Technological literacy--meaning computer skills and the ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity, and performance--has become as fundamental to a person's ability to navigate through society as traditional skills like reading, writing, and arithmetic. Yet, for the most part, these new technologies are not to be found in the nation's schools. Students make minimal use of new technologies for learning, typically employing them for only a few minutes a day.

Indeed, the hard realities are that only 4 percent of schools have a computer for every five students (a ratio deemed adequate to allow regular use) and only 9 percent of classrooms are connected to the Internet. In schools with large concentrations of low-income students, the numbers are often even lower. Research and the experiences of schools in the forefront of the current "digital revolution," however, underscore the enormous learning opportunities available through technology.

http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Plan/NatTechPlan/