Date of Award

2006

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze Indiana school districts' level of access to instructional technology with respect to the level of poverty and percentage of minority enrollment. Demographic data regarding school districts' level of poverty and percentage of minority enrollment was collected from the Indiana Department ofEducation and compared to differences in the levels of access to technology. The independent variables were defined as: (1) school district level of poverty, and (2) school district percentage of minority enrollment. The dependent variable was: access to technology. The design of this study involved a population of 290 school district technology administrators in the state of Indiana. On October 3, 2005, the research survey was sent to 290 public school districts in Indiana and was addressed to district technology administrators. In total, 151 surveys were returned to the researcher by October 30, 2005 and used in the study. The study sample included 151 Indiana public school district technology administrators, 52.1% of the population. School corporations were distinguished by level of poverty and percentage of minority enrollment and categorized into one of three levels for each of these independent variables. The levels for the independent variable district poverty level were defined as: (1) less than 16%, (2) 16 to 30%, and (3) 31% or more. The levels for the independent variable percentage of minority enrollment were defined as: (1) Less than 6%, (2) 6 to 20%, and (3) 21% or more. The statistical analysis showed there is no significant main effect of level of poverty and percentage of minority enrollment on a school district's level of access to technology. There is not a significant difference in access toEducational technology across Indiana school districts. The difference in the mean score of access toEducational technology between school districts with high poverty and high minority enrollment and school districts with low poverty and low minority was only .216. This shows that Indiana has turned the corner and closed the "digital divide" with respect to school district access to technology. The Discussion of Findings section interprets the conclusions drawn from the statistical analysis regarding the independent variables of level of poverty enrollment and percentage of minority enrollment and dependent variable access toEducational technology. There was no statistical difference in school districts' access to technology. Indiana school districts' level of access to technology shows relatively no difference with regard to percentage of minority enrollment. There was no statistical difference in school districts' access to technology. Indiana school districts' level of access to technology shows relatively no difference with regard to percentage of minority enrollment.

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