Letters

A reader second-guesses federally funded studies

The article "Assessing Ed-Tech's Value" (January 2005, TechKnowledge, pp. 26–27), reported on the State Educational Technology Directors Association's examination of nine federally funded grant projects that evaluate technology's effect on student achievement. Researchers should have concerns about the following issues:

Will the study measure the impact of technology on student achievement? There are numerous variables that have a direct relationship to student achievement. How will the studies isolate the impact of these variables from technology?

Will collaborative planning sessions and strategies for teachers, media specialists, and instructional technology staff be offered? Quality lessons developed through improved collaboration should have a profound impact on student achievement—with or without the latest technological advances.

Will grant funds be used to purchase new technologies for schools? The infusion of additional technologies during the study may render the findings invalid. Will new technologies be introduced during the first two years and not the last? If so, which technologies?

How does this study, by any stretch of the imagination, portend to demonstrate a correlation between technology and student achievement? Any of the enhancements listed above could have a positive impact on student achievement when implemented in a school where a quality staff, resources, and instruction thrive, and all students are expected to achieve.

The funds needed to support these grants could have been used more efficiently. Quality instruction, appropriate resources, and certified school library media specialists are needed in many states listed as grant recipients. Hopefully, in the near future, funding for scientifically proven educational pedagogy will once again drive technology integration in our schools. We have suffered long enough with trying to support the insatiable demand for technology while often forgetting the bottom line: student achievement in a quality media center program.
--Brenda Pruitt-Annisette, Coordinator, Media Services, Fulton County Schools, Atlanta, GA

A big thank-you to Anita Bowman and her What Works article, "Data and Dessert," in the October 2004 issue. I used her idea for a "cookies and data" session in my school, West Junior High, in Boise, ID. I organized the session to coincide with our Valentine's Day dance so that parents could attend the session and then pick up their students from the dance. I advertised through our local newspaper, and they picked it up for a full article in the Sunday edition. It was great publicity for the importance of school libraries, but it also gave valuable information to parents. Thanks, SLJ, for showcasing great ideas for us first-year librarians. You and your readers help make me a better teacher-librarian.
--Jonelle Warnock, Teacher-Librarian, West Junior High School, Boise, ID

A January 2005 feature "What Grad Schools Can Do for You" (pp. 42–46) misidentified the University of Texas at Austin as the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. The correct name is University of Texas at Austin, School of Information.

The review of three titles in the "Life in Extreme Environment" series (Rosen Central, 2004; Jan 2005, p. 150) was written by Jodi Kearns from the University of Akron, OH, not Karen Kearns.