Technological preparedness of the U.S. public schools for the global pandemic: A structural equation modeling using PISA 2018

Date

2022-05

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

The use of technology has increased several folds since the inception of the National Education Technology Plan (NETP) in 1996. The vision of NETP is to implement equity and inclusion in the K-12 education system to reduce the achievement gap among students. The proper use of technology across different academic areas not only creates new resources but breaks the boundary in providing more opportunities for educators as well as learners. The outbreak of COVID -19 has asserted the importance of technology at every level of the K-12 education system. The current study uses the techniques of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the preparedness of the US public schools, teachers, and students for the global pandemic using PISA 2018 datasets. The study explores the overarching question of how prepared the education system was for a global pandemic such as COVID -19. The SEM techniques are used to explore: 1) technological preparedness of schools, teachers, and students, 2) how school district’s technology policies are related to schools’, teachers’, and students’ preparedness, 3) technological preparedness based on student gender, 4) role of teacher gender in technology usage in instruction, 5) effect of the location of schools in technological preparedness, and 6) latent mean difference due to student gender.

Description

Keywords

Technology, K12 School, Structural Equation Modeling, PISA 2018, COVID-19

Citation