Supporters stump for 21st century skills during election

Proponents of education technology are mobilizing during this year's presidential election, hoping to garner more support for teaching 21st century skills in K–12 schools. "Education in general has not been a major focus in the election," says Keith Krueger, CEO of the nonprofit Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), based in Washington, DC. "So we're working very hard to frame an agenda for the new President and Congress to make sure [Barack] Obama and [John] McCain articulate their vision for what a 21st century learning environment looks like." To Krueger—along with groups including the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)—that vision is fairly clear. Schools need to embrace technology in a way that enables educators to adopt a true student-centric perspective. And the only way to do that is to support and train teachers and make sure schools have the equipment to stay current. For years, supporters have watched as federal funding for education technology has plummeted from $700 million in 2002 to about $267 million in 2007. All along, the perception among those setting budgets in Washington has been that once schools are connected, they're set to plug, play, and learn, according to Krueger. But as anyone who has tried to log on to the Internet through an antiquated system knows, a fast connection in today's world is critical. Without it, access to collaborative learning sites, video streams, and real-time communication is practically impossible—leaving schools, teachers, and of course students behind the curve. Which is why CoSN, SETDA, and ISTE all believe broadband connections for every school in the U.S. is an absolute necessity. "No other industry thinks of technology as a nice thing to have," says Mary Ann Wolf, executive director of SETDA. "We need to look at using money meant for one thing and think about putting it instead into technology." Funding to train teachers on how to weave technology into the classroom and use new tools to engage students has also taken a huge slide. "It's one area where we've been devastated in the last two years," says Don Knezek, ISTE's CEO. He contends that more balanced accountability in education is actually needed—despite knowing how the "A" word triggers strong reactions in the community. Knezek believes that the inordinate amount of attention on minimal skills is hijacking time away from mastering new and critical technology tools needed to produce future leaders competitive in the global economy. "All we're doing instead is beating students about the head and neck on basic skills," he says. "Instead, we need to put resources into innovative strategies." Not all is bleak, however. The recent reauthorization of the Higher Education Opportunity Act in August 2008 calls for a new program, "Preparing Teachers for Digital Age Learners," which will supply grants to train K–12 teachers in integrating technology into their curricula. "The trouble is, it still hasn't come up for appropriation," says Knezek. "And that's really going to be the important part of the piece."