Education Technology and the Failure of American Schools

This book looks at the progress of American education in the use of technology since the publication of Stallard and Cocker's last book, The Promise of Technology in Schools: The Next Twenty Years. Fifteen years after its publication, they find little significant difference in the way K-12 schools are using technology to improve student achievement. Education Technology and the Failure of American Schools offers a broad and penetrating look at the American educational system to determine why progress is so lacking. What is found is a system that has far outlived its functionality in terms of governance, organization, and professional practices. American schools are compared to those of nations whose students regularly outperform them on international tests of achievement. The authors offer a bold approach to educational reform that will irritate many who now consider themselves educational leaders. The final chapter makes offers a new approach to education in the primary grades, one that will surprise those lobbying for more computers for those early learning years. This is a must-read for anyone concerned about American education.
The contributors of this book:
Offer clear examples of what is missing in the average school experienceExplain why teaching and school administration are not true professionsDiscuss levels of failure from the federal level to the local school administrationDescribe how the present system came into beingCompare educational reform efforts with those in actual professionsExplain the basic misapplication of technology in the present system

Charles K. Stallard is a graduate of the University of Virginia and East Tennessee State University. His career as teacher, professor, and college and public School administrator span forty years during which he has consulted with governments, the U.S. Military, and hardware and software companies around the world.
Julie Cocker is a graduate of Virginia Tech and specializes in remedial education for low achieving and students with behavioral problems.

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I: Where Are We?
Chapter I: Fourteen Years Later: Trends and Ruts In Technology Integration
Chapter 2: K-12 and Higher Education Selected Uses of IT Today
Chapter 3: Schooling: What Is the Business of Education?
Chapter 4: How Bad Is the Failure of American Schools?
Chapter 5: Are Failing Schools the Only Cause of Low Student Achievement?
Part II: How Did We Get Here
Chapter 6: Why Schools Fail To Integrate Technology Effectively
Chapter 7: Professional vs Bureaucratic Approaches to Change
Chapter 8: Degradation as Impediment To Improvement
Part III: Creating a New Profession of Education
Chapter 9: A New Beginning Needs Consensus
Chapter 10: Using IT to Personalize Education
Chapter 11: Foundation for a Learning Society
Chapter 12: Moving Beyond Bureaucracy
Chapter 13: Revolutionizing the Early Years of Learning
Chapter 14: Epilogue
Index