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These Questions Must Be Answered
BEFORE Spending $400,000 On More Computers

1. Information sources
   Did the Board gather any information about evidence on computers in schools independently from the very same administration sources who are making this proposal?

2. Proof of concept?
   
   1. Are there any sources anywhere that document actual improvements in academic achievement due to intense computerization in districts like ours, using quantitative and objective measurements? Any? Anywhere?
   2. Is the Board aware of mounting evidence nationally and internationally of the failure of extensive computerization to improve academic performance?

3. Avoca?
   Avoca is a vivid test case. That district is similar to ours in size and in its very high spending level. However, they have spent lavishly on computers well beyond what many experts recommend, much as we now propose to do. Is there any quantitative, objective evidence from Avoca of any gains in any academic area?

4. What Will Be Subtracted?
   Something's gotta give: Has the Board estimated or evaluated what would be lost in the academic day due to hardware booting, software launching, technical instruction, support, glitches, distractions, and, most crucially of all, an overall diminished focus on substantive content?

5. Referendum?
   In this year's referendum campaign, these claims were made:

   "Q. Are all the proposed technology advances at Sears School driving the need for the Operating Referendum?"
   "A. No. ... there are currently no technology plans in place that will be funded by the Operating Referendum."

   What justification is there for a huge expenditure that is contradictory to both the letter and the spirit of that promise?

6. Metrics for future analysis?
   What objective and quantitative goals are you setting now to judge in the future whether this pilot project is successful or not?

7. Peer pressure?
   We tell our children to think critically about choices rather than to go along with what the crowd is doing. Given the paucity of evidence in support of extensive computerization in schools, what is the best way to show YOUR leadership?

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