Writer: Heavy Classroom Technology Investment Short-Sighted

In commentary for Education Week (10/5), education author Jack Schneider writes about the common theme among school reformers and other education advocates that "the solution to the nation's education problems is as simple as binary code: a smartboard in every classroom, an iPad in every backpack, and wikis across the curriculum." However, he writes, "it doesn't work." Schneider cites media reports and research that illustrate "heavy investment and slender results," and laments that despite such evidence, ED in 2009 "awarded $270 million via its Enhancing Education Through Technology, or EETT, grants program, with another $650 million coming through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act." Schneider suggests that the support of such "reform VIPs" as Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Eli Broad and Joel Klein is responsible for continued investment in classroom technology "even in a time of budget shortfalls."