February 2005: Volume 6, Number 4
Instructional Technology Update
Budgets / Grant Programs
The Governor’s proposed budget for FY06 was posted on
the web on January 26, prior to the Governor’s State of the State Address. The
budget did NOT include an appropriation for the Education Technology Grants program
that funded the TAG grants. For budget details, see: http://www.oa.mo.gov/bp/budg2006/.
Missouri Safe
Schools & Pilot Safe Schools Grants Program
The Governor recommended level
funding of the Safe Schools grants program for FY06, with an appropriation of
just over $4 million. While using the reduced level of funding to support only
continuation grant the past two years, the Department is examining whether to
entertain first-year grants for FY06. Look for the decision to be made soon and
detailed in a letter mailed to school administrators by the end of February.
Federal Title II.D “Ed Tech” or “EETT” Program <Reminders>
--- Projected funding for 2005-2006 <Impact on
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) estimates that
--- RFP for 2005-06 Competitive
Grant program <Application materials posted January 12; due March 31>
Application materials for the FY06 Title II.D
competitive grant program were mailed to districts and posted on the
Instructional Technology website on January 12. The FY06 program will promote school-wide reform or systemic renewal using
the eMINTS instructional model. Applicants may request up to $400,000.
With this
increased grant size, and the cut to the Ed Tech Program, it is likely that
only six (6) new grants will be awarded. The intent is to be able to fund three
grants to districts new to the eMINTS program (one grant in each of three
geographical areas of the state) and three grants to established eMINTS
districts (one grant in each of the three areas). An information workshop is
scheduled for February 14. Hosted by DESE and eMINTS staffs, the workshop will
be held from 9:00 AM until Noon, in Room 450 of the
---
Census of Technology <Reminder
to prepare now for April deadline>
The 2005 Census of Technology will be collected
online in April via core data screens 30 (district-level data) and 31
(building-level data). To preview the items, along with instructions and
definitions, see the IT COT website at http://www.dese.mo.gov/divimprove/instrtech/statefunded/census/index.htm.
---
Student Identification Numbers
The
Missouri Office of Administration announced award of a contract to ESP
Solutions to create a statewide system of unique student ID numbers. The work
is to be completed by December.
District Technology
Planning <2005 State approval process and
deadline>
With changes in the E-rate program
with regards to state approval of technology plans, the Department encourages
districts to examine current technology plans to determine whether new or
revised plans should be submitted for state approval in 2005. Districts that
received state approval in 2003 and 2004 should elect to submit new plans if …
· the current plan must be updated to
cover technologies proposed in an E-rate application,
· the district has a new or
substantially updated comprehensive school improvement plan (CSIP),
· the district has already completed
most of the action plans and implementation strategies detailed in the current
technology plan,
· the district has experienced
significant changes that necessitate a new plan (changes in personnel, academic
performance standings, technology holdings, technical capacity, etc.), or
· the current plan received a low
approval score (75 to 85 points).
Approval Process –
Technology Network
Program (TNP)
Online
resource products under rebid -- The Missouri State Library administers funds
for the purchase of online resources that are available to MOREnet customers.
(To see the list of resources currently available, see: http://www.more.net/online/.) The general periodical, health
and business online resources, currently EBSCOhost and the Business and
Funding
News
- Year 2003 -- On January 25, the SLD issued Wave 37, which commits
nearly $11.2 million in 19 letters with funding commitments to Year 2003 school
and library applicants. The funding associated with this wave includes
funding for Priority One (telecommunications services and Internet access)
at all discount bands and for Priority Two (internal connections) at the
70%-90% discount level. With the issuance of this wave of E-rate funding
commitment decision letters, the SLD has committed nearly $2.6 billion in
34,280 letters for Funding Year 2003.
- Year 2004 – The SLD announced Wave 12 on January 24, 2005, which
commits over $117.9 million in 168 letters. The funding associated with
this wave includes funding for Priority One and for Priority Two at the
81% and above discount level. Thus far, the SLD has committed nearly $1.7
billion in over 30,250 letters for Funding Year 2004. The SLD plans to issue
waves every other week until the process is complete.
- Year 2005 – The Form 471 application filing window has been extended one day, to 11:59 PM EST on Friday, February 18. The SLD, in consultation with the FCC, extended the window because the first version of the Letter to The Field 2005 incorrectly featured January 21, 2005 as the last possible day to post a Form 470 and still file a Form 471 before the close of the filing window. This change will allow applicants who posted a Form 470 on January 21 the opportunity to file a Form 471 before the close of the filing window. This new filing deadline is applicable to every applicant, not specifically those who filed Forms 470 past the correct deadline.
NCES Codes
Some schools and libraries report having difficulty
in completing E-rate applications when leaving the NCES ID field empty or when
entering the 8-digit private school code. USAC responded with the following
information:
Public and private schools and
libraries applying for E-rate grants complete an electronic application that
requests an NCES ID number. If the applicant cannot find that number on the
NCES public or private school, or library, locators, the applicant can leave
that item blank, or key in anything. It's an open alpha field.
The private school NCES ID code consists of 8 digits. The public school NCES ID
code consists of 12 digits. The application will accept either number of
digits, 8 or 12.
NCES has nothing to do with the E-rate program and when applicants call NCES
they don't have any way of helping them. All that NCES can do is to refer the
caller to the E-rate client service bureau described below. The Schools and
Libraries Division Client Service Bureau is the best contact source for any user
trying to complete the FCC Form 471, whether online or on paper. The Client
Service Bureau is available during regular business hours, Monday through
Friday,
MOREnet’s new E-rate discussion list
Rebecca Miller has created an E-rate discussion list
(eratechat@more.net) that is open to
· Open your e-mail client and address
mail to: majordomo@more.net
· Leave Subject field blank and turn off all signature
files. Otherwise,
· In the body of the message, type: subscribe eratechat
· Send the message.
Shortly after, you should receive a welcome message
from
NCLB Act to get more congressional
scrutiny
Ambitious federal education efforts designed in 2001
could be derailed by Congressional leaders who are warning the President that additional
funds may not be available this year. Others, mostly Democratic leaders, are
saying, "real education reform can't be done on the cheap, and some
conservative Republicans seem to have concluded, "the federal government
already is meddling too much in school affairs." And, several governors
are reminding federal officials that their state has not fully recovered from,
for them, "the worst fiscal crisis in the last six decades."
Initially, Congress authorized around $20 billion for
the NCLB programs for disadvantaged students, but ended up approving a little
over $12 billion. In October, more than 20 education, civil rights and other
advocacy groups issued a joint statement calling for an overhaul to decrease
the annual testing requirements, -- to change what they called
"arbitrary" proficiency targets for schools and increase federal
funding. Source: LA Times, 1/04/05.
State’s education
commitment still feeling pressure from competing needs
According to several reports, many of the nation's
states are increasingly burdened by rising health care and Medicaid costs, and
are only slowly recovering from the state officials say was the worst fiscal
crisis in the last six decades. As a result, significant increases in state
funds are not likely to happen in the absence of strong leadership from
governors and legislators. Although the funding picture is improving, states'
revenue still hasn't reached the level of its peak at the start of the decade.
ED Week reports that school funding will be at the
center of debates over how to spend money when all 50 state legislatures
convene this year. About a third of the states are considering major changes to
the way they finance schools. Education cuts that did occur were smaller than
in previous years. In fiscal 2004, 15 states made cuts to enacted budgets,
totaling nearly $2.2 billion. Four states have cut their current fiscal 2005
budgets by $1.3 billion. By comparison, 38 states cut their budgets by nearly
$13.7 billion in fiscal 2002 and 40 states cut their enacted budgets by $11.8
billion in fiscal 2003, the highest dollar amount and number of cuts since this
report began, respectively.
Elementary and secondary education has dominated
state spending since fiscal 1993, while Medicaid has been the second largest and
fastest growing component of state spending--both from state general funds and
from all spending sources. See: http://www.nasbo.org
Governors' summit to
focus on high school reform
This year's National Governors Association (NGA)
Among the concerns: nearly one of three eighth-grade
students do not graduate from high school; half of African-American and
Hispanic students do not make it to graduation day. Colleges and employers
report that many of those who do graduate lack basic skills; only a small
fraction of those who go on to postsecondary education succeed in earning a
degree; and that our global economy has placed a higher premium on workers'
ability to have a higher set of skills. Previous NGA Summits were instrumental
in creating political momentum and public support for setting higher academic
standards and performance requirements for public schools. See: http://www.nga.org
Ed Tech Research, Publications, Resources,
Special Events
National Ed Tech Plan released
Stronger leadership, creative financing, access to
broadband Internet service, more digital content, and interoperable data
systems are among the new priorities spelled out in the U.S. Department of
Education's (ED's) long-awaited release of its latest National Education
Technology Plan (NETP). Released January 7, "Toward
a New Golden Age in American Education: How the Internet, the Law and Today's
Students are Revolutionizing Expectation” pairs educators' suggestions with parent comments and input from thousands
of students across the country and establishes a "national vision"
and strategy for the effective use of technology in the nation's schools. The
final document, which ED plans to submit to Congress later this year, includes
recommendations, case studies, and an array of online resources designed to
help educators prepare students for success in the 21st century. See:
http://www.nationaledtechplan.org
Ed Week's Quality Counts 2005 report released
Education Week's “Quality Counts 2005: No Small
Change, Targeting Money Toward Student Performance”, focuses on the growing
interest to relate educational spending to educational outcomes. Nearly $500
billion in combined federal, state, and local money is spent on pre-collegiate
education in the
The report also updates data from previous Quality
Counts in the areas of student achievement, standards and accountability,
school climate, efforts to improve teacher quality, and more.
See: http://www.edweek.org/ew/qc/2005/map.html
NETP gives SIF a boost
The new National Education Technology Plan might drive use of the Schools
Interoperability Framework SIF), developed to eliminate the need for school
personnel to enter information about the same students over and over again for
each administrative software package a district uses--a need that arises when
software programs cannot communicate with each other or share information. The
seventh recommendation of the NETP focuses on integrated, interoperable data
systems and clearly advises schools, districts, and states to consider
requiring SIF in all software RFPs and purchasing decisions. For more
information about SIF, the companies involved, and how schools and states are
using it, see the full eSchool News article at http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/PFshowstory.cfm?ArticleID=5459.
Guide to building a culture of quality data: a
school and district resource
A product of the National Forum of
Education Statistics’ Data Quality Task Force, "Culture of Quality
Data" was developed to help schools and school districts improve the
quality of data they collect and to provide processes for developing a “Culture
of Quality Data” by focusing on data entry—getting things right at the source.
The guide, which can be ordered or downloaded from the website, shows how quality
data can be achieved in a school or district through the collaborative efforts
of all staff. The quality of data improves when all staff understand how data
will be used and how data become information.
See: http://www.nces.ed.gov/forum/pub_2005801.asp.
New website promotes technological literacy
The National Academy of Engineering hosts a website
that provides reports, toolkits, and justification for technology literacy. The
website explains what technological literacy is, why it's important, and what's
being done to improve it. It concludes that technological literacy involves a
broad understanding of the human-designed world and our place in it; it is an
essential quality for all people who live in the increasingly technology-driven
21st century. The National Academy of Engineering and the National Research
Council oversaw the committee's work. See: http://www.nae.edu/nae/techlithome.nsf
FCC data on high-speed Internet
connections
The FCC released new data on high-speed connections
to the Internet in the
See: http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/iatd/recent.html
i-SAFE’s new Library Safe Card program
This
flash program allows students to participate in an one-on-one Internet Safety
tutorial and progress at their own pace. The program, available at no cost to
educators regardless of whether they have completed the Professional
Development Program, is offered on CD-rom and can be loaded on as many
computers as needed. Appropriate for middle school students, the tutorial
should take less than one class period to complete. A short online quiz, taken
upon completion, allows the teacher to gauge the students’ progress. Schools
have used this program in settings such as a computer lab or library where
students may not have the opportunity to participate in the full i-SAFE
curriculum or as a reminder of lessons previously learned. To receive this program, log on to http://www.isafe.org and complete the Library Safe Card
Implementation Plan located under Quick Links or contact me for further
information.
Schools using technologies to keep
students safe
From mass-notification systems that can reach thousands
of parents and other school stakeholders instantly in case of emergency, to
Internet-based video surveillance systems that allow local law-enforcement
officials to view camera images from inside a school building in the event of
an attack, school districts and colleges today are employing a host of
cutting-edge technologies to help keep their students secure. This Special eSchool News Report examines a few of these
technologies in greater detail, with an eye toward helping schools decide if
any of these systems might be right for them.
See: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStorySR.cfm?ArticleID=5449
CDE report on technology solutions for reducing
costs and maximizing resources
A new white paper released by the Center for Digital
Education offers proven information technology solutions for education systems
facing significant financial challenges, such as budget cuts, tuition hikes and
service reductions. "Rethinking Processes: Reducing Costs and
Maximizing Resources in Education" tracks and documents the current state
of education systems in the
Connecting technology and evaluation
The
Fall 2004 issue of "The Evaluation Exchange" is now available. The
new issue explores the contribution of technology to evaluation practice, with
articles centering on four key areas in which evaluators are using technology:
data collection and analysis, collaboration, knowledge mobilization, and
evaluation capacity building. See: http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/eval/issue27.
Evaluation of PBS'
Ready To Learn program
A recent five-year evaluation report “Using
Television as a Teaching Tool” reviews the content and quality of workshops
carried out by PBS Ready To Learn Television Service. Researchers found some
outcomes were affected by workshop participation, namely PBS co-viewing during
the follow-up periods, Learning Triangle behaviors (viewing a television
program, reading a related book, and doing a related activity with children),
and visiting PBS websites. Overall, reported impacts were modest, and impacts
on adult behaviors did not translate into impacts on children of parents in the
study.
See: http://www.pbs.org/readytolearn/research/mpr_report.pdf
T.H.E. JOURNAL launches new information exchange
website
T.H.E. Journal has announced its
newest online resource. The “
Rules and processes to support
electronic learning resources
The Software and Information
Industry Association (SIIA) offers its perspective regarding state K-12
instructional materials review and adoption policies. The report recommends
establishing policies, processes, and training that help in the review of
digital curriculum resources to determine if they meet state standards and
highlights several policy reform options.
See: http://www.siia.net/govt/docs/pub/SIIAAdoptionLtrBrf.pdf.
CoSN pushes accessible technology
The
Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) recently announced the launching of a
three-year initiative intended to demonstrate how great collaboration and
increased communication between school technology leaders and special education
departments can deliver the benefits of a technology-rich education to all
students. "Accessible Technologies for All Students" will host a
series of educational resources and professional development opportunities to
facilitate effective use of technology, regardless of ability or disability.
Among project endeavors are a program web site featuring a repository of best
practices; an educator's toolkit that includes slide shows, checklists, and
suggestions for improving widespread access to technology; a whitepaper
outlining issues surrounding K-12 technology accessibility; and a series of
outline courses and face-to-face workshops explaining the importance of
accessible technologies in the U.S. CoSN plans to have a full report on this
topic available this spring as part of the 2005 CoSN Compendium. See: http://www.accessibletech4all.org/
CoSN announces new report: Hot Technologies for K-12 Schools
CoSN released the Emerging
Technologies Committee’s newest report, “Hot Technologies for K-12 Schools”.
Committee members from public and private sectors pooled their experience and
research skills to identify the leading trends in technologies that have and
will continue to change the instructional process, improve assessment and
evaluation, address diverse learning styles and student needs, build community
in the school environment, and improve the efficiency of school administration.
This is the third report out of the ETC. “A Guide to Wireless LANs in K-12
Schools” was released in the spring and “A Guide to Handheld Computing in K-12
Schools” was released over the summer. All three reports are available for
purchase. See: http://www.cosn.org.
Report on the future
of the Internet
A survey of
technology leaders, scholars, industry officials, and analysts finds that most
Internet experts expect attacks on the network infrastructure in the coming
decade as the Internet becomes more embedded in everyday and commercial life.
They also say in the next 10 years the Internet will be more deeply integrated
in our physical environments and high-speed connections will proliferate - with
mixed results. Almost 60 percent agreed with a prediction that more government
and business surveillance will occur as computing devices proliferate and
become embedded in appliances, cars, phones, and even clothes; 57 percent
agreed that virtual classes will become more widespread in formal education and
that students might at least occasionally be grouped with others who share
their interests and skills, rather than by age; 56 percent agreed that as
telecommuting and home-schooling expand, the boundary between work and leisure
will diminish and family dynamics will change because of that. A database of
more than 4,000 predictions and commentary by experts is available at http://www.elon.edu/predictions/. For a copy of the report, “Future
of the Internet”, see: http://www.pewtrusts.org
The RAND publication, The 21st Century at Work:
Forces Shaping the Future Workforce and Workplace in the
See: http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2004/RAND_MG164.pdf
eMINTS Cited in National Education Technology Plan
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/plan/2004/index.html
The National Education Technology Plan (NETP),
recently released by Department of Education, includes “success stories” from
selected states.
Reed selected the eMINTS program — enhancing
Missouri's Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies — which provides 200
hours of professional development, coaching, and technical support for teachers
as they use multimedia tools to promote critical thinking and problem-solving
techniques.
Using a technology-rich environment, instruction is
personalized. Teachers and principals know exactly how students are doing on a
daily basis.
The results have been dramatic. In 2001, only 7
percent of
The success of the program was recognized by an $8.4
million grant from the U.S. Department of Education that will help create
additional eMINTS professional development and technology in classrooms. The
St. Louis Post-Dispatch commented that the turnabout at
MOREnet Spring Technical Conference: Connections 2005
--Submitted by Eric Nicklas, Program Manager,
K-12 Technology Network Program, MOREnet