"Quality" stressed in ed tech plan.

Moving away from counting "boxes and wires," the Bush administration's 2005 National Education Technology Plan outlines a framework it predicts will transform education by promoting strategies that use technology to improve student learning, says Susan Patrick, head of the U.S. Department of Education's office of educational technology.

"We've been focused on what's easy for us to measure, 5:1 ratios or connecting every school to the Internet," Patrick says. "We've gotten there. But we cannot say our school learning environment is mirroring the learning environment in the rest of society." The plan, like its predecessors released in 1996 and 2000, doesn't come with any funding, but it's expected the education department will work to create programs that support the recommendations.

The plan lays out seven action steps that Patrick hopes everyone from the education department, to state education departments, to district administrators and building principals will use as a framework for assessing where they are and where they need to go.

The plan is the result of two years' work and includes input from more than 200,000 students and instruction and technology experts. And the plan includes scores of examples where action steps are already being implemented.

Early reaction to the plan is mostly positive, says Don Knezek, CEO of International Society for Technology in Education, which helped the department gather input from stakeholders.

"We've heard some comment that this looks more like a report than a plan," Knezek acknowledges, adding that some educators he'd spoken to were hoping to see a stronger recommendation for ubiquitous computing.

The National Education Association was particularly pleased with the recognition that "teacher preparation is key to effective technology use ... possibly the most pivotal aspect of technology expenditures," says Barbara Stein, NEA senior policy analyst.

7 RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Strengthen leadership by investing leadership development programs and developing partnerships between schools, higher education, businesses and the community.

2. Consider innovative budgeting techniques; look closely at reallocating spending on technology, textbooks, instructional supplies, space and computer labs.

3. Improve teacher training, including ensuring that every teacher knows how to use data to personalize instruction (in support of NCLB ideals).

4. Support e-learning and virtual schools, including ensuring that every child and teacher has access to e-learning opportunities.

5. Encourage broadband access, 24/7 365 days a year, to the end user.

6. Move toward digital content, moving away from relying on textbooks and encouraging "ubiquitous access" to computers and connectivity for every student.

7. Integrate data systems, including a recommendation that schools require vendors to adhere to SIF protocol.

www.nationaledtechplan.org