This project supports United States participation in the 1989 international survey of computer use in elementary and secondary education, organized by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (I.E.A.). In the United States, data about schools' instructional uses of computers, particularly in mathematics, science, computer studies, and the English language, will be obtained by survey methods from principals and teachers in 1,800 schools. This data, combined with similar data collected in 1983 and 1985, will be used to document changes in teachers' and principals' actions and beliefs about the applicability of computers to instruction in mathematics , science, computer studies, and other fields. Because all 18 participating countries will be employing nearly identical survey instruments and similar sampling practices, international comparisons will also be made with this data. This project also includes a policy analysis of the effects of state policies and approaches towards school technology on actual school practice, by combining detailed inquiry into state-level actions with school-level survey data, the survey sample having been substantially supplemented in six states selected to provide a wide cross-section of demographic environments and approaches to technology by state governments.
