Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

The 2001 Missouri School District Computing Census

Executive Summary

Back to 2001 Census

The 2001 Census of Technology shows that Missouri schools have come a long way in providing educational technologies to administrators, faculty, staff, and students. More classrooms are wired, more schools are connected, and students-to-computer ratios have decreased.  

Of the 55,905 classrooms reported in Missouri public schools, 84% or 47,059 are wired for the Internet – up from 82% in 2000, 74% in 1999, and 56% in 1998. Of the 2253 school buildings that completed surveys, over 97% report connections to the Internet - up from 97% in 2000 and 95% in 1999. The overall number of students per computer is currently is 3.8; the number of students per Internet-capable computers is 4.2.

The proportion of teachers, technology support staff, and principals estimated to have intermediate and/or advanced technology skills have increased incrementally each year. The percent of principals estimated to have intermediate and/or advanced technology skills was 82% in 2001, up from 80% in 2000, 77% in 1999 and 65% in 1998.  The percent of technology support staff with intermediate and/or advanced skills was estimated to be 97%, up from 83% in 2000, 75% in 1999, and 76% in 1998.

 

Below is a shortened list of some of the 2001 COT results.

 

Technology Planning

District Technology Plans

• 522 districts (99.7%) report having a technology plan
• 99% of the plans address hardware/peripherals and staff training; over 95% address equipment maintenance and requirement review; 92% cover software and internal connections; 82% curriculum integration; and 59% electrical wiring capacity
• 504 (96%) of the plans are state approved
• 97% of the districts indicate that teachers are involved in district decision making regarding technology acquisition and use; over 90% of the districts involve technology committee members, library media specialists and principals; 88% instructional technology directors; and at least 70% include school board members, chief financial officers, business partners, and superintendents
• 513 districts (98%) have a technology component in comprehensive school improvement plans

Building Technology Plans

• 1929 school buildings (86%) are included in district technology plans; 1879 buildings (84%) have their own technology plans
• Over 80% of the building technology plans address hardware/peripherals, staff training, and software; over 70% also address curriculum integration, internal connections, and equipment maintenance
• Over 80% of buildings report that the principal, teachers, and technology committee members are involved in developing, implementing, and evaluating the building’s technology plan; 73% also include the library media specialist
• 1914 buildings (85%) report having their own comprehensive school improvement plan, with 75% of these plans having technology as a component of the CSIP

 

Technology Professional Development

Technology Staff

• 83% of districts have district staff responsible for technology maintenance / support; 78% are assisted by outside vendors
• 91% of buildings report that district staff are responsible for the technical training and/or support of the building staff; 68% also report the involvement of school certificated staff
• An average of 3.25 district staff FTE and .8 building-level staff FTE are responsible for all training and support
• Only 2% of schools estimate the number of staff responsible for technical maintenance / support will decrease, while 53% estimate the FTE will stay the same and 45% estimate an increase in FTE

Training Priorities

• 78% of districts rank curriculum integration and instructional integration as top technical assistance priorities, followed by networking (46%), and technology planning (45%)
• 68% of buildings rank instructional delivery / instructional technology as the top training priority for faculty, followed by curriculum development (60%), basic computer operations (53%), Internet applications (47%), word processing (45%), and evaluating Internet information (41%)
• 70% of buildings rank curriculum development as the top training priority for support staff, followed by technology planning (43%), LAN applications (36%), community awareness (34%), and network / wiring (33%)
• On average, schools schedule two days for professional development activities where teachers can learn or upgrade their technology skills

Technology Skills

• 83% administrative / district office staff have intermediate (65%) or advanced (18%) skills in the use of technology
• 86% of principals have intermediate (64%) or advanced (22%) skills
• 72% of teachers have intermediate (­­­54%) or advanced (18%) skills
• 97% of technology support staff have intermediate (31%) or advanced (66%) skills
• 10% of districts and 17% of buildings require teachers to demonstrate technology skills for employment or continued employment with the school

 

Hardware and Support

District Hardware

• District administrative / office staffs use 17,523 computers, of which 89% are PCs or PC-compatible and 11% are Apple/Mac machines
• Of the PC-compatible computers, 79% run on Windows, 20% on Novell, and 1% on Unix / Linux; 81% of the Apple/Mac machine operate on OS 7.x, 10% on OS 8.x, and 9% on OS 9.x or higher
• Districts planned to purchase an additional 1360 computers during the 2000-2001 school year, 1375 next year, and 2224 the following year
• In the next two years, districts estimate purchasing (for district-wide use) 43,667 computers, 13,868 computer upgrades, and 1367 interactive whiteboards and projectors

Building Hardware

• 237,115 computers are available to all building staffs; 204,187 (86%) of the computers are located in classrooms, computer labs, and libraries
• 75% of all computers and 78% of instructional computers are PC / PC-compatible
• Approximately 180,000 of the computers (80% PCs and 20% Macs) are multimedia equipped and with 91% of them located in instructional rooms
• Of the PC-compatible computers, 84% run on Windows (predominantly Windows 95 and 98) and 16% use Novell (mostly Novell 5.x); 66% of Apple computers operate on OS 7.x, 17% on OS 8.x and 17% on OS 9.x or higher
• Of the 61,407 classrooms, computer labs, and libraries, 61% have telephone access, 85% are wired for the Internet, 76% have multimedia-equipped computers, 55% have one or more multimedia computers with a direct Internet connection, and 11% have a teacher workstation that includes an Internet-connected computer, printer, and projection device
• 91% (163,892) of the 179,509 Internet-connected computers are located in instructional rooms

Building Support

• 91% of buildings indicate that district staffs are responsible for technical maintenance / support; while 62% also use outside vendors, and 54% involve school certificated staff
• 3992 building-level FTE are responsible for technical support, averaging 1.78 per building
  

 

Internet Connectivity – Distance Learning

Internet Connectivity

• 96% of the district administrative buildings/offices have a direct link to the Internet, with T1 or better bandwidth capacity in over 90% of the offices
• 97% (1773) buildings have access to the Internet, with 1303 of the these buildings (73%) having a direct link

District and Building Networking

• 503 districts (97%) have a local area network (LAN), with Novell as the predominant server in use, followed by Windows NT, and Apple Share
• 1619 buildings (72%) have a local area network (LAN)
• 297 districts (57%) connect district offices to other school buildings by a wide area network (WAN) -- 2217 school buildings are connected to district WANs
• 1332 buildings (60%) are connected to a district-wide area network (WAN)
• 209 buildings participate in distance learning through interactive television (I-TV), 158 via satellite, and 135 through desktop (Internet-based) technologies

Internet Usage Policies

• 82% of districts require parent signatures before students can access the Internet: 80% of elementary, 87% of middle school / junior high, and 78% of high school parents
• 1254 buildings (56%) require parent signatures before students can access the Internet
• Approximately 59% of students have signed Internet acceptable use policies
• 1005 buildings (45%) use filtering software on Internet-connected computers

 

Technology Use

District Technologies

• 463 districts (89%) incorporate technology into curriculum guides
• 19% of districts have student technology proficiency requirements
• 69% of districts post school calendars on district websites and 65% include district staff; 58% have school members and 51% post annual reports of school district data --  only 34% post student work and 16% post district curriculum
• Districts employ an average of 3.49 FTE responsible for training and supporting teachers to integrate technology: 1.54 district staff and 1.95 school-level staff
• Districts provide email accounts to 8155 administrators, 61,370 teachers, and 42,662 students
• Districts estimate that 84% of 6th graders are able to perform basic computer operations
• 73% of districts have installed their own email servers, 65% have web servers, 58% have firewalls, and 44% have proxy servers

Building Technologies

• Buildings report the following routine use of technology, by application and user type

• Buildings estimate the following routine uses of technology, by function and user type

• 65% of buildings indicate the technology coordinator is responsible for the leadership and support of teachers in integrating technology, followed by school administrators (57%), and library media specialists (38%)
• Buildings estimate that 33% of the teaching staffs are able to fully integrate technology into the curriculum
  

 

Technology Funding

District Technology Spending

• For 2000-2001, districts projected technology expenditures of $ 69,015,848
• Districts project spending $64,473,200 next fiscal year, with less money being spent on hardware and software and more funds spent on professional development, connectivity, and networking
• 368 districts (71%) applied for e-rate discounts for FY01 expenditures, estimating $11 million in savings (median was $10,000)
• 11% of districts purchased technology products or services off the Missouri prime vendor contract

 

Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
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