Technology Counts - March 14, 2013 - 7

Tackling a ‘Complicated’
DIGITAL TASK

Schools face pressure to transform themselves into high-tech learning centers
By_Kevin Bushweller

he chief executive officer of
EducationSuperHighway,
a nonprofit group that advocates upgraded Internet
access for schools, articulates what
many educational technology leaders like to remind educators, policymakers, parents, and students:
“Schools don’t have the expertise
they need to effectively design and
implement a network,” says Evan
C. Marwell. “Creating a network
and buying broadband is a lot more
complicated than buying pencils.”
Superintendents, chief technology
officers, and other district leaders
are working through those complexities as they put measures in place
to transform their school districts
into learning environments featuring more powerful digital tools.
Making that happen is challenging and requires investments in
broadband capacity, smarter and
more flexible use of federal E-rate
dollars, cost-effective approaches to
building 1-to-1 computing, stronger
home-school online connections, and
a greater emphasis on professional
development focused on the needs of
students, not just how to use certain
devices or software applications.
Technology Counts 2013: Building
the Digital District takes a major
step in outlining the barriers educators and policymakers are facing,
and how they are moving beyond
them, in building schools that maximize the use of digital tools to improve student achievement.

programs in which teachers can
learn at their own pace and receive
follow-up mentoring or other help.
Still, educators have a sense that
they are far behind the digital advances taking place outside schools.
A 2010 survey of schools by the
Federal Communications Commission, for instance, found that most
schools had access to some form of
broadband service, but that 80 per-

cent of respondents didn’t have connections adequate to their needs.
In the day-to-day life of schools,
inadequate connections translate
into instructional problems: Lessons stall when videos freeze up as
teachers use them to illustrate concepts. Even worse, some districts
have had to deny teachers Internet access on certain days, such as
when online testing is happening.

Consider the experience of Kara
Heichelbech, a 7th grade digitalcommunications teacher at North
Carolina’s Clark-Pleasant Middle
School.
Last school year, she says, before
her district finished a broadband
upgrade, she spent three days without Internet access in her class,
which relies heavily on the use of
digital tools on the Web. At other

times, she recounts, her Internet
connection was slow or would cut
off in the middle of a lesson, especially during state testing time.
Ed-tech leaders say such scenarios are simply unacceptable in
most businesses and other organizations in the United States. Yet
they are all too common in schools.
The good news is schools are
making progress in addressing the
problems. But the reality is they
have a long way to go in a short
amount of time. n

Measured Progress

TRANSFORMS

JUGGLING PRIORITIES
But the reality of the challenges
can be daunting. Schools are under
pressure to integrate more multimedia into classroom learning, build
data systems that can track student performance in ways that can
help teachers make instructional
adjustments in real time, and offer
students regular access to content
on the Web through laptops, tablets,
and other digital devices.
At the same time, schools in all
but a handful of states face immense pressure to upgrade their
technological infrastructure to prepare for the Common Core State
Standards and the accompanying
online assessments.
And they are trying to meet those
goals despite tight budgets and
other concerns.
To be sure, many districts have
made significant progress over the
past five years in integrating technology tools into classroom learning
and the management of schools.
The use of tablet computing in education is growing rapidly, and many
schools have found ways to incorporate the digital devices students already own through “bring your own
device” policies.
Beyond those developments,
districts are also using more online professional-development

A Changing Educational Climate Calls
for New Assessment Approaches

Call 877.678.8294 or email
info@measuredprogress.org
to learn more.

From paper and pencil to online testing. From NCLB to the Common
Core. From measures of proficiency to measures of performance.
From assessment for some to assessment for all.
Measured Progress® is helping educators from the classroom to the state
department navigate changing times to transform assessment into an
essential instructional asset.
Working together, we will help students and teachers meet the
challenges of a new era and fulfill the promise of education…transformed.

MeasuredProgress.org | Toll Free: 877.678.8294

It’s all about student learning. Period.
© 2013 Measured Progress. Measured Progress is a registered trademark and the
Measured Progress logo is a trademark of Measured Progress, Inc.

483-003_Corporate_Print&Online_CommonCore_FNL.indd 1

TECHNOLOGY COUNTS 2013

2/4/13 9:43
>> www.edweek.org/go/tc13 AM 7

http://www.MeasuredProgress.org http://www.MeasuredProgress.org http://www.edweek.org/go/tc13

Technology Counts - March 14, 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Technology Counts - March 14, 2013