The Plan

No Child Left Behind sets forth a bold and systemic framework for reform to close the achievement gap: supporting stronger accountability for results, increased flexibility and local control, expanded options for parents, and an emphasis on teaching methods proven to work. At the heart of this effort is a commitment to support teachers, parents, and decision makers in refocusing and realigning their efforts to ensure every child receives the best possible education.

To enable such important and sweeping changes to take place will require not only a rethinking and realignment of the industrial age factory model of education, but a rethinking of the tools available to support such change. From the back office to the classroom, schools of the information age will need to effectively employ technology to better meet the needs of students, parents, teachers, and administrators. It has already done so in many areas of our work and life—from retail to medical services to entertainment. We are living, shopping, working, governing, and communicating in new ways. Leading organizations are employing technologies to streamline processes, enable real-time information transactions, expand markets beyond geographic areas, and customize service offerings to the needs of customers.

The same transformation needs to occur within our schools. Increased access to technology alone, however, will not fundamentally transform education. In his introduction to the Visions 2020 Report, Secretary of Education Dr. Rod Paige noted, “Indeed, education is the only business still debating the usefulness of technology. Schools remain unchanged for the most part despite numerous reforms and increased investments in computers and networks. The way we organize schools and provide instruction is essentially the same as it was when our Founding Fathers went to school. Put another way, we still educate our students based on an agricultural timetable, in an industrial setting, but tell students they live in a digital age.”

The National Education Technology Plan is meant to help motivate and incite technology-driven transformation. It takes a look at the unique students that fill our schools’ halls and what they are telling us about their educational needs. It also provides an opportunity to reflect on the progress our nation has made as a result of a decade of increased Federal, state, local, and private investments in connecting classrooms to the Internet, providing students with computers, and equipping teachers with the skills they need to use technology as an instructional tool. Finally, it provides a set of action steps and recommendations that the nation’s school systems can consider as they begin or continue to transform.