Student access
to computers still
lags in isles

Budget cuts slashed
$3.6 million from the DOE's
computer education program

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By Lisa Asato
lasato@starbulletin.com

Hawaii's public school students still lag behind the national average in access to computers and the Internet, but the numbers have improved somewhat over last year, a national study of technology in classrooms has found.

At the same time, Hawaii does a better job than most states in providing more computers per student in schools that have a high percentage of poor students, according to Education Week's Technology Counts 2002, which was released today.

Ronald Skinner, one of the report's research associates, said that while Hawaii ranks 46th out of the 50 states and Washington, D.C., for its ratio of students to computers, the ranking is "not as bad as it sounds."

"There's not a lot of variation there," he said, comparing Hawaii's one computer for every 5.5 students to the national average of 4.2 students, "just a little more than one extra student than the national average."

South Dakota ranked highest at one computer for every 2.4 students; Louisiana fared the worst at 6.2.

As it had last year, Hawaii students had less access to multimedia and Internet-connected computers than the national average. The report said Hawaii had 10.8 students per multimedia computer and 8.4 students per Internet-connected computer vs. national averages of 6.9 and 6.8, respectively.

But the state continued to beat the national average for access to computers in poorer areas. Hawaii ranked 15th.

Skinner said that could be due to a number of factors, including receiving more than $16.7 million over four years in federal funding to wire schools in poor and rural areas.

Skinner also said Hawaii is showing "definite positives" in e-learning, bringing online course work to students in remote areas that would not otherwise have access to it.

Jennifer Delong, also a research associate, said although Hawaii's e-learning program is limited to smaller areas and aimed at students pursuing engineering and technology-oriented careers, "it is definitely on the right track and definitely getting a good start."

Last year, Gov. Ben Cayetano's request for $21 million to buy 18,000 new computers for public schools was denied by the state Legislature. He said the money would have reduced the ratio of students to computers to 4-to-1.

Stephen Kow, a Department of Education specialist for educational technology, said not only was that effort not renewed this session, but budget cuts slashed the entire $3.6 million from the department's computer education program, which is used to buy computers, software and networking infrastructure, and to train teachers. He said it was the first time the program was cut since it started in 1985.

The study also found that about one in four Hawaii eighth-graders did not have a computer at home in 2000. When that number was broken down between rich and poor -- based on eligibility for the national school lunch program -- the report found that number jumped to 40 percent for those who qualified for the lunch program vs. 15 percent of those who did not qualify.

Kow said the Department of Education has some pilot programs that let students take computers home and in some cases allows parents to buy laptops at "very reduced" prices.