NCREL Policy Issues
Issue 15, January 2004
About This Issue
In recent years, state educational technology policies have come to play an increasingly important role in shaping local educational technology practices. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 has further consolidated important resources and responsibilities for educational technology within state education agencies.
On one hand, resources that historically were administered directly by federal agencies have increasingly passed through federal channels to state agencies. For example, the Enhancing Education Through Technology program allows state education agencies to retain up to 5 percent of their allocations for state-level activities, and to distribute half of the remainder by formula and the other half competitively to local education agencies.
On the other hand, responsibilities that historically were vested in local education agencies have been assumed by states. State achievement tests, linked to state curriculum standards, provide another example in which states are assuming a greater role. The NCLB legislation has continued this trend by giving states the responsibility for setting highstakes guidelines, such as those relating to teacher quality and adequate yearly progress.
NCLB has established improved student academic achievement as the primary goal of educational technology in elementary and secondary schools. The law also seeks to bridge the digital divide by ensuring that every student is technologically literate by the end of eighth grade, and by encouraging effective integration of technology resources with teacher training and curriculum development.
If these goals are to be realized, states must practice what they preach to local education agencies and base their educational technology policies on research and best practices. This edition of Policy Issues provides recommendations intended to stimulate thinking and discussion about how states might undertake such an effort.—James R. Sweet, Learning Point Associates
