Society & Culture - Posted by Karl Bates-Duke on Monday, June 28, 2010 15:16 - 4 Comments 
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Kids + home computers = lower test scores?
"Adults may think of computer technology as a productivity tool first and foremost, but the average kid doesn't share that perception," says Jacob Vigdor. Kids in the middle grades are mostly using computers to socialize and play games, he adds. (Credit: iStockphoto)
DUKE (US)—Students in grades five through eight, particularly those from disadvantaged families, tend to post lower scores once computers and high-speed Internet service arrive in their home, a new study suggests.
Researchers at Duke University analyzed responses to computer-use questions included on North Carolina’s mandated End-of-Grade tests (EOGs). Students reported how frequently they use a home computer for schoolwork, watch TV, or read for pleasure.
The study covers 2000 to 2005, a period when home computers and high-speed Internet access expanded dramatically. By 2005, broadband access was available in almost every zip code in North Carolina, says Jacob Vigdor, a professor at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy.
“We cut off the study in 2005, so we weren’t getting into the Facebook and Twitter generation,” Vigdor says. “The technology was much more primitive than that. IM (instant messaging) software was popular then, and it’s been one thing after the other since then.
“Adults may think of computer technology as a productivity tool first and foremost, but the average kid doesn’t share that perception.” Kids in the middle grades are mostly using computers to socialize and play games, Vigdor adds, with clear gender divisions between those activities.
Vigdor says this study, published online by the National Bureau for Economic Research, has several advantages over previous research that suggests similar results. The sample size was large—numbering more than 150,000 individual students. The data allowed researchers to compare the same children’s reading and math scores before and after they acquired a home computer, and to compare those scores to those of peers who had a home computer by fifth grade and to test scores of students who never acquire a home computer.
The negative effects on reading and math scores were “modest but significant,” the researchers found.
Vigdor and Duke professor Helen Ladd conclude that home computers are put to more productive use in households where parental monitoring is more effective. In disadvantaged households, parents are less likely to monitor children’s computer use and guide children in using computers for educational purposes.
The research suggests that programs to expand home computer access would lead to even wider gaps between test scores of advantaged and disadvantaged students, Vigdor notes.
Several states have pursued programs to distribute computers to students. For example, Maine funded laptops for every sixth-grader, and Michigan approved a program but then did not fund it.
The research was funded in part by the William T. Grant Foundation.
More news from Duke: www.dukenews.duke.edu
4 Comments
Marco
@DAJUVI
Computers can be a great asset for any student but; with kids they need the proper guidance in ANYTHING. They are set up for failure before they begin in most cases if they are left to their own devices.
afm
This is a most interesting study in that you usually don’t think about disadvantaged students having access to computers at home compared to the students whose parents provide guidance to their children. I would be most interested in a longer term study. It would have been enlightening if NC had added a checklist question for what the computer was used. As a teacher, I would like to see a question added to the survey which asked for the number of hours per day the student texts (for the most part, students do not use cell phones for talking but text into the wee hours of the morning. Does the Duke study do any comparison of the amount of time spent on homework?? That used to be a question on the EOC tests!
This is interesting, I would have thought that having access to world wide information would increase kids scores but I guess if there is no parental monitoring, then just online game playing is probably better for hand eye co-ordination than it is for test scores.
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Well you would think this would be common sense that computers are not magic smart boxes that make better students. Parental involvement, as noted by the summary, will have a greater impact on children’s success in school over any piece of technology. The sooner this is realized the better.