Introduction to Enhancing Education Through Technology

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Introduction to Enhancing Education Through
Technology
Charles Lovett John Bailey Charles.Lovett_at_ed.
gov John.Bailey_at_ed.gov
February 2002
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Power Point Guidance

• This Power Point is designed to supplement the
  existing summary and guidance documents.
• Please refer to the guidance documents available
  athttp//www.ed.gov/nclb

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No Child Left Behind

• President Bush has made education his number one
  domestic priority.
• The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, embodies
  the four principles
• stronger accountability for results
• expanded flexibility and local control
• expanded options for parents
• an emphasis on teaching methods that have been
  proven to work

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Changes in the Landscape

• The role of states
• The imperative for collaboration
• The way we think about education
• The need for research, evaluation, and developing
  a compelling case
• The way we fund technology

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Secretary Paiges Technology Priorities

• No Child Left Behind Implementation
• National Educational Technology Plan
• Long-term Research Study
• What are the effective conditions for technology
  to improve student achievement and instruction?
• eLearning
• What policies, laws, and regulations must be
  changed to accommodate virtual high schools,
  cyber charter schools, and online learning
  opportunities?
• Online Assessment
• Data Driven Decision making

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No Child Left Behinds Commitment to Educational
Technology

• Every educational program is an opportunity for
  technology funding.
• Technology is integrated throughout the
  curriculum programs of No Child Left Behind
  (Reading First, Math and Science Partnerships,
  Teacher Quality, etc.)
• Commitment to professional development.
• At least 25 percent of the State Ed Tech Grant
  funds.
• Flexible use of funds
• Distance learning, online services, data driven
  decision making systems, Internet connectivity,
  computers, PDAs, training
• Commitment to evaluation and research
• Identifying the conditions for technology to
  improve student achievement and instruction and
  measuring the impact technology has in education.
  

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Secretary Paige
For years, our officials have said they wanted
to integrate technology with curricula. No Child
Left Behind takes that goal seriously by
integrating technology into its programs. So
schools can use Reading First funds to purchase
literacy software or use Mathematics and Science
Partnership funds to provide online courses. In
effect, every education program is an opportunity
for technology.

It is time to realize the full potential of the
technology investment we have made during the
last decade. It is time to move beyond talking
about the potential of technology to change
educationwe need to prove it. We need to study
what technologies have the most dramatic impact
on what types of students. We need to move our
efforts, as the Web-based Commission said in its
report, from promise to practice.

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Enhancing Education Through TechnologyState Ed
Tech Program
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Changes from TLCF

• 56 percent increase in funding (700 million)
• Within-State Allocations - 50 percent by
  formula, 50 percent by competitive grants.
• Targeting - high-need LEAs and partnerships.
• Professional Development - Requires each LEA
  receiving funds to use at least 25 percent for
  high-quality professional development.
• National Activities - Requires a national study
  and authorizes the Department to provide
  technical assistance to recipients of program
  funds.

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Goals

• Improve student academic achievement through the
  use of technology in schools
• Assist all students in becoming technologically
  literate by the end of eighth grade
• Encourage the effective integration of technology
  with teacher training and curriculum development
  to establish successful research-based
  instructional methods.

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Program Purposes

• Assist States and localities in implementing a
  comprehensive system that effectively uses
  technology in schools to improve student academic
  achievement.
• Encourage the establishment or expansion of
  initiatives that are designed to increase access
  to technology, particularly in schools served by
  high-need local educational agencies.

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• Support effective educational technology
  infrastructures that expand access of technology
  to students (particularly disadvantaged students)
  and teachers.
• Support initiatives that enable school personnel
  and administrators to integrate technology
  effectively into curriculum and instruction.

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• Enhance ongoing professional development for
  teachers, principals, and administrators.
• Support the development and use of electronic
  networks and other innovative methods, such as
  distance learning.

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• Support efforts to use technology enhance
  communication among students, parents, and school
  personnel.
• Support rigorous evaluation of programs,
  particularly regarding the impact of these
  programs on student academic achievement.

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State Allocation Determinations

• The amount a State receives in a given year is
  based on the proportion of funds it receives
  under Part A of Title I for that year.
• No State receives less than one-half of one
  percent of the funds made available under the
  program.

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State Allocation Breakdown

• State activities -- up to 5 percent may be used
  for State-level activities and to assist local
  efforts to carry out the purposes of the program.
  
• Formula grants -- 50 percent distributed on a
  formula basis to eligible LEAs that have
  submitted applications to the State.
• Competitive grants -- 50 percent distributed on a
  competitive basis to eligible local entities that
  have submitted applications to the State.

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State Use Funds (5)

• Delivery of specialized or rigorous academic
  courses and curricula through the use of
  technology, and providing other technical
  assistance to grant applicants and recipients,
  with priority given to high-need LEAs.
• Supporting public-private initiatives for
  acquiring technology for high-need LEAs and
  students served by these LEAs (e.g. revolving
  loans)

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• Supporting professional and curriculum
  development that includes the integration of
  advanced technologies.
• Assisting grant recipients in providing all
  students and teachers with access to educational
  technology.
• Developing performance measurement systems to
  evaluate the effectiveness of programs supported
  with Ed Tech funds.
• Collaborating with other SEAs on distance
  learning.

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Administrative Costs

• Up to 60 of the state use funds (5) may be used
  for administrative costs.
• A State may consolidate State administration
  funds under any ESEA program.
• A State may use consolidated State administrative
  funds to administer the programs included in the
  consolidation.

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Accountability

• SEAs must develop a process and accountability
  measures to evaluate effectiveness of
  integrating technology into curricula and
  instruction.
• These accountability measures should evaluate the
  impact that Ed Tech activities have had on
  student achievement.
• The legislation expressly authorizes States to
  use funds that are set aside for State-level
  activities to develop performance measurement
  systems to determine program effectiveness.

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Accountability

• LEAs must also develop a process and
  accountability measures that they will use to
  evaluate the effectiveness of activities in
• integrating technology into curricula and
  instruction
• increasing the ability of teachers to teach
• enabling students to meet challenging State
  standards.
• The SEA is responsible for ensuring that LEAs and
  eligible local entities comply with Ed Tech
  statutory requirements.

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State Application Process
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Applications

• Consolidated
• Single

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Consolidated Application

• Timing of awards
• Application approval (submission and review)
• Availability of allocation data (Title I numbers
  in April/May)
• Awards planned for July 1
• Requirements
• All statutory requirements still apply but not
  all must be submitted for approval
• Content still being determined
• March 6 Federal Register Notice inviting
  commenthttp//www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/
  proprule/2002-1/030602a.html
• States are encouraged to comment on what the
  requirements should be.

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Consolidated Application

• Benefits
• Simpler
• Cross cutting education goals and indicators for
  states
• Requires cross-program coordination and planning

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Single Application

• Timing
• Requirements
• Benefits

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Timing

• Application approval (submission and review)
• Availability of allocation data (Title I numbers
  in April/May)
• Planned for July 1 awards, but earlier awards may
  be possible

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Requirements

• Goals and Strategies 
• Accountability
• Increased Access
• Incentives, Best Practices, Parental involvement
• Strategies for Competitive Subgrants

Increased Access
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Goals and Strategies 

• Identify and describe the State educational
  agency's goals for using advanced technology to
  improve student academic achievement, and how
  those goals are aligned with challenging State
  academic content and student academic achievement
  standards  

Note to be effective goals generally require
indicators of progress and one or more means of
measuring progress. To the extent possible,
please provide information on indicators and
measures of progress (See also Accountability
below)
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• Outline the State educational agency's long-term
  strategies for improving student academic
  achievement, including technology literacy,
  through the effective use of technology in
  classrooms throughout the State, and improving
  the capacity of teachers to integrate technology
  effectively into curricula and instruction.
• Describe how the State educational agency will
  ensure ongoing integration of technology into
  school curricula and instructional strategies in
  all schools in the State, so that technology will
  be fully integrated into the curricula and
  instruction of the schools by December 31, 2006.

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• Describe how public and private entities will
  participate in the implementation and support of
  the plan.
• Describe how the plan addresses teacher
  preparation, professional development, and
  curriculum development to ensure that teachers
  and principals in the State are technologically
  literate.

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Accountability

• Describe the process and accountability measures
  that the State educational agency will use to
  evaluate the extent to which activities funded
  under the program are effective in integrating
  technology into curricula and instruction.

Note States are expressly authorized to use
funds that are set aside for State-level
activities to develop performance measurement
systems to determine the effectiveness of
educational technology programs developed with Ed
Tech State Grant funds. Accountability measures
should evaluate the impact of technology on
student achievement.
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Increased Access

• Describe how the State educational agency will
  ensure that all students and teachers,
  particularly in schools served by high-need local
  educational agencies, have increased access to
  technology.
• Describe the State's long-term strategies for
  financing technology to ensure that all students,
  teachers, and classrooms have access to
  technology.
• Describe how the State educational agency will
  encourage the development and utilization of
  innovative strategies for the delivery of
  specialized or rigorous academic courses and
  curricula through the use of technology,
  including distance learning technologies.resource

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Incentives, Best Practices, and Parental
Involvement

• Describe how the State will encourage local
  educational agencies in the State to provide
  incentives to encourage teachers who are
  technologically literate to teach in rural or
  urban areas.
• Describe the technology resources and systems
  that the State will provide for the purpose of
  establishing best practices that can be
  replicated throughout the country.
• Describe the State's strategies for using
  technology to increase parental involvement

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Strategies for Competitive Subgrants

• Describe the State educational agencys
  strategies for awarding competitive subgrants.
  Begin with a short narrative overview of the
  purpose and desired outcomes of the
  competition(s). In particular

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• Describe the standards that the State educational
  agency will use in applying the statutory
  definition of high-need local educational
  agency
• Specifically, the standards that will be used to
  determine whether a local educational agency is
  among the local educational agencies in a State
  with the highest numbers or percentages of
  children from families with incomes below the
  poverty line
• The standards that the State educational agency
  will use to determine whether a local educational
  agency has a substantial need for assistance in
  acquiring and using technology. (See the
  definition of high-need local educational
  agency in section 2403(3) of the legislation.)

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• Describe how the State educational agency will
  provide technical assistance to applicants,
  especially to applicants serving the highest
  percentages or numbers of children in poverty or
  with the greatest need for technical assistance
  and discuss the capacity of the State educational
  agency to provide such technical assistance
• Describe how the State educational agency will
  ensure that Ed Tech State Grant competitive
  subgrants that are of sufficient size and
  duration to carry out the purposes of the Ed Tech
  State Grant legislation effectively.

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• Describe how the State educational agency will
  determine which local educational agencies are
  eligible local entities for competitive subgrants
  and that receive Ed Tech State Grant formula
  grant allocations that are of insufficient size
  to be effective, and how the State educational
  agency will give priority to these local
  educational agencies when awarding competitive
  subgrants.
• Describe how the State educational agency will
  ensure an equitable distribution of competitive
  grant funds among urban and rural areas,
  according to the demonstrated need of the local
  educational agencies serving the areas.

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• Describe any other priorities that the State
  educational agency will use in the competition,
  any standards it may set for the use of funds,
  and competition strategies, as appropriate.

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Benefits

• Whole State Educational Technology Plan is
  submitted and reviewed
• Funds may be awarded more quickly but only by a
  few weeks at best.

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What You Can Start Doing Now

• Provide comments on consolidated application.
• Dont wait for application packages! Begin
• Cross-walking State plans and elements in the
  statute - see whats missing.
• Developing responses to the requirements.
• Thinking about evaluation strategies and
  indicators.
• Updating and approving LEA plans.

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Questions???