Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - S12

K-12 Leadership Evolves
To Meet Digital Priorities
Superintendent’s role shifts
toward ‘instigator of change’
D
By Katie
Ash
avid Britten, the superintendent of the
1,800-student Godfrey-Lee school district
in Wyoming, Mich., said the activity
he sees in his schools has changed
dramatically over the past five years.
Between classes, students walk the hallways
texting their families and friends.
They bring their laptops and tablets to
school to take notes in class. And Mr. Britten
himself regularly uses the district’s
Facebook page to reach out to and connect with students, parents,
educators, and the community.
“That’s part of the game now,” said the superintendent.
In fact, as a result of the shifting educational landscape—in
large part because of technological changes—what it means to be
a superintendent today is far different from what it was just a few
years ago, he and others say.
“In the past, the superintendent was more of a keeper of the
status quo,” said Mr. Britten. “Most communities were quite proud
of their school districts and happy with them, and what they
wanted was somebody to come in and make sure it operates
smoothly for as long as they’re there.”
That’s no longer true, he said. “The superintendent’s role is
having to change to become more of an instigator of change,” he
said. “And technology plays a big role in that.”
It’s a phenomenon that Keith R. Krueger, the chief executive officer
of the Washington-based Consortium for School Networking,
or CoSN, has also noticed.
“There’s been a sea change in the view of what [the superinten-
dent’s] role is,” he said. “Increasingly, they have to have the vision
around what’s possible around technology.”
That doesn’t mean that the superintendent has to own every
new gadget that comes out or know how each one works, said Mr.
Krueger, but today’s district leader has to establish a long-term vision
for a district that provides a path toward a digital conversion.
“I think superintendents are very much into talking about a
digital conversion, but the hitch is that few of them know how to
do it,” he said. “We actually have to do something different, and it
can’t just be small little test beds. At some point, we have to have
a plan for scaling.”
That means not just buying 100 iPads and handing them to
teachers, said Jayson Richardson, an associate professor of educational
leadership at the University of Kentucky, but rather
thinking about what kind of long-term infrastructure is needed
to support those devices and how they will be used to improve
teaching and learning.
“We’ve noticed that the folks who are struggling, they don’t re-
ally think proactively about what [technology purchases] are going
to mean for networking, electricity, [and other factors at the district],”
he said.
And it’s not just the superintendent who has to have the vision,
said Mr. Richardson. He or she also needs to be able to clearly
communicate it to school board members, principals, teachers, students,
parents. and other members of the community.
“It’s shared, not top-down,” Mr. Richardson said of that vision.
MODERN CHAIN OF COMMAND
Clear and transparent communication is a priority that Mr.
Britten, from Michigan’s Godfrey-Lee schools, has embraced.
He maintains two separate blogs about what’s going on in the
district and personally manages the district’s Facebook page,
he said.
“I want to make sure the communication is getting out there
and it’s real communication,” he said, “not glossing over stuff to
make the district look good.”
Superintendents across the country are now communicating
more directly with community members than in the past, said
Rowland Baker, the executive director of the Technology Information
Center for Administrative Leadership, or TICAL, in Santa
Cruz, Calif. The center, which operates out of the Santa Cruz
County Office of Education, helps train administrators in how to
use and implement technology effectively in their school districts.
These days, when parents or members of the public want to
voice an opinion about something happening in a school or district,
they often fire off an email to the superintendent, rather
Steven Webb, the superintendent
of schools in Vancouver, Wash.,
watches as students Damon
Reinhardt, 12, left, and Philip
Morgan, 13, work on a geography
project using the app “Pic-Collage”
in a 7th grade combined language
arts/Washington state history
class at Alki Middle School.
“
There’s been a
sea change in the view
of what [the
superintendent’s] role
is. Increasingly, they
have to have the vision
around what’s possible
around technology.
I think superintendents
are very much into
talking about a digital
conversion, but the
hitch is that few of them
know how to do it.”
KEITH R. KRUEGER
Chief Executive Officer
Consortium for School Networking
Vancouver’s
Digital Direction
See video of Superintendent
Steven Webb as he promotes
digital learning in schools.
www.edweek.org/go/Vancouver
S12
EDUCATION WEEK | October 2, 2013
Managing the Digital District >>www.edweek.org/go/digitaldistrict-report
Photos by Leah Nash for Education Week
http://www.edweek.org/go/Vancouver http://www.edweek.org/go/digitaldistrict-report

Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013

Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013
Contents
Picking the Right Device For the Right Moment
Q&A: How Los Angeles Negotiated a 1-to-1 Deal
Changing School Culture to Drive Ed. Innovation
Balancing the ‘Yin and Yang’ of Risk-Taking and Failure
K-12 Leadership Evolves to Meet Digital Priorities
Q&A: Houston Superintendent Partners With CTO on Innovation
Smaller Districts Choose to Do Without a CTO
Leadership Training Aims To Advance K-12 CTOs
Intelligent Data Analysis Helps Predict Needs
Technology Readiness for Online Testing
Digital Material Gets an Organizational Lesson
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - SCover2
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - Contents
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - Picking the Right Device For the Right Moment
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - S3
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - Q&A: How Los Angeles Negotiated a 1-to-1 Deal
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - S5
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - S6
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - S7
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - Changing School Culture to Drive Ed. Innovation
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - Balancing the ‘Yin and Yang’ of Risk-Taking and Failure
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - S10
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - S11
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - K-12 Leadership Evolves to Meet Digital Priorities
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - S13
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - Q&A: Houston Superintendent Partners With CTO on Innovation
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - S15
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - Smaller Districts Choose to Do Without a CTO
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - S17
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - Leadership Training Aims To Advance K-12 CTOs
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - S19
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - Intelligent Data Analysis Helps Predict Needs
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - S21
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - Technology Readiness for Online Testing
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - S23
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - Digital Material Gets an Organizational Lesson
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - SCover3
Education Week - Managing the Digital District - October 2, 2013 - SCover4
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