Does the Internet Improve Educational Levels, Or Is It Just Another Toy?

Too often people aren't aware that we have proof of how use of the Internet & computers can improve learning skills & test scores. For example, three third-grade classes at the Logan Elementary School in Baltimore County, Maryland, were selected to participate in a special program. The program began as a challenge by the governor of Maryland to Bell Atlantic to match a program instituted in Union City, New Jersey, to get students linked up.

The program put computers & high-speed Internet access lines into the children's homes & provided the principal & teachers with matching computers & high-speed Internet access. Until the installation of the high-speed telephone lines, many of the children didn't even have phones in their homes. (Logan had a high percentage of lower-income families, since many industries in the area had shut down. A substantial number of the families in the program were under the poverty line, earning less than $10,000 per year.)

Before the project began, only 20 percent of the third grade class was reading at grade level or higher. Within a year, test results disclosed that more than 80 percent were reading at grade level or higher. And the improvements were just beginning.

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