April 2005 — Special Reports
Print this article | Email this articleClick here to receive your FREE subscription to T.H.E. Journal
Administrative Technology: NEW RULES, NEW TOOLS
Developing Capital
For many teachers, the notion of increasing the efficiency and productivity of the teaching process is an anathema. They argue that teaching is more of an art than a science, and that it cannot be quantified in sterile measures such as time inputs and student outputs. This is a reasonable argument, but it misses the point since the wise use of technology is only one ingredient in the overall recipe for improving productivity.
In the business community, cutting-edge research about the impact of technology on productivity focuses on “organization capital.” This is referred to by some researchers as a “computer-enabled asset,” which is “an asset that includes a company’s work practices and routines, its storehouse of corporate knowledge in computer databases and in people’s heads, and even culture and values as they guide how a company operates” (Lohr 2004). Technology, then, in facilitating how information gets communicated and coordinated in a company, is one of the key building blocks for nurturing and developing organization capital.
What d'es this mean for schools? Improving the efficiency of teachers, and thus the overall productivity of schools, is not simply about performing individual tasks in the classroom quicker. Rather, it’s about the schoolwide use and adoption of technology in a manner that builds organization capital: modifying teacher work practices and routines (electronic assessment, grade recording and reporting); storing knowledge in databases and in people’s heads (student information systems, student performance profiles and special instructional needs); and shifting school culture and values (viewing technology as an integral component in school management and administration, instead of as an add-on remaining at the periphery).
Emerging Trends
There is encouraging evidence that a trend toward technology-based restructuring - or the building of organization capital through the adoption of management and administrative technology - is emerging in schools. In 2000, 34% of teachers reported using computers “a lot” for administrative record keeping, a use that was rivaled only by “creating instructional materials” at 39% (NCES 2000). According to Education Week (2003), more schools were using computer-based assessments of student performance for faster results and to meet some NCLB school accountability standards in 2003. At a September 2004 conference, Quality Education Data reported that technology supporting the building blocks of student assessment is the next “killer app.” QED also reported that 56% of school districts were planning on purchasing or enhancing their student information systems, while 70% were planning to purchase or enhance their instructional management systems.
As previously noted, among the many promising new technologies available to support the administrative restructuring of schools is the electronic gradebook - a software system designed to build databases of student performance by collecting and recording information about student attendance, performance and progress. These gradebooks have the potential to serve as one of the fundamental building blocks of restructuring school management and administration with educational technologies. With several gradebook-type software systems emerging in recent years, two reasonable questions to ask are: Do these systems work, and do they impact teacher efficiency and productivity?
