National Education Technology Plan
Comments from the National School Boards Association’s Technology Leadership Network
The National School Boards Association recognized technology would have a major impact on America’s schools when it established the Technology Leadership Network in 1987 to assist school leaders in making wise implementation decisions. Through its long commitment to technology, NSBA has watched the evolution from stand-alone devices and software to networked solutions that now offer students a gateway to the world through the Internet and the collaborative tools of today. At each stage of the journey, TLN districts have taught us that certain key elements remain consistent:
· Leadership is essential at the Building & District level and that includes the school board as well as the administrators
· Community Stakeholders, as well as district staff, must be engaged in creating a shared vision for technology’s role in the district
· A comprehensive view of technology must exist across district operations, instruction, and communication outreach to eliminate duplication and silos.
· Technology investments MUST be driven by instructional goals and technology training embedded with curricular content and applications
· Professional development needs should be considered BEFORE embarking on a technology initiative
· With the right professional development, technology tools, the use of data, and new teaching strategies can become embedded in a district’s culture
· Technology resources are ESSENTIAL in offering differentiated instruction as address multiple learning styles and short comings within the curriculum
· Technology does NOT replace good teaching, but offers an additional way to engage more students
· Creating a 21st century learning experience is impossible without tapping today’s technological resources
· Students must no longer view school as a place to “power down”
· School board members must have sufficient awareness about technology’s impact on school operations and learning to align resources and create appropriate policies.
As the Department embarks on a new plan, it is our hope that recognition of the above “lessons learned” will be reflected in each of the four proposed areas. While teachers have been the focus of most national technology initiatives, I urge the Department to think strategically about the role of school leaders in supporting the transformational efforts that technology can enable. Time and again, we hear leadership is key to the success, yet when funding or implementation grants are announced, leaders are often not addressed. Without the understanding and support of key school leaders and board members, a talented teacher’s efforts will never have the systemic impact that could be facilitated by a more enlightened leadership team. Key suggestions include the following:
Learning
Ensure that districts have on-site expertise for both the technical and human infrastructure to support teachers’ use of today’s learning resources, like video, with reasonable assurances that applications will operate efficiently. Ongoing technical challenges and slow networks can and will continue to derail seamless integration. We urge the Department of Education to collaborate with those who are focused on the expansion of broadband. While most everyone agrees it is “not technology for the sake of technology”, a robust infrastructure is essential to achieving many of the desired outcomes that technology can support.
The Department’s voice is important in calling for an increase in the Erate program’s annual cap and that ensuring that direct education technology funding to districts through the Enhancing Education Through Technology program be sustained.
Innovative tools can be applied to engage students and impact learning. While research and evidence of success remain important criteria for wide scale implementations, we urge the Department of Education to continue to set aside funds for initiatives that explore the effectiveness of new devices and strategies. With the rapid pace of development in the technology community, it is important that early adopters and innovative researchers be funded to explore the next generation of tools.
Virtual learning provides an alternative to traditional bricks and mortar but there is currently little assurance that a program delivers a high quality learning experience. The Department could provide real leadership in helping district and state leaders resolve some of the nagging challenges that will keep virtual learning from reaching its potential.
Countless examples exist where at-risk students have become engaged in learning through real-world, technology-rich environments. More students MUST have an opportunity to participate in a school environment that is compelling. If they cannot be engaged in their own learning, the system has little or no hope of successfully seeing them graduate. Today’s students live in a 24x7 world and we must find ways to support their learning outside the traditional school day and beyond conventional school walls.
Guidance from the Department would be welcomed with regard to the excessive blocking and filtering of Web 2.0 tools. Many network administrators “over block” out of misinformation and fear of penalties. In other countries, a more educational approach has been advanced with less reliance on filtering tools and more attention on providing students with the knowledge they need around the appropriateness of information regardless of when and where they are accessing information.
The increased interest in the use of digital content is an issue poised for leadership by the Department of Education.
Assessments
There is a belief that what gets tested…gets taught. If this nation is to adequately provide its graduates with the skills they need to be successful in an increasingly global marketplace, then the Department of Education should take a leadership role to invest in the kinds of assessments that will help educators evaluate their effectiveness in preparing students to use 21st skills like problem solving, critical thinking, and being savvy digital citizens.
Supporting and funding systems that allow for multiple data points and can provide seamless access of that data by appropriate individuals is another example of a critical infrastructure that offers the potential to help transform instruction. This will only be effective, however, if these data systems are accompanied by professional development that both helps educators understand what story the data is telling and provides for training in new interventions and strategies to use. In addition, the culture of the school community must be redirected to view the use of data as a positive instructional resource rather than as evidence to support punitive measures.
Teaching
Professional development has been a critical component to the successful implementations of technology throughout NSBA’s Technology Leadership Network districts. More recently, the use of professional learning communities, coupled with technology initiatives like one-to-one learning projects, has gone far to ensure the success of the technology investment. With the opportunity for online, blended, and in-person professional development alternatives, there is no reason a teacher today should feel the isolation of yesterday. The Department can be a valuable voice in requiring professional development to be addressed in any funded projects and by funding research in what strategies work best to influence and change instructional behaviors. Other nations – Scotland in particular – have funded platforms like GLOW by RM that facilitate the sharing of digital resources and collaboration tools to support teachers in new ways. Although an ambitious undertaking, a national repository of digital content and professional development resources could be an amazing contribution to learning in America.
Productivity
Many of the promised savings for technology’s use in education can be found in the administrative side of district operations, yet these rarely receive attention and are not the focus of most initiatives. They may seem somewhat removed from touching the life of a child, yet through key savings in these area, precious resources can be redirected to teaching staff and curricular resources. From improved ordering and inventory control to more efficient online recruiting and hiring practices, visionary districts have implemented solutions to bring their operations well into the 21st century. In addition to promoting data systems, the Department has an opportunity to advance thinking about the cost-savings that can be experienced through wise investments in operational processes.
Finally, modern technologies have afforded districts with new opportunities to connect and communicate with parents that encourage greater involvement in their child’s education on a daily basis and at times of crisis. Some districts still fail to capitalize on even the simplest information tool like their website, while others have invested in expensive systems to facilitate engagement. The Department is positioned to urge districts to more effectively embrace today’s technological resources to reach parents.
District Examples of Innovation
Jefferson County Public Schools, Golden, CO
Newport News Public Schools, Newport News, VA
Minnetonka Public Schools, Minnetonka, MN
Kyrene School District, Tempe, AZ
Richland School District Two, Columbia, SC
Vancouver Public Schools, Vancouver, WA
Submitted by Ann Lee Flynn, Ed.D
Director, Education Technology
National School Boards Association
November 23, 2009