Chapter 3 Technology for Urban Schools

Technology integration has can be a challenge for urban school districts because of the number of school, its diverse population and funding. Once a school has some or all of the wiring and equipment in place, teachers and students must possess the skill and sense of purpose to use it (Gallagher, 2001). It can be difficult to wire these schools to be technology ready because of the number of schools and personnel. These schools also have to compete with the needs of the students and resources they need, e.g., ESOL teachers, special education teachers, reading recovery teachers, speech therapist and other specialist. Our school deals with this issue because a lot of our funding goes to the staff needed to provide all of the services the student’s need that technology cannot provide alone.

Integrating technology into the classroom can become a challenge because teachers need to be able to use the technology and successfully incorporate it into the curriculum. The problem lies on the testing that needs to be done, which is the primary means for judging a school’s effectiveness, teachers will resent time taken from the curriculum to try different strategies (Gallagher, 2001). Urban school districts like Chicago’s and Cleveland don’t have the infrastructure or funding necessary to upgrade their aging schools to the technology level needed to succeed in the workforce of today. We need to find a way to provide technology to these urban schools where a large percentage of the nation’s children are taught (Gallagher, 2001).


Reference

Gallagher, E.M. (2001). Technology for urban schools: Gaps and challenges. In LeBaron, J.F. & Collier, C. Technology in its place: Successful technology infusion in schools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.