Digital Dilemma: Can Computers Sub for Teachers?

By Andrew Trotter

A fight in a Connecticut school district over the use of computers to provide high school courses is raising questions about whether technology can replace teachers.

Some teachers from Nonnewaug High School in the Region 14 district say they were given no meaningful role in supervising a special remedial program in which instruction is provided entirely by computer. They contend the program violates a state mandate that a certified teacher be responsible for instruction, evaluation, and grading of students.

The teachers are upset because they were asked to approve students' computer-assigned grades without seeing any of the students' work or being involved in instruction or assessment. In some cases, the teachers said they hadn't...