Educator\u27s Technology Integration Barriers and Student Technology Preparedness as 21st Century Professionals

Millions of dollars have been spent to acquire educational computing tools, and many education, government, and business leaders believe that investing in these computing tools will improve teaching and learning. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether charter school educators face technological barriers hindering them from incorporating technology into their classrooms. If they experienced self-efficacy issues integrating technology in their classrooms and if they believed their students were technologically prepared as 21st century professionals. A 5-point Likert scale survey, validated by a pilot study, was completed by 61 charter high school teachers. Their responses were analyzed, scores from the individual mean responses were used to calculate the total mean; and a parametric t test used to determine if the null or alternative hypothesis could be rejected. The theoretical foundation for this study was Cubans\u27 and Brickners\u27 first- and second-order barriers to change. In one charter school stratum, teachers experienced barriers integrating technology into their classes, while teachers in the other charter school strata did not. There was statistical significance in teachers\u27 beliefs about their skills integrating technology into their classes and their students being technologically prepared as 21st century professionals. The results of this research could lead to positive social change by providing valuable information to help charter school administrators identify teachers who are experiencing barriers and how they can improve teacher\u27s professional development integrating technology into their classrooms