An Examination of the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS:88) Database to Probe the Correlation Between Computer Use in School and Improvement in Test Scores

The database for the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS:88), compiled by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), was examined for connections between student use of computers in math and science classes and their academic success. Data were studied from the surveys carried out in the base year in 1988, first follow-up 2 years later, and second follow-up 2 years after that. Composite variables from the three datasets were examined for their connections to socioeconomic status, parent's level of education, respondent's race, and respondent's gender. Race was the only one of these four factors that was not found to correlate to the amount of computer use in schools. Values for the Item Response Theory (IRT) scores and gains in those IRT scores between subsequent follow-ups were examined with respect to average computer use in math and science classes. It was found that gains in IRT scores could be positively correlated to the amount and type of computer use in science and math classes.