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Title: School Reform in the Information Age by Howard D. Mehlinger ISBN: 0-9645857-0-7 Publisher: Media Management Services Pub. Date: November, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Technology Provides the Tools for School Reform
Comment: Those of you who are tired of the unending "flavor of the year" school reform movements will find Howard D. Mehlinger's book School Reform in the Information Age to be refreshing. He addresses school reform, for sure, but not from a "top down" or "tougher standards" or "what's good for America" approach. For Mehlinger, the only legitimate reforms are those that address how teachers teach and how children learn. The tool to enable these reforms to sprout, he says, is technology. He believes technology has the potential to reshape the very nature of schooling itself.

Mehlinger presents a concise history of the American educational system including the most popular current reform philosophies, both classic and progressive. He teases out what should be the role of schools and the role of teachers in the Information Age. He especially explores the impact that technology can have for implementing change in each of these arenas. He explains why such changes are not easy, because the stakeholders are not fully agreed on the degree and direction of changes required.

The book stresses the importance of having a "vision" for what we want schools to be right now and in the future. This vision, according to Mehlinger, must include the widespread use of technology. He makes the case that Information Age technology is the single greatest factor affecting the ways we live and that, as such, it must also alter the way we conduct schooling. For him, technology is the key to a new school vision and a revised mission.

Students are not dumber nor are teachers lazier now than 25-years ago when American education led the world. Schools are still doing a pretty good job of what they have successfully done for the past 100-years. It is just that these practices have not adapted to the many social changes in American culture. What worked 25-years ago is no longer viable pedagogy today.

Technology will be used in schools because it appeals to students. It does, however, challenge the present relationship between ! students and teachers. Technology enables learners to gain control of their own learning. Mehlinger says this is a good thing.

The book points out that the principal advantage for adopting technology in schools is not so schools can just do faster and better what they have always done. To quote Mehlinger, ". . . its primary value is that it can provide the spark for re-energizing teachers, for prompting educators to envision new ways to teach, and for creating the kinds of schools needed now." He predicts that technology will become more powerful, faster, cheaper, and easier to use.

Howard D. Mehlinger is the director of Indiana University's Center for Excellence in Education, a research and development center whose mission is to explore appropriate applications of technology in education.

Table of Contents: Chapter 1: Vision and Mission, Chapter 2: School Reform-Again? Finally?, Chapter 3: Teaching and Learning in the Information Age, Chapter 4: Technology: The Key to School Reform, Chapter 5: Technology Revolution in Schools, Chapter 6: Achieving School Reform through Technology

Rating: 4
Summary: Technology must have a profound effect on school reform.
Comment: Technology must play an important part in achieving school reform. It can provide students and staff with support for storing, retrieving and analyzing information that pushes beyond the limits of traditional resources. Mahlinger indcates that this will call for fundamental changes in teaching and learning. Technologies enable learners to gain control of their own learning. The book generates questions that still go unanswered: Does accessibility mean equal access? Will technology be linked to a schoolwide curriculum program?