Hawaii’s poorest schools have good tech specs
By Associated Press
In contrast to the nation as a whole, Hawaii’s poorer neighborhoods lead in the number of computers hooked up to the Internet in their public schools, according to a national report released Thursday.
All of Hawaii’s “high poverty” schools have access to the Internet, compared to 76 percent nationally and 91 percent for all Hawaii public schools, according to Education Week’s fourth annual “Technology Counts 2001” report.
A “high-poverty” school is one in which more than half of the students are in the federal program for free lunches or meals at reduced prices.
Hawaii, however, continues to lag near the bottom of the 50 states in the student-computer ratio, although the schools do a better job of using what they have, said Diana Oshiro, assistant superintendent for technology in the Department of Education.
The report showed Hawaii with a 5.8 student per computer ratio, compared to the national average of 4.8 students per computer. However, in “high poverty” schools, Hawaii’s ratio is five students per computer, compared to 5.3 students per computer nationally.
“It’s significant that Hawaii is below the national average overall, but when looking only at high-poverty schools, it actually moves up to the top 10 for computer access,” said Ronald A. Skinner, one of the researchers for the report.
Curiously, in Hawaii’s “low poverty” schools, the student-computer ratio is 6.4-to-1 compared to the national average of 4.7-to-1.
“I think we’re doing well,” said Oshiro, noting the department’s technology efforts, including the online E-School for students and planned virtual classes for teachers.
Gov. Ben Cayetano’s request for $21 million to drop the student-computer ratio from 6-1 to 4-1 was rejected by this year’s legislature, but legislative leaders promise to make it a priority next year. |
