1998 Evaluation Report Year 2, Beaufort County School District, South Carolina, 1998
Date:1998
Author(s): Kenneth R. Stevenson
Affiliation: Department of Educational Leadership and Policies University of South Carolina
Keywords: achievement, middle school, low income, gender, race, attendance
Summary:
The focus of the current evaluation of the Beaufort County School District middle school laptop initiative is those 1996/97 sixth graders who had at the end of the 1997/98 school term now used their laptops as electronic notebooks for two years. The study asks if there are observable differences in the academic performance of these students when compared to their peers who had not used laptops as electronic notebooks over the two year academic period?
Key Findings:
* Seventh graders participating for two years in the laptop project significantly outscored their non-participating peers on the MAT7. However, significant differences in achievement between the two groups existed before the project.
* Seventh graders who have participated in the laptop project for two years tended to maintain their level of academic achievement level over time, while non-participants experienced a decline in standardized achievement level.
* Students who were laptop participants for two years and who were on free and reduced lunch benefited most from the project. Their average standardized scores actually increased from fifth to seventh grade. In fact, by the end of the second year, these students were scoring as well as students not on free or reduced lunch who were not laptop participants.
* Students who were not laptop participants and who were on free and reduced lunch had the greatest declines in academic achievement over the two year period. Their average standardized scores decreased significantly from fifth to seventh grade.
* Non-participation in the laptop project was associated with negative achievement gains for boys. Boys who did not participate during the two years of the project experienced a significant drop in standardized achievement scores from fifth to seventh grade.
* Non-participation in the laptop project was associated with negative achievement gains for students classified by race as "other." Their average standardized achievement scores dropped significantly from fifth to seventh grade.
* Though computers are at times perceived to be more in tune with the male domain, girls participating in the laptop project continued to slightly out-perform their male counterparts at the end of the second year of the project on standardized achievement tests.
* A key to learning and achievement is engagement in the educational process. Participation in the laptop project was associated with fewer days absent and fewer tardies. Students with laptops attended school more regularly and scored better on achievement tests.
* The project was recommended for continuation, with a suggestion that special efforts be made to involve more students from lower socio-economic levels.
Source Article:http://www.beaufort.k12.sc.us/district/ltopeval.html
