The Effects of One-to-One iPad Use in The Classroom on Teacher Efficacy

Abstract

Several factors are contributing to the growing number of challenges teachers face in 21st century education. According to the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, the percentage of public school students in the United States who were English language learners was higher in school year 2013-14 (9.3 percent, or an estimated 4.5 million students) than in any other. Five of the six states with the highest percentages of ELL students in their public schools were in the West. In the District of Columbia and six states—Alaska, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas—10.0 percent or more of public school students were English language learners, with California having the highest percentage, at 22.7 percent(2016). In addition to the increase of English language learners, the number of students with learning disabilities is on the rise as well. According to the Center for Disease Control, autism rates increased from 3.4 per 1,000 in 1996 to 14.6 per 1,000 in 2012 — or over a four-fold increase (2012). This is just one of the many learning disabilities challenging teachers today. Another statistic from the Center for Disease Control shows that about 1 in 6 children in the United States had some form of a developmental disability in 2006-2008, ranging from mild disabilities such as speech and language impairments to serious developmental disabilities, such as intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, and autism (2010).