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If you are an education technology marketeer who has doubts about how useful our services might be to you, please answer the following questions and then click on to our responses:

1. As a sales tactic should you target high-wealth districts/schools with relatively low enrollments of low-income family students or low-wealth school/districts with relatively high percentages of students from low-income families?

	In 1999-2000 according to former Secretary Riley, for every one new computer purchased in high-wealth, low-poverty schools, 2.5 new computers were purchased in low-wealth schools with 75% or higher poverty enrollment. Moreover, almost 2/3 of the funds used for such purchases were Federal funds.

2. Should a firm with a K-12 basic skills program which is relatively high priced, target Title I elementary schools or high schools initially?

	In 1997 according to a recent USED report, 2% of the Title I budget at the elementary level was allocated to technology purchases while in Title I high schools, 16% was allocated for technology purchases.

3. Because instructional software and computers used by teachers and students are not E-rate eligible products, vendors of these products should not target districts and schools which receive large amounts of E-rate discounts?

	While software and hardware indeed are not eligible, districts that receive discount refunds can request that such refunds be provided in the form of checks through the so-called BEAR process; and these E-rate refunds can be used to purchase technology software and hardware. For Year 3, we estimate that of the $2.1 billion of E-rate discounts for eligible products and services, approximately $1.5 billion of refunds will be requested in the form of checks rather than credits and hence could be used for purchasing software and hardware.