Transforming Schools with Technology
How Smart Use of Digital Tools Helps Achieve Six Key Education Goals
Andrew A. Zucker
cloth, 260 Pages
Pub. Date: January 2008
ISBN-13: 978-1-891792-83-0
Price: $49.95
Add to Cart
paper, 260 Pages
Pub. Date: January 2008
ISBN-13: 978-1-891792-82-3
Price: $31.00
Add to Cart
Look Inside the Book
In this timely and thoughtful book, Andrew Zucker argues that technology can and will play a central role in efforts to achieve crucial education goals, and that it will be an essential component of further improvement and transformation of schools.
The book is marked not only by Zucker’s cutting-edge sophistication about digital technologies, but also by his longstanding engagement with and commitment to K-12 education. It is destined to be recognized as the crucial volume on digital technology and education, and it will be essential reading for school leaders and teachers, policymakers, and those members of the general public—among them parents and engaged citizens—for whom the fate of education is a vital concern.
Praise
“Too much of the debate over technology in education has been about whether it is needed. Andrew Zucker cogently makes the case for shifting our focus to how to use technology effectively. It is time to move beyond techno-cheerleading and focus on the educational leadership and vision it takes to use technology to transform learning. Finding that thoughtful balance is why every educator and policymaker should read Transforming Schools with Technology.
— Keith R. Krueger, CEO, Consortium for School Networking
Transforming Schools with Technology shows how technology must be an integral part of any effort to redesign and improve schools. It emphasizes the importance of visionary leaders and how—with the smart use of digital technologies—necessary reforms can occur in our schools and classrooms.
— Nancy Roche, Board Chair, Forsyth County Schools, Georgia
Andrew Zucker’s book is an indispensable resource for educators and decisionmakers—a balanced, coherent, and insightful discussion about the use of computers and digital tools on behalf of enhanced teaching and learning in our schools. Zucker’s firsthand experience of technology programs at the national, state, and local levels provides a unique perspective on both the promise and pitfalls of investing in digital tools. He takes on big and compelling educational goals for technology: making schools engaging and relevant; reaching all students; attracting, preparing, and retaining high-quality teachers; and improving the ways in which we measure and account for learning. Without fanfare or hype—and with a measured, clear, and jargon-free writing style—Zucker shows how some schools are being transformed and why today’s digital tools are essential for students, teachers, and school administrators.
— Linda G. Roberts, Former Director, Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education
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About the Author
Dr. Andrew Zucker is a senior research scientist at the Concord Consortium. He has been a teacher of mathematics, science, and computers, a school computer center director, and, for seven years, a budget and policy analyst at the U.S. Department of Education. Zucker has worked in independent nonprofit organizations for 20 years as an education researcher, developer, strategic planner, and evaluator. He was associate director of the Center for Education Policy at SRI International (the former Stanford Research Institute) before returning to the Boston area in 2003.
Zucker’s work at nonprofits has included codirecting a six-year study of systemic education reform in 25 states and Puerto Rico; directing an evaluation of one of the first sets of national education standards; codirecting a five-year evaluation of one of the first online high schools, The Virtual High School; codirecting a project that developed award-winning instructional videotapes for middle school mathematics; and managing a consortium of institutions that were studying 1:1 laptop programs for students (ubiqcomputing.org).
Zucker has published dozens of articles, reports, and book chapters and was lead author of The Virtual High School: Teaching Generation V (2003), the first book focused on online high schools. He also has testified before congressional committees, two state legislatures, and the National Education Goals Panel. He has been a member of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics for 30 years and served for three years on the editorial panel of the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. Zucker is also a member of the American Educational Research Association, the Consortium for School Networking, and the International Society for Technology in Education.
Zucker graduated from Harvard College in 1967, received a master’s in education from Stanford in 1970, and an EdD from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1978. He was an Institute for Educational Leadership Education Policy Fellow in 1978–79. He and his wife, Elizabeth F. Zucker, live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.