Ed+Leadership+Technology

**What does it mean to be a leader in Educational Technology?**
What evidence can we collect to answer this question?

Well the eSchool News just announced the results of the ninth annual Tech-Savvy Superintendent Awards sponsored by Promethean, K-12, Inc. and the Pearson Foundation. These awards can be used to extract the dimensions of leadership in one domain, K-12 schools.

You can read about the superintendents in this article.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=57122&page=1

Using the paragraphs I formed the following list of leadership acts for each principal. Would you form the same list? How would your list be different. You might try a few and see what you put. The degree to which we agree would describe the reliability of the coding the data.

Dan's take on the data

Now what categories would you form based on these different leadership practices? Read through the examples and come up with a way of looking across these things to find what you would think are the common leadership practices. You can code them in any way. When you are finished, compare what you got with what eSchool News came up with as their evidence based recommendations based on their contest (They don't really tell us how they came up with these and of course we can use the data to agree or disagree with them.

Margaret Anderson Knob Noster R-VIII School District, Missouri 1) developed one to one computer tablet initiative for all high students 2) all of the district's schools have interactive whiteboards 3) all high school teachers use tablet computers 4) chairs the district-wide technology committee and expects technology to be used in every classroom 5) devoted professional development days to technology training and has paid teachers to attend training during the summer 6) wireless internet capabilities, 7) in the process of buying an online public access catalog (OPAC) so students can tap into its list of library resources from internet connections 8) open up access to some blocked web sites after school hours, so students can access online games and music in a way that won't interfere with their schoolwork.


 * Student Access:** access to computers and and students, and wireless access, library tools, open block sites
 * Teacher Access**-- display units for teachers tablet computers,
 * Admin Leadership**: --Chairs --provides leadership in setting a vision
 * Professional Development:** For teachers l

(these are the categories I created looking at the first one. Will they work for looking at the rest of them? Will I have to add more categories?) (I am sorry if you cannot read the article. I will try to copy it and post it in Bb)

Steven Baule Community Unit School District 201, Illinois 1) streamlined its network processes 2) developed new school and district web pages, 3) implemented online surveys to track stakeholders' needs, 4) hired two additional media specialists, broadened its technology team with an additional three support staff members, 5) purchased a district-wide data management system, 6) and added new instructional tools such as interactive whiteboards, digital document cameras, and more. 7) The district also has implemented new student, financial, and human-resource software packages to bring it into the 21st century—‘ 8) one of the state's largest users of virtual high school courses to expand its high school offerings. 9) New initiatives this year include blogs for teachers and administrators and 10) computer-based adaptive testing to help measure student growth.

Vince Cotter Colonial School District, Pennsylvania

1) data-driven approach to curriculum, 2) use of personalized instruction, 3) every classroom in the district is equipped with interactive whiteboards, projectors, high-powered digital overhead presenters, and document cameras. 4) Video conferencing capability and at least one computer lab also exists in each building. 5) The district's Plymouth Whitemarsh High School is equipped with wireless technology 6) more than 800 wireless laptops in use by students each day. 7) teachers are being taught how to incorporate the technology effectively into their daily lessons.

Richard A. DiPatri Brevard Public Schools, Florida

1) bring equitable technology access to every school in the district within the next two years based on current model school. 2) In Model school all classroom at Sunrise are equipped with document cameras, laptop computers, high-speed internet access, digital projectors, sound amplification systems, and interactive software 3) modified school and district staffing plans to ensure that each school has a full-time, highly qualified technology associate 4) authorized the use of eight district-level technology integrators to support teachers' professional development needs--providing training necessary for using technology effectively in their instruction.

Arthur Himmler Steilacoom Historical School District No. 1, Washington 1) Hired a networking specialist to build LANs for each of the district's facilities and a WAN to link all sites together. 2) appropriate student and administrative computers were installed in all of the district's seven schools and support facilities. 3) Each staff member found a computer on his or her desk 4) Staff attended workshops on how to use technology to enhance instruction— 5) district's technology infrastructure has continued to evolve with the times 6) new voice-over-IP system now allows for ubiquitous communications district-wide. 7) program called Parent Connection, which allows parents to view grades, attendance records, library fines, and other information in a secure, online environment. 8) The district's new middle school and remodeled high school now provide instruction via interactive whiteboards, 9) Himmler has formed an instructional technology committee charged with developing a new scope for how students can use technology throughout their school years and into adulthood.

Lorraine Lange Roanoke County Schools, Virginia

1) created seven goals for the county's schools, with one focusing on using technology to improve the student learning environment and to facilitate effective communication. 2) create a specialty school that provides advanced instruction in career and technical education and helped evolve the center's focus to include arts-related instruction integrated with technology. The Burton Center for Arts and Technology sprang from this effort. 3) led the creation of a Virtual High School, allowing students to use two-way audio and video communication to complete course requirements and earn credit in specified subjects. 4) overseen the coordination of a district-wide system of effective communication with parents, students, staff, and the community by using the Roanoke County Schools web site 5) uses computer-driven communications program that calls parents with important information. http://www.rcs.k12.va.us

Larry Price Wilson County Schools, North Carolina

Over the past decade, Price has rejuvenated Wilson County Schools, lobbying school 1) district has instituted a Summer weeklongTechnology Academy, to look at what's new in educational technology. 2) Price also has allocated more district resources to technology, convincing officials to invest $250,000 annually in instructional technology, 3) he headed an effort to track student discipline infractions--an initiative that cut infractions by more than one-third over two years. 4) He also pushed for a one-to-one laptop program at Hunt High School last year and has led the purchase of LCD projectors and interactive whiteboards for about half of all district classrooms.

Weedy Eastland/Fairfield Career and Technical School 1) Each student and staff member in the district now carries a new laptop computer 2) wireless access to support this initiative. 3) allocated more than $325,000 to upgrade technology inside and outside of the classroom--including interactive whiteboards 4) student response systems, 5) a weather station with handheld data probes for classroom use, 6) an interactive library system that links all of the district's buildings. 7) hired technology specialist to help staff support the new technology and create staff web pages and portals for online courses. 8) the district annually hosts a technology in-service event, where venders and presenters are invited to the campus to demonstrate the latest in educational technology. 9) Weedy is a regular presenter at the event, which focused this year on how to streamline time-consuming chores to save valuable instructional time.

So what appeared in most of them? Or what categories would you use to sort them? For example, moved to a wireless environment or implemented one-to-one computing for some or all students?