Author Description

This report presents the results of Market Data Retrieval's (MDR's) annual survey (conducted during the 1999-2000 school year) of the technology market in public education. Each year the MDR survey asks schools to respond to essentially the same questions about their access to and use of computers, CD-ROMs, networks, Internet, and other technologies. This report further explores the story of the "digital divide" that was documented in the 1999 report. Approximately 34% or 30,200 of the 87,700 public schools in the United States contacted responded. The chapters in this report examine the current usage levels of a variety of technology products. Each is examined in terms of a range of school demographic characteristics, such as enrollment, grade level, and poverty level. In general, the higher the grade level and the larger the school, the likelier that school is to own a given technology. But as penetration for technologies such as CD-ROM, multimedia, and networking approaches saturation, the effect of even grade level and size is dampened. Elementary schools are rapidly closing the gap that used to separate them from high schools. Small schools are nearly as likely to use selected technologies as are large schools. Chapters include: Computers for Instructional Use; Networking; Internet Access; CD-ROM use; Videodisc Player Use; Teacher Skill Level and Professional Development; and Technology Expenditures. An additional chapter introduces MDR's new Tech Sophistication Index, an indicator that provides a measure of how schools rank in terms of their overall technology profile. Seventy-five figures and sixty-eight tables illustrate findings throughout the report. (AEF).