Influence of state education department regulations on teaching and learning with technology

Official URL: http://www.editlib.org/p/29041

Assessment of educational technology in K-12 schools is vital for every school district for making investment and strategic plans and reporting progress of teaching and learning with technology. This paper discusses specific findings of a qualitative study examining institutional factors that influenced teachers’ efforts of integrating graphing calculators into mathematics classrooms. The group investigated consisted of 13 mathematics teachers in three suburban school districts in a medium-sized city in Central New York. Findings suggest that New York State Education Department Regulations on the place of graphing calculators in the standardized exam influenced teachers’ practices and perceptions on teaching with graphing calculators and so influenced students’ learning on math classes. Findings suggest that if New York State had not mandated the use of the graphing calculator on the Regents exams, then teachers would use graphing calculators differently from how they used them in the previous years.