COMPUTER CLASSES ARM TEACHERS WITH TECHNOLOGY.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Teachers from three local school districts, having completed 54 hours of training for select Los Angeles County educators, believe computer technology is a tool to spark student interest and learning.

The six instructors, representing the Saugus and Sulphur Springs elementary school districts, along with the William S. Hart Union High School District, took part in the program sponsored by the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

County Superintendent Donald Ingwerson's goal is to transform the county's 81 public school districts - in which roughly 1.5 million students are enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade - from among the nation's lowest-ranked in technology training to among the highest.

On the average, Los Angeles County public school students far outnumber the campus computers available for their use by a ratio of 14.25 to 1. That figure is far below the national average of 9.1 students for every computer, according to county data.

On Tuesday, Ingwerson will present a progress report on the status of his five-year effort to improve computer and technology education. In light of a county education survey that found 17 percent of public school administrators and 13 percent of public school teachers considered themselves expert in the use of educational technologies, the superintendent decided to provide computer training to a select group of instructors.

Among the teachers who took part in the training - scheduled two weekdays per month for five months - were Dianne Foderaro from Charles Helmers Elementary; Joan Oxman from Cedarcreek Elementary; Kathy Rose from Canyon Springs Elementary; Karen Salvaggio from Valley View Elementary; James Klipfel from Saugus High School; and Franca Koeller from Arroyo Seco Junior High School.

Each participant, in turn, went back to his or her community and taught their newly acquired computer skills to 20 teachers each.

Rose, who has been a teacher for 13 years but has only had computers in her classroom for the past three, said the technology enhances students' enthusiasm for academics because ``most of them don't have a computer at home,'' she said.

Teaching basic academics like reading and writing is augmented when students can compose and edit stories on the computer, ``publish'' a copy to be kept in the school library and read the story aloud to their families and classmates, Rose said.

Often, students spend their recess and lunch periods working on the computers, Rose said.

Koeller, who teaches seventh and eighth grades, said computers can enhance the curriculum because they're an effective tool to hook the interest of good and struggling students alike. They are more than high-tech toys and not a substitute for a solid academic foundation, she said.

``If they don't affect students' learning (comprehension), we shouldn't be doing it,'' Koeller said.

Oxman, a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher, said her students even know how to assemble and repair classroom computers, as well as write reports with the word processing programs.

Cedarcreek Elementary assembled its electronic arsenal with money from federal grants, by accepting donations from community residents and businesses, and even by collecting and redeeming soup labels, Oxman said.

And buying new programs and software is much more affordable than a new set of encyclopedias for the school library every year, Oxman said. ``It's a really outstanding research tool. We can't possibly keep up with the amount of data that you can get on a CD-ROM. Children can access information much more quickly,'' she said.