Consider this an editorial:

Among its various provisions, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 charged the Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, to submit a National Educational Technology Plan. This plan was released in early 2005. The plan concludes in recommending seven action steps:

• Strengthen leadership – educational leaders at all levels must be more tech-savvy and make more effective use of appropriate expertise in decision making.
• Consider innovative budgeting – connect the funding of technology to educational objectives and recognize opportunities for innovative restructuring and reallocation of existing budgets.
• Improve teacher training – improve preparation of new teachers and ensure online access to development experiences for all teachers.
• Support e-learning and virtual schools
• Encourage broadband access
• Move toward digital content
• Integrate data systems – use power of technology to improve efficiency and more carefully track individual student achievement

An important question for us is whether the priorities of this plan are consistent with the priorities of this book. Unfortunately, the seven action steps ignore what might be described as academic priorities (the content students should master and the skills students should acquire) and a commitment to the identification and implementation of learning experiences that promote the development of these priorities. The plan is about a wide range of topics that will influence all educators indirectly, but may offer little guidance that applies directly.

However, the material within the report does emphasize:

• the technology skills of “millennials”, the interest these students have in “researching and innovating using technology” in their lives, and their high expectations for educational experiences, and
• descriptions of what goes on in exemplary schools including authentic student projects nearly identical to those we include in this book.

In his cover letter, Secretary Paige comments “Too often, schools have simply applied technology to existing ways of teaching and learning, with marginal results in student achievement.” He continues by claiming “Teachers and students are transforming what can be done in schools by using technology to access primary sources, expose our students to a variety of perspectives, and enhance the overall learning experience through multimedia, simulations and interactive software.”

However, “the plan” is also heavily tied to “documenting individual student academic progress”, accountability for student progress, connecting budgets with evidence of student learning, and education as an instrument of international economic competitiveness (translate “the need for heightened skills in mathematics and science”). These are positive goals. However, my fear is that it will be this second area of emphasis that will be the focus of attention, that this second set of topics will be interpreted in terms of our present standardized achievement tests, and that the pressure to improve performance on our present achievement tests will narrow rather than expand how we apply technology in educational situations

In my opinion, what some plan should list as a national priority is the inability of present standardized tests to address the full range of skills and knowledge described in content standards. In other words, we need to better align the achievement instruments that seem to dominant the focus of decision makers with the standards we claim we want to address

It is my hope that this book contributes to the national effort to improve the application of technology in K-12 classrooms. You will find that our approach carefully acknowledges the changing interests, values and skills of students, reviews the available research on student learning, recognizes the skills emphasized in content area standards, and offers concrete examples of classroom activities teachers can use to address these interests, expectations and research recommendations.

You should be aware of the National Educational Technology Plan. How you interpret what the plan says may depend on the pressures you feel as an educator

U.S. Department of Education (2004). Toward a new golden age in American education: How the Internet, the law and today’s students are revolutionizing expectations. Washington, D.C.: Office of Educational Technology.

Additional information can be obtained at http://www.nationaledtechplan.org/

8/22/05