Carol Holzberg, Director of Technology for Greenfield Public Schools, wrote a short summary of recent developments in education & technology. These developments are:
- draft of the proposed Massachusetts Digital Literacy & Computer Science standards (DL&CS)
- newly released National Education Technology Plan (NETP16)
- newly accepted Federal Every Child Achieves Act (ECA)
We thought this might be useful to everyone, not just those of you on the TiE PLC listserv*.
(*If you are not on the TiE PLC listserv and are interested in joining the conversation and/or attending monthly meetings, please contact technology@collaborative.org)
Here is the summary from Carol.
In case you haven’t seen a draft of the proposed Massachusetts Digital Literacy and Computer Science (DL&CS) Standards (http://www.doe.mass.edu/boe/
- Computing and Society,
- Digital Tools and Collaboration,
- Computing Systems, and
- Computational Thinking.
I am also attaching a copy of the new National Education Tech Plan (http://tech.ed.gov/files/
Finally, there’s the new Federal Every Child Achieves Act (https://www.congress.gov/
“reauthorizes and amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). The bill addresses issues such as accountability and testing requirements, distribution and requirements for grants, fiscal accountability requirements, and the evaluation of teachers.The bill provides states with increased flexibility and responsibility for developing accountability systems, deciding how federally required tests should be weighed, selecting additional measures of student and school performance, and implementing teacher evaluation systems.
It includes grants for providing language instruction educational programs, improving low-performing schools, and developing programs for American Indian and Alaska Native students. The bill provides rural school districts with increased flexibility in using federal funding. It also revises the Impact Aid formula.
The bill requires school districts to consult stakeholders in planning and implementing programs to improve student safety, health, well-being, and academic achievement.
Together, all 3 documents represent a boatload of important information regarding educational technology, providing new and exciting opportunities for us all!