Published Tuesday, April 08, 2008 2:00 PM
Updated Tuesday, April 08, 2008 2:01 PM

 

State earns B- for school technology

South Carolina joined several other states at No. 13 in the nation for public school technology. The state’s overall school technology grade was B minus, the same as last year.

The 50 states and the District of Columbia were evaluated in “Technology Counts 2008,” released by the national magazine Education Week, which tracks economic and policy forces affecting educational technology.  

This is the 11th year for the magazine’s technology report and the third time letter grades have been assigned.  Nationally, three states were rated an A. There were 13 Bs, 28 Cs and seven Ds.  

State grades were based on three core areas: access, use and capacity. South Carolina ranked 13th  in the nation, tied with a number of other states.   

“Technology is an area where South Carolina has been recognized as a leader,” State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex said .  “But when it comes to technology, today’s leaders can be tomorrow’s also-rans. We have to keep pushing and keep improving."

In South Carolina, 97 percent of public school fourth graders have access to computers in school, slightly better than the national average of 95 percent. Among eighth graders, 90 percent have access to computers, higher than the national average of 83 percent. The number of students per instructional computer tied with the national average at 3.8, and the average number of students per high-speed Internet computer was 3.6, compared to 3.7 nationally.