Newspaper article THE JOURNAL RECORD
15 Million U.S. Students Used Computers in 1985, Says Report
Preliminary results of the survey indicate the number of computers in the nation's schools quadrupled since 1983, when a similar study was conducted.
The latest survey of 2,300 public and private schools was conducted by Henry J. Becker of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
""A majority of U.S. elementary schools have five or more computers and there are more than 7,500 elementary schools with 15 or more computers,'' said Becker's report, prepared for the governor's Task Force on Educational Technologies.
A similar growth in computer use in high schools was found in the survey, which was based questionnaires completed by 7,000 teachers and 1,700 telephone interviews.
""In 1983, most American secondary schools had fewer than a handful of microcomputers; today, half of U.S. secondary schools - 16,500 secondary schools in all - have 15 or more computers,'' the report said.
Results of the 1985 survey were presented at a hearing chaired by New Hampshire's Republican Gov. John H. Sununu, who said most school districts in his state own computers.
""I think you're going to find them in almost every area in th next few years, not only in New Hampshire but across the country,'' Sununu said.
The task force is trying to gather information about the ""applications of technology in the classroom,'' he said. …