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Pittsburgh schools in digital distress Study warns deficiencies can hurt poor, minorities Friday, May 11, 2001 By Eleanor Chute and Jane Elizabeth, Post-Gazette Education Writers
A national study released yesterday depicts Pittsburgh as a technologically struggling school district where poor and minority students have less access than wealthier white students do to good computers, the Internet and trained teachers.
Using Oliver High School as an example, the annual "Technology Counts" report by Education Week shows students working on outmoded Tandy 1000s, computers often ridiculed for their primitive capabilities. All the printers were broken in at least one computer class, the report says, many teachers were untrained, and staff members who were computer-literate were frantically busy with support and repair problems.
The report uses the district as an example of schools "grappling with the human and technical nuances of the digital divide."
An analysis of technology in schools throughout the United States, Education Week's "Technology Counts 2001: The New Divides," concludes the "digital divide" doesn't just hurt poor and minority students. It also affects boys and girls, high achievers and poor performers, students learning to speak English, children with disabilities and rural children.
The report does cite a few technically advanced Pittsburgh classrooms -- one that contains a DVD player purchased by the teacher himself, and another with state-of-the-art Dell computers and high-quality math software.
Still, Glenn Ponas, acting coordinator of instructional technology for the city schools, said he didn't think the report gave the district enough credit for existing and planned programs.
The district's latest technology plan "is going to address a lot of these issues," including training for staff and providing community access to computers. The plan also includes developing computer programs that can help train teachers at their desktops.
He said the district already is using about $1.5 million in foundation grants to train 700 staff members.
"There is work that has to be done in this district to make sure that we're continually moving forward, but the simple fact is the pockets of excellence are growing and growing each year," Ponas said.
Kevin Bushwell, project editor for Technology Counts, an assistant managing editor at Education Week, said Pittsburgh was featured in his article because "I found they're struggling with a lot of the same issues that other districts are. ... Our aim was not to single out Pittsburgh. It was to use Pittsburgh to tell the national story."
Inequities are apparent throughout the country, the report said, not only in the availability of computers but also the way technology is used by students and teachers.
Nationwide, there is an average of 4.9 students for each instructional computer, an improvement from 5.7 in the 1999 study. Pennsylvania's ratio is similar, with 4.6 students per computer, compared with 5.5 in 1999.
Throughout the nation, 94 percent of schools -- it's 90 percent in Pennsylvania -- have Internet access, according to the latest report. But schools with fewer minority students often have better classroom Internet access than schools with large minority populations.
As for Pittsburgh, the district has about 10,000 modern instructional computers for nearly 39,000 students, a better ratio than the state or nation. The number of modern computers will grow to 11,000 by this fall.
The report notes that the district has invested $24 million in hardware and software upgrades over the past three years.
"The bad news, however, is that the Pittsburgh school system -- like so many other districts across the country -- has largely ignored the human factors necessary to close the digital divide," the report says.
Some of the problems cited include comparatively low pay for technical support employees and a lack of after-school access to computers -- and more significantly, a lack of training and interest among teachers.
For instance, Jan Trafican, a Perry Traditional Academy teacher, said in the article that she refused to incorporate more technology into her classroom. "Absolutely never. I'm a back-to-basics person," she said.
Carole Salisbury, acting director of technology, said, "I think we have one of the best foundations you can imagine. Now we're looking at the people side. I don't think there will be a digital divide once we accomplish all this."
John Bailey, technology director of the Office of Educational Technology in the state Department of Education, said the national report is on the right track in focusing on how computers are used, and not just how many there are.
He added, however, that his own figures show a somewhat higher percentage of Pennsylvania teachers using the Internet for instruction than the report indicates.
He said the state has been working on developing leadership, including offering training for superintendents to better understand technology use in education and for school grant writers to be able to write successful grant applications.
"If we can get the leadership of the schools to understand the value of technology and the use of it, we think it's going to help improve the digital divide," Bailey said.
The full report can be found on the Internet at www.edweek.org.
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