TY  - JOUR
AU  - Angrist,Joshua
AU  - Lavy,Victor
TI  - New Evidence on Classroom Computers and Pupil Learning
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 7424
PY  - 1999
Y2  - November 1999
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7424
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7424.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Joshua Angrist
Department of Economics
MIT, E52-353
50 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA  02142-1347
Tel: 617/253-8909
Fax: 617/253-1330
E-Mail: angrist@mit.edu

Victor Lavy
Department of Economics
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Mount Scopus
Jerusalem 91905
ISRAEL
Tel: 972-2-5883245
E-Mail: msvictor@mscc.huji.ac.il
AB  - The question of how technology affects learning has been at the center of recent debates over educational inputs.  In 1994, the Israeli State Lottery sponsored the installation of computers in many elementary and middle schools.  This program provides an opportunity to estimate the impact of computerization on both the instructional use of computers and on pupils' test scores.  Results from a survey of Israeli school-teachers show that the influx of new computers increased teachers' use of computer-aided instruction (CAI) in the 4th grade, with a smaller effect on CAI in 8th grade.  CAI does not appear to have had educational benefits that translated into higher test scores.  Results for 4th graders show sharply lower Math scores in the group that was awarded computers, with smaller (insignificant) negative effects on verbal scores. Results for 8th graders' test scores are very imprecise, probably reflecting the much weaker first-stage relationship between program funding and the use of CAI in 8th grade.  The estimates for 8th grade Math scores are also negative, however.
ER  -