Ed-Tech Policy A State Capitals Roundup

Laptops Give 8th Graders No Boost on Maine Test

By Andrew Trotter — September 22, 2004 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

For the sixth consecutive year, scores for Maine’s 8th graders have hardly budged on the state’s educational assessment.

Those results have some critics questioning whether the state’s 2-year-old initiative to put laptops into the hands of every 7th and 8th grader has been worth the $15 million it has cost.

Maine’s 8th graders, who have used the laptops for three semesters, improved slightly in mathematics in 2004 compared with a year earlier, but not in writing, the results released in August showed. Reading scores dropped slightly, while science scores were unchanged.

Defenders of the program say it will take more time for the impact of laptops to show up in school performance.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Rethinking STEM Assessment: Strategies for Administrators
School and district leaders will explore strategies to enhance STEM assessment practices across their district, within schools and classrooms.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way
Federal Webinar Keeping Up with the Trump Administration's Latest K-12 Moves: Subscriber-Exclusive Quick Hit
EdWeek subscribers, join this 30-minute webinar to find out what the latest federal policy changes mean for K-12 education.
Artificial Intelligence Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: Math & Technology: Finding the Recipe for Student Success
How should we balance AI & math instruction? Join our discussion on preparing future-ready students.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Ed-Tech Policy Cellphone Ban Adopters Share How They Did It—and How It's Changed Students
School administrators detail how they got staff, students, and parents to believe in new, stricter cellphone policies.
6 min read
A phone holder hangs in a classroom at Delta High School, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, in Delta, Utah. At the rural Utah school, there is a strict policy requiring students to check their phones at the door when entering every class. Each of the school's 30 or so classrooms has a cellphone storage unit that looks like an over-the-door shoe bag with three dozen smartphone-sized slots.
A phone holder hangs in a classroom at Delta High School, Feb. 23, 2024, in Delta, Utah. At the rural Utah school, like in schools across the country, there is a strict policy requiring students to check their phones at the door when entering every class.
Rick Bowmer/AP
Ed-Tech Policy Download Four Ways to Supercharge Your School's Cellphone Policy (Downloadable)
The first step is creating a cellphone policy. But it takes these four ingredients to make the policy work.
2 min read
Cell phones sit in a cell phone locker at Boys’ Latin School of Maryland in Baltimore on Oct. 24, 2024.
Cell phones sit in a cell phone locker at Boys’ Latin School of Maryland in Baltimore on Oct. 24, 2024.
Jaclyn Borowski/Education Week
Ed-Tech Policy Opinion If You're Going to Ban Cellphones, Do It Right
An educator offers school and district leaders a cooperative, restorative approach to restricting cellphone use in schools.
Nicholas Bradford
5 min read
School cellphone ban policies to restrict cell phones in schools to reduce distractions and help avoid social media addiction resulting in academic problems and mental health issues in a classrooom.
Wildpixel/iStock
Ed-Tech Policy More States Are Moving to Ban Cellphones at School. Should They?
While cellphone bans are popular with many educators, some researchers say there's not much evidence yet that these policies work.
A student uses their cell phone after unlocking the pouch that secures it from use during the school day at Bayside Academy on Aug. 16, 2024, in San Mateo, Calif.
A student uses a cellphone after unlocking the pouch that secures it from use during the school day at Bayside Academy in San Mateo, Calif., on Aug. 16, 2024.
Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via AP