What educational issues are more immediate for the Department?
Luigart: The Department has a major concern for the inequalities that currently exist in educational jurisdictions. One of the problems is in the distribution of computer eqiupment and Internet accessibility. It’s possible to visit one school that has 500 or more computers all wired to the Internet in a training environment with award-winning faculty. Down the street a few miles is another school with only a handful of computers with little access to outside networks. The second problem is that equal education programs are not available to the handicapped or otherwise disadvantaged child. We believe it is our responsibility to assure that every child in America has an equal opportunity to learn, and that technology is available to increase the opportunity to improve educational experiences. The third problem is the need for teacher familiarization — here is a need for a greater awareness concerning strategies for the most effective use and implementation of technology in the classroom.
