Policy & Advocacy | News
SETDA Launches Online Ed Tech Policy Center
The State Educational Technology Directors Association has launched an online database, the State Education Policy Center, to provide information on technology-related policies.
Membership of SETDA, based in Washington, DC, consists of educational technology directors from all 50 states and territories. The group shares best practices, works on public-private partnerships, and provides professional development opportunities.
"The SEPC is intended to provide up-to-date information regarding select technology-related education policies and practices to inform school reform and improvement efforts. The aggregation of these state policies is unique and will benefit state, federal and local policymakers, researchers, private sector (corporate and philanthropic) investors, and practitioners," according to information released by SETDA. Information in the database was collected and verified by members of SETDA and state departments of education.
The SEPC includes a clickable map through which users can search for educational technology policies and practices by state (or territory). Users can also search by the following topics:
- Broadband for K-12, broken down into subtopics: state network, state policy, district funding, and future plans;
- Online assessment, broken down into subtopics: online testing requirements, funding, and non-summative assessment;
- Instructional materials, broken down by subtopics: definitions and guidelines, formal adoption, exemplary practices, and library/media services; and
- General information, such as state demographics, state education agency and technology associations, educational technology organizations, organizational goals, and state educational technology events.
Subtopic pages will be downloadable beginning in January.
"Knowledge mining and information management is at the core of our combined and shared interest," said Jose Ortega, administrator of the Education Technology Office in the California Department of Education. "The State Education Policy Center provides a central repository of critical topics and policies that will help advance our own work through the experiences of our fellow states."
For more information, visit setda.org or sepc.setda.org.
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Tim Sohn is a 10-year veteran of the news business, having served in capacities from reporter to editor-in-chief of a variety of publications including Web sites, daily and weekly newspapers, consumer and trade magazines, and wire services. He can be reached at timothyjsohn@gmail.com and followed on Twitter @editortim.