Change is coming. And driving such change is the sheer number of companies now in the education IT business, most of which didn’t exist five years ago. Several providers, such as K12 and Connections Academy, offer a full range of products, including digital curricula, lesson plans, instructional tools, and teacher training. School systems can take advantage of these resources at greatly reduced costs, rather than go it alone.

In California, the Riverside Unified School District has a pilot program in which students access digital content using either a personal device, such as an iPod Touch, or a unit provided by the school. Officials estimate the new approach could save as much as 30 percent over traditional textbooks.

Rocketship Education, a charter school network near San Francisco, with national expansion plans, is reinventing how learning takes place in the classroom, asking its students to spend 25 percent of each day in a “learning lab,” where they work on customized, computer-delivered material. During this time the students are supervised by monitors, rather than teachers, saving significantly on costs.

More than half the states already have virtual high schools. Florida Virtual School, the first and largest state-run online school in the country, offers more than 100 courses to students throughout the United States and more than 40 foreign countries. One study estimates the school has saved Florida taxpayers some $38 million over the past four years.

The classroom that does not embrace technology is becoming progressively out of touch with the way America’s children learn and interact at home and away from school.

Of course, we can’t let technology become the distraction many educators fear. We don’t want kids texting or engaging with friends on Facebook when they’re supposed to be studying. There need to be guardrails.

Still, there’s no legitimate reason education can’t adapt to the modern era. When it does we’ll see students who are more engaged, more proficient, and more likely to graduate and succeed as adults. Technology can help educators get the job done: better, faster and at a lower cost.

For the rest of the article, go to Can technology fix education?