Research

The National center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) has released the State of Learning Disabilities: Facts, Trends and Indicators, which provides a national and state-by-state snapshot of learning disabilities (LD) in the United States, and their impact on the ability of students and adults to achieve educational success and employment.

CoSN’s latest EdTechNext Report explores the transformative role and educational impact of eContent in today’s K-12 classroom.

The first ever World Report on Disability provides the evidence for innovative policies and programs that can improve the lives of people with disabilities, and facilitate implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

SETDA’s eighth annual National Educational Technology Trends Report highlights innovative educational technology activities that are playing a crucial role in K-12 school improvement efforts in states and local communities across the country.

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) has partnered with the University of Michigan and their disability studies department to support a national disability survey to learn more about your disability connections and the meaning of disability in your communities.   This information will help AAPD better direct its programs and policy work.  
Take the survey [...]

A new report from Project Tomorrow, explores how teachers, principals, district administrators, librarians and technology coordinators are addressing the student vision for learning around three key trends: mobile learning, online and blended learning and digital content.

An AACTE and NCLD report highlights the challenges teachers face as the populations they teach become increasingly diverse and the need for improved teacher preparation programs to give teachers the tools to support diverse learners, especially students with disabilities.

Special reports from the technology team at Education Week Digital Directions aim to highlight the progress made in the e-learning arena, as well as the administrative, funding, and policy barriers that some experts say are slowing the growth of this form of education.

The Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities in partnership with the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship hosted a roundtable on “Cloud Computing and Disability Communities: How Can Cloud Computing Support a More Accessible Information Age and Society?” The roundtable brought together leaders in industry, education, public policy, disability advocacy, and government to explore [...]

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), in collaboration with ASCD and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), released Innovate to Educate: System [Re]Design for Personalized Learning. This report is based upon the insights and recommendations of some 150 visionary education leaders convened at an August 4‐6, 2010 Symposium in Boston, Mass and [...]

The purpose of the paper Literacy, Employment and Youth with Learning Disabilities: Aligning Workforce Development Policies and Programs is threefold: (1) to provide information to policymakers and government personnel who support and develop workforce development programming, policies and practices for youth, including those with learning disabilities (LD); (2) to provide a national view of the literacy and [...]

The primary goal of the white paper Technology-Enabled and Universally Designed Assessment: Considering Access in Measuring the Achievement of Students with Disabilities—A Foundation for Research is to stimulate research into technology-enabled assessments (TEAs) that incorporate conditions designed to make tests appropriate for the full range of the student population through enhancing accessibility. The paper explores the concept of accessibility [...]

Many of the universal design features built into Apple hardware and software offer simple but powerful ways to support diverse learners’ needs, both in classrooms and at home. This white paper provides an overview of educational technology policy and practice with concrete examples of how teachers, students, and parents can use Apple technology to make [...]

NCTI participated in a policy forum convened by the Project Forum at NASDSE in February 2010 to identify the challenges associated with serving students with disabilities in virtual K-12 public school programs and develop policy recommendations to address these challenges.

This report discusses how struggling students can be supported in science education and how accessible and assistive technologies can help. Following a background introduction to the topic and challenges, the report is organized into five sections, each addressing an important dimension of K–12 science education within the context of 21st century skills. Each section presents [...]

Gamer Investments 
The gaming industry is set to lose $3 billion in potential revenue along with more than 30 million customers as Americans who play video games continue to age and become disabled, according to a new white paper co-written by The AbleGamers Foundation and 7-128 Software. In “Gaming on a Collision Course: Averting significant revenue loss [...]

The report, “Educational Technology in U.S. Public Schools: Fall 2008, First Look,” is designed to provide national estimates on “the availability and use of educational technology in public elementary and secondary schools” for the reporting period. It’s part of a triptych of reports that includes district, school, and teacher surveys. The report compiled responses from 1,500 [...]

A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, “Teens and Mobile Phones,” reveals that low-income teens (defined as those living in homes with less than $30,000 income annually) use their mobile phones to access the Web almost twice as much as their higher-income peers. Those same teens were also significantly less likely [...]

The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) today released its seventh annual National Educational Technology Trends Report, sharing new data on the increasingly important role that technology is playing in K-12 school improvement efforts in local communities in each of the 50 states.
Five State Educational Technology Leadership Trends (identified through the Enhancing Education Through Technology [...]

The Effects of Daily Reading Opportunities and Teacher Experience on Adolescents with Moderate to Severe Intellectual Disability study sought to determine if students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities could improve their emergent reading skills when given daily access to age- and ability-appropriate books. The study also examined if students made more improvement when the [...]

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has issued the results of the first large-scale study looking at who uses computers at public libraries and how those services impact their lives. The study shows that teenagers are the most active group of users, with half of all 14- to 18-year-olds having gone online at the public [...]

Each year, on the anniversary of the 2005 National Education Summit on High Schools, Achieve releases a 50-state progress report on the alignment of high school policies with the demands of college and careers. Closing the Expectations Gap, 2010 is the fifth annual report in this series. The report details state progress implementing the American [...]

By virtually every measure, electronic learning is experiencing unprecedented growth and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. A new analysis and forecast released this month by research firm Ambient Insight bolstered previous research in this area, showing that electronic learning, by dollar volume, reached $27.1 billion in 2009 and predicting this figure [...]

A new policy brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education about how online learning can address three looming challenges in K-12 education: low high school graduation rates, an imminent lack of funding for schools, and a shortage of high-quality teachers to teach students, especially in the STEM subjects.
Full report

The End of Techno-Critique: The Naked Truth about 1:1 Laptop Initiatives and Educational Change is analysis that responds to a generation of criticism leveled at 1:1 laptop computer initiatives. The article presents a review of the key themes of that criticism and offers suggestions for reframing the conversation about 1:1 computing among advocates and critics. [...]

GENERATION M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds, one of the largest and most comprehensive publicly available sources of information on the amount and nature of media use among American youth, provides a detailed look at current media use patterns among young people, and also documents changes in children’s media habits since the [...]

Smaller school districts are less likely than larger districts to have a staffer dedicated to educational technology, according to a federal survey on the availability and use of school technology resources. Schools are generally using technology and making it available to students and teachers, the National Center for Education Statistics survey found. However, while 83% [...]

How do you define state of the art AT? This 2010 Issue Brief offers guidance for current and future investment, development, and research in educational and assistive technology and training.

THE Journal
The final results of an extensive nationwide survey on educator use of social networking (PDF) were published last week, and it appears that more than six educators in ten are at least interested enough in the growing medium to register on one or more sites. The path from expressed interest to active interest, though, [...]

EdWeek
A new report card on state-level innovation in education by a trio of ideologically varied groups reports what they see as deeply disturbing results, with most states earning C’s, D’s, or even F’s in such key areas as technology, high school quality, and removal of ineffective teachers.
Full story

Conclusions from a new study question the belief that students are not choosing STEM careers because they are underprepared or short on talent. Despite popular opinion, the flow of qualified math and science students through the American education pipeline is strong—except among high-achievers, who appear to be defecting to other college majors and fields. Researchers [...]

What does innovation in education look like? How do we initiate and sustain innovations?  What are the barriers to doing so?  This report from the New Venture School Fund with contributions from the Stupski Foundation and Carnegie Corporation of New York  Foundation looks at these issues in a new report.   
Opener: “We find ourselves at a [...]

The K-12 research and advocacy association iNACOL has published the first-ever standards for K-12 online education programs, National Standards for Quality Online Programs. The publication is designed to serve as a resource for state and local policymakers and education leaders, providing guidelines on content, evaluation, instruction, leadership, and support services; and focusing more broadly on [...]

A new report examines how districts can make the most of education technology funds, and an accompanying guide identifies effective school technology tools. Together, these resources are intended to help school leaders personalize instruction and give teachers the tools they need to succeed with low-income (Title I) student populations.
The report, Leveraging Title I and Title [...]

A key study from 2008 addressing educator attitudes on technology integration into practice was conducted by the National Education Association’s American Federation of Teachers and is entitled, Access, Adequacy and Equity in Education Technology: Results of a Survey of America’s Teachers and Support Professionals on Technology in Public Schools and Classrooms.  The report is based [...]

As online learning continues to gain momentum across the country, education experts are warning that policies surrounding this popular learning option are shaky at best. A new report by the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) is calling for a better policy and funding framework to make sure students are getting the best education [...]

A recent study found that teaching students about unsafe online behavior and cyberbullying can reduce its impact, at least in the short-term. The study, performed by Educational Technology Policy, Research, and Outreach (ETPRO), part of the University of Maryland College of Education, assessed whether a new program used by DARE and iKeepSafe was successful in [...]

Evaluation of the Enhancing Education Through Technology Program: Final Report provides descriptive information about education technology practices related to the core goals and strategies of the EETT program. The report provides data and analysis related to four of the five issues targeted by the EETT program’s performance objectives. These performance objectives address each of the [...]

Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies, a new report from the Department of Education, finds that, on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction. The difference between student outcomes for online and face-to-face classes was larger in studies contrasting conditions that blended elements of [...]

The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) has published a comprehensive report on the status of individuals with learning disabilities (LD) in the United States. The report provides a data-based perspective of LD in the context of education reform.
Download the full report here.

A new report released by the U.S. Department of Education, which analyzed 46 studies comparing online learning to face-to-face education, concluded that “blended learning,” or programs that include elements of both face-to-face and online learning, is somewhat more effective than either approach by itself. The study also found that, by itself, online learning was more [...]

Game Changer, a new report from the Joan Ganz Cooney at Sesame Workshop, offers a new framework to use games to help children learn healthy behaviors, traditional skills like reading and math, and 21st-century strengths such as critical thinking, global learning, and programming design. It specifies how increased national investment in research-based digital games might [...]

New research finds that educational software is not self-instructing as previously suggested. Annika Lantz-Andersson discovered that when students are told that they’ve incorrectly solved a math problem on educational software, many questioned the software’s programming or accuracy rather than their own logic, indicating that it’s important for an educator to monitor students’ use of such programs in [...]

The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) released the 2009 Trends Report, Focus on Technology Integration in America’s Schools, on April 2. This report identifies programs that effectively integrate technology to create robust subject-matter content, innovative curricula, ongoing professional development, and diagnostic assessments to facilitate individualized instruction and highlights the federal Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) grant [...]

Follow up study on the effectiveness of reading and mathematics software has been released by the U.S. Dept. of Education, IES. What are the ramifications for your work?

The Pew Internet & American Life Project produces reports that explore the impact of the internet on families, communities, work and home, daily life, education, health care, and civic and political life. The Project aims to be an authoritative source on the evolution of the Internet through collection of data and analysis of real-world developments as they affect the virtual world.

Given the prominence technology holds in today’s schools and society, it seems crucial to explore its use and function in home environments for students with disabilities, particularly when considering everyday technology such as “smart” toys, computers, and communication devices.

This article surveys the current capacities of speech technology, reviews its existing and potential uses in education in general and special education.

The purpose of this article is to offer a review of research on the use of assistive technology for students with disabilities and some reflections on the nature of knowledge that is being produced by researchers who are examining these issues.

Historically, the use of technology in special education has been advanced on the basis of marketplace innovations and federal policy initiatives rather than on a compelling research base. This article presents a set of quality indicators that will guide efforts to enhance that base.

This paper looks at how computer and video-based epistemic games can help provide career preparation experiences for young people.

The “Doing What Works” site offers a user-friendly interface to quickly locate teaching practices that have been found effective by the U.S. Department of Education’s research arm – the IES – and similar organizations. The site recently added a feature that will empower educators and administrators with research-based strategies to help boost their early childhood language and literacy practices.

Hear Yong’s thoughts on innovation, how technology is defining new talents, and why we all should embrace change.

As a school administrator, how can you determine which technology products will support your State-aligned curriculum? As an ed-tech vendor, how can you help your clients effectively integrate products into the classroom? Our simple and easy-to-use Consumer Guides help school administrators and ed-tech vendors learn what questions to ask and how to make informed decisions relating to education technology.

Today, more than ever, it is critical that technology products, devices, and tools have evidence pointing to their effectiveness. Panelists discussed the latest findings driving the field, and the best practices gleaned from the research. A lively conversation followed outlining effective strategies to communicate research-based findings in user-friendly terms to public and practitioner audiences.

Captivating footage of the “Speaking Out on Educational Technology Research” panel from NCTI’s Technology Innovators Conference was showcased on eSchoolNews TechWatch  this week.  Watch clips of panelists discuss how findings from education technology research can more effectively be used to drive improvements in the field. Panelists included Milton Chen, executive director of The George Lucas [...]

The evolution of social media and collaborative online environment has been rapid and pervasive, and people are struggling to understand and keep abreast of new developments. See NCTI’s Issue Brief for a discussion on the implications.

How are kids using the internet? Find out in this report on social networking by the National School Boards Association and Grunwald Associates LLC.

We asked key thought leaders from education and technology fields, “What will it take for assistive and learning technology to be considered a critical component of education to help more students learn, achieve, and reach their potential?” We learned that the AT field is at a tipping point.

Researchers at the SEAT Center at Illinois State University, together with Don Johnston, Inc. and a 6-county coalition of special education programs, investigated the outcomes for students with learning and academic disabilities when tech-savvy teachers were given professional development and access to SOLO®, Don Johnston’s new state-of-the-art software.

IntelliTools, Inc., represented by Arjan Khalsa and Ed Murphy, and David Chard pose a key question that no one has attempted to answer for students with physical disabilities: “How can software accurately detect mathematical automaticity?”

Karen Erickson at the University of North Carolina’s Center for Literacy & Disability Studies with Don Johnston Inc.’s President Ruth Ziolkowski and Product Manager Ben Johnston proposed a Tech in the Works project to research the benefits of Don Johnston’s SOLO software. The modest project took off—with surprises from subject recruitment through data analysis.

Tech in the Works Shows Potential Effectiveness of the Signing Science Dictionary: For researcher Judy Vesel of TERC and her partners at Vcom3D, developer of the Signing Avatar® assistive technology, Tech in the Works-funded research demonstrated that a preliminary, 300-word version of the Signing Science Dictionary raised science achievement among students with hearing impairment.

With an NCTI Technology in the Works grant, the team of Matt Kaplowitz, Director of Technology and Content Innovation at Bridge Multimedia, and researcher Wendy Sapp of Visual Impairment Educational Services compared the ease of use for students and teachers of Bridge’s My School Day Online scheduler to ease of use of Microsoft’s Outlook scheduler.

See the full Moving Toward Solutions: Assistive and Learning Technology for All Students report reflecting these ideas.
Key Finding from the NCTI Moving Toward Solution Report
All stakeholder groups expressed concern about the growing pressure to address the mandate for evidence-based research and product adoption. Stakeholders, however, have not reached a consensus about a common core of [...]

Laureate Learning Systems designs, produces, and supports computer-based language intervention tools. Laureate programs are used to enable children and adults with special needs to build skills including categorization, vocabulary, expressive language, syntax, reading remediation, auditory discrimination, functional language, and concept development. The range is wide, and Laureate helps consumers find what’s right for them by organizing products according to seven stages of language development from birth to adulthood.

This article reports statistics on the use of computers and the Internet by American children enrolled in nursery school and students in kindergarten through grade 12. The report examines the overall rate of use, the ways in which students use the technologies, where the use occurs, and the relationships of these aspects of computer and Internet [...]

The New York State Technology and Science Law Center (NYSTAR), affiliated with the Syracuse University College of Law, produced this excellent guide to the specific commercialization of technology products and the use of the Internet as a research tool to support entrepreneurship. The guide contains sections on performing market analyses, producing Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRDA’s), obtaining venture capital, intellectual property rights, regulations under a variety of governmental and international agencies, and other critical topics.