WSJ: Computer Access Leads to Lower Test Scores, Study Suggests

Wall Street Journal:  Computer Access Leads to Lower Test Scores, Study Suggests

By David Wessel

Giving laptop computers to students in fifth through eight grades to take home seems like an appealing idea. But economists Jacob Vigdor and Helen Ladd of Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy says it seems to reduce their scores on math and reading tests...

...“Students who gain access to a home computer between fifth and eighth grades tend to witness a persistent decline in reading and math tests,” they conclude. The effect is modest, they say, but statistically significant. Other studies, they say, are finding similarly discouraging results.

One hypothesis: Broadband access crowds out time spent on homework. (You don’t need a Ph.D. to come up with this one.) “Internet service, and technology more broadly, is put to more productive use in households with more effective parental monitoring of child behavior.”...

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