The Flight of a Butterfly or the Path of a Bullet?

In this book, Larry Cuban looks at the uses and effects of digital technologies in K-12 classrooms, exploring if and how technology has transformed teaching and learning. In particular, he examines forty-one classrooms across six districts in Silicon Valley that have devoted special attention and resources to integrating digital technologies into their education practices. The results reflect Cuban's nuanced understanding not only of digital technologies and their uses, but of the complex interrelations of policy and practice, and of the many--often unintended--consequences of reforms and initiatives in the education world. The Flight of a Butterfly or the Path of a Bullet? is a crucial contribution to our understanding of digital technologies and their place in contemporary education practice from one of our leading scholars of education policy, practice, and reform. "Larry Cuban's insightful study of exemplary educational technologies validates their place in the contemporary classrooms that he observes in this book. But his close examination also reveals that the introduction of digital technologies has not resulted in fundamental instructional changes. With wisdom and a profound sense of the larger historical context, Cuban reminds us that these incremental shifts have been meaningful and enriching for those involved--even if they have not transformed American schooling as hoped." --Louise Bay Waters, superintendent and CEO, Leadership Public Schools, California "Want glib comments about education reform? Read Twitter. Want nuance? Read Larry Cuban's latest book. He documents both the successes and failures of recent education technologies. Cuban looks carefully at contemporary classrooms and at the work of teachers and students alike--then steps back to show how the digital innovations at work in those classrooms fit into a century of educational reforms." --Mike Goldstein, founder, Match Education Larry Cuban is professor emeritus of education at Stanford University.