The Digital Beat
Vol. 2, No. 32, September 5, 2000

Education Technology and the Presidential Race, Part 1:
George W. Bush's Edtech Proposals

by Andy Carvin

Introduction
George W. Bush: Focus More on Learning, Less on Technology
Reshuffling the E-Rate and Other Edtech Programs
Increased Edtech Research
A Carrot and Stick Approach to Funding

Introduction

Now that the major political conventions have come and gone, presidential
candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush are slugging through the final two
months of the campaign, hoping to garner enough support from the electorate
to propel one of them into the White House. This campaign cycle has already
seen numerous issues thrust into the spotlight, including campaign finance
reform, tax cuts and military readiness. Most notably, education policy has
become a major point of contention, as the candidates recognize that
reforming America's schools is often at the top of the list of citizens'
major political concerns.

Despite the candidates' posturing on education reform issues as a whole,
their positions on education technology have only received scant publicity
in the national press. Both Gore and Bush have spoken on edtech issues in
their campaign speeches; their stands are also reflected in their campaigns'
policy literature. (It should be noted, however, that neither of the major
third party candidates, Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan, have taken a detailed
stand on edtech issues.) Just how do Gore and Bush stand on edtech? Would
technology be a priority in either of their prospective administrations?

This article, which centers on Governor Bush, is the first of two reports
that will address each candidate's most significant edtech proposals. A
second report on Vice President Gore will appear during the first week of
October.

George W. Bush:
Focus More on Learning, Less on Technology

                "The final object of education reform is not just
                to shun mediocrity; it is to seek excellence. It is
                not just to avoid failure; it is to encourage
achievement...."

                                - Texas Governor George W. Bush
                                  Manhattan Institute Forum, October 1999

Throughout the 2000 presidential race, education reform has been a major
centerpiece of George W. Bush's campaign. Education technology in
particular, however, has not. Bush's overall education reform vision is
modeled in large part on his education policies at home. In Texas, Bush has
concentrated his efforts on raising school accountability through
standardized testing of students and improving professional development
opportunities for Texas' 260,000+ public school teachers. In what his
campaign often refers to as "the Texas Miracle," standardized test scores
have improved among Texas' students since Bush was elected governor in 1994.
At the time of that election, for example, barely half of all Texas students
passed Texas' standardized test. By 2000, though, a total of 80% of students
passed the test. Similarly, the pass rates of African American students
doubled during that same period, rising from 30% to 60%. While some critics
correctly note that the Texas Miracle was made possible in part by reform
efforts that were initiated prior to his taking office, Bush nonetheless has
made a point to highlight the Texas Miracle in numerous speeches across the
US and supporting campaign documents.

In many ways, Bush's presidential education proposal effectively treats
education technology as a sidebar to other reform goals, including increased
accountability among students and teachers and federal funding for private
school vouchers. These policies, he argues, are much more integral to fixing
America's schools than simply providing schools with more education
technology. Bush summed up his attitude towards edtech in a June 2000 speech
at the Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School in Vancouver, Washington. "We can
harness technology to help close the achievement gap," he stated, "but
technology alone cannot make children learn."

Because Bush intends to hold schools more accountable for reoccurring
failures, he has framed his edtech proposals in the context of giving
teachers the tools and training they need to improve student achievement and
meet state accountability guidelines. However, he has carefully avoided
arguing that wiring America's classrooms should be treated as an end in
itself. During that same speech in Washington state, Bush took a jab at
Gore's strong interest in connecting every school to the Internet: "The goal
ought not to be how many classrooms are wired. The goal is how are we
effectively teaching children," he insisted.


Reshuffling The E-Rate and Other Edtech Programs

If elected president, Governor Bush would consolidate $3 billion in current
federal edtech programs (including the FCC's $2.25 billion E-Rate program
and eight other initiatives at the Department of Education) into a single,
unified edtech fund to be managed by the Department of Education. Bush has
been critical of the current administration's management of the E-Rate,
decrying it as "hidebound with rules and regulations." By combining the
E-Rate with other federal edtech programs, Bush hopes to streamline the
process that schools would follow to receive their edtech funding. For
example, Internet access, new computers and professional development funds
could be requested all at once; this would help schools implement a
comprehensive, integrated edtech policy in one giant step. According to Ken
Lisaius, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, consolidating the E-Rate with
other edtech programs would lead to "unprecedented flexibility in using
federal education technology funds."

The Bush team touts the consolidation plan as a common sense approach to
edtech funding, but there's still one catch they need to address: legal
justification for moving the E-Rate program. The reason why the E-Rate was
delegated to the Federal Communications Commission in the first place was
because the FCC is mandated by Congress to regulate and administer the
nation's telecommunications policies. Because the E-Rate is specifically a
telecommunications infrastructure fund, the FCC is currently the only
federal agency that is legally permitted to manage the program. If Bush were
to be elected president, he would, at minimum, have to convince Congress to
change the legal mandate of the US Department of Education to allow it --
and not the FCC -- to be responsible for this telecommunications program.

"This is simply a wrongheaded proposal," according to Linda Roberts,
director of the U.S. Department of Education's technology office, in a
recent article published by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "The E-Rate funding
comes out of telecommunications law, not education law. ... We [at the
Department of Education] have no jurisdiction."


Increased Edtech Research

Bush has also proposed the allocation of an additional $400 million over
five years to insure that edtech investments pay off as much as possible.
Bush's edtech fund earmarks $65 million per year for the Office of Education
Research and Improvement (OERI) to fund studies that would identify what
edtech practices are most successful. The governor would also dedicate $15
million per year for the development of a national edtech clearinghouse that
would provide schools with information on current research and edtech best
practices. By funding these new programs, Bush seeks to help schools
implement successful edtech strategies that include better curriculum
integration and more effective technology-related professional development.

Many tech-savvy educators have applauded this particular aspect of Bush's
edtech plan. "The Bush proposal looks like the obvious next step in
integrating technology into schools," comments Charlie Kinsella, Technology
Director for Dixon Public Schools in Dixon, Illinois. "Training teachers to
make good use of the technology that has been provided in the classrooms is
an absolutely necessary step.  Most new computer users are happy to get a
machine to do what they ask.  With teachers, we have many new users whom we
expect to be able to teach children, when they themselves have never had any
training in computer use, much less teaching with computers."


A Carrot and Stick Approach to Funding

The most controversial aspect of Bush's edtech plan is a proposal to link
the availability of federal funding to student performance. "The theory is
simple," Bush argued during his recent visit to Vancouver, WA. "Public funds
must be spent on things that work -- on helping children, not sustaining
failed schools that refuse to change." The Bush plan would make a school's
use of federal edtech funding increasingly more flexible as it could
demonstrate an increase in test scores.

It is this last proposal in particular that has upset many educators with
long-standing technology experience. "What bothers me about [Bush's edtech
plan] is that its view of the uses of technology is so limited," worries
John Adsit, online education coordinator for Jefferson County Public Schools
in Golden, Colorado. "The fact that it perceives technology as merely a
means of assisting normal school teaching is galling enough, but his concept
of tying accountability to it, presumably on the current Texas model,
ensures that no risks will be taken in innovation."

Such concerns should not be ignored. In many ways, Bush's basic premise of
linking federal edtech funding to higher test scores is fundamentally flawed
for it treats education technology as a reward for successful schools and
not as a means for becoming more successful. Flexible access to all teaching
tools, whether they are new textbooks or new computers, gives educators an
expanded pedagogical arsenal to combat poor learning performance. If one
accepts the notion that education technology has the potential to improve
performance, it is counterproductive to offer more flexible edtech funding
only to those schools that have already succeeded in raising test scores.
Limiting low-performing schools' access to federal edtech funding is in many
ways akin to limiting a school's ability to acquire new textbooks because
its students are not successful.

Adsit also worries that the Bush proposal is so focused on a traditional
schooling model that it will not encourage creative uses of education
technology in society. "The potential of technology to serve the segments of
our population that are currently undeserved, including the homeless, the
homebound, migrant families and the learning disabled, is enormous," Adsit
continues. "To achieve that potential, though, requires new ideas and new
learning structures that go beyond the traditional classroom.  Bush's plan
does not include such innovations, and his limitations ensure that no one
else's plan will include them, either."

Next month: Al Gore and Education Technology

---------------------------------------

(c) Benton Foundation, 2000. Redistribution of this electronic publication -
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(www.benton.org/cpphome.html).

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