Never too old: Students excel with aid of aging technology

Terry Webster

Friday, May 11, 2001 | 10:51 a.m.

Video game players and outmoded computers are equipment far removed from the cutting edge of classroom technology.

C.P. Squires Elementary School Principal Carol Lark says her staff can still use them, however, in ways that dramatically improve student performance.

"This," Lark says while looking around Sandy Finley's bilingual kindergarten classroom, "is what experienced teachers can do."

Lark was talking about the classroom's small hubs of activity going on at the same time.

Students were rolling out colorful blocks of clay to form the letters as others were writing and drawing in their journals. As Finley read to students, another group completed an art project.

On the other side of the classroom, students finished a reading exercise on computers.

Some of the computers -- "as old as you can get" according to Lark -- still are able to run educational programs.

Finley said a student who arrived at the school on Las Vegas' northeast side just one month ago is "doing double time" on the computer.

"It has really helped her to catch up," Finley said.

Technology, Lark said, will never replace teachers. But the reinforcement it provides can dramatically raise student achievement and help students catch up.

That philosophy carries throughout the school, especially in third grade.

And it helped earn Squires Elementary a national award from Lightspan Achieve Now, which makes a program on CD-ROM that students can use in school and take home for practice.

Of the 3,700 schools in the nation using Lightspan, Squires Elementary was selected this week as one of 28 in the country to serve as a model school for its use of technology.

The award came despite the fact that the school, located near Lake Mead Boulevard and Eastern Avenue, faces virtually all of the biggest barriers in bringing technology to students, as cited in a study released this week by Education Week.

The survey examined various groups of students including minorities, females, those who are low income and students learning to speak English. Those groups, the study found, usually have the least amount of access to technology in schools.

About 80 percent of Squires Elementary's 930 students are Spanish speaking. About 93 percent of the school's students are eligible for free and reduced lunches, a statistic used to measure poverty.

Superintendent Carlos Garcia said schools that have the best technology programs get aid and other resources from outside the school district.

That's exactly what Squires Elementary does.

Lark said the school gets about $200,000 a year in federal funding. It also receives additional help through a school partnership with Station Casinos.

Most of the money goes into technology.

The funding primarily is used to buy instructional computer software used to coach students on the basics.

Since most students in the at-risk school don't have home computers, Lark used federal grant money to buy 240 Play Station units, enough for all of the third graders and some second graders.

Students can sign out the CD-ROMs and Play Station units, and parents document lessons they complete.

It's just one way the school is bringing the advantages of technology to students who otherwise wouldn't have had it.

Lightspan's colorful cartoons and pictures look like games, but they actually reinforce skills in English, math and science. All of the exercises are closely tied to the state learning standards.

"The kids think they're playing," Lark said.

But there's a lot more working than playing going on, she said.

Having students working on the program at home at essentially extends the school day.

"It helps us read better," said Alondra Dozal, a third grader."Sometimes I spend about an hour on it at home."

Donzal is in a classroom where many students began the school year at a level below kindergarten.

More than one-half of the students are now reading at a third grade level or above, teacher Cheri DiMartino said.

A lot of that improvement, staff members say, is because they complete exercises at home. It's also helped boost fourth grade TerraNova scores at the school, they say.

"Six hours a day is not enough," Lark said.

In Education Week's study, Nevada ranks below national averages in many areas related to technology.

For example, an average 29 percent of fourth graders used a computer at least once a week. That was 22 percent in Nevada. Nevada's statewide average for the number of students per instructional computer was 6.1, compared with a national average of 4.9. In high-poverty schools, the number of students per computer was 8.6, while the national average was 5.3 students per computer.

"We've made improvements, but we still have some catching up to do," said Douglas Thunder, deputy superintendent of administrative and fiscal services for the Nevada Department of Education.

Based on the amount of money it takes to purchase, run and maintain computers, the Clark County School District isn't providing technology at the level it should be, said Garcia.

"Computers are what all children are going to use in their futures," he said. "We have to find ways to get them to use it."