Making Decisions

"A new vision of technology’s place in education is required if teachers and students are to develop the skills necessary to meet the challenges of a high tech society. Today, technology changes too rapidly to allow school leaders the luxury of planning for the next decade; in this era, six months is an eternity. During that time companies are formed and dissolved, products are heralded and junked, the latest and greatest innovation arrives and becomes obsolete, and school administrators are inundated with technological innovations they must learn how to use and manage."         - Education Commission of the States

Describing General Technology Planning Process

Strategic Planning is a way to prepare the district to take advantage of its future by: capitalizing on opportunities, addressing challenges, and providing leadership will initiate change. Strong leadership at all levels—classroom teachers using technology; principals who present resources, provide opportunities, and support initiatives; the administration for supporting the principals and providing budgeting; as well as support from the Board of Directors. All of these stakeholders together contribute to effective technology decisions. The best implementation strategy is to provide opportunities for input from every level. A strategic planning process incorporates an in-depth planning model that takes place over time with community involvement.

The National School Board Association in their Education Leadership Toolkit suggests that there are 10 essential steps when planning for technology initiatives:

• Consult teachers.
• Establish a technology committee
• Determine educational objectives.
• Conduct an inventory of existing hardware, software, and human resources.
• Develop professional development strategies.
• Establish a timetable.
• Create budgets.
• Review the draft of the plan
• Identify new software, curricula, and instructional techniques.
• Establish linkages of technology-based assessment and administrative tasks, including scheduling and record keeping.

To effectively plan for technology, there needs to be participation and input from all stakeholders. In doing so, the roles of each member must be clearly identified. In addition, the role that technology will play and the vision must be clearly defined. Click here for a list of questions to help prepare your vision. A needs assessment should be conducted to look at current skills of employees, programs that the district is using and to project future needs. The next step is to create an action plan including budget recommendation, action steps, and stakeholder responsibility. Finally, an effective plan involves a plan for assessment.

This technology plan is the driving force behind technology decisions within a district. The school Board of Directors, elected to provide broad leadership in a district, has ultimate authority in approving or disapproving technology purchases. However, decisions related to technology are made at nearly every level in Pennsylvania school districts. Below are some stakeholders at every level:

• Classroom Teacher:
• Principals
• Curriculum Director
• Technology coordinator/ Technology committee
• Superintendent

Strategies for approval:

To increase the probability a technology proposal will be approved, the following items need to be addressed:

• What is the district vision? When presenting a proposal for a technology initiative, it is important to know where it fits into your school's or district’s technology plan
• Has it been tested/piloted in the district? - Research showing the efficacy of a solution is needed when teachers want something that they know is good. (Sagor)
• What data can you provide to demonstrate success? While research is valuable, it is beneficial to pilot new initiatives and demonstrate success with the stakeholders who will be using the new initiatives.
• What are the costs? Even when one is not ultimately responsible for the costs of the initiative, it is important to investigate costs to ensure that they will fit within current budget restraints.
• How does this proposal relate to standards? Aligning curriculum to Standards is an important initiative and curriculum drives instruction and resources, including technology. No one should purchase a book unless they are certain it meets objectives and standards therefore, the same should be true for technology initiatives.
• What are the benefits to students and/ or how will this technology improve student learning? The best proposals will benefit the most students. Some districts require technology initiatives to affect an entire building or district rather than individual teachers before considering for approval. The more students that will benefit from the initiative, the more likely it will be approved
• What kind of training will be necessary? One can not assume that a new initiative will carry only the cost of the hardware or software being purchased.  Training is an essential part of implementation and it has been suggested that no less than ten percent of a technology budget should be spent on training (Thornburg).

The hierarchy of decision making is as follows: After the teacher justifies the need, the principal will take that information to the assistant superintendent who oversees curriculum, and if the assistant superintendent agrees with the need, the technology coordinator then becomes involved. The coordinator's involvement helps to determine: system requirements and if current technology systems are compatible with the "needed" technology; total costs, including software/hardware, installation, maintenance, etc.

The final step of the process, the item(s) is put on a school board agenda. Often the stakeholder responsible may be required to justify at a public school board meeting the request(s). This justification may also be required in "closed" sessions with the school board. The school board has the final say as to whether a project is approved.

Reporting Process

As stated above, the creation of a technology plan for a school district is a result of the collaboration of many stakeholders.  Effective implementation of the technology plan requires regular review to ensure that the proposed directives are implemented.  A successful plan will be revisitated and revisited to ensure that the funds allocated for the plan to be successful are, in fact, being spent wisely (especially with consideration to eRate and other technology fundings.) The entire process is very time and cost intensive and because of this it is important that there is a plan for reporting the technology plan to the community so that progress can be noted and additional funds can be secured for technological advances. By keeping the stakeholders not only informed, but involved in the technology plan, there is a sense of ownership for all stakeholders. Some examples of ways to communicate include:

• Sending emails to staff to communicate about new equipment
• Presentation of the plan to the school board as well as regular reports from the technology director
• Maintaining a strong technology committee who are responsible for reporting progress back to their individual buildings.
• Writing articles for the local papers which showcase student progress as a result of the technology plan

It is important for the technology director to continue to inform all stakeholders as well as providing opportunities for them to express concerns. Continuing to revisit the plan and allowing stakeholders: teachers, students, parents, administration, and the community to communicate will generate enthusiasm for the plan’s progress. Constant communication translates into increased support for technology purchases and projects in future plans.

Reporting Process

As stated above, the creation of a technology plan for a school district is a result of the collaboration of many stakeholders.  Effective implementation of the technology plan requires regular review to ensure that the proposed directives are implemented.  A successful plan will be revisitated and revisited to ensure that the funds allocated for the plan to be successful are, in fact, being spent wisely (especially with consideration to eRate and other technology fundings.) The entire process is very time and cost intensive and because of this it is important that there is a plan for reporting the technology plan to the community so that progress can be noted and additional funds can be secured for technological advances. By keeping the stakeholders not only informed, but involved in the technology plan, there is a sense of ownership for all stakeholders. Some examples of ways to communicate include:

• Sending emails to staff to communicate about new equipment
• Presentation of the plan to the school board as well as regular reports from the technology director
• Maintaining a strong technology committee who are responsible for reporting progress back to their individual buildings.
• Writing articles for the local papers which showcase student progress as a result of the technology plan

It is important for the technology director to continue to inform all stakeholders as well as providing opportunities for them to express concerns. Continuing to revisit the plan and allowing stakeholders: teachers, students, parents, administration, and the community to communicate will generate enthusiasm for the plan’s progress. Constant communication translates into increased support for technology purchases and projects in future plans.

REFERENCES

1 National School Boards Association (2005). Visioning for Technology. Retrieved September 13, 2005, from the National School Boards Association Web site: http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/vft.html

2 Sagor, R. (2000). Guiding School Improvement with Action Research. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.