A majority of progressive thinkers in education technology have recently ramped up their public relations machines to highlight the Obama administration’s increased focus on education and technology.
Many of them are talking about the role of edtech. So are we. We are pretty sure that technologists will see doors open for them in the next decade, and they will open rapidly.
In the past two weeks, Obama’s administrators have accelerated discussions about broadband and wireless infrastructure improvement, and sent a new reform proposal to Congress to re-authorize ESEA.
Where could those things dovetail? I think it’s in rural and frontier parts of the America that don’t have access to broadband and sometimes suffer from high levels of failing schools, or at the least, schools without the kinds of technology that would assist them in meeting the requirements for Race to the Top funds.
Strategic federal and state investments in broadband and educational technology will help schools address longstanding educational challenges, drive innovations in teaching, learning and assessment, better prepare students for their future, and save money, according to a director at State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA).
“We applaud the Administration for their vision of the foundational role that technology is and will continue to play in K-12 education and of the importance of a strong state-federal partnership,” said Douglas Levin, Executive Director of SETDA at an event they hosted last week at the National Press Club in DC.
These comments came in the same week that members of the executive branch telegraphed details for spending US$25billion to build up broadband in the United States From this WSJ article:
The FCC says that about 4% of American households currently don’t have access to high-speed Internet service, mostly because they live in rural areas where it is prohibitively expensive for companies to offer service. One of Mr. Genachowski’s goals is to expand 100 megabit per second service to 100 million homes by 2020. The plan suggests that $9 billion in federal spending would bring broadband to rural areas faster, however, FCC officials say they don’t believe Congress is likely to endorse more broadband spending. That $9 billion would be in addition to the $7.2 billion for broadband lines Congress included in the economic-stimulus legislation.
And later on Saturday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan distributed a reform plan for education that will seek to reverse what some call the failure of NCLB. The commentary in the pr package contains specific language about assisting districts that work to lay-in the right infrastructure for evaluation and assessment, which means: data systems.
Districts that have put in place the required evaluation systems may generally spend funds flexibly, except that a district that is not improving equity in the distribution of effective teachers and principals will be required to submit a new plan to the state under which funds will be spent solely on ensuring its evaluation system meets the requirements described above and on specific activities aimed at improving the equitable distribution of effective teachers and principals.
And rural schools get a strong look:
Our proposal will continue formula grants to rural districts to address the specific needs of students in rural areas, through the Small, Rural School Achievement (SRSA) and the Rural and Low-Income School (RLIS) programs. In order to improve targeting of funds, we will update the method used to identify districts as rural. To allow additional districts needed flexibility, our proposal will also expand the current “REAP Flex” authority, which allows eligible small districts to use other federal education funds flexibly, to districts that are eligible to receive funds under RLIS.
In addition, we will better align the accountability requirements of the College- and Career-Ready Students program with the rural education program, so that the rural education program supports school improvement efforts in persistently low-performing districts.
To help rural districts apply for competitive grants and determine effective strategies for improving student academic achievement, the Secretary may reserve funds for national activities such as technical assistance and research on innovative programs that are designed to help rural districts overcome common capacity constraints.
