While the economic rationale is frequently used to justify ICT investments, and the
investments in educational ICT have been substantial, national plans have often lacked
explicit causal connections between these investments and the desired economic and social
impact stated in national goals. This is an important missing link in the structure of ICT-based
educational reform policies and programs. ICT-based innovation can and does occur in
classrooms without there being a close linkage to national policy (Jones, 2003; Kozma,
2003a). However, without explicating the relationship between ICT-based education reform
and the desired social and economic outcomes and building these outcomes into policies and
programs, it is less likely that these classroom innovations will add to overall national
economic and social efforts and have the ultimate intended effects. The connection between
these educational investments and their economic and social returns is a concern for all
countries but they are nowhere more important than in developing countries, where the
resources are few and both the costs and stakes are high.