The Use of the Computer in Louisiana Schools. Sixth Annual Report
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DOCUMENT MIMIC ED 334 962 IR 014 184 AUTHOR Hubbell, John N. TITLE The Use of the Computer in Louisiana Schools. Sixth Annual Report. Bulletin 1679. INSTITUTION Louisiana State Dept. of Education, Baton Rouge. Office of Research and Development. PUB DATE Oct 87 NOTE 113p.; For the fourth and fifth annual reports, see ED 265 829 and IR 014 183; for a study of trends in computer use in Louisiana schools, see ED 325 083. Title varies slightly on title page. PUB TYPE Statistical Data (110) -- Reports - Descriptive (141) -- Tests/EvaluationInstruments (160) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Annual Reports; *Computer Assisted Instruction; Computer Uses in Education; Elementary Secondary Education; *Microcomputers; Questionnaires; School Surveys; =State Surveys; Tables (Data); Teaching Methods; *Use Studies IDENTIFIERS Louisiana ABSTRACT Inform.tion for the 1986-87 school year presented in this fifth annual report on microcomputer use for1,178 public and private K-12 schools in Louisiana indicates that,overall, 92% of the schools are using computers for instruction or other purposes. Detailed survey results are presented in 15 data tables,which show: (1-2) the number and percentage of schools that do and do not use computers; (3) computer utilization by grade level;(4) distribution of computer use by subject area; (5) number of computersin schools; (6) the number of microcomputers by brand and model;(7) use of computers and number of students served; (8) numberof boys, girls, and special education students in classes using computers;(9) percentage and number of schools with special programsencouraging girls or special education students to use computers;(10) locations of computer use (e.g., computer lab, classroom,library); (11) comrater software sources; (12) sources of computerequipment maintenance; (13) sources of and number of teachersreceiving computer training; (14) sources of funding for computerpurchase; and (15) the number of schools, by type, purchasingcomputers from the state contract. Also included are recommendationsfrom the Louisiana Department of Education, the survey instrument, andappendices of raw data from the survey. The appendices make up morethan half of the report. (SD) Reproductions supplied hy EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** R V$ DEPARTMENT OP EDUCAMON OPKe 01Ech/cabons1Rompigrcn Ind fmprovpmen1 EDUCATiONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER tERIC) Th,s Oocumenl p bItn rEA0OuceN21 ,KM.110 frOrn the prion or organaafion ortp.natrnst .1 C' Irknor chanon harø boon rnsilo ID mbin,ro reprodwctron Quern), Pu'nt Of .0*Oi OP.r,ont fIISci n thm docu mint cit.: not nocessaf14, represent otrtcal OERI oosrhor, of Polfcr THE USE OF THE COMPUTER IN LOUISIANA SCHOOLS Sixth Annual Report Bulletin 1679 prepared by Bureau of Management Information Systems Office of Research and Development October 1987 BEST COPYAVAILABLE LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION .PERM1SSI0NTO REPRODUCE THIS Thomas G. Clausen, Ph.D. MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTEDBY Superintendent Lani Urbatsch TO THF EDUCATIONALRESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)" This pubhc document was printed ata total cost of $210 14; (200) copies of this public document were printed in this first printing at a cost of $210 14 The total cost of an printings of this document, including reprints, is $210 14 This document was printed by the LouisianaDepartment of Education, P 0 Box 94064, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70804-9064,to aid in the transfer of computer technology under authority of R S. 17:21 This material was printed in accordancewith the standards for 3rinting by state agencies established pursuant to R.S 43:31 THE USE OF COMPUTERS IN LOUISIANA SCHOOLS SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT Bulletin 1679 Prepared by Bureau of Management Information Systems Office of Research and Development Revised September 1987 Research Designed and executed by: John N. Hubbell, Ph.D. Shirley McCandless Horace R. Olivier, Ph.D. Annis D. Tarver, Ph.D. A pro ed by: Wa ne ee r., Ed.D. b;) Assist nt uperintendent Office f Research and Development Michael E. Schouest Director Management Information Systems (MIS) Issued by LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OP EDUCATION Thomas G. Clausen, Ph.D. Superintendent TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction 1 The POpulation The Instrument 2 Findings 2 Conclusions and Recommendations 11 Appendices and Their Uses 13 Appendtx A. Sample Survey Instrument 14 Appendix B. List of Schools Responding, Showing the Grade Levels and Subject Areas, Listed by School Within Parish 17 Appendix C. List of Models of Computers Reported by Schools, Listed by School Within Parish 44 Appendix D. List of Models of Computers Reported by Schools, Listed by School within Parish within Brand of Computer 79 THE USE OF THE COMPUTER IN LOUISIANA SCHOOLS John N. Hubbell, Ph.D. Southern University, Computer ScienceDepartment Baton Rouge, LA Shirley McCandless Louisiana Department of Education, ManagementInformation Systems Baton Rouge, LA Horace R. Olivier, Ph.D. Louisiana Department of Education, ManagementInformation Systems Baton Rouge, LA Annis D. Tarver, Ph.D. Southern University, Computer ScienceDepartment Baton Rouge, LA During thepast six years, the proliferation of computersin Louisianaschoolshasgrown at an astounding rate. The Louisiana Departmentof Education continues to provide information andguidance that facilitates the efficientand effective use of the computer bry teachersandadministrators. The current statusoftheuse of computersin Louisiana schools was measured by this survey to Identify problems and needs in our educationalcommunity. Using this information, theDepartment can design activities to assistLouisiana schools in the educational and administrative use of computers. This pUblicationbrieflyreports the findings of the sixth annual surveycd the use ofcomputers in elementary and secondary schools. Any questions regardingthe analyses of this survey should bedirected to Dr. John HUbbellat (504) 771-2060, Shirley McCandless at (504) 342-0090,orDr. Horace Olivier at (504) 342-0090. The results of the previous fivesurveys were described inearlier annual pdblications cd Bllletin 1679. THE POPULATICN According tothe Louisiana Department of Education'sAnnual Report, thereare currently 1,482 publicschools and 415 nonpublic schools inthe State of Louisiana. The public schools are distributed among 66 Local EducationAgencies (LEA's). In 1981-1982the Superintendentof each LEA was contacted by the Department,and a short surveyinstrumentwas designed and mailed tothe individual designated by each LEA Superintendent as the InstructionalComputing Coordinator. Annually since then, similar survey instruments were sentto all public and nonpdblic schools. For the 1986-1987 se.hool year the survey instrument was sent to all schools byFebruary, 1987. 1 2ILRELELIMEr Tbesurvey instrument, designedto capture information on the Appendix instructionaluse of the computerin the schools, is shown in A. voluntarily to the Of theschools contacted, 1,178 responded All 66 LEh's survey. In the previous year, 1,368schoDlsresponded. had schools that responded. In the first year's survey,only 40 LEA's CUrrently, 1,088 of the had microcomputers in one or moreschools. in instruction and 90 are not respondingschoolsare using computers schools are using (Table 1). Thesefigures indicate 92 percent of the in computersthis year compared with 85percent last year, 84 percent percent in 82-83, and 27 percentin 84-85, 81 percent in 83-84, 32 computing across 81-82 (Table 2). The distribution of instructional 12--are grades (Table 3) shows that allgradelevels--K through Grade 4 involved, with the most involvement at thefourth grade level. replaced grade5 as the grade with the mostcomputer use. Of interest Table 4 shows is theincrease of activities in grades3, 4, 5, and 6. the distribution of computer use acrosssubject areas. Once again, the computer is used most in mathematics courses. The number of computers usedby the schools increased againthis reported by the schools inJanuary year.A total of 482 computers was the total was 4,350; of 1982; in82-83the total was 1,373; in 83-84 12,717. and in84-85 thetotalwas 6,844. Last year the number was This year's total was 14,621(Table 5). Apple computers are the mostwidely used computers(Table 6). This year the Applecomputersrepresent 40.7 percent of the units,Tandy third with computersare next with18.9 percent, and IBM computers are 12.9 percent. The numbersof schoolsusing the computer in thefollowing functional areas are listedfrom most used to least used(Table 7). Instruction were Computer AssistedInstructionand Computer Education first and second in number ofschools. Equal access is of majorinterest to educators. Table 8 indicates that ofthe students taking coursesin which a computer is used, 50 percent are girlsand50 percent are boys. About 9 percent of these boys and girls insuchcourses are SpecialEducation students other than Gdfted and Talented. According to the LouisianaDepartment of school population of 944,010 Education'sAnnual Report, the goneral public and nonpublicstudents includes about 4 percentof such Special though not all public Educationstudents. These data indicate that, there is no bdas and nonpublic students have access to the computer, because of sex and thatSpecial Education studentstend to have better than average access. Lastyear 134 schoolsreported having special courses, and 573schools programstoencourage girlsto takesuch Education group. havingspecial programs to encouragethe