Public School Use of Educational Technology Before the Pandemic

New school-level data describe how schools are using education technology in the education process. They include information about perceptions of the quality of available technology, supports for teachers to use technology, and availability of technology to students in and out of school. The National Center for Education Statistics released a new report, Use of Educational Technology for Instruction in Public Schools: 2019–20. The report provides nationally representative data from public schools about their use of educational technology for instruction during the 2019–20 school year, prior to the coronavirus pandemic. It presents information about technology resources and various ways that schools use these resources for instruction. Forty-five percent of schools reported having a computer for each student. An extra 37 percent reported having a computer for each student in some grades or classrooms. Fifteen percent let students in all grades take school-provided computers home and another 8 percent let students in some grades take them home. In addition to 15 percent of schools that let all students take computers home, another 15 percent let students take computers home on a short-term basis. About a tenth of all schools (9 percent) gave mobile hotspots or web-enabled devices with paid data plans for students to take home. Nearly half of schools said that their teachers were given training that focused on how to use a computer or software to a moderate (36 percent) or large extent (11 percent). About the same percentage said that their teachers were trained on how to use technology for teaching and learning during classes for specific subjects to a moderate (40 percent) or large extent (13 percent).