INTERNET TECHNOLOGY LAGGING IN WV SCHOOLS

(08/10/2005)

Beyond lots of hoopla, 21st century technology is lagging in West Virginia schools. Many schools still lack high-speed internet service, while a few no service at all. Last week, there was a report of the state lagging in high-speed internet service in most of the state's rural counties. A new report shows that West Virginia has largely neglected an effort begun in the late 1980s to install computers in every classroom to give school children an early start. The report was recently completed for the Governor's Office of Technology by research centers at West Virginia and Marshall Universities. Cal Kent, director of Marshall's Center for Business and Economic Research, told lawmakers there are too few computers, and the ones there are are obsolete. Former Governor Gaston Caperton made it a goal of his administration to put a computer in every classroom after taking office in 1989. The WVU and Marshall research centers surveyed nearly 600 teachers of K-through-12. Those surveyed complained about the number and age of classroom computers and the lack of Internet service in the classroom.

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