Denver,
CO (August
19,
2004) --
Wireless technology continues to be a major investment for school districts in the United States, enabling them to deliver resources such as instructional software and the Internet to more students in a cost effective and convenient manner. This is a key finding of the
2004-2005 Technology Purchasing Forecast, 10th edition by Quality Education Data, Inc. (QED®), a leading education market research and database firm, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Scholastic. According to the report, about half of the school districts in the United States have portable wireless labs on carts (or COWs), and more than 30 percent of districts surveyed plan to purchase such technology during the 2004-2005 school year. In addition, nearly 14 percent of schools currently own wireless desktop or laptop instructional computers and 23 percent plan to invest in this technology in 2004-2005.
“It's apparent that schools are continuing to invest in wireless technology because of its flexibility in bringing computers directly to students. Through computers on wheels and other technologies, schools can deploy fewer computers to a greater number of students, extending technology's reach into more classrooms than before,” said Jeanne Hayes, President, Quality Education Data.
QED's
Technology Purchasing Forecast also revealed that a significantly larger percentage of districts surveyed plan to offer on-line courses for the 2004-05 school year (41 percent) compared to 2003-04 (31 percent), which will further offer students flexible and accessible learning solutions.
The complete
Technology Purchasing Forecast,
2004-2005 will be released on September 26-28, 2004 when Jeanne Hayes presents the survey to key executives from school publishing and technology companies at its annual The Heller Reports'
EdNET Conference in Chicago, IL. Additional school technology purchasing trends will include:
- Instructional technology expenditures;
- Allocation of resources that teach students about technology;
- Investments in software to track student achievement; and
- Market share for MAC versus Windows PCs.
About QED
Established in 1981 and headquartered in Denver, Colorado, QED is a leading provider of K-12 and high education mailing lists, marketing services, and market research focused exclusively on the education market. QED Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Scholastic Inc., the global children's publishing and media company. QED's National Education Database™ provides comprehensive access to U.S. and Canadian educational institutions and is the core data resource that supports all QED products and services, including custom education market research, database design and annual research reports tracking critical educational trends. In 1997, QED introduced its National Registry of Teachers by Names, a database of over 4.3 million educators by name, telephone-verified at the school building level. In 2002, QED acquired The Heller Reports, adding a variety of news publications and the annual
EdNET conference to its offering of products and services designed to help education marketers stay current on market trends.
About Scholastic
Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children's books, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, film, videos and toys. The Company distributes its products and services through a variety of channels, including proprietary school-based book clubs, school-based book fairs, and school-based and direct-to-home continuity programs; retail stores, schools, libraries, and television networks; and the Company's Internet Site,
www.scholastic.com .