To the Editor:
In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama said that “maintaining our leadership in research and technology is crucial to America’s success.” (“ESEA Renewal Could Gain Momentum,” Feb. 2, 2011.) He said that to win the race for the future, we needed to begin with educating our kids, and we agree. He called on the country to “do what is necessary to give every child a chance to succeed” and said that “if you show us the most innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement, we’ll show you the money.” Delivering on this challenge means we must equip our teachers with effective tools proven to increase student achievement.
Dr. Robert Marzano, a former English teacher with more than 30 years of education research experience, has conducted a two-year study of interactive classroom technology for my company and found that when used for teaching and learning, these powerful technologies can increase student achievement by 16 percentile points. The results over the two years were consistent and showed that student achievement was higher when lessons were delivered using interactive technologies. And, we can link these improvements to both individual income and national economic growth.
Increased productivity is the nirvana of most businesses, and if we want to create a more robust economy, we need to boost productivity in our classrooms. By investing in technology that improves both the quality and the speed at which we can reach learning outcomes, we increase the life chances of all young people and prospects for the future economic success of this country.
Mark Elliott
President, North America
Promethean Inc.
Atlanta, Ga.
