Equity and Computers in the Schools: A Decade of Research

Abstract

In this review, the research conducted during the 1980s on race/ethnicity, gender, and social class differences in K–12 educational uses of computers is summarized in terms of access, processes, and outcomes. First, gender, social class, and racial inequalities in access to computers are documented. Second, equity in four aspects of process is considered: type of use, teachers’ attitudes towards equity and equality, curriculum content, and interactions among students. Third, the literature on three outcome variables is considered: student attitudes, computer-related competence (literacy and programming), and traditional achievement measures using computer-aided instruction. Finally, implications from the decade of research are drawn. These include the conclusions that the use of computers maintained and exaggerated inequities, that equity issues are complex and future research should reflect this, that between-school differences in equality should be examined, and that much more research on poor and minority children is a priority.