Policy Issues


K-12 Technology News

Ed Tech To Help Power Colorado School Turnaround Effort

Under the Colorado Education Accountability Act of 2009, the state has made improvement of chronically low-performing schools a priority. With the help of federal funds, the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) has instituted a statewide school transformation and turnaround effort. This effort includes grants that will allow schools to reorganize under one of four intervention models: transformation, turnaround, restart, or closure.

Policy & Advocacy

Education Groups 'Extremely Concerned' over EETT Cut in Obama Budget

If adopted by Congress without alteration, President Obama's proposed fiscal year 2011 budget would pump an additional $3.5 billion into education. But it would also cut the sole source of dedicated federal funding for education technology, and that has three prominent ed tech advocacy groups worried.

Federal Policy

Feds: 2011 Budget Makes 'Strong Commitment to Technology'

Does the proposed elimination of EETT mean the end of federal education technology spending? Not according to information quietly released Feb. 1 by the Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP), which provided some insight into the intent behind the numbers revealed in the 2011 federal budget proposed Monday by the Obama administration.

Policy & Budget

EETT Eliminated in 2011 Obama Budget Proposal

Human space flight wasn't the only casualty of the 2011 federal budget proposal issued by the Obama administration Monday. Despite an overall $3.5 billion increase in education spending, the proposed $3.8 trillion FY 2011 budget zeroed out the only federal source of funding specifically dedicated to education technology, while consolidating 38 education programs into 11 and shifting a total of $1.85 billion into the Race to the Top program and the Investing in Innovation Fund.

K-12 Technology Trends

Disruptive Innovation in the Classroom

Disruption has several definitions in the English language, and not many of them positive in nature. A television commercial can disrupt a viewer; students can disrupt a class by talking out of turn; and the introduction of new technologies can disrupt traditional means of getting the job done. In each of these scenarios, the disruptive "factor" halts progress and creates complications that someone must deal with in order to get things moving in the right direction.

FETC 2010 Keynote Coverage

Good Science, Great Technology Will Drive Student Engagement

It's up to America's teachers to get the country's youth involved in critical environment issues. But that's not going to happen if teachers aren't delivering the message in a way that engages students, according to Ed Begley Jr., who delivered the opening general address at this year's FETC conference in Florida. "We have to speak in a language young people understand. And that language," he said, "is technology."

Policy & Issues

What Are the Top-10 Ed Tech Priorities for 2010?

Which issues in education technology should drive policymaking in 2010? Start with establishing technology as the "backbone of school improvement," and we'll be on the right track, according to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), which published a list of its top-10 priorities for decision makers for the coming year.

FETC 2010 News

SIIA Launches Vision K-20 Survey for 2010

At the FETC 2010 conference in Florida, the Software & Information Industry Association this week opened its 2010 Vision K-20 Survey, part of the SIIA's "Vision K-20" effort toward developing a technology-based educational framework for K-12 schools, colleges, and universities.

policy & advocacy

Building A Better CTO

school technology, campus technology, educational technology, technology in k-12 education, Educate to Innovate, obama education policy, education policy issues, federal education programs, stem education initiatives, stem education funding, k-12 funding

Policy & Funding

Obama Revs Up 'Educate to Innovate' Campaign

President Obama Wednesday announced the expansion of the "Educate to Innovate" campaign, an initiative aimed at enhancing and encouraging STEM education throughout the country in order to allow the Unitee States to remain as competitive in scientific and technological research and innovation in the 21st century as it was in the 20th.

Biweekly Ed Tech Poll

Do you believe there is too little expertise in technology decisions that impact teaching and learning?