July 2004 — SETDA

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West Virginia: Integrating Technology to Improve Student Learning

By Brenda Williams, Executive Director, West Virginia Department of Education's Office of Technology and Information Systems; Recipient of SETDA's First-Ever Leader of the Year Awa

The federal E-Rate program has provided funding to advance the connections into the classrooms as well. Realizing the intricate details of the program and acknowledging that the rural areas that most needed the program benefits would be the least likely to participate due to lack of staff and other circumstances, the WVDE's Office of Technology took responsibility for E-Rate applications and assumed the task of completing an application for every school in the state. Legislative and local appropriations for technology were used to provide the match for E-Rate requirements and allowed the state investment to be expanded to take advantage of pricing on state contracts. Every school now has a local area network (LAN) connected to the Internet via a high-speed connection, which means that 100% of West Virginia schools have access to the Internet.

Technology Infrastructure

West Virginia has recognized that optimal use of this rich technology infrastructure requires educators with strong skills in integrating technology into the classroom. To ensure quality in teaching and administration relative to technology, West Virginia has set in policy standards, based on ISTE NETS-T (National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers) and NETS-A (National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators), which focus on the skills needed by teachers and school/district administrators to effectively integrate technology into instruction.

But setting standards alone d'es not make effective technology integration happen. Professional development programs must be in place to ensure that teachers have an opportunity to learn the requisite technology skills. OTIS provides opportunities in all statewide initiatives for teachers to participate in professional development programs for exemplary technology usage. It also has developed an assessment tool that principals can use to assess teacher progress in meeting these standards.

Standards for students, based upon the ISTE NETS-S (National Educational Technology Standards for Students) model and incorporated into the West Virginia's Content Standards and Objectives, include technology objectives for each grade level and the expectation that technology will be used throughout the students' course of study in all subject areas.

The state aids districts in designing and purchasing a technology infrastructure consistent with guidelines set in state policy. The statewide programs provide an avenue for the procurement of hardware, software and other services, with discounts realized because of the purchasing power of statewide contracts. To assist districts and schools in planning for this technology, the WVDE implemented a customized, online technology planning system known as OPTimal (Online Planning - Technology Integration Measures for Achievement and Learning). To receive critical state and federal funds, West Virginia schools can now complete online technology plans in OPTimal as an integral component of the Unified School Improvement Plan.

Effective Technology Integration

Ultimately, the classroom is where it all really happens, and the WVDE has chosen to grant federal competitive EETT (Enhancing Education Through Technology) funds to schools so that "technology integration specialists" can provide support to classroom teachers in the effective integration of technology into the curriculum to enrich classroom instruction.