Technology a valuable component for education

The Daily Herald's series "Generations at Risk" shed a new light on what education looks like in the Chicago area today. So often, the media focuses on the immediate (and real) problems we face, and it's true: Chicagoland schools have a long way to go before we see widespread success.

However, this series did what so many headlines across the nation do not. It captured the successes of Chicagoland schools.

But there's another piece of the equation still missing - the impact of educational technology in raising test scores, empowering teachers, and allowing for rigorous instruction - especially in underfunded schools.

As founder and CEO of ThinkCERCA, a web-based platform that provides tools for teaching critical-thinking skills, I worked with a school on Chicago's North Side with a majority of students categorized as free/reduced lunch. After one year, nearly half the students raised reading scores to the top quintile nationally and more than 70 percent achieved scores in the top two quintiles.

We have examples in nearly 150 CPS schools of this ambitious instruction and its impact. Tech gave teachers the ability to limit the time-consuming elements of teaching, like scoring assignments or finding great texts, freeing them to concentrate on their students' individual needs.

This is why we continually need to prioritize tech. Technology helps teachers make better use of their time. And a teacher's time is the most precious resource our students, including my four CPS kids, have.

As the Daily Herald editorial board said, "If there is a formula [for school success], it is one whose every variable must be adapted to each school and student."

There is no magic bullet for education success. But tech offers a way to empower each school and each teacher to enhance student achievement.

Eileen Murphy Buckley

Chicago