Technology and Attainment

A draft of this post has been waiting for me to hit ’submit’ for many months now… oops.

A news piece on the BBC revealed that:

High levels of computer technology in schools can improve attainment to an extent, a four-year study has found.

(My emphasis added to the very key phrase ‘to an extent’, but the results are worth looking at a little closer)

Overall the picture is a bit mixed, with some groups showing no significant different, and amongst one group students opting to attempt fewer A-level exams than comparators. With younger students showing greater improvement than older students, perhaps that deserves some attention. The summary findings reported on the BBC are repeated below:

• at Key Stage 1 (aged seven): “no significant differences”
• in Key Stage 2 tests (aged 11), the rate of improvement was higher for Test Bed schools and some even passed the national average for English
• at Key Stage 3 (14-year-olds): no significant differences
• at GCSE (aged 16): no difference in overall pass rate, but Test Bed pupils did better than those in comparator schools in getting five good grades including English and maths
• post-16: little change - Test Bed students scored same points per exam but took fewer A-levels than comparators.