July 2004 — SETDA
Print this article | Email this articleClick here to receive your FREE subscription to T.H.E. Journal
Sharing State, District Best Practices
3. Data-Driven Decision-Making. Using data to make decisions is important on both the state and local levels. Before you can do that, however, you need to have an infrastructure in place to define the data, gather it, aggregate it, analyze it, disseminate it, and use it. States are in varying stages of creating this infrastructure and using it as we see in articles from Virginia, Idaho and South Dakota.
4. Leadership & Advocacy. Effective advocacy for technology in education can take many forms at both the state and local levels. It is critically important to have an advocacy mechanism in place and to learn about what has worked, especially in a time when state budgets are squeezed and state departments of education, including technology departments, are cutting personnel. Pennsylvania, Illinois and West Virginia have much to share because all three states have shown significant leadership.
Making Progress
From 1985 through 1996, state technology directors such as myself struggled with similar issues, but enormous progress has been made since then. Technology integration was truly innovative, as most states and districts were concerned with getting technology into the schools in any way they could. Many states took the computer literacy approach to establish a beachhead. In hindsight, this may have stalled technology integration, but it did create a critical mass of technology and teachers who understood using technology with kids. Like today, professional development received a lot of lip service; however, the focus back then was on learning how to use a computer and some of the key software.
Today, most educators can use computers and are looking at ways students can use them to learn. Less than two decades ago, only a handful of states had a statewide data system and few educators looked at any data for instructional decision-making, partially because everything was on paper. There was, however, no lack of leadership during that time. From the first statewide network for educators in Florida, the Florida Information Resource Network (FIRN), to the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) to the first comprehensive state technology plan in Texas, legislators, bureaucrats, educators and members of the private sector took risks. They also spent time and money getting technology into the hands of kids and teachers. It did not all work, but we learned and we shared.
That is why it is so important to have SETDA, especially in these times of tight budgets. Sharing, learning and working together can accelerate the effective use of technology in education. That is why we exist at T.H.E. Journal, and why we are proud to bring you this issue featuring best practices from states and districts. We also look forward to providing updates from these states and districts in future issues.
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
