Since the fall of 2006 over 9,000 classrooms in more than 500 Pennsylvania high schools have participated in the state's Classrooms for the Future (CFF) program. Each participating classroom has been supplied with teacher and student computers, electronic white boards, projectors, speakers, wireless access and multimedia tools including digital cameras, printers and scanners.

Professional learning is a key element of the program. An instructional technology coach has been assigned to every participating school and the schools are encouraged to create a district leadership team to ensure effective implementation. Professional development courses are provided free of charge online.

An in-depth evaluation was conducted by a team from the Pennsylvania State University during the Fall and Spring each year of the program, from 2006–2010. The study – which included data from teacher and student surveys and classroom visits by the researchers – indicates that CFF is having a positive impact in a number of areas, most notably classroom organization and teaching techniques.

The researchers found that participating schools are moving away from traditional rows and teachers are spending less time lecturing to the whole class. Instead, an increasing number of classrooms have desks grouped to promote collaboration and group work and teachers spend more time working with individuals and small groups. In addition, there has been a significant increase in classroom activities requiring higher-order thinking and 21^st century skills and teachers report feeling better prepared to teach using technology and approaches shown by research to increase achievement.

Overall, the report concludes that the following are keys to success:

• Having an instructional coach at each building who provides sympathetic, knowledgeable support during the school day.


• Leadership involvement at both district and school level.


• A close relationship between curriculum and technology leadership.


• Policies and procedures in place to allow access to Web 2.0 tools.

Education leaders are currently seeking continued funding from the Pennsylvania legislature. In addition, statewide contracts are being negotiated to provide cost-effective purchasing of equipment by individual schools and districts.

To Learn More:
* Download a PDF of the report.
* Visit http://www.education.state.pa.us