Educational Technology: Availability and Use in Chicago's Public Schools

With expectations for technology use and its potential costs continuing to rise, the Consortium on Chicago School Research sought to provide baseline information on educational technology -- the use of computers and the Internet for instructional purposes -- in Chicago public schools. We addressed three questions in a year-long study that included both quantitative and qualitative analyses: (1) What are the current levels of technology availability and use? (2) Are availability and use distributed equitably across students, teachers, and schools in the district? and (3) What essential organizational supports are necessary to encourage technology use in schools? We examine these topics by looking at nearly 100,000 responses to the Consortium's biannual survey of teachers and students in 434 of Chicago's schools, in addition to other administrative data. Further insight was gained through site visits to schools with model technology programs.This study was sponsored in part by the Chicago Urban League

School Instructional Program Coherence: Benefits and Challenges

This report is one of a series of special topic reports developed by the Chicago Annenberg Research Project. It discusses an important reason why schools involved in multiple improvement initiatives do not always improve their students' achievements. It introduces the concept of instructional program coherence and presents new evidence that students in Chicago elementary schools with stronger program coherence show higher gains in student achievement. The report suggests ways in which school leaders, school improvement partners, and policy makers can act to bring about the instructional coherence that will reward their school improvement efforts

Newmann, Fred M., BetsAnn Smith, Elaine Allensworth, and Anthony S. Bryk, Instructional Program Coherence: What It Is and Why It Should Guide School Improvement Policy, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23(Winter, 2001), 297-321.

Reports a study of Chicago elementary schools and the relationship between strong instructional program coherence and student achievement