Exclusive Research Links Impact of Technology to Achievement and Cost Savings
Education’s largest full-scale study of technology use in schools and the effectiveness of one-to-one computing
January 10, 2011 – Now Available! Customers can now order the complete results of groundbreaking research in the report The Technology Factor: Nine Keys to Student Achievement and Cost-Effectiveness, published by MDR and authored by Project RED’s (Revolutionizing Education) team of distinguished market experts and researchers.
“Project RED is nothing less than a blueprint for remaking American education—second-order change—not through more or better testing, charter schools, longer school days, more or even better teachers, but through fundamentally altering how we do education, the first real change in the process of education itself in a thousand years,” said Angus King, Former Governor of Maine, in the report’s foreword.
The findings in Project RED’s report focus on proving that investments in technology to implement an effective one-to-one computing environment can not only transform learning and outcomes, but also can save money in district and state budgets. Funded with the support of Intel, Apple, Pearson, Qwest, and eChalk, the research was conducted by Tom Greaves, Chairman of the Greaves Group, Jeanne Hayes, President of the Hayes Connection, Leslie Wilson, CEO of the One-to-One Institute, Michael Gielniak, Ph.D., Director of Programs and Development of the One-to-One Institute, and Eric L. Peterson, President and CEO of the Peterson Public Sector Consulting and advisor to the One-to-One Institute.
The Technology Factor focuses on three major issues related to U.S. education:
- Improving student achievement. Unlike other segments, public education has seen only isolated benefits attributable to technology. Project RED defines technology models that lead to improved student achievement.
- Evaluating the financial impact of technology on budgets. Little work has been done to show the positive financial impact of educational technology. Project RED identifies cost savings, cost avoidance, and revenue enhancements.
- Assessing the impact of continuous access to a computing device by every student. The report also addresses the impact of continuous access on education outcomes, the conditions that are necessary to lead to increased academic achievement and financial benefits, and the best practices regarding technology.
“Project RED was inspired by the desire to contribute to the reengineering of education,” said Tom Greaves, a primary author of The Technology Factor. “We know that districts are struggling with budgets; this report delineates how technology can help with cost-savings, both short-term and long-term. We also know many districts used stimulus money to purchase large-scale technology; this report provides districts with the tools to plan a technology implementation successfully.”
Jeanne Hayes, author of the report, also noted that, “In addition, the report shows how schools are moving from traditional content delivery to digital content and online courses...information every marketer needs for making product development decisions and creating marketing messaging.”
The Project RED team surveyed nearly 1,000 schools that are a representative sample of the U.S. school universe and categorized results against 11 diverse Education Success Measures (ESMs). This first large-scale national study details how nine key implementation factors are linked to improved test scores and graduation rates, reductions in disciplinary actions, and dropout rates. Project RED also looks at the cost savings, cost avoidance, and revenue enhancements that result from technology implementations.
Learn More
To order this groundbreaking research report, call your MDR representative at 800-333-8802 or order online at schooldata.com. To learn more about the research and Project RED team, visit ProjectRED.org.
Click here to preview the report.
To listen to an MDR webinar focused on the Project RED research, conducted by Jeanne Hayes, click here.
