Technology's Pal

School's all pay a premium for technology support. Not all school's get the same bang for their buck. I was contracted to provide two days of on site software support last week to a district in Ohio. Independent contractors are just that, INDEPENDENT, and have a good deal of freedom when it comes to fulfilling training obligations.

First stop at any school is the Principal's office.

Some Principal's consider technology a necessary evil and view me as an inconvenience. These schools subsequently receive cursory service. I pull the requested data, fix reported issues, and email a brief summary to the administrator. Not surprisingly student technology use is sporadic, teacher attitude poor, and achievement gains are minimal.

Other schools are blessed with a true technology integration hero,
The PRINCIPAL!
This champion of 21st century skills actually reads email and therefore knows I am coming! Last week's PAL greeted me warmly at the door by name, and then personally took me around to visit each teacher who was using the software I was there to support. The teachers and students exuded pride in their buildings technology integration and with good reason, the data reflected an impressive increase in achievement gains over the next closest school in the district.

It is worth noting that a majority of students in this school suffer from low socio-economic status which almost always correlates to low academic achievement. Want to close the achievement gap? The common denominator in HPHN (high performing high need) schools is...you guessed it, an engaged hands-on
PRINCIPAL. Education's unsung hero.

Dog-Arne-It!

The Obama administration stimulus package includes $105.9 billion for education.
Key Items:
$13 billion Title I
$12.2 billion Special Education
$650 million Innovation Grants
$7 billion Rural Broadband Access

A big disappointment for supporters of educational technology was the 11th hour slashing of EETT funds from $1 billion down to $650 million. This amount does represent an increase over past allotments but falls well short of projected needs to prepare our students to join the 21st century workforce.

EETT Takes a Bite of the Elephant

As part of the massive economic recovery plan, the Obama administration has set aside one billion dollars in funding to improve technology in our public school classrooms. These monies will be distributed through the existing E2T2 program and represent a solid commitment on the part of the new administration to support 21st Century learning.

To read more, click here.