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Results of Computer Aided Instruction in Israel

Daily Policy Digest

Education Issues

Friday, September 28, 2001

The question of how technology affects learning has been at the center of recent debates over educational inputs.

In 1994, the Israeli State Lottery sponsored the installation of computers in many elementary and middle schools. This program provides an opportunity to estimate the impact of computerization on both the instructional use of computers and pupil achievement.

Results from a survey of Israeli school teachers show that the influx of new computers increased teachers' use of computer-aided instruction (CAI) in the fourth grade, with a smaller effect on CAI in the eighth grade.

Although many of the estimates are imprecise, on balance, CAI does not appear to have had educational benefits that translated into higher test scores.

Estimates show no evidence of a relationship between CAI and test scores, except for a negative effect on eighth grade math scores.

Estimates for fourth graders show lower math scores in the group that was awarded computers, with smaller (insignificant) negative effects on language scores.

Source: Joshua D. Angrist and Victor Lavy, "New Evidence on Classroom Computers and Pupil Learning," IZA Discussion Paper No. 362, September 2001, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), P.O. Box 7240 D-53072 Bonn, Germany, +49-228-3894-0.

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