Survey: it's a high-tech world with some low-tech teachers. (Notebook: education information from schools, business, research and professional organizations).

The good news is more schools are getting with the program. They have more computers, more high-speed Internet access and more classroom access, according to the Technology in Education 2002 report from Market Data Retrieval.

The bad news is that teachers are still grappling with integrating technology into classroom instruction (see Digital Disconnect news story on pg. 11).

"What you're seeing is an increase in the availability of hardware connectivity," says John Bailey, director of the Office of Educational Technology for the U.S. Department of Education. "But we're still seeing struggles of teachers finding ways to use that in instruction and learning. I don't think that's particularly surprising. What surprises me is the growth in wireless connections--a 50 percent increase from last year. This shows a definite trend of the benefit of wireless networks in schools and the major flexibility it provides for students."

The MDR report shows some emerging trends, including that laptop computers in K-12 public schools increased by 43 percent since 2000. Five years ago, the student-to-computer ratio was 7.3 to 1, but today more than half, or 54 percent, of multimedia computers are in classrooms and the national ratio is 5.9 to 1. And 30 percent of schools report at least one computer is equipped with a DVD drive, an increase from two years ago when only 5 percent reported that.

Bailey says the next step, in light of the report, is to start using technology that improves student achievement. "All of our efforts need to be ensuring teachers are using this to the best of their ability to help improve student achievement," he says. "When that is the focus, it shifts the focal point away from just simply the hardware connection."

Christa Cable, K-12 product manager for MDR, adds that the No Child Left Behind legislation puts more funding into professional development "That's the biggest hope," she says.

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