A look at Tennessee\u27s Twenty-First Century Classrooms in the middle grades

The State of Tennessee has initiated a bold technological thrust known as the 21st Century Classrooms. Begun in the Fall of 1993, this integration of computers into the teaching curriculum has a price tag of $20,000 for each classroom. The purpose of this dissertation was to observe how 21st Century Classroom teachers are accomplishing the goal of total integration. Surveys were sent to a random sampling of 15\% (266) of the 21st Century teachers in the 5th through 8th grades. There was a 69\% response rate. The canonical correlation analysis was used. The most significant finding revealed that a relationship exists between the length of time that a teacher has been a 21st Century teacher and the extent to which technology is being incorporated into the classroom curriculum. Case studies were done on three teachers that met all the requirements of the predetermined criteria. The results of the overall study revealed that the responsibility for integrating technology into the teaching curriculum is left almost entirely up to the individual teacher. After a sizable investment of time, effort and money, there has been virtually no assessment to ensure that the desired objectives are being accomplished. Student surveys were also given at each observation site. One undisputable observation was that most students love computers. Universally, teachers seem to feel the need for more computer instruction for themselves. Providing adequate funding for hardware and software is an ever present consideration. Technical difficulties were overwhelmingly cited as the biggest headache