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State of the States: What Governors are Saying about Digital Learning

February 28, 2013 By

State policies, budgets and regulations have a significant impact on school implementation of educational technology.  Since the beginning of the New Year, governors across the country have been delivering their State of the State speeches and presenting their budget proposals for the next fiscal year. As outlined in a new SIIA members-only report, education including technology was a key theme for many governors.

Many governors spoke of the importance of literacy and competency by 3rd grade, and some proposed additional spending for that goal. Common Core transition was less mentioned. There was more funding proposed for scholarship funds than for internal investments in higher education institutions and systems. Performance based funding was also a hot topic amongst the governors, and many proposed shifting of more funds into performance based formulas, especially in higher education. Flexible funding was another topic that many governors focused on and proposed in both speeches and budget proposals.

Specific digital technology funding and initiatives came from the speeches and budget proposals. Both Ohio and Arizona proposed $20 million in funding for 21st century assessments (PARCC & SBAC). Increased IT infrastructure funds were mentioned in budgets by Georgia, Arizona, & Florida. STEM education initiatives were proposed by Virginia, Washington, Pennsylvania, and Florida. Many governors encouraged in speeches or through funding the continued development of virtual higher education resources.

SIIA has produced a summary of the policy agendas and budgets from governors of the 15 most populous states, with a focus on their proposals regarding education technology.  SIIA members can download the SIIA State of the States summary document for a state-by-state breakdown with links to the budget proposals and speeches. The importance of state funding is another topic to look for at the SIIA Ed Tech Government Forum April 9-11 in Washington DC, members should register to learn more.

Lindsay HarmanLindsay Harman is Market and Policy Analyst for the SIIA Education Division.

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

2010 Benchmarking Reports Are Available!

September 7, 2010 By

You can now purchase the comprehensive Benchmarking Report from the 2010 Survey.

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Software Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

What’s the (Ed Tech) Plan?

March 5, 2010 By

The U.S. Department of Education today released a draft of the National Educational Technology Plan titled, “Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology.”  U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan previewed the plan March 3rd during SIIA’s Ed Tech Government Forum in his first speech centered around technology-enabled teaching and learning.  SIIA staff and members were pleased to be invited to provide input into the draft plan, including an SIIA member focus group held in June 2009.

The Plan is not merely a technology plan; it is importantly a plan for the future of teaching and learning. The described model of 21st century learning, powered by technology, is very consistent with SIIA’s Vision K-20. It calls for “personalized learning instead of a one-size-fits-all curriculum, pace of teaching, and instructional practices,” “technology-based assessments,” and “using technology . . . [for] enabling a shift to a model of connected teaching.”  The plan also recognizes that technology can make our education system more productive, as it has done in most other sectors, as well as that “an essential component of the 21st century learning model is a comprehensive infrastructure.”

The Plan’s release comes on the heels of the Obama Administration’s FY2011 budget, which proposes, among other changes, to eliminate funding for the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program and instead infuse technology into other programs.  SIIA is working to understand the details and implications of this policy shift and has shared some early thoughts (here and here).

SIIA has little doubt those few communities with the vision, capacity and resources will continue to pursue the model outlined in the Plan, but what will happen to those without absent this federal investment?  How credible and viable will the Plan and federal leadership be without matching targeted resources? Failing to adequately plan has slowed our nation’s progress toward a technology-enabled 21st century education system, but absent the enabling investments, this important initiative could amount to no more than planning to fail.

Upon initial review, SIIA supports the Plan’s vision, and many of the recommendations.  We are very pleased that the Obama Administration has put forward such a bold model for the transformation of our educational system.  And we look forward to working further with our members, education stakeholders and the Obama Administration to not only further refine the Plan to ensure it is appropriate and actionable, but more importantly to ensure the critical investments in technology are made and systems changed to realize the Plan’s successful implementation and the continued competitiveness of our education system.

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

Obama Budget Proposal: Half Empty or Half Full for Ed Tech?

February 1, 2010 By

The FY2011 (2011-12 school year) budget proposal released today by the Obama Administration would dramatically remake the federal education landscape in the name of flexibility and alignment around the four assurances.  Among the changes would be the “consolidation” of the Enhancing Education Through Technology program (and 38 others down to 11), perhaps ending some 15+ years of targeted USED investment in educational innovation and improvement through technology only recently touted by 30+ national education and high-tech organizations and supported in the stimulus.  While SIIA has been ensured of the goal to integrate technology throughout, those details to date are not available. 

Flexibility to use an array of federal program funds to meet educational needs through technology is an important principle, and in fact, advocacy by SIIA and others has ensured technology is already allowed in most core U.S. Department of Education programs (though much more work is needed).  The flexibility is most often taken advantage of by those with the vision, capacity and existing success.  The questions therefore are: What federal leadership teeth will be given to the integration policies to drive technology-based practices that would not otherwise happen.  And what will happen to those many communities and teachers without the vision, capacity and resources, if targeted investment is no longer provided?  EETT has been successful in targeting high-need schools especially in building local capacity and providing needed professional development.  Pending bipartisan legislation would build on those successes and revamp the program.

Among the other major proposals as part of a $3.5 billion overall increase: $1.35 B for RttT, $500 M for i3, $200 M more for literacy and STEM, $354 more for school improvement/turnaround, $800 M more for innovative teacher and leader reforms/recruitment/preparation, and slight increases for Title I and IDEA to about $25 B total.   Included is a shift in some cases from formula to competitive programs, while much of the proposal depends upon uncertain enabling legislation through the ESEA/NCLB reauthorization.  [Note that SIIA will be further analyzing the proposal for its members in the days ahead.] 

SIIA looks forward to learning more about the Administration’s proposals, and working with the USED and other stakeholders to ensure that any new federal policy paradigm pushes real transformation  and closes the gap of educational improvement enabled by educational technologies.

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