In response to the educational opportunities made available by dramatic technological innovations in the early and mid‑1990s, US. Secretary of Education Richard Riley released the nation's first educational technology plan in 1996, Getting America's Students Ready for the 21st Century: Meeting the Technology Literacy Challenge. This plan presented a far‑reaching vision for the effective use of technology in elementary and secondary education to help the next generation of school children to be better educated and better prepared for the evolving demands of the new American economy

Due in large part to markedly increased federal, state, local and private investment in technology for education, the nation has made tremendous progress toward achieving the 1996 national educational technology goals. These investments in computers and Internet access, professional development, technical support and content have allowed many elementary and secondary schoolteachers and students to reap the benefits of powerful teaching and learning applications.

The latest research and evaluation studies demonstrate that school improvement programs that employ technology for teaching and learning yield positive results for students and teachers. Given that many schools and classrooms have only recently gained access to technology for teaching and learning, the positive outcomes of these studies suggest a future for education that could be quite bright if the nation maintains its commitment to harnessing technology for education.

The adoption of new and emerging technologies by schools and classrooms offers even more reason to be hopeful. With sufficient access and support, teachers will be better able to help their students comprehend difficult-to-understand concepts and engage in learning, provide their students with access to information and resources, and better meet their students' individual needs. If we take advantage of the opportunities presented to us, technology will enhance learning and improve student achievement for all students.

Given the tremendous progress made in integrating technology into teaching and learning and the continued advances in the affordability and capabilities of technology the need to move beyond the 1996 goals became evident. In the fall of 1999, the U.S. Department of Education undertook a strategic review and revision of the national educational technology plan, in consultation with the full range of stakeholders: educators, researchers, policymakers, students, parents, and higher education, industry and other leaders. The outcome of this strategic review was five new national goals for technology in education.

Working together to achieve these goals constitutes a major leadership imperative facing those seeking widespread improvements in teaching and learning. As a nation, we should pledge to meet these new goals:

NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY GOALS

Goal 1: All students and teachers will have access to information technology in their classrooms, schools, communities and homes.

Goal 2: All teachers will use technology effectively to help students achieve high academic standards.

Goal 3: All students will have technology and information literacy skills.

Goal 4: Research and evaluation will improve the next generation of technology applications for teaching and learning.

Goal 5: Digital content and networked applications will transform teaching and learning.

"New technologies can be an incredible tool of empowerment in schools, homes, businesses, community centers and every other part of our civic life.... Imagine if computers and internet connections were as common in every community as telephones are today; if all teachers had the skills to open students' eyes and minds to the possibilities of new technologies; if every small business in every rural town could join worldwide markets once reserved for the most powerful corporations‑just imagine what America could be."

‑ PRESIDENT CLINTON

A NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION

In committing to achieve these goals, everyone has a role to play: federal, state and local governments; education; nonprofit organizations and associations; the private sector; communities; and families. For each of these goals, there are numerous strategies that can be undertaken to ensure continued progress in using technology effectively for education.

Goal 1: All students and teachers will have access to information technology in their classrooms, schools, communities and homes.

An integral part of school improvement and reform efforts in the 21st century in the United States and abroad, will be student and teacher access to educational technology, such as computers connected to the Internet. Universal access to the Internet will help end the isolation of teachers; exponentially expand the resources for teaching and learning in schools and classrooms; provide more challenging, authentic and higher-order learning experiences for students; and make schools and teachers more accountable to parents and communities.

The quality of Internet access is critical. Broadband access will be the new standard. Slow, unreliable connections that cannot support interactivity or rich multimedia content will no longer be sufficient. To take advantage of access to technology for improved teaching and learning, it will become increasingly important to build and support network infrastructures-wired or wireless, desktop or handheld-that allow multiple devices to connect simultaneously to the Internet throughout every school building and community in the nation.

To realize the goal of universal access to educational technology for students and teachers, we should ensure sustained and predictable funding for technology; ensure that technology plans reflect the educational needs of students and are regularly updated; improve the affordability, reliability and ease of use of educational technology; ensure that school buildings and facilities are modern; strengthen our commitment to eliminating the digital divide; and ensure that all students have equal opportunities to access and use technology

Goal 2: All teachers will use technology effectively to help students achieve high academic standards.

Most teachers have been prepared for a model of teaching dramatically out of step with what is needed to prepare the nation's students for the challenges they will face in the future. Recent reports by the American Council on Education, the CEO Forum on Education and Technology, the Milken Exchange on Education Technology the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century, and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, among others, all identify opportunities to enhance teacher quality and teacher preparation, particularly as they relate to the effective use of technology in education.

Ensuring that the nation has effective 21st-century teachers requires more than just providing sufficient access to technology for teaching and learning. We should improve the preparation of new teachers, including their knowledge of how to use technology for effective teaching and learning; increase the quantity quality and coherence of technology-focused activities aimed at the professional development of teachers; and improve the instructional support available to teachers who use technology.

Goal 3: All students will have technology and information literacy skills.

The need to prepare students with the skills they need to participate fully in our increasingly technological society has become a major priority for the nation. A meaningful, unified approach to providing students with the skills they will need for their futures must be more than a checklist of isolated technology skills; rather, these skills are only a first step in assuring all our children become proficient information and technology users.

Also necessary are information problem-solving skills, such as how to define tasks, identify information seeking strategies, locate and access information, determine information's relevance, organize and communicate the results of the information problem-solving effort and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the solution. The call for this new "21^st-century literacy" in no way supplants current efforts by states and districts to set and even raise academic standards for students; it simply reflects the fact that the bar for an educated citizenry and workforce continues to rise to reflect changes in society.

In requiring these skills of students, we will ensure that the opportunities made possible through the use of technology will be available to all students as they progress through school, regardless of personal or socioeconomic factors. Even for those students who do not pursue technology careers, ensuring technology and information literacy skills will provide a number of benefits.

To ensure that students are prepared for their future we should: include technology and information literacy in state and local standards for what students should know and be able to do; ensure students use technology appropriately and responsibly; develop new student assessment tools; and strengthen partnerships with industry to help meet the workforce needs of the future.

Goal 4: Research and evaluation will improve the next generation of technology applications for teaching and learning.

At the dawn of the 21st century, we are still at the beginnings of a technological revolution that is bringing dramatic changes to our society. This technological revolution will not automatically translate into a similar revolution in teaching and learning. While we have learned a tremendous amount about the implementation and use of technologies for teaching and learning in the past few years, the need for an expanded, ongoing national research and evaluation program to improve the next generation of technology applications for teaching and learning is profound.

To implement such a program requires a sustained, multi-disciplinary collaboration of learning scientists, technologists, and subject-matter experts. Numerous organizations have pointed out the urgency of this national need, including the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, the National Research Council, private charitable foundations, independent research institutes and representatives of academia.

To ensure that research and evaluation will improve the next generation of technology applications for teaching and learning, we should: initiate a systematic agenda of research and evaluation on technology applications for teaching and learning; encourage state and local evaluations of technology programs; and support the dissemination and use of research-based information to improve teaching and learning.

Goal 5: Digital content and networked applications will transform teaching and learning.

Digital content and networked applications will support transformative changes in our approaches to teaching and learning. In order for these changes to lead to increased educational opportunities for all students, digital content and networked applications must be independently judged to be of high quality (both in terms of grounding in learning science and pedagogical effectiveness), well-documented, comprehensive and available for all grades and subject areas, and have the power to inspire or motivate students. In addition, they must be easy to find and access, easy for students and teachers to use, and accessible to people with disabilities.

Today, there exists tremendous opportunities for the creation of powerful digital content and networked applications. For instance, digital content and networked applications offer direct opportunities to enhance learning by helping students to comprehend difficult-to-understand concepts; helping students to engage in learning; providing students with access to information and resources; and better meeting students' individual needs. In addition, technology applications can increase parental involvement and improve the accountability and efficiency of school administration.

To ensure that digital content and networked applications will transform teaching and learning, we should: ensure administrators and policymakers are technologically literate; support efforts to increase our understanding of how to improve teaching and learning through partnerships within and across sectors; identify leadership opportunities provided by technology to offer better ways of accomplishing educational goals; continue and expand efforts to digitize rich educational materials consistent with copyright laws; encourage the aggregation of demand for resources and services to attract better and more effective technology-based services for teaching and learning; support educators and technologists in defining what digital content and networked applications should be available to support teaching and learning; remove barriers to purchasing digital content and networked applications; recognize developers of high-quality digital content and networked applications and exemplary adoption of educational technologies; and support the integration of digital content and networked applications into state and local standards and curricular frameworks.

THE LEADERSHIP IMPERATIVE

The use of technology in education must remain a national priority. It must be at the core of the educational experience, not at the periphery. Now is the time to renew our commitment to the future by challenging the nation to take bold action in hastening the coming of the future of education. The leadership imperative is clear. Collectively, these new goals for technology in education represent an updated, high-level strategy for ensuring that all students will benefit from enhanced learning opportunities afforded by new and emerging communications and information technologies.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

"Every child in America deserves a 21st century education and access to 21^st century technology"

‑ VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE

In response to the educational opportunities made available by dramatic technological innovations in the early and mid‑1990s, US. Secretary of Education Richard Riley released the nation's first educational technology plan in 1996, Getting America's Students Ready for the 21st Century: Meeting the Technology Literacy Challenge. To help the next generation of school children to be better educated and better prepared for the evolving demands of the new American economy, the 1996 plan presented a far-reaching vision for the effective use of technology in elementary and secondary education. The plan reflected four national educational technology goals set forth by President Clinton and Vice President Gore:

• All teachers in the nation will have the training and support they need to help students learn using computers and the information superhighway.

• All teachers and students will have access to modern multimedia computers in their classrooms.

Every classroom will be connected to the information superhighway.

• Effective software and online learning resources will be an integral part of every school's curriculum.

The 1996 national educational technology plan provided the nation with a blueprint for the widespread, effective use of technology in education.

Due in large part to markedly increased federal, state, local and private investment in technology for education, the nation has made tremendous progress toward achieving the national educational technology goals first laid out in 1996. These investments in computers, Internet access, professional development, technical support and content have allowed many elementary and secondary school teachers and students to reap the benefits of increased access to powerful teaching and learning applications. With emerging evidence of effective uses of technology in education, there is far-reaching public support for the increased use of technology in elementary and secondary education:'

• 69 percent of Americans believe that the use of computer technology has improved the quality of instruction in their locals schools; and

• 82 percent believe that schools should invest more in computer technology for instructional purposes.

Net Courses for High School

The Virtual High School (VHS) - supported by a federal Technology Innovative Challenge grant - is a consortium of high schools that offers network-based courses (NetCourses) taught by consortium teachers for students in consortium schools. Teachers in the VHS pool, with the help of experienced facilitators, design and offer NetCourses over the Internet. Each VHS school also provides a part-time coordinator who acts as liaison among students, the VHS teachers, and the central VHS administrative staff.

The growth of Virtual High School is impressive. In September 1997, VHS offered Internet-based courses for the first time to about 500 students in 27 schools in 10 states. By May 2000, after six semesters of operation, VHS offered 87 different courses to about 1,700 students in 112 schools located in 29 states. The number of students enrolled and the average number of students per NetCourse have been steadily increasing. The NetCourses, which are often quite challenging, include topics like economics, Shakespearean literature, nuclear physics, world conflict and peacemaking, and various languages of computer programming.

The Virtual High School often serves students who would not have access to such a variety of courses. Small school size and remote location often limit access to adequately trained instructors to teach a varied and sometimes specialized selection of courses. In fact, statistics show that over 80 percent of the schools participating in the VHS have enrollments fewer than 1,500 students. Half of these schools have fewer than 800 students. As VHS has developed, some of these small schools have come up with creative ways to get involved in VHS, and VHS has supported them in order to make their participation possible. In some cases whole districts and geographic regions have organized into "sub-cooperatives," pooling their local resources to take advantage of VHS courses. The bottom line is that instead of schools finding an expensive solution, or no solution at all, to the challenges that many schools face in meeting the demand of course offerings, they are able to work with VHS to develop creative solutions - all without hiring new staff or adding a new building.

The principal of Monroe Senior High School, a very small school (the smallest K-12 school in Alabama) located in rural Southwest Alabama with a total enrollment of 110 students - grades K-12 - has high praises for their participation in VHS. She feels that had it not been for VHS, their school would not have ranked in the 60^th percentile on the Stanford-nine Test, nor would it have had 99 percent of its Juniors (Class of 2001) to pass all required parts of the new state exit exam. Monroe hopes to be able to acquire more computers in the near future so they can accommodate more students in the program. Right now, because of the wide range of interest in VHS, they have more students than space.

School principals and others at participating VHS schools had reported that they believe the courses to be of high quality. A recent evaluation of VHS conducted by SRI International confirmed that VHS courses provide students with high-quality curriculum content.

"One of the most exciting things i use the Internet for is getting up-to-date news across the world. I did a thesis paper last year on china and i was able to use newspapers from Hong Kong as research. It would have been impossible to get such new information from those sources using conventional methods."

‑ STUDENT, INTERNET CHAT WITH
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

With increased access to technology in schools and classrooms and with public support for its use, we can now look to a future where the Internet and other emerging information technologies have the potential to foster even more dramatic improvements in education. We have the potential to create an educational system enhanced by technology that could be better suited to the needs of educators, students and their families. Indeed, visionary school leaders foresee advances in our understanding of what learning really is, how diversified it is, and which methods are flexible enough to meet the learning needs of all students.

For us to realize these visions, technology in educa­tion must remain a national priority. It must be at the core of the educational experience, not at the periphery Indeed, emerging technologies will allow us to develop new content to address evolving conceptions of the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in today's global society Technology will enable new teaching strategies and tools to increase student acquisition of necessary skills and knowledge. It will also offer dramatic improvements in how we measure student progress in attaining the necessary skills and knowledge. If technology is to achieve genuinely transforming improvements in schooling for all students, it must be at the center of school reform and improvement efforts.

The leadership imperative is clear. Now is the time for us to renew our commitment to the future of education. This report will show where progress has been made, where new opportunities exist, and where challenges remain. Most important, it proposes national, state and local actions that will ensure that all of our nation's teachers and students will have the opportunity to take advantage of the power of new and emerging technologies for widespread improvements in teaching and learning today, tomorrow and far into the future.