Investment in Education and Technology: The Key to Preparing for the Digital Age - Brief Article

Whether schools are urban or rural, large or small, old or new, they face a common challenge--realizing the full benefits of our national investment in education technology.

Over the last decade, schools have made impressive strides in technology initiatives, but there is an alarming gap between technology's presence and its effective integration into instruction. Today, a record 95 percent of schools and 72 percent of classrooms are connected to the Internet. However, while 86 percent of teachers report using the Internet for email and finding curricular materials, only 66 percent of them use the Internet to enhance classroom instruction, only 30 percent leverage the Internet for student research, and only 16 percent employ these tools for lesson planning.

Why is there such a disparity between available resources and their use? Some may argue that it is because there are no available lesson plans for using the Internet in the classroom, there are not enough teachers who understand how to use the Internet, or there are textbooks that offer the same information as that which is available on the Internet.

The CEO Forum on Education & Technology, of which I am a co-chair, is a partnership of business and education leaders, which came together in 1996 to offer recommendations for some of these evident challenges. The CEO Forum concluded that the key to creating the best education environments for the 21st Century would be in the seamless integration of four areas, similar to the Clinton Administration's "Four Pillars" of education technology (1996). These concepts are hardware and connectivity, professional development, digital content, and outcomes and assessments.

With these components comprising the concept of digital learning, the CEO Forum set out to develop annual reports that articulate the progress, use, and impact of the pillars.

* From Pillars to Progress (1st Report): In our first year, the issue was hardware and connectivity. We found that only 3 percent of U.S. schools were on target for incorporating technology into their curricula. We also created the STaR chart, a School Technology and Readiness self-assessment tool. The STaR chart served as a tool for schools to gauge how they were currently using technology and to provide a standard by which they could judge and assess their progress. After completion of this study, the CEO Forum recommended that every K-12 school assess the current state of its hardware and connectivity and move toward "target tech," the highest level of complete integration of technology, by 2005.

* Professional Development: A Link to Better Learning (2nd Report): The second-year report focused on the critical issue of professional development. We found that only 20 percent of teachers felt well prepared to integrate technology into instruction. After the release of this landmark study, the CEO Forum recommended that an education technology curriculum for professional development was necessary for K-12 teachers in order to integrate technology into their classrooms. Then, with a similar recommendation by Secretary of Education Richard Riley, we created the Teacher Preparation STaR chart, released in January 2000. This self-assessment tool for colleges of education helps teacher education programs measure their progress in integrating technology into the teacher preparation curriculum. We hope that by using this tool, colleges will be better equipped to prepare the 2.2 million new teachers coming into the school systems in the next decade.

* The Power of Digital Learning (3rd Report): Our current report emphasizes the importance of digital content and how, if used effectively in the classroom by skilled teachers, it can enable students to seek and manipulate digital information in creative ways. After completion of this study, the CEO Forum recommended that schools increase their investment in digital content and plan technology around education goals to ensure it is used effectively for teaching and learning.

* Outcomes and Assessments (4th Report): The 2001 report will evaluate and assess whether or not education technology has been effective in achieving educational goals.

All of the CEO Forum reports paint a compelling picture of the possibilities created by digital learning and are the beginning steps in recognizing the importance of integrating education technology into curricula. I recommend the use of the STaR chart to all schools, K-12 and higher education, which are currently not implementing these steps to "target tech." But using the CEO Forum reports and STaR charts is not the whole solution.

We must continuously expand our definition of education to blend with our evolving understanding of education technology in America. We must be strong advocates for the infusion of digital learning into the curricula of America's schools. We must support educators and community members as they transform our schools into digital learning environments. And we must redouble our efforts to ensure that our teachers and students realize the full potential of education in the Digital Age.

For more information about the CEO Forum on Education & Technology, or to find out your school's education technology status, log on to www.ceoforum.org or http://www.ceoforum.org/, or call 202/585-0250.

Anne Bryant is executive director of the National School Boards Association, a federation of state and territorial organizations dedicated to advancing education through citizen governance of public schools. She directs a 150-person staff that implements policies that help the state associations and local school boards provide leadership for today's children in order to develop tomorrow's leaders.

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COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group