A Survey of the Status of Smart Schools based on Standards and Comparison of its Students Academic Performance and Critical Thinking with Public Schools

Subject Areas : Infomartion Technology

Maryam  Heidari ¹ (M.A. Student in Educational Administration, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran)
Mojdeh  Vaziri ² (Assistant Professor of Educational Administration Department, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran)
Fariba  Adli ³ (Assistant Professor of Educational Administration Department, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran)

Received: 2013-10-20 Accepted : 2014-09-26 Published : 2014-02-01

Keywords: academic achievement, Smart schools, Standards, Critical Thinking, Schools Performance,

Abstract :

The present study aimed to investigate the status of smart schools based on standards and to compare its performance with that of public schools. The study method was descriptive survey. The statistical population included all girl secondary schools in city of Yazd. Two public high schools were selected via cluster sampling, and two smart schools were selected via census method. Instruments included smart schools evaluation check list (observation) to examine the present status of the schools, critical thinking skills test, and third grade average to measure academic achievements of the students. SPSS software was used for data analysis, and descriptive and inferential statistics (t test) were used to test the research questions. The findings showed that the current status of smart schools was in low level with respect to teaching-learning content, ICT infrastructure, trained teachers and computer communication with the schools. Only with respect to principals' use of computers it was in accepted level. Also, there was not a significant difference between smart school students' performance and that of the public school students in critical thinking but in academic achievement there was significant difference. 

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