The Relationship between School Technology Expenditures and High School Graduation Rates: An Assessment of North Carolina Public Schools

Abstract

Schools invest in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to prepare students for workplaces where technological skills have become essential. In 2009, policymakers in North Carolina developed a State School Technology Plan (SSTP) designed to enhance student achievement through the use of educational technology in the classroom. The plan was supported by North Carolina’s State Technology Fund, among other sources. While many studies address the relationship between educational technology and student achievement, few assesses the relationship between school technology expenditures and high school graduation rates in particular. This study helps to fill that gap by exploring the relationship between North Carolina public schools’ State School Technology Plan (SSTP) expenditures and their high school graduation rates, using school district-level data from 2014 to 2019 for 111 Local Education Agencies. My results provide evidence of a positive relationship when expenditures are measured contemporaneously, but a negative relationship when expenditures are measured cumulatively. The magnitudes of these estimates are relatively small, and I find no evidence of variation in this relationship between school districts with different student characteristics.