360 computers during the 2000-2001 school year, 1375 next year, and 2224 the following year
In the next two years, districts estimate purchasing (for district-wide use) 43,667 computers, 13,868 computer upgrades, and 1367 interactive whiteboards and projectors

Building Hardware

237,115 computers are available to all building staffs; 204,187 (86%) of the computers are located in classrooms, computer labs, and libraries
75% of all computers and 78% of instructional computers are PC / PC-compatible
Approximately 180,000 of the computers (80% PCs and 20% Macs) are multimedia equipped and with 91% of them located in instructional rooms
Of the PC-compatible computers, 84% run on Windows (predominantly Windows 95 and 98) and 16% use Novell (mostly Novell 5.x); 66% of Apple computers operate on OS 7.x, 17% on OS 8.x and 17% on OS 9.x or higher
Of the 61,407 classrooms, computer labs, and libraries, 61% have telephone access, 85% are wired for the Internet, 76% have multimedia-equipped computers, 55% have one or more multimedia computers with a direct Internet connection, and 11% have a teacher workstation that includes an Internet-connected computer, printer, and projection device
91% (163,892) of the 179,509 Internet-connected computers are located in instructional rooms

Building Support

91% of buildings indicate that district staffs are responsible for technical maintenance / support; while 62% also use outside vendors, and 54% involve school certificated staff
3992 building-level FTE are responsible for technical support, averaging 1.78 per building

Internet Connectivity – Distance Learning

Internet Connectivity

96% of the district administrative buildings/offices have a direct link to the Internet, with T1 or better bandwidth capacity in over 90% of the offices
97% (1773) buildings have access to the Internet, with 1303 of the these buildings (73%) having a direct link

District and Building Networking

503 districts (97%) have a local area network (LAN), with Novell as the predominant server in use, followed by Windows NT, and Apple Share
1619 buildings (72%) have a local area network (LAN)
297 districts (57%) connect district offices to other school buildings by a wide area network (WAN) -- 2217 school buildings are connected to district WANs
1332 buildings (60%) are connected to a district-wide area network (WAN)
209 buildings participate in distance learning through interactive television (I-TV), 158 via satellite, and 135 through desktop (Internet-based) technologies

Internet Usage Policies

82% of districts require parent signatures before students can access the Internet: 80% of elementary, 87% of middle school / junior high, and 78% of high school parents
1254 buildings (56%) require parent signatures before students can access the Internet
Approximately 59% of students have signed Internet acceptable use policies
1005 buildings (45%) use filtering software on Internet-connected computers

Technology Use

District Technologies

463 districts (89%) incorporate technology into curriculum guides
19% of districts have student technology proficiency requirements
69% of districts post school calendars on district websites and 65% include district staff; 58% have school members and 51% post annual reports of school district data -- only 34% post student work and 16% post district curriculum
Districts employ an average of 3.49 FTE responsible for training and supporting teachers to integrate technology: 1.54 district staff and 1.95 school-level staff
Districts provide email accounts to 8155 administrators, 61,370 teachers, and 42,662 students
Districts estimate that 84% of 6^th graders are able to perform basic computer operations
73% of districts have installed their own email servers, 65% have web servers, 58% have firewalls, and 44% have proxy servers

Building Technologies

Buildings report the following routine use of technology, by application and user type

Application	Principals	Teachers	Students
Software	34%	59%	62%
E-mail	74%	65%	11%
World Wide Web	71%	67%	52%
EBSCO host database	24%	27%	22%
Electronic encyclopedia	22%	36%	38%

Buildings estimate the following routine uses of technology, by function and user type

Function	Principals	Teachers	Students
Computer-generated presentations	31%	29%	23%
Writing assignments	56%	60%	52%
Research information collection	58%	56%	40%
Communicate with parents	48%	30%	7%
Lesson plan preparation	13%	45%	N/A
Spreadsheet/database (student records)	60%	46%	N/A
Track student performance	56%	48%	N/A
Communicate with DESE staff	52%	18%	N/A
Instructional delivery/presentation	21%	29%	N/A

65% of buildings indicate the technology coordinator is responsible for the leadership and support of teachers in integrating technology, followed by school administrators (57%), and library media specialists (38%)
Buildings estimate that 33% of the teaching staffs are able to fully integrate technology into the curriculum

Technology Funding

District Technology Spending

For 2000-2001, districts projected technology expenditures of $ 69,015,848
Districts project spending $64,473,200 next fiscal year, with less money being spent on hardware and software and more funds spent on professional development, connectivity, and networking
368 districts (71%) applied for e-rate discounts for FY01 expenditures, estimating $11 million in savings (median was $10,000)
11% of districts purchased technology products or services off the Missouri prime vendor contract