True to schools' endless fascination with technology--and perhaps the distraction it provides from having to deal with more intractable problems like 4th graders who can't read--the Chicago Tribune reports this week on an initiative to mike teachers in the Land of Lincoln. Roughly 3 percent of all Illinois classrooms are now coming equipped with microphones for their teachers.

Audiologists and the teachers who use the mikes contend that the investment of $800 to $2000 a pop will boost achievement and eliminate behavior problems. According to Lawrence Turner, the principal of Chicago’s Mann Elementary School, the effects are greatest in the early grades. “What we really wanted to see is what it would do in our primary grades because we are teaching children sound…My kindergarten teachers, where we started this, all claim that the children caught on to sounds in words much faster.???

Before everyone rushes to push up the volume of teachers, it might behoove the state to determine if in fact loud teachers generate better results.