http://www.gaming-age.com Brief: Tax dollars at work! A school district in Ohio purchased $2.4 million worth of PlayStations to help kids improve.
Early yesterday, a rather interesting local Cleveland news story was released to the newswire regarding PlayStations in schools. The Cleveland Municipal School District recently spent $2.4 million in tax dollars on a program called Lightspan, which allows kids to take home a PlayStation, in order to help them improve. The details are a bit vague, but the report is interesting regardless.
Take a look.
Many parents struggle to keep their children away from video games, but On Your Side Investigator Tom Merriman reports that the Cleveland Municipal School District is using video games as a strategy to help students improve.
Merriman says it looks like an idea dreamed up by a kid.
"The kids think it\'s fun. It\'s a game," Lori Kurek, a teacher, said. "It\'s an adventure, and it engages them."
The idea involves Sony Playstation in the classroom. The Cleveland Municipal School District shelled out $2.4 million on a program called Lightspan, which involves hooking kids up with digital reality.
"And once you have them hooked then perhaps, they\'ll be more interested in reading," Kurek said.
Hundreds of kids are given free Sony Playstations to use at home.
Merriman asks is this just another educational fad or flavor of the month? Or is that $2.4 million in tax money actually making a significant difference in student performance?
In search of that answer, On Your Side challenged the Cleveland School District to produce some numbers, some real numbers, that make their case.
The report concludes that Lightspan students had greater improvements on reading and math proficiency tests than others in the same schools.
Merriman says that a closer look reveals the differences in second- and fourth-grade math performance were so small that they were not statistically significant.
Dr. Paulette Poncelet, of the school districts, says that it\'s too early to show the significance.
"I\'d say wait until the year two results are in," she said. "I\'d say we have a real good foundation for continuing the program."
Nevertheless, on average children taught with the Lightspan software showed greater improvement than those without.
"We\'re very encouraged by the results," Poncelet said.
Merriman says that the fourth-graders who took the Playstations home improved slightly in their reading scores.
The report concluded, however, that the scores were not educationally meaningful.
"As a researcher, I like the results," Poncelet said. "And as a parent, I think this technology belongs to this current generation. Their growing up with this technology. They like this technology. It\'s fun. We\'re validating their experiences."
Time and testing will prove if the investment is worth it.
The program is partially funded by grants from the United States Department of Education
