The new world of technology in U.S. education: A case study in policy formation and succession

Abstract

During the years 1982–1983 a consensus emerged among U.S. leaders in government, business, and education regarding educational reform. Responding to a new “information era,” leaders asserted the need for a new core curriculum of “new basics,” to promote higher order skills and scientific and technological literacy, hands-on familiarity with computers to produce “computer literacy,” and the utilization of the new information technologies to improve learning in traditional curriculum areas. But since then certainty about the role of technology has faded. Despite the rush to purchase computers and put them to use in schools, district level planning has been grossly inadequate and procurement decisions have often been unwise. Potentially important technologies have been neglected, while visionary ideas for using computers to build “higher order skills” for typical learners in the traditional curriculum areas have not been validated. The “high tech” consensus of 1983 has collapsed, and a new policy agenda for “restructing” the schools has begun to emerge.