Thomas Friedman writes, “‘It is clear that the U.S. and other rich nations will have to transform their educational systems so as to produce workers for the jobs that will actually exist in their societies … In the future, how we educate our children may prove to be important than how much we educate them’”. In 2015, one way we should educate our children is through the use of educational technology. Traditional learning focuses more on test scores and memorization, while educational technology, a more modern way of learning, calls for a higher level of analyzing and rationalizing which is what many universities look for in a student academically. Consequently educational technology is an invaluable tool for students’ learning in today’s global society. An early introduction to educational technology leads to greater student achievement through faster learning at a higher level, higher self-esteem and motivation, as well as higher test scores when compared to traditional learning. This evidence proves that educational technology should be used in the Shelby County Schools system.

Studies conducted over the past thirty years show that the use of educational technology can lead to greater student achievement. One study in particular is Kulik’s Meta-Analysis Study which compiled data from more than 500 individual studies of computer-based instruction conducted in 1994. The computer-based instruction helped individualize education by being able to accommodate the needs, preferences, and learning styles of each individual student. The 1994 study concluded that on average, students who used educational technology performed better on standardized testing. The students who used educational technology scored in the 64th percentile whereas the control students who did not use computer-based learning scored in the 50th percentile. Kulik’s Meta-Analysis is one of the many studies done that help prove that educational technology leads to better test scores and therefore greater academic achievement. 
Educational technology not only leads to greater testing scores, but can also put students ahead of the traditional school curriculum. An example of positive findings for educational technology is the 1998 Harold Wenglinsky’s National Study of Technology’s Impact on Mathematics Achievement. This study used a national sample of 7,146 eighth graders and 6,227 fourth graders and assessed the, “effects of simulation and higher order thinking technologies,” (Schacter) with mathematic achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The results of this study favored the use of educational technology as the measurements by the National Assessment of Educational showed an increased math scores of up to 15 weeks above grade level progress in eighth grade students who used the software. The fourth graders also were put ahead of their curriculum but by only 5 weeks. The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement by John Schater concludes that the effectiveness of educational technology is great for students. The study of over 700 empirical research studies, conducted in the entire state of West Virginia, concludes that students who had access to computer assisted instruction, integrated learning systems technology, or higher level teaching software showed, “positive gains in achievement on researcher constructed tests, standardized tests, and national tests” (Schacter).  Also, many of the studies analyzed by The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement not only concluded that the use of educational technology had positive effects on student testing, but also that computer-based learning led to more positive attitudes in the classroom. Although this may not seem like much on the surface, if children have positive attitudes to school and learning, they are more likely to do well in class and therefore have greater individual student achievement. Moreover, reports show that positive attitudes bring increased motivation as the technology in class gives immediate feedback to the student.

In particular, low socioeconomic students receive numerous benefits from a more technological-based learning environment. Studies such as the Evaluation of the Texas Technology Immersion Pilot have shown that economically disadvantaged kids grew in proficiency at faster rates than their control-group.  This large study also found that economically disadvantaged students maintained levels of technical proficiency that amounted to the proficiencies of advantaged students in control schools. Another example of educational technologically being implemented in low income schooling areas is the Rocketship, a group of seven charter schools in San Jose, California. These charter schools have a mix of traditional learning with online instruction with a more individualized approach. The low-income students in the Rocketship outperform students who live in the wealthiest districts in the state of California, the location where Rocketship is based. From this information, educational technology could serve as a way to level the playing field in education because generally children with greater affluence receive better schooling and make greater test scores while children who are economically disadvantaged do not. With the use of educational technology, children from different socioeconomic backgrounds could receive a more individualized lesson with more information.  Therefore, educational technology can serve as a mean to bring an equal opportunity to student achievement.  Numerous studies have shown that educational technology helps low-income students learn more, generate better self-esteem, and be more engaged in the classroom. This is particularly beneficial for these specific students because often times there are outside factors that affect their ability to focus and learn while in school. 

The use of educational technology in Shelby County public schools could help further the academic achievement of students throughout the county. Currently, “The SCS Innovation Department is in the process of starting conversations about what a personalized learning strategy might look like and who could assist in implementation, but there is nothing currently in place,” (Campbell and Binder).  Lausanne Collegiate School is an independent school in Shelby County that utilizes educational technology. Lausanne Collegiate School takes advantage of the benefits from educational technology by requiring every student to have a personal laptop.  Lausanne has a very high student achievement level as the graduation rate is extremely high and the vast majority of these students attend a four year college to help further their educations. Mr. Stuart McCathie, the internationally respected Headmaster of Lausanne, views the school’s use of technology as a tool to help enhance education and compares the tool to the usage of a chalk and black board.  Mr. McCathie believes that in order for educational technology to be used effectively, the classroom must encourage open ended questions that require the student to know or have access to information that a teacher or a textbook cannot provide. This is where the use of educational technology comes into play. Without integrating a teaching style that is open to interpretation and requires a vast array of information, the laptop or iPad is simply an electronic textbook. When interviewed, college advisor John Hawkins says, “They [colleges and universities] definitely want students that are able to think for themselves and are able to be really critical thinkers”. Mr. Hawkins’ professional opinion shows that the method of open-ended questions helps students get ahead by being the applicants that colleges want because they are more able to analyze things more critically. In this case, the use of educational technology can help because it can be a source for students to answer subjective questions while also boosting their self-esteem.
As a study conducted by John M. Momanyi and Robert J. Masinde states, “technology brings new opportunities to access information, to create rich technology-based environments where students experience new and challenging things, and to connect students with new and different people, places, and things”. The study, named the Use of technology in the classrooms and its effects on students’ attitude toward learning, examines how educational technology gives various benefits to students and changes the roles of the teacher by taking a look at numerous studies conducting over the past two decades.  Momanyi’s and Masinde’s  study helps to prove the Headmaster’s of Lausanne Collegiate School point of view as it also states that while using educational technology, “the teachers began to expect more of their students, present more complex material, conduct better individualization in learning, encourage students’ independent work, and promote student-centered classes. These teachers acted more as coaches and facilitators than as information transmitters. This change in teacher behavior, teaching methods, and teacher expectations positively impacts on the learners’ attitudes towards learning, resulting in improved academic performance”.  This conclusion from the Use of technology in the classrooms and its effects on students’ attitude toward learning directly relates to the beliefs held by Mr. McCathie as it says that the students were required to do more than simply answer yes or no to questions, but were instead given more challenging material while the teachers’ role changed from being a human encyclopedia to a facilitator in the classroom. This type of change in the classroom greatly helps the students because they are able to think more critically. Being a critical thinker in today’s world is very advantageous because many colleges look for students who are able to answer complex, subjective questions and come up with new ideas.

The type of change in the classroom that comes with educational technology could greatly help improve the Shelby County School system’s student achievement rates. In some cases, teachers in lower-income areas are not very qualified to teach specific subjects which gives the students of these teachers in lower income areas a disadvantage when it comes to their education. Instead of the teacher being the major source of information, educational technology or ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) can become the fountain of knowledge that students need in order to learn more information quickly and effectively as seen in studies with other schools.   Unfortunately in the city of Memphis and in Shelby County, there are many low-income families that struggle financially. In Memphis alone the poverty rate is 28.3% while child poverty in Memphis is 44.3%. Shelby County’s poverty rate is slightly lower at 21.7%. The poverty rates of Memphis and Shelby County are both higher than the national average in the United States which is 15.9%. Because the of high child poverty rates in Memphis at 44.3%, it is necessary that the education system integrate ICTs to bridge the achievement gaps in education between wealthier and low-income students.  Being in a low-income family makes it hard for these students in particular to learn and have greater student achievement because they are usually in lower income neighborhoods that do not have as quality an education staff as higher-income neighborhoods. This leads to achievement gaps between students in the same general area that are separated socioeconomically. Charter schools like Rocketship show that the use of educational technology can help these students in particular and use educational technology to help level the playing field for all students. 
The major problem with implementing educational technology is that Shelby County Schools are more focused on standardized testing rather than the idea of analyzing subjective questions. Stuart McCathie also talks about this problem that he believes is an epidemic in public schooling throughout the nation.  The problem, says McCathie, is that the education system receives money for the schools based on how well the students perform on standardized state tests. The methods of these test are right or wrong answers and do not force the student to analyze or reason more liberally. This is because standard testing cannot measure or correct an idea or an opinion the student has, so instead the tests only measure the students’ knowledge through one-dimensional right or wrong answers. This type of education system gives students a disadvantage because they are not taught to think critically which is in high demand at colleges and universities.

The main argument against educational technology is that it does not work or is not effective enough to implement into schools. Many education systems will not use ITCs in the classroom because the evidence for its effectiveness is inconclusive.  Some studies on educational technology conclude that it helps student achievement whereas others conclude the exact opposite. Although there are many studies on the subject, the information gathered from numerous studies over many decades make it exceedingly unclear if educational technology really does affect student achievement for the better or the worse. For this reason and others, education systems throughout the United States remain hesitant and resistant to educational technology.

Opponents against educational technology argue that educational technology itself does not matter; that success depends on the child that is using it. This argument claims that children with more affluence will use educational technology more effectively than children in poverty. This is seen in a study conducted by Neuman and Celano. In this study, Donna C. Celano, an assistant professor of communication at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, and Susan B. Neuman, a NYU professor of early childhood and literacy education, spent hundreds of hours in  Chestnut Hill, a place of concentrated affluence, and Badlands libraries, an area with concentrated poverty, observing how children used the books and computers.  After thorough research Neuman and Celano stated in their book that, “The very tool [educational technology] designed to level the playing field is, in fact, un-leveling it,” in 2012.  This study’s conclusion and others like it state that educational technology widens academic achievement instead of leveling the playing field for students with different socioeconomic backgrounds. The idea that educational technology widening academic achievement is known as the ‘Matthew Effect’, a term coined by sociologist Robert Merton in 1968 recalling the tendency for early advantages to multiply over time.  Now, researchers are documenting a digital Matthew Effect in which privileged students gain more from educational technology than do the less fortunate. As seen in Neuman’s and Celano’s study, the most-supported and more advantaged students are in the best position to use computers more effectively hence creating a wider achievement gap.

The general consensuses against the idea that educational technology helps under privileged students is that their environment is the ultimate factor when it comes to student achievement. Although educational technology might help students in some ways, the communities the children live in will deter them from excelling in their academics. As Mrs. Wendi Thomas, a Memphis journalists says, “All the technology advances in Memphis-area schools won't amount to much when low-income children leave an eight-hour school day and return to communities devoid of meaningful investments”. Mrs. Thomas, like many others, believe that the environment students live in will ultimately affect how they will perform academically. For under privileged students, abandoned housing, under-resourced schools and libraries, crime and the perception of crime, the absence of conveniences like neighborhood grocery stores and the dominance of fast-food restaurants all play the role in creating the sort of negative environment in which families and children face every day (Thomas). Many people agree that until the environment of the low-income community changes, there is not much that an iPad can do to help the children in these communities grow academically.

In conclusion, educational technology can be a useful tool for all students and should be integrated into the Shelby County School system. From faster and more efficient learning, greater motivation and self-esteem, and higher testing scores, studies show that educational technology can be very beneficial for students. If used correctly, educationally technology can be used to help all students grow in their academics and also level the playing field. Unfortunately, educational technology can also be used to widen the educational achievement gap seen across the nation from a socioeconomic stand point. That is why it is important for Shelby County Schools and others to implement education technology into their school system with a watchful eye to ensure that students and teachers use it in the most efficient manner. With educational technology schools can take a more liberal form of testing and teach their students to analyze and think critically giving them more appeal to colleges and universities. Educational technology and all that comes with it is the answer to how we educate students in today’s schools.

Works Cited
Campbell, Christine and Libuse Binder. Shelby County Schools. In-Depth Analysis. Memphis: Center on Reinventing Public Education, 2014. PDF. 22 February 2015.
Delavega, Elena. 2013 Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet. Memphis: University of Memphis, 2013.
McCathie, Stuart. Interview with Headmaster Kristen Wright. 18 November 2014.
Page, Michael S. "Technology Enriched Classrooms: Effects on Sutdents of Low Socioecoconomic Status." Journal of Research on Technology in Education (2002): 389-409.
Paul, Annie M. Educational Technology Isn't Leveling the Playing Field. 25 June 2014. .
Schacter, John. The Impact of Educational Technology on Student Achievement. Santa Monica, 1994.
Thomas, Wendi C. The Effect of Educational Technology Kristen Victoria Wright. 14 November 2014.