Title: Children with home computers likely to have lower test scores, study finds
Source: ScienceDaily
Date (published): 18/06/2010
Date (accessed): 19/06/2010
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Around the country and throughout the world, politicians and education activists have sought to eliminate the "digital divide" by guaranteeing universal access to home computers, and in some cases to high-speed Internet service.

However, according to a new study by scholars at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy, these efforts would actually widen the achievement gap in math and reading scores. Students in grades five through eight, particularly those from disadvantaged families, tend to post lower scores once these technologies arrive in their home.

...The sample size was large -- numbering more than 150,000 individual students. The data allowed researchers to compare the same children's reading and math scores before and after they acquired a home computer, and to compare those scores to those of peers who had a home computer by fifth grade and to test scores of students who never acquire a home computer. The negative effects on reading and math scores were "modest but significant," they found.

Download the report: Scaling the Digital Divide: Home Computer Technology and Student Achievement
Jacob L. Vigdor, Helen F. Ladd
NBER Working Paper No. 16078
Issued in June 2010
pdf file