It would be interesting to hear from someone in the area how accessibility
is being included in this computer effort.


Boston Weaves a Web Over Public Education
City Becomes First Large Urban District to Wire All Schools, Libraries to
the Net
By Pamela Ferdinand
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, October 27, 1998; Page A07 

BOSTON, Oct. 26—Boston today became the first large urban school district
in the country to link all its public schools, libraries and community
centers to the Internet.

When President Clinton issued a challenge two years ago to wire every
school in the nation to the Internet by the year 2000, Boston had one
computer for every 63 students. Now the city possesses one computer for
every 10 students in each of its 128 schools, providing unparalleled access
to economically disadvantaged children who will compete for education and
career opportunities in a technology-savvy world.

The $125 million project, which aims to provide one computer for every four
students by 2001, represents a significant step for public education in a
region already renowned for its academics and private universities. A
partnership between government and private industry spearheaded by Boston
Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the effort has so
far raised more than $26 million in outside funding -- including $3.5
million from Intel Corp., the largest school donation the company has made.

"Here in the education city, there are no information have and have-nots,"
said Menino during a celebration at Mather Elementary School, the oldest
public elementary school in the nation and one of the schools most recently
wired for high-speed Internet access. "Our teachers can use this new
technology to help teach their classes in innovative ways. Every public
school child in Boston will now receive a state-of-the-art education."

An estimated 10 percent of the district's 64,000 students had access to
computers outside school and Massachusetts was among the lowest-ranked
states in classroom computer technology when Menino launched the initiative
in 1996. Nationwide, the vast majority of American families with incomes
over $50,000 own computers at home, and suburban schools generally outpace
urban districts in equipment and training.

According to Menino, $50 million in capital funds was earmarked to change
the situation in Boston, with additional donations from partners such as
Intel and Microsoft Corp., labor unions, cable and networking companies and
government agencies.

As of today, each Boston public school has at least one computer lab and
additional computers in at least four classrooms. In addition, an estimated
60 percent of the school district's 4,800 teachers have received basic
training for using computers as instructional tools in their classrooms.

Each school has been supplied with software to prevent students from
accessing inappropriate information, but many schools are debating whether
to allow students to maintain individual e-mail accounts. "They could go
haywire," mused one teacher.

Eventually, an expert teaching corps will receive special technology
training and vocational programs will be offered for students interested in
technical support careers, Menino said. Teachers will be able to pull up an
Internet site including lesson plans, student work and academic standards,
and a study will be conducted in collaboration with the federal Department
of Education to help determine the long-term impact of computers in
schools, he said.

Bringing technology into the classroom appears to have made a huge
difference for a struggling institution such as Jeremiah E. Burke High
School in the city's Dorchester neighborhood, the first school in Boston to
be outfitted with new computers. With more than 300 computers scattered
through the school's classrooms and offices, Burke students are plunging
into computer-assisted research, Web page design and computer programming.

The key to effective education is combining a strong curriculum with
computers, which are only one instrument -- albeit flashy ones -- in the
learning process, teachers said.

"I haven't met a student yet who doesn't want to learn something about
computers," said Carol Moore, the assistant headmaster in charge of
technology support at Burke. "It's easy to engage them. The challenge is to
make sure that what we're engaging them with is worth their academic time."

During a tour of the school this morning, health class students gathered
information on cancer from Internet sites while a computer applications
class organized a database modeled on the state Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Down the hall, another group of students used the Web to research papers on
Nobel Peace Prize winners and to plan virtual vacations for fictional
travelogues. 

"It's a big difference compared to books," said Jason Nichols, 14, as he
surfed the Internet for information on lung cancer. "Some books have the
information that you want and others don't. But you can always go into a
computer and get the articles you want." 


VICUG-L ARCHIVES     http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html
INDEX of VICUGS		 http://trfn.clpgh.org/vipace/vicug/vicugs.html
SUBSCRIPTION FORM     http://trfn.clpgh.org/vipace/vicug/subscribe.html