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Executive Summary

The Census of Technology shows modest but consistent improvement in Missouri’s schools with regards to technology readiness and use during the 2003-2004 school year. Despite a year afflicted with sluggish economies at the state and local levels and significant decreases in state funds (including the zero funding of the Technology Acquisition Grant Program), Missouri schools continued to improve access to education technologies for administrators, faculty, staff, and students and report increases in their quality uses of those technologies.

While advancements are slight, the 2004 data indicate that more schools are connected to one another and the Internet and more educational technologies are provided for teachers and students. Students, teachers, and administrators continue to become better skilled in using education technologies and, more importantly, continue to increase the frequency in which they use the technologies in meaningful ways.

Building Access – Of the 2,207 school buildings reporting, nearly 1900 or 83.9 percent have a T1 or higher Internet connection, compared to 83.5 percent in 2003 and 81.4 percent in 2002.

Classroom Access – Out of 60,856 classrooms, 56,064 (92 percent) are wired for the Internet, and 53,663 classrooms (91 percent) have at least one Internet-connected computer.

Computer Access – Out of the 273,636 computers located across the buildings, 257,347 computers (94 percent) are located in instructional rooms: with 151,962 computers located in classrooms, 84,162 in computer labs, and 21,233 in library media centers.

The 2004 number of students per computer (all computers located across all buildings) is 3.26, compared to 3.29 in 2003 and 3.8 in 2002 and 2001.
The number of students per computer in instructional rooms is 3.48, compared to 3.66 in 2003, 4.21 in 2002, and 4.34 in 2001.
The number of students per computer in classrooms is 5.89, compared to 6.42 in 2003.

Principal Technology Skills – In 2004, schools report that 97 percent of the principals routinely use email – the same rate reported in 2003 and compared to 92 percent in 2002 and 74 percent in 2001. The rate of principals routinely conducting online research is 80 percent, compared to 79 percent in 2003, 69 percent in 2002, and 58 percent in 2001.

Teacher Technology Skills – In 2004, schools report that 78 percent of teachers routinely use educational software, compared to 76 percent in 2003, 71 percent in 2002, and 59 percent in 2001. The rate of teachers routinely using technology for lesson plan preparation is 66 percent, compared to 64 percent in 2003, 59 percent in 2002, and 45 percent in 2001.

Student Technology Skills – In 2004, schools report that 81 percent of students routinely use educational software, compared to 80 percent in 2003, 75 percent in 2002, and 62 percent in 2001.

In 2004, 81 percent of teachers have intermediate and/or advanced technology skills, compared to 79 percent in 2003, 76 percent of teachers in 2002, and 72 percent in 2001.
Approximately 92 percent of principals have intermediate and/or advanced technology skills, compared to 90 percent of principals in 2003 and 82 percent in both 2002 and 2001.

Approximately 86 percent of sixth-grade students are technology literate.

A compendium of the 2004 Census of Technology findings follows:

Technology Planning

All districts have state-approved technology plans

2,144 school buildings (97%) have building technology plans

Technology Professional Development

88% of districts have board-approved education technology standards
- 80% have locally developed standards and 27% have adopted the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS)
- 83% have standards for middle schools/junior high students (grades 6-8), compared to 80% for students in grades 3-5, 72% for high school students (grades 9-12), and 77% for PreK-2 elementary students
- 79% have standards for teachers, 76% for school administrators, and 67% for support services staff
The percentages of staff with intermediate and/or advanced skills in the use of education technology are as follows:
- 97% of technology staff
- 92% of school building administrators
- 91% of district office administrators
- 81% of teachers
- 71% of school services staff
Schools typically offered 128 hours of professional development activities during the 2003-2004 school year, where teachers could learn or upgrade their technology skills. Topics included:
- 52 hours – using software applications
- 27 hours – teaching applications
- 27 hours – using Internet resources
- 22 hours – curriculum integration

Hardware and Support

On average, districts provided 2.09 FTE for technical maintenance and support
- School building technical support was most likely provided by district staff, followed by school certificated staff and other school staff
District administrative/office staffs use 16,077 computers
- 94% of the computers are PCs or PC-compatible and 6% are Apple/Mac computers

School buildings provide access to 273,636 computers,
- 84% are PCs or PC-compatible and 16% are Apple/Mac
- 77% of the PC-compatible computers run on Windows 2000 or earlier (older), while 72% of the Apple/Mac computers run on OS 9.x or earlier
- 94% of all computers are located in a classroom, computer lab, or library media center (LMC)
Of the 66,840 classrooms, computer labs, and LMCs,
- 92% are wired for Internet access
- 89% have multimedia-equipped computers
- 89% have at least one multimedia-equipped and Internet-connected computer
- 57% have telephone access
- 26% have a teacher workstation that includes an Internet-connected computer, printer, and projection device
The typical time-frame for resolving technical problems and repairs is under three working days

Internet Connectivity – Distance Learning

97% of the districts have district-managed networks
- Novell is the predominant operating systems on network servers (41% of servers), followed by Windows 2000 (19%), and Windows NT (19%)
- District networks support accounting/payroll (for 98% of the districts), student attendance (88%), email/communications (86%), food service (82%), library catalog (82%), discipline reports (68%), health service (66%), IEP management (66%), and student performance (58%)
84% of the school buildings have a T1 or higher Internet connection
80% of the buildings are connected to the district office and all other buildings in the district through a local or wide area network
District servers support Internet filtering (1,414 servers), email (1,316 servers), and web services (1,036 servers)
Almost 1,300 buildings have distance learning access via cable television, while nearly 900 have desktop videoconferencing, over 500 have satellite reception, and 390 have interactive television (I-TV)

Technology Usage

99% of districts report having technology integrated into one or more core content curriculum: 95% in communications arts, 87% in science, 86% in mathematics, and 85% in social studies
Email accounts are provided for school administrators in 98% of the districts, teachers in 93% of the districts, and other district staff in 82% of the districts. As for students, districts provide email accounts to high schools students in 125 districts, to middle school students in 72 districts, students in grades 3-5 in 51 districts, and PreK-2 students in 22 districts

On average, districts estimate that 86% of their sixth-grade student population is technology literate, with over half of the districts reporting at least 90%
Buildings report the following routine use of technology, by application and user type

Application	Principals	Teachers	Students
Educational software	43%	78%	81%
Email	97%	90%	13%
Internet/ Web	96%	91%	74%
EBSCO host database	21%	34%	31%
Electronic encyclopedia	20%	39%	44%
Automated Library Card Catalog	27%	54%	62%

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

Function	Principals	Teachers	Students
Produce media/multimedia products to demonstrate learning	50%	47%	29%
Produce written/print products to demonstrate learning	77%	81%	46%
Communicate with parents and students	7%	66%	77%
Conduct online research	80%	75%	Na
Lesson plan preparation	15%	66%	Na
Manage student records (spreadsheet/database)	83%	70%	Na
Track student performance	81%	74%	Na
Assess Student Performance	72%	69%	Na
Instructional delivery/presentation	39%	51%	Na
Enrolled in online courses (this year)	7%	9%	Na

Buildings report that those responsible for the leadership and support of teachers in integrating technology are most commonly a school administrator (in 59% of the buildings), technology coordinator (58%), teacher (48%), and instructional technology specialist (32%)
Buildings estimate that 53% of the teaching staffs fully integrate technology into the curriculum
All buildings use email as a technology-mediated feedback system, followed by voice mail (1,062), listservs (300), automated absentee calling systems (283), homework hotlines via the telephone (281), and homework hotlines via the web (194)

Technology Funding

Districts project spending $92,017,216 in 2003-2004 for technology-related activities and purchases.
- 57% of the budget supports hardware, connectivity/distance learning, and infrastructure
- 21% of the budget is for technical support
- 15% of the budget is for instructional and/or administrative software 8% of the budget supports professional development
Districts project spending $87,653,389 in 2004-2005
- Districts project spending less on hardware, professional development, instructional software, and technical support
- Districts expect to spend more on administrative software and connectivity/distance learning
- Districts expect to spend about the same for infrastructure/retrofitting
381 districts (73%) applied for E-rate discounts in 2003-2004
- Districts project discounts to amount to $32,575,547
- 74% of the discounts are used to support education technology