According to the data in Colleen Creamer’s book, School Officials Signal Warning, 64 percent of children in Dickson County, Tennessee who scored below proficient in reading and math were from economically challenged families . Creamer also said that disadvantaged kids coming into kindergarten are already two to three years behind where they need to be. For example, three-year-olds in poverty situations know 600 fewer words than those from middle-class families (Luick). Colleen Creamer’s projections show that the number of children living in "extreme poverty" in Tennessee and coming into the school system was around 60,000 (Creamer). Simply put, this data proves the need for the use of technology in all classrooms so that the economically disadvantaged have the access that middle and upper income students have at home.
The positives of technology can be found from statistics. After using technology as an integral part of the classroom for teaching, test scores of socioeconomically disadvantaged students increased drastically. They made gains from seventy-two to eighty-nine percent proficient and above in mathematics, and their reading scores increased from seventy-six percent to eighty-seven percent (Love …show more content…
Technology is becoming a huge asset of life; therefore, students need to have more than just a common knowledge of a computer. Teachers have students on the computer often to make computer use natural . Economically disadvantaged students do not have computers at home (Luick). Even if some socioeconomically disadvantaged students are exposed to technology sometimes, this is not enough. Teachers allow economically disadvantaged students to use computers individually as their tools in the classroom; in turn, this is preparation for jobs of all kinds. No matter what the job is, there is some sort of technology being used. If one works at McDonalds flipping burgers, he or she still has to know how to read a computer monitor to know the order. If one decides to be an accountant, he or she must work with computers, calculators, and computer programs such as Excel. Every business has some sort of computer software. The more students are exposed to different types of technology, the more successful they can be in the work force.
Using the internet as a virtual textbook has several advantages. Furthermore, for learning in the classroom, textbooks are given to all students. Sometimes funds run low so teachers give out books that could be six or more years old. Information found from technology is much more current information. Because most textbooks soon become outdated, through the internet, students