Argumentative Writing Performance Task Number Two: Technology in America
The Task:
Thus far in United States History/Civics, we have examined how the
United States developed from a small collection of states in the early
1780’s to an industrialized nation that gradually became a global
economic power by the early 20th century. Contemporary historians
often marvel about the role that technology played in this process. This
revisionism reflects the essential role of technology in helping to shape
the lives of modern Americans. The state assembly will be meeting to
decide whether or not to increase investment in technology in
Connecticut’s schools. This change in statewide technology
investment would also include the increase in online classes for high
school students and the purchasing of a tablet computer for every
middle school student in the state. This effort would also increase the
number of cameras in schools, along with the creation of a statewide
system to track students during their time in school. The state board
of education wants students to participate in the process and
contribute their perspectives. As part of your initial research, you have
found the following sources about technology in America’s past and
present.
After you have reviewed these sources, you will answer some questions
about them. Briefly scan the sources and the questions that follow.
Then, go back and read the sources carefully so you will have
information you will need to answer the questions and finalize your
research.
In PART TWO, you will write an argumentative essay on the topic of
technology using the information in the sources to use as evidence.
PART ONE: The Sources
You will now examine several sources. You can re-examine any of the
sources as often as you would like. After looking at the sources, use the
rest of the time in PART ONE to answer the questions about them. Your
answers to these questions will be scored. Also, your answers will help
you think about the information you have read and looked at, which
should help you write your argumentative essay. Feel free to highlight
the sources or take any notes down that you want.
Sources for PART ONE of the Performance Task:
Source One:
How Do We Fund Our Schools?
By Judy Woodruff (PBS)
“Poverty must not be a bar to learning, and learning must offer an escape from poverty,”
- President Lyndon Johnson, 1965
It’s a little known fact that when it comes to the funding of our schools, the U.S. Government
contributes about 10 cents to every dollar spent on K-12 education – less than the majority of
countries in the world. And it wasn’t until 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson passed the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act as part of his War on Poverty, that the federal
government created a lasting program to fund K-12 education.
So where does the bulk of the money for our 14,000 public elementary and secondary school
districts schools come from? State and local governments. According to the National Center for
Education Statistics, state and local funding accounts for approximately 93 percent of education
expenditures.
What’s the source of these funds? In most states, it’s sales and income taxes (both corporate
and personal). But on a local level, these funds usually come from property taxes, which are set
by the school board, local officials or citizens. It’s this system that causes the most dramatic
differences between states, and even within districts.
Depending on the property wealth of a community, its schools might boast gleaming buildings
and equipment, or they might be dilapidated – struggling with the burden of outdated
equipment and unpaid bills.
According to the most recent Funding Gap report by the non-profit group The Education Trust,
many states still provide the least amount of funding to school districts serving students with
the greatest needs.
In 1999, for example, Illinois’ funding gap was the second-largest in the nation. By 2005, the
Illinois gap was still the second-largest, and had gotten worse. Illinois is joined by Florida, Idaho,
Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Dakota,
Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin at the top of the list of states in which the
funding gap between high- and low-poverty districts grew between 1999 and 2005.
Jonathan Kozol, the education activist, teacher and author, famously described these “gaps” in
his 1992 book, Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools. That same year, he told an
interviewer: “We need to have urban schools that are so good that they will not be abandoned
by white people, and this is impossible without equitable funding. Until we have equitable
funding for our urban schools, there’s no chance in the world that white people in large
numbers are going to return.”
These inequities have led to court challenges in almost every state. And in the majority of them,
the court has ordered the states to overhaul their system to fund public schools more equally.
These challenges began in the 1970’s, with a landmark case in California – Serrano v
Priest (1971). In that case, the state’s high court ruled that a child’s access to public education
cannot be based on the wealth of his or her parents.
Source Two:
Technology in Public Schools
By Grace Chen at publicschoolreview.com
In recent years, the technology investment in public schools, ranging from K-12 institutions, has
grown astronomically. According to Equity Review research, in 1998 alone, “the level of
spending on educational technology at the national level was estimated at over $5 billion,” and it
has grown each year in the last decade.
While each school’s budget is diverse and unique, programs have been implemented to balance
the rising costs of technology and education, aiming to provide all students with equitable access
to a learning environment with modern and interactive equipment.
Federal Funding in Public Schools
According to the “Resource Guide to Federal Funding for Technology in Public Schools,” a five
year, $2 billion dollar grant was established in 1998 to provide support at both the state and local
level for meeting national technology goals. National goals for all public schools include:
“modern computers, high quality educational software, trained teachers, and affordable
connections to the Internet.”
To further support the successful fruition of this goal, the “Technology Literacy Challenge Fund”
was launched in 1997, with over $200 million dollars in funding—this later doubled to $425
million by 1998. The millions of dollars in funds were dispersed to all fifty states, where local
communities and public schools were to collaborate to integrate technology into teaching and
learning.
The National Education Association (NEA) and Tech Support
As NEA supports, “every student needs the ability to navigate through the 24/7 information flow
that today connects the global community. For students to thrive in a world enabled by
information technology, we must give them the skills to make sense of and use the information
that engulfs them. They need to know how to learn new skills as quickly as technology creates
new challenges.”
In order to provide students with access to the constantly evolving technologies, NEA is working
to support the implementation of devices such as “laptops and pocket PCs, digital cameras and
microscopes, Web-based video equipment, graphing calculators, and even weather-tracking
devices.” By integrating these tools, NEA hopes to foster the opportunity for students to
“become responsible and savvy users and purveyors of information. They need to need how to
collaborate successfully across miles and cultures.”
Laptop Programs
While funding is not realistically available to provide every student in public schools with a
laptop, experimental programs have provided various schools across the country with access to
“laptop programs,” where whole classes are provided with laptops so that teachers can
experiment with the implementation of technology into their lessons and activities.
According to the Boston News, Maine is the first state in the nation to promote a state-wide
technology plan that has provided every middle school student with a laptop—and they’re seeing
incredibly academic results, especially in students’ writing. The program, which was designed to
eliminate the “digital divide” between wealthy and poor students, has distributed more than
30,000 computers to each seventh and eighth grade student in public schools in 2002 and 2003.
With the rising access to this technology, schools found that “despite creating a language all their
own using e-mail and text messages, students are still learning standard English and their writing
scores have improved on a standardized test since laptop computers were distributed.”
Other studies support that eighth graders’ standardized test scores, after the implementation of
the laptops in Maine, actually improved. As one teacher explains, “Laptops make it easier for
students to edit their copy and make changes without getting writer's cramp […] (and) those
skills translated when the test was taken with pen and paper.” Ultimately, Maine Education
Assessment scores show marked improvement, when only 29 percent of students were ranked as
“proficient in writing,” while over 49 percent of eighth-graders soared to proficiency in 2005.
How to Promote a Laptop Program at Your Local School
While funding for schools’ technological opportunities, like the laptop program, is nationally,
state, and locally driven, parents can be involved in the decision making process by attending the
public school board meetings, creating petitions for technology funds with community support,
and by meeting with individual teachers to communicate potential plans for change.
While this particular avenue for change is often long and tedious, one public school’s parents
took the initiative for providing laptops into their own hands—and pockets. According to the
Digital Chalkie, one anonymous public school, with a population of only 120 students, had a
group of parents who worked to provide students from grades 4-7 with laptops; to achieve this,
parents collaborated with Apple to work on leases, financing options, and discounts for members
of the community.
The parents, however, did not discount families who may be facing financial hardship; in this
case, approximately 20% of families were provided with a laptop for student use during school
hours only, allowing every child to have access to a computer, without creating any form of
financial or class divides. Ultimately, while parents had to collaborate with school leaders to
implement this plan, one parent explains how the “staff, parents, kids and Principal understand
and support what we are trying to do”—even though this particular school is not considered to be
wealthy, and does not have excessive funding allowances.
Incorporating laptops and technology into the classroom can significantly improve the entire
school’s reading and writing levels – not to mention their technical savvy. By working with your
child’s school, or taking matters into your own hands, you can ensure that your children are
getting the exposure to computers they deserve
Source Three: Political Cartoons
Source Four:
Technology and Culture in the United States Today:
A Brief Essay by Chris Wanamaker
Humans and technology have existed along side of each other since the beginning. Technology is
anything that is manmade that’s purpose is to solve some problem or make something easier.
From the earliest stone tools, clubs, and arrow heads to the fastest and most complex computers
and particle accelerators, technology has allowed us to prevail as the dominant species on the
earth. Man has been given the intellect to design, build, and construct these devices, which
improve the overall quality of life, and expand the knowledge base for the whole of humanity.
Technology has played a huge role in human culture. It has become a very integral part of our
lives; many people could not do without it. The modern conveniences and the power and
freedom that technology provides us has changed the way we think, act, and socialize.
Technology enables the disabled, empowers the powerless, and educates the uneducated.
In today’s world, the younger generation is growing up with the Internet and computers. This has
a significant impact on their culture. The impacts can already be seen. No teen is without a cell
phone, instant messaging, or social networking. This enables them to have instant anytime
communication with all of their friends. The generations of old did not have that option. Kids
today also have the power of the Internet at their fingertips. Just about any information can be
found within minutes, sometimes seconds, with the Internet. This enables them to learn at their
own pace, perform research on topics, and keep informed about world events from a wide range
of perspectives.
But no piece of technology comes without consequence. There are two sides to every coin.
Modern convenience has been a key player in the obesity of America. Computers, Television,
and other forms of technological entertainment have lead Americans to seek an ever more
sedentary lifestyle. There are many people today that are addicted to computer and video games.
These individuals play the games for as long as is physically possible and may never leave the
house. The relationship that modern people have with the outdoors is also crumbling. Research
suggests that a good number of people don’t venture outside of manmade structures for
recreation anymore. This has lead to disconnect and sometimes even disgust with nature and the
natural world.
Even so, a world without technology would be a primitive and possibly a sad one. Humans could
not possibly sustain the current population levels without technology, nor could we maintain any
sort of economy. On the other hand, the future looks to be an interesting one. New technologies
emerge everyday that may somehow improve our quality of life. New developments in cognitive
science, nano-technology, and virtual reality may one day allow us to transcend what it means to
be human today. One day people may become immortal or live their lives completely in a virtual
world. The possibilities that humans may have in the future are unknown, but technology will
always be with us, and it's not going away.
Source Five:
High-tech school monitoring: safety vs. privacy
By Stateline.org, adapted by Newsela staff
WASHINGTON — Does your school know exactly where you are? In class? On the
bus? Paying for lunch in the cafeteria?
Principals in thousands of the nation’s schools know the answer. They get the
information from radio chips embedded in student ID cards or biometric scanners that
identify a student’s fingerprint, the iris of an eye or a vein in a palm.
Schools use them to take attendance, alert parents where their children get off the
school bus or speed up lunch lines.
But those tools, which are supposed to make schools safer and more efficient, have
become controversial. Several states are now banning or restricting their use in schools,
as worries increase over student privacy and computer security.
Some States Begin To Push Back
This year, Florida became the first state to ban the use of biometric identification in its
schools. Kansas said the information cannot be collected without student or parental
consent. New Hampshire, Colorado and North Carolina said their state education
departments cannot collect and store biometric data in student records.
New Hampshire and Missouri lawmakers said schools cannot require students to use ID
cards equipped with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. RFID technology
tracks students by means of badges or tags with embedded computer chips. The chips
either broadcast a radio signal or are read when students go near a radio-frequency
reader. These tags also are used by government and businesses for security and to
track packages.
The laws reflect a growing worry among parents and lawmakers about the new
technology. They are questioning how it’s being used, what student data is being
collected and stored, and how the information is protected.
Fast-Moving Technology
In all, 36 states considered 110 possible laws this year on the collection and security of
student data, according to Data Quality Campaign, a group in favor of using data to
improve student achievement. At least 39 of the proposed laws dealt with biometric
data, and 14 of them passed.
“Technology is moving so fast,” said Paige Kowalski, who works for Data Quality
Campaign. “I think that’s why you’re seeing these new laws. I think people are nervous
about it. It’s new. It’s different from when we were kids.”
She said, “I think there’s a desire to use (technology), and a desire to slow down. We
want to know exactly how it’s being used … so we don’t sacrifice too much privacy.”
Nobody knows exactly how many schools use biometric or RFID technology, but many
of them have been using the devices for at least a decade.
Jay Fry, the head of identiMetrics, said biometric identification is used in more than
1,000 school districts in 40 states from Alaska to Long Island, New York.
In cafeterias, for example, schools can replace traditional student ID cards with
machines that can read small portions of a fingerprint. The machine cannot capture a
child’s entire fingerprint, Fry said.
“It’s more secure from a privacy standpoint than a student ID, which has a name, picture
and school on it,” he said.
How Much Monitoring Is Too Much?
Fry came up with the idea of using biometrics in schools in 2002 when he was a middle
school principal in Illinois. Students too often lost their lunch money or their IDs and too
many were left without enough time to get and eat their lunches. “You can’t lose your
finger,” he said.
Elizabeth Hunger is with the Security Industry Association. She said that RFID
technology is more common in schools where students’ badges are read at school
doors, on buses, or at school events so educators know who is where.
Hunger said that RFID technology is just one part of school security, along with video
cameras and trained staff members.
But some lawmakers question whether schools really need these kinds of tools to follow
kids around. They worry that they are yet another example of government monitoring.
A Missouri law restricts how school districts can adopt RFID technology and allows
parents to keep their children from carrying RFID cards in districts that use them.
“This is a technology that is very difficult to limit and to secure,” said State Senator Ed
Emery, who sponsored the law. “If a private company wants to do it, fine. But it’s not
something you should mandate on children.”
Data Safety Is A Big Concern
Florida State Senator Dorothy Hukill stepped in when a local school system began
scanning the students' retinas on school buses without their parents' permission. The
retina is a layer of tissue lining the inner eye.
Calling it “an overreach,” Hukill proposed the law to ban the use of biometric
identification in Florida schools.
“You don’t need to collect biometric information to buy a hot dog in the school cafeteria
or check out a library book,” she said.
Hukill said she is not opposed to technology, but she is concerned about the security of
data. “And once you collect the information,” she said, “there is no rolling back.”
State legislators have continued to restrict the technology, despite assurances from tech
companies that student information is safe.
Kowalski of the Data Quality Campaign does not want lawmakers to outlaw the use of
the technology. Instead, she suggested that lawmakers focus on letting parents know
how the technology is being used, what data is collected and what safeguards are in
place to protect students’ privacy.
“Were you as a lawmaker to prohibit it, you may be taking something useful away,” she
said.
Source 6- Watch the following clips and answer the corresponding questions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txTbFF_RX10
1. What is the bias to be found in this clip’s outlook toward technology?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB50BfYlsDc
1. Why does the speaker use the Apollo mission to explain what is lacking in how we view
problems today? Why do you think he does not offer up a solution?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FjXK4cqplY
1. What is the thesis of this clip? Does the fact this clip is sponsored by the White House create
potential bias for the viewer?
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Question # 1
All of the sources provide information about technology in America. Now that you have analyzed all the
sources, develop a statement about technology and its link to success in America.
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Question # 2
Select one of the cartoons and analyze it. What is the message the cartoonist is trying to say? Is
their thesis positive or negative toward technology? Does this message reflect a particular bias?
Who is the cartoonist making generalizations about? Is this an effective method to convey this
message?
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Question #3
All of the sources provide information about technology in America. In what ways are the uses of
technology presented as potentially harmful? Support your response with two details from the sources.
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Question #4
How is public education in America funded? Why is there a disparity about the amount of funding
generated by different school districts? In what ways could local school districts raise money? What
improvements to HKHS would you make if you successfully raised the money?
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“Investing public funds toward increasing technology in Connecticut’s
Public Schools” Argumentative Performance Task
PART TWO: THE ESSAY
You will now review your notes and sources in order to plan, draft, revise and edit your writing.
You may use your notes and refer to the sources.
Your Assignment
After completing your research, you shared your findings with your favorite teacher. They have
suggested to you that you write a 5 paragraph argumentative essay about the impact of
investing public funds toward increasing technology in Connecticut’s public schools. You will
be able to read the essay before a session of state assembly and be taken seriously as a
representative for all the students in the state. Take a stance in your essay. Make sure you
establish an argumentative claim, address potential counterarguments, and support your claim
from the sources you have read. Develop you ideas clearly and use your own words, except
when quoting directly from the sources. Be sure to reference the sources by author or number
when using details or facts directly from the sources. Review the rubric that will be used to
score your essay before beginning to write. If you have questions about organization/purpose,
evidence/elaboration, or conventions please ask.
Manage your time carefully so that you can complete the following:
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Plan your multi-paragraph argumentative essay
Write your multi-paragraph argumentative essay
Revise and edit the final draft of your multi-paragraph argumentative essay