The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI), which
began five years
ago and provides
each seventh-grade
student in the state
with a laptop, has
also been undergoing
evaluation, with two groups working in tandem to measure
its success, says Bette Manchester, director of special projects
for the Maine Department of Education. The first group, the
Center for Education Policy, Applied Research, and Evaluation
at the University of Southern Maine, looks at how the
technology is being used, viewed, and accepted at the state's
middle schools. Among the findings, which can be found
here, the CEPARE report states:
"There is a growing body of evidence that Maine's Learning
Technology Initiative is impacting teachers, students, and
learning in many positive ways:
- Teachers are more effectively helping children achieve
Maine's state learning standards. - Students are more motivated to learn, are learning more,
and learning it more deeply. - Students are acquiring 21st-century skills.
- The 1-to-1 laptop program is bringing about positive
change in the acquisition of knowledge."
Machester says the state continues to work with CEPARE
to measure results at particular schools, noting that the center
evaluates schools individually rather than the program as
a whole. "We chose not to just look at statewide student
achievement," she says, "because that doesn't tell the whole
story. Plus, doing those types of assessments is very, very
expensive."
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