Digital Discourse / Education Policy

Cloud season continues on Hill, data security headlines Committee focus

September 27, 2011 By

Cloud computing season continues on the Hill. Last week’s hearing on cloud computing in the House Science Sbcmte. on Technology and Innovation didn’t generate any major headlines, which is largely a good thing. Next week the House Homeland Security Sbcmte. on Cybersecurity is planning to hold an informational hearing on cloud computing security. Most importantly, but least officially, rumor has it that Sen. Klobuchar is still seeking to introduce her draft cloud computing legislation.

In other cloud news, NIST has officially scheduled their fourth Cloud Computing Roundtable and Workshop for Nov. 2-4, at which time they plan to unveil their Cloud Computing Roadmap guidance document for federal agencies.

Also of note last week, the Sen. Judiciary Cmte. approved — along party lines — three bills seeking to establish uniform rules for data security and breach notification. As we reported last week, these were held over from the previous week due to a lack of Republican members for a quorum. While attendance was sufficient this time around, Sen. Grassley again voiced serious reservation with all of the bills, stating that they would create an unnecessary burden on businesses of all sizes. And while Sen. Commerce Cmte., Chair Rockefeller still has not provided word on when the Cmte. will proceed with the pending markup of his bill, the House E&C Cmte. staff has indicated that it’s likely to revisit the issue this fall.

Finally, President Obama last Friday announced a sweeping set of federal NCLB education waivers states and school districts can apply for in the areas of testing/accountability, school improvement, use of funds and teacher quality/effectiveness. Most significantly, the waivers will provide some flexibility in how student, teacher and school performance is measured, as well as to the nature of school improvement remedies (e.g., Title I Supplemental Educational Services tutoring will likely see a large reduction) and the targeting of limited improvement resources. SIIA will provide members with further information and analysis on this in the near future, particularly considering how this is likely to affect education technology.

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Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup, Education Policy, Policy Tagged With: , , ,

Take the Vision K-20 Survey – closes Thursday, June 30

June 27, 2011 By

For the fourth year, the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) has been monitoring the results in its national survey: Vision  K-20. The 2011 survey, which closes Thursday, June 30, asks participants to help benchmark their institution’s use of technology in meeting their educational goals. We’ll be very curious to see if there’s been any real progress in this past school year.

As the Association of companies who provide technology tools and content to education, SIIA members felt a responsibility to promote a “vision” of the best technology uses to help educations and K-20 students achieve an inclusive 21st century education. The Vision initiative includes a website (www.siia.net/visionK20/), booklet, and an online survey.  The survey helps educators benchmark the use of appropriate tools, providing access, closing the achievement gap, use of assessment tools and enabling the enterprise – through the use of technology.

Of the benchmarking questions, the highest ranking was in access to high-speed broadband (both for instructional, administrative and collaborative learning) and security tools (to protect student data and privacy). The greatest room for improvement still lies in increasing technology-based assessments, access to online courses, and personal ePortfolios for individual students.

In past years, the average increase in overall scores was less than 1 percent year-over-year.  That means educational institutions are making VERY SLOW progress in achieving SIIA Vision K-20 benchmarks. Will it be different this year?

Help us build on this baseline data and find out how much progress is being made. We invite all interested educators to participate in this year’s survey here. Monitor the your progress in using education technology for 2011, to be part of this year’s survey, we need your input by Thursday, June 30!

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Filed Under: Analytics and Metrics, Education, Education Events, Education Policy, Uncategorized

More Buzz on Privacy, Cybersecurity and the ATTAIN Act

June 8, 2011 By

Last week saw two noteworthy announcements on the privacy front. First, the House Commerce Committee announced its intention to conduct a comprehensive review of data security and electronic privacy. In the statement released last week, the Committee highlighted its immediate focus on data security, but also noted that later in the year will turn to “broader electronic privacy concerns,” including mobile and web “tracking.” Chairwoman Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) will introduce draft data breach legislation in the near future, with the intention for quick Committee consideration. Additionally, deputy Federal CTO Danny Weitzner confirmed last week that the Administration’s white paper will be released “later in the summer,” proposing a safe-harbor approach based on a broad set of information privacy principles.

On the cybersecurity front, new legislation was introduced in the House by Rep. John McCaul (R-TX). McCaul, who was tapped by Speaker Boehner at the beginning of the year to take the lead on this issue, introduced H.R. 2096 on Thursday, “legislation to advance cybersecurity research, development, and technical standards.” Meanwhile, key Senate staff continue to deliberate on their draft legislation and reconcile differences with the recent administration proposal.

And on the education technology front, this Thursday SIIA expects Senator Bingaman (D-NM) to reintroduce the Achievement Through Technology and Innovation (ATTAIN) Act. The ATTAIN Act has been championed by SIIA and a coalition of education and industry groups for several years to revamp the technology grant program in the No Child Left Behind Act, which is still up for reauthorization.

Also last week, SIIA submitted comments to the Federal Reserve Boards in response to their proposed clarifications of warranties and liabilities in connection with electronically-created items (checks). In our comments, SIIA noted that efficiency-enhancing innovations rely on electronic processing of information that is only impeded by traditional requirements for paper origination and authentication.

For SIIA policy updates including upcoming events, news and analysis, subscribe to SIIA’s weekly policy email newsletter, Digital Policy Roundup.

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Filed Under: Education, Education Policy, Policy, Software Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

SIIA hosts ed-tech summit; Committee passes patent bill

April 19, 2011 By

The U.S. Congress is on recess this week, following a budget dominated week that featured a shutdown-avoiding final FY2011 appropriations act, and a House-passed FY2012 budget proposal that cut trillions of entitlement spending over the next decade. The budget is likely to dominate the federal legislative calendar throughout the year.

Ed-Tech Government Forum held in Washington, DC
The averted government shutdown ensured that SIIA’s annual Ed Tech Government Forum took place as planned. SIIA brought more than 100 education division members to Washington, DC for discussions with key education leaders about the impact of public policies on the school software market. Attendees networked with more than 150 local and national education leaders, and took advocacy visits to dozens of Congressional offices.

Among the highlights were remarks by Senator Patty Murray, FCC Commissioner Clyburn and U.S. Education Secretary Duncan’s Chief of Staff Joanne Weiss. Session presentations and session summaries will be archived. While education (and education technology) was being cut, SIIA and Senator Patty Murray helped release a report profiling how federal school technology grants helped transform and improve education.

ICANN releases new Guidebook
In other news, ICANN released a new version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook yesterday, continuing the debate over the rollout of new generic top level domains (gTLDs). The Guidebook can be found here. The public comment period runs from April 15 to May 15, and SIIA is working on comments through its constituency group, the Coalition for Online Accountability.

Administration releases NSTIC
On Friday, April 15, the Administration released its National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC). This “private sector-led effort to create a new infrastructure for the Internet, built on interoperable, privacy-enhancing, and secure identity credentials,” was released in conjunction with an event at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The lead Administration agency is the National Institute for Standards and Technology, which announced at the same time that it will be moving forward with a series of workshops on Trusted ID in the coming months.

Web Tracking and User Privacy Workshop to be held
On April 28 and 29, W3C will hold a workshop on Web Tracking and User Privacy at Princeton, New Jersey. Experts from academia, industry, civil society and government will discuss the role of anti-tracking technology to preserve use privacy on the Internet. The agenda can be found here. SIIA’s Director of Public Policy, David Leduc, will join a panel of experts on the first day of the workshop discussing the mechanisms that could be used to implement such a proposal. His submitted paper can be found here. 

House Judiciary Commitee passes patent bill
On patent reform, last week the House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 1249, the America Invents Act.

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Copyright, Digital Policy Roundup, Education, Education Policies, Education Policy, Government, Patent, Policy, Software Tagged With: , , ,

Privacy legislation gets a push, ed-tech funding is threatened

March 22, 2011 By

Last week’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing on privacy provided a boost to Senate efforts for advancing privacy legislation. Most notably, both Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and White House representative Larry Strickling voiced support for legislation, with Strickling announcing that the Administration would be issuing a statement of support for privacy legislation in the near future.

Meanwhile, Sen. Kerry (D-MA) is still working to finalize his draft legislation. Additionally, House Commerce Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee chair Mary Bono Mack indicated last week that she is ready to proceed with the first of several hearings on the issue after the Easter break.

Also, just as the nation’s education system is poised to accelerate technology-based innovation and improvement, a critical U.S. Department of Education program is on the chopping block. House-passed and Senate-proposed bills would zero-out funding for the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program for Fiscal Year 2011.

In response, SIIA and several education groups (ISTE, CoSN and SETDA) joined last week to express a statement of strong concern about budget proposals that would eliminate critical funding for critical education technology programs. EETT is the only federal education program designed to leverage innovation and technology to adequately prepare all of the nation’s children for the competitive 21st century global economy.

For SIIA policy updates, including upcoming events, news and analysis, subscribe to SIIA’s weekly policy email newsletter, Digital Policy Roundup.

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Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup, Education, Education Policy, Government, Policy, Software Tagged With: , , ,

Pending Federal Budget Cuts Would Stall Technology-Based Education Innovation

March 18, 2011 By

The use of technology and digital learning in education has reached a tipping point — the conversation has shifted from “if” to “how,” and education leaders are touting digital learning’s power to improve productivity, personalize learning, and expand learning opportunities. Yet, just as the nation’s education system is poised to accelerate technology-based innovation and improvement, a critical U.S. Department of Education program is on the chopping block. House-passed and Senate-proposed bills would zero out funding for the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT; NCLB II-D) program for Fiscal Year 2011 (i.e., 2011-2012 school year).

Advocates are mobilizing to respond, contacting their Members of Congress by e-mail and phone and advocating in-person April 13 (at SIIA’s Ed Tech Government Forum, which will also include speakers on government programs and policies of interest to digital learning providers).

SIIA and several education groups (ISTE, CoSN and SETDA) expressed strong concern in a recent statement: “We are deeply disappointed that despite many Members’ understanding of the vital role technology plays in K-12 education in their states and districts, Congress is on the verge of eliminating funding for this critical program. Elimination of the program also is the surest way to devalue the billions of dollars invested over the last two years on improving broadband access to K‐12 schools and directly undercuts ongoing state and federal efforts to deploy education data systems, implement new college and areer‐ready standards and assessments, and address the well-documented STEM crisis. Our educators and students deserve better, and we urge Congress to reverse course and fully fund the EETT program.”

[3/22/11 Update: 14 U.S. Senators called on the Appropriations Committee to restore funding for the EETT program to the FY10 $100 million level. See their letter, along with a supporting statement from education groups including NEA and NSBA.]

EETT is the only federal education program designed to leverage innovation and technology to adequately prepare all of the nation’s children for the competitive 21st century global economy. Integrating technology among all programs is necessary, but not sufficient, while public R&D supoort is needed but not an alternative for directly supporting schools. This targeted investment is needed to provide leadership and professional development, and to increase the capacity of educators to redesign education to further personalize learning and engage students.

Spread the word to educators and colleagues! Contact your Member of Congress now!

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Filed Under: Ed Tech Government Forum, Education Policies, Education Policy, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,

Balancing Technology Standardization and Innovation in Race to the Top Assessments

January 31, 2011 By

The U.S. K-12 public education system continues to lag in both adoption of technology and related innovation as well as in leveraging technology and digital resources through interoperability standards. The two are closely connected: technology standards provide a base for cost-effective, value-added innovation; but if carried too far or adopted too early, such technical standardization can also inhibit desired innovation and competition. 

Their appropriate balance is therefore critical to advancing both important goals. The challenges in finding this delicate equilibrium point are being tested (pun intended) now as the U.S. Department of Education and its two Race to the Top Assessment (RTTA) grantee consortia — SBAC and PARCC – consider the scope and form of their deliverables and technology (interoperability) standards.

The $350 million RTTA initiative promises to bring important technology-enabled innovation to assessment — including many long available but not often implemented by states — through the online delivery of more robust (i.e., comprehensive, authentic, timely and adaptive) measurement of student knowledge and skills to inform teaching, learning and accountability. Leveraging this innovation will require changes to teaching and learning, technology investment, interoperability development and adoption, and limits on the scope of RTTA development.

In response to an important RFI by the Department regarding the technology standards to be employed by the RTTA consortia, SIIA supported the requirement that RTTA grantees “maximize the interoperability of assessments across technology platforms and the ability for States to switch their assessments from one technology platform to another.” RTTA could provide the tipping point to K-12 education’s adoption of data and content interoperability standards (see SIIA Primer) that would, for example, enable and maximize our ability to personalize learning.

But these benefits will only be realized if interoperability is properly implemented, and if standardization is balanced with innovation. SIIA’s recommendations to USED (and the RTTA consortia) elaborated on both points. [Read more...]

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Filed Under: Ed Tech Government Forum, Education, Education Policies, Education Policy, Policy Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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