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Home : Division of School Improvement : Instructional Technology : Census of Technology

The 2003 Census of Technology collected data from 2,250 school buildings. The building-level data, like the district data, continue the improvement trends noted over the years. The 2003 Building COT was significantly revised and addresses 26 items, as compared to 44 items asked in 2002. A copy of the survey, completed with aggregate data, is provided in Appendix B. 

Technology Planning
A school building long-range technology plan, like a district plan, should provide a road map to help the school implement strategies that promote the district’s mission, advance district and building improvement plans, and improve the teaching and learning occurring in the building. As explained in the District Census Report, and as required by the Title IID Ed Tech Program, the Department developed a new state technology plan in 2002 and new scoring criteria for approving district plans. As such, fewer technology planning items were needed on the 2003 Building Census. 

Items 1 asked whether a building has its own technology plan and, if so, whether it is a stand-alone plan or embedded in the district plan. Assuming that building plans should be integrated in a district plan, the item was reworded in 2003 to the “stand alone” plan. Table 10 indicates the percentage of school buildings that have technology plans, the percentage of building plans that can serve as a stand-alone plan, and those included in district plans. Data from 2003 show a continued trend in buildings having technology plans, starting with only 69 percent of buildings having plans in 1998 to 95 percent having plans in 2003. 

Table 10

	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Building has a technology plan	69%	83%	86%	84%	85%	95%
Plan is part of the district technology plan	64%	96%	97%	86%	84%	94%
Building has a stand-alone plan	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	6%

Item 2 asked buildings to identify any business or higher education institution with which they partner to support building technology.  While only one in four buildings reported having a technology partner in both 2002 and 2003, this is markedly higher than the six percent reporting partners in 1998. Still, the 2002 figure is lower than the 29-30 percent that was reported consistently between 1999 and 2001. This drop might be due, in part, to worsening economic conditions across the state. Table 11 indicates the type and frequency of building partners reported for 2002 and 2002. 

Table 11

 

Buildings with Partners	2002	2003
College/University	256	290
Business – Technology Related	167	169
Business – Other	113	164

Technology Professional Development
While the 2002 Building Census had ten items on training issues, the 2003 COT has three. Item three asked buildings to detail the technology professional development hours being offered to building staff and faculty. In November of 1997, the State Board of Education established policy that requires buildings to allocate amounts equal to 20 percent of state technology grant funds for technology-related training. The policy went into effect for the 1998-1999 school year. The Title IID Ed Tech Program, begun in 2002-2003, requires that 25 percent of formula and/or competitive grant funds be earmarked for professional development.  

Table 12 indicates the number of hours of training per training type and trainee and compares the data against last year’s findings and the 1999 baseline data. The data indicate that schools increased their technology-related professional development offerings in 2003 – for all training topics, for both administrators and teachers. The topics with the largest increases since 1999 include curriculum integration for both teachers and administrators and teaching applications (instructional strategies) for teachers. The topics with the largest increase from 2002 to 2003 address curriculum integration and teaching applications for teachers. 

Table 12

 

	1999		2002		2003
Training Type / Hours	Administrator	Teacher	Administrator	Teacher	Administrator	Teacher
Introduction to operations	4.2	6.3	5.38	7.64	5.81	8.22
Using software applications	9.9	16.3	10.77	14.70	11.69	16.23
Using Internet resources	5.4	9.1	6.36	9.39	6.79	10.20
Curriculum integration	4.4	8.1	7.06	10.79	8.35	13.98
Teaching applications	3.3	7.9	6.24	8.60	5.95	10.50
Using assistive devices	N/a	N/a	2.09	2.75	2.11	2.98

Item 3 was revised to also include training opportunities for support services staff. In 2003, support staff could participate in nearly 9 hours of training on using software applications, over 4.5 hours on using the Internet, 4.3 hours on introduction to operations, and 4.1 hours on curriculum integration.  In response to item five, building contacts estimated an average of just less than four days (3.99) was offered in 2002-2003 for professional development activities where teachers could learn or upgrade their technology and computer skills. 

Item 4 asked building contacts to estimate the technology-related skill levels of principals, teachers, technical staff -- and support services staff beginning in 2003. The skill levels are described as follows:

• Beginner – basic technical skills including applications such as word-processing, some stand-alone software, and some Internet usage (email).

• Intermediate – regular use of applications, software, and Internet resources for increased productivity and the use of applications including word-processor for student writing, research on the Internet, computer-generated presentations.

• Advanced – complete integration and mastery of the technology, using it effortlessly as a tool to accomplish a variety of learning, instructional and/or management tools.

In 2003, approximately one-third (31 percent) of the school support services staff was estimated as having beginner technology skills, one-half (52 percent) as having intermediate skills, and one-sixth (17 percent) as having advanced skills. The proportion of teachers estimated as beginner technology users has steadily decreased from the 40 percent reported in 1999 to the 21 percent reported in 2003. Likewise, the rate of administrators (e.g., principals) estimated as beginners has decreased from 35 percent in 1999 to 10 percent in 2003. Accordingly, the percentages of staff rated to have advanced skills have improved dramatically. The rates of teachers and principals reported as advanced users have nearly doubled from 11 to 21 percent. The group with the highest rate of advanced skills includes technology support staff, at 79 percent. 

Figure 13 illustrates the increase in the percentages of teachers, building administrators, and technology staff rated to have advanced technology skills from 1998 through 2003. Not surprising, technical staff have the highest skills. Tailing behind the technical staff are school administrators who just outperform teachers. 

Figure 13

Support services staff was added to this item in 2003, with 17 percent rated as having advanced technology skills. While the lowest rate reported in 2003,the percent of support services staff with advanced skills is at about the same percent of teachers with advanced skills in last year’s COT. 

The differences among the user groups are somewhat less marked when looking at combined intermediate and advanced skills, as indicated in Figure 14. Almost all (96 percent) of the technology staffs have intermediate or better skills. Principals are close behind at 90 percent. And, about the same percent of teachers and support services staffs (79 and 69 percent, respectively) have intermediate or advanced technical skills. 

Figure 14

Hardware and Support I
The 2003 Building COT had a total of eight hardware and support items. These were separated into two sections and covered on two screens, with four items per section/screen. The first section dealt with technical support staffing, computer types and quantities by location, operating and reader software, and library automation. The second section looked at equipment access and connectivity by location, quantities of various technologies located in the buildings, and the time to have technical problems/repairs resolved. 

Item six asked about the number of estimated FTE available in the buildings that are directly responsible for technical maintenance and support. The item was revised to emphasize building-level staff and to get a more accurate picture of what and who are providing assistance outside of district-level staff. On average, buildings provided .30 technical support staff in 2003. This contrasts with the .63 average noted in 2002 – likely because of the change in the item’s wording. 

Table 15 indicates the types of FTE located in or available to the buildings, as reported in 2003. Most commonly, those responsible include district technical staff (true for 50 percent of the buildings), school building teachers or administrators (26 percent of buildings), school support services staff (19 percent of buildings), or outside vendors (18 percent of buildings). 

Table 15

For item seven, data entry documents the number of computers in the buildings, by type and location. Computer “type” clustered machines by platform and speed / capacity. Locations included Computer Labs, specifically designated to computer work; Instructional Rooms, designated as classrooms, and Library/Media Centers, designated for library and media services. 

As indicated in Table 16 below, a total of 270,368 building computers was reported in 2003, compared to 232,808 computers reported in 2002. Over 80 percent of the computers are PCs or PC-compatible, with 18 percent being Apple or Mac machines. Over 255,000 (95 percent) of these computers are considered capable of running the Internet at high speeds. [Computers with Pentium speeds is the minimum standard used to identify Internet-capable computers. Prior to 2002, the standard was 486 speeds or higher.] Approximately 90 percent of all computers are located in instructional rooms (computer labs, classrooms, and library media centers), with 92 percent of these machines considered Internet-capable. 

The data indicate a subtle shift in the location of computers. Since 1998, about one in three computers was located in a lab setting, ranging from a high of 36 percent in 1998 to a low of 31 percent in 2003. The percentage rate of computers residing in classrooms has increased from 46 percent in 1998 to 51 percent in 2003.  The shift is more noticeable when looking at the placement rates of computers within the instructional settings. In 2003, only 35 percent of “instructional” computers were located in labs as compared to 40 percent in 1998. The percent of “instructional” computers in classrooms grew from 51 percent in 1998 to 57 percent in 2003, a twelve percent increase in five years. 

            Table 16

	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Total number of computers  (all types and speeds)	131,777*	176,148	206,864	237,115	232,808	270,368
Located in all Instructional Rooms §         Percent of all computers	109,608  90%	158,908  90%	187,298  91%	219,188  92%	211,382  91%	242,981  90%
Located in Classrooms §         Percent of all computers §         Percent of all instructional rooms	55,607 46% 51%	83,238 47% 52%	101,278 49% 54%	119,450 50% 54%	116,832 50% 55%	138,672 51% 57%
Located in Computer Labs §         Percent of all computers §         Percent of all instructional rooms	43,427 36% 40%	60,815 35% 41%	69,319 34% 37%	81,057 34% 37%	77,373 33% 37%	83,897 31% 35%
Equipped with Pentium/ equivalent or higher speeds §         Percent of all computers	53,570 44%	136,165 77%	173,774 84%	195,826 83%	226,127 97%	254,908 94%
PC or PC-compatible §         Percent of all computers	77,231 64%	120,888 69%	148,473 72%	177,916 75%	185,901 80%	221,285 82%

 

 

Figure 17 indicates the ratios of students to computer for 1998 through 2003. [Ratios are determined using the COT data regarding numbers and types of computers and Core Data fall enrollment figures.] As schools purchase new computers, older computers may be relocated within or surplussed out of the district. The numbers of computers in use continue to climb, resulting in a steady decline in the numbers of students per computers. Ratios are declining related to the number of students per high-speed (Internet-capable) computer and Internet-connected computer. The greatest decline relates to Internet-connected computers, as more and more buildings and computers are being connected to the Internet.  

Figure 17

 

For item 8, building contacts entered the number of computers using specific operating systems and specific versions of Acrobat Reader. Table 18 indicates the operating systems being run by personal computers in 2003. With 82 percent of the computers listed as PC-compatible in Table 16, it is not surprising to find that Windows is the overall predominant operating system being used across the state. Approximately 80 percent of PC machines run on Windows 2000/Me or earlier. Nearly 90 percent of the Apple / Mac computers use OS 9.x or earlier operating software.  

Table 18

 Table 19 indicates the availability of Acrobat Reader software in the buildings. As mentioned in the District Census Report, the Department makes extensive use of .pdf files on many of the DESE websites. Data from the table indicate that Apple/Mac computers have Acrobat Reader software at higher rates than the PC machines. PCs that have Acrobat Reader are more likely to have the newer version. 

Table 19