Connecting Technology and School Improvement
Correlating Technology Integration with School Improvement
Appropriate integration of technology in the curriculum depends on knowing the direction of goals and development for a district. Integration will be haphazard at best unless the two are connected. Students who use technology applications will certainly learn technology skills, but it is not certain they will learn anything about the subject in which the application occurs unless there is a correlation between the application of the technology and plans for curricular improvement. Two prominent resources are considered here:
National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) Project
These standards for students, teachers and administrators were developed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and have been adopted by many states and school districts. Standards for students, teachers and administrators and other information about the NETS project may be found at http://cnets.iste.org/.
NWREL School Improvement Outcomes
Numerous school improvement strategies have been identified in conjunction with the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program of the US Education Department. The NWREL Onward to Excellence project (OTE) is one of them which has been implemented across the nation for many years. OTE addresses seven school improvement outcomes resulting in system-wide change. Information about these programs may be found at: http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/ote/csrd.shtml and http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/ote/philosophy.shtml
A correlation of the ISTE and NWREL criteria indicates how a district can support their school improvement programs with a comprehensive implementation of technology standards.
Alignment Of Selected School Technology Review Frameworks (Excel Document)
Tools for Assessing Technology and Improvement
The NETS standards have been widely adopted by states and school districts, and as previously noted correlate well with school improvement standards. A district that is implementing its technology according to those standards needs to gather data periodically to assess progress. We present three data-gathering tools, one in rubric format and two in a checklist format. The short checklist is a subset of the long version, and is provided as an example of how to cut down the length if time is limited.
Measuring Progress on NETS Essential Conditions (Excel Document)