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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 27, 2003

News Release

Teaching Goes Tech

Teachers prepare for high-tech classrooms

Washington, D.C. - Teaching is no longer about pens and pencils. According to the April issue of NEA Today, technology is increasingly an integral part of today's classroom. Not only are teachers expected to know basic word processing programs but also how to use digital cameras and microscopes, pocket-pc's and video streaming devices in the classroom.

Educators have met 21st century technology with gusto; teachers are becoming computer literate at the same time they're learning to use sophisticated technology and equipment in their classrooms. New provisions of the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) specify how teachers must integrate technology in their classrooms and also include laws that require students to be technology literate by the time they finish eighth grade. This has prompted many state and local governments to require teachers to demonstrate technology proficiency in order to receive their license and certification.

Tony Vincent, a fifth grade teacher in Omaha, Neb., recently began using handheld computers in his classroom. The computers help students write essays for language arts, diagram parts of a cell for science, and animate long division problems. Vincent says the use of such technology has opened up his classroom to an array of opportunities. He says he no longer has to plan lessons around the availability of a computer lab; and students, used to a fast paced high-tech world of video games and the Internet, are more engaged in schoolwork when it is combined with technology. "Now that I have had a taste of the classroom that I've always imagined, I can't imagine teaching without them," he says.

Other highlights from the April issue:

• A NATION AT RISK REVIEWED-A review of the 1983 report that changed the face of public education.
  
• ESEA RAISES THE BAR-The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act changed the rules for many paraeducators. Find out how.
  
• ZERO TOLERANCE-What happens when students run afoul of strict discipline rules? Zero tolerance policies are put under a microscope.
  
• BUDGET WOES-NEA and state affiliates lobby Washington for federal assistance due to increasing state deficits.
  
• CLEANING UP SCHOOLS-An East Orange, N.J., school district tries to make its school buildings healthier and safer.
  
• SUMMER SCHOOL BLUES-Teachers debate whether summer school is beneficial to students.

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NEA Today is the award-winning publication of the National Education Association, the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, school administrators, education support professionals, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.