Category Archives: Federal Funding & NCLB

Scott McLeod: Data-driven Decision Making

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The No Child Left Behind Act has forced school districts across the U.S. to take a hard look at data about their students’ achievement. Lots of data. But some districts have gone beyond the requirements of NCLB and have embraced data and used the information to identify best practices and improve student achievement.

Dr. Scott McLeod is a professor in the Department of Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota and a proponent of data-driven decision making. As director of the University’s Center for Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE), Scott works with educators around the country, helping them understand how being data-driven doesn’t have to be as scary as it sounds. We sat down for a chat earlier this week about some of the ways district’s are using data, how to overcome barriers to utilizing data, and some examples of using data that go beyond student achievement. And we even take a question from a “caller.”

Scott has agreed to monitor the comments on this post to dialog with any listeners who would like to follow up on something they hear. So don’t hesitate to post another question or ask for clarification on something from our conversation.

Download: STP-ScottMcLeod-1 (15.9 MB, 34:43)

Doing statewide assessments online

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I got an interesting letter from the Minnesota Department of Education last week. Here’s a snippet:

During the next legislative session, representatives from the Minnesota Department of Education will present a plan and cost estimates for improving the technology infrastructure in Minnesota schools. This plan will be based on the requirements for delivering all of Minnesota’s statewide assessments via computer, in an online environment. In order to help estimate the extent of the current hardware conditions, improvements and their potential costs, you are asked to participate in a survey of the computer hardware currently in use in your district.

The survey asks how many computers we’ve got (at or above a Pentium III 700 MHz or G3 333 MHz), how much it would cost for us to install 25-30 new computers, how many days it would take to administer a one-hour test to all students, how many days it would take to administer a two-hour test to all students, how many days for one-hour and two-hour tests for our ELL students, and finally, a number of questions about our network bandwidth.

My school district is relatively tech-rich compared to many other districts I’ve seen. Even so, it would take a pretty big chunk of time to get all of our students through the computer labs to complete the tests. This will be a significant burden for less well-equipped districts. I wonder whether students will be advantaged or disadvantaged in an online testing environment depending on their degree of experience with technology. The kids in our one-to-one computing project would probably love doing the tests on their laptops instead of bubbling in ovals by hand. A lack of keyboarding or mousing experience could be a serious disadvantage for students who attend poorly equipped, economically disadvantaged schools.

Bush budget unkind to ed tech programs

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President Bush’s proposed 2006 budget includes large cuts in some important educational technology programs. According to this email from the American Library Association:

Overall, the President’s FY 2006 budget would cut education funding by $530 million, or 0.9%, for a total of $56.0 billion. Despite proposed increases for Title I, Striving Readers Initiative, and special education, the budget would cut or eliminate more than 150 programs, 48 of which are education programs. Some of those programs proposed for elimination include Even Start ($225 million) and the Enhancing Education Through Technology program ($496 million). The President also proposes cutting funding for Adult Education by $369.7 million, or 63%, from $585.4 million in FY 2005 to $215.7 million.

Some library programs fare a bit better:

Despite the extremely tight fiscal environment, the President’s Budget requests $262,240,000 for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an increase of $21,565,000. For the Library Services and Technology Act, the budget includes $221,325,000, an increase of $15,374,000 from FY 2005. Within that total is almost $171 million for Grants to State Library Agencies, $26 million for Librarians for the 21st Century program, $14 million for National Leadership Grants for libraries, and $3.675 million for Improving Library Service to Native Americans. For school libraries, the President’s Budget proposes $19,683,264 for the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program, the same level as fiscal year 2005 and slightly below fiscal year 2004.

It’s anyone’s guess how the President’s proposals will hold up in Congress. It seems likely that these and other proposed cuts will be challenged by the Democrats and some Republicans. My school district has applied for a number of Enhancing Education Through Technology (E2T2) grants in the past. Losing that program will make it more difficult for states to support innovative technology projects.

National Education Technology Plan to be unveiled Friday

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Secretary of Education Rod Paige will unveil the third National Education Technology Plan on Friday, Jan. 7th at 3:00 p.m. in Washington, D.C. Development of a new NETP was a requirement of the No Child Left Behind
Act. The unveiling will be webcast live at KidzOnline. According to the NETP Web page:

The Plan will establish a national strategy supporting the effective use of technology to improve student academic achievement and prepare them for the 21st century. It 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.

Will the plan deliver? I will be interested to see how relevant it is to the world I work in every day.

Congress slices ed tech grants

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The bad news came today via email from our state Deptartment of Education. The 2005 Omnibus Appropriations Bill approved by the House and Senate over the weekend includes large cuts in educational technology funding. The biggest cut comes to the State Education Technology Block Grant (Title II Part D) which will be cut from $692 million last year to $500 million this year, a 28% decrease in funding. Those Title II funds provide resources for professional development and technology integration to nearly every school district in the country. Our district is luckier than most; the cuts will probably amount to less than $10,000 next year. There are other schools that depend on those funds for a much larger portion of their annual technology integration and training budgets.

The Community Technology Centers program suffered a major cut as well, while the Title V (Promoting Informed Parental Choice and Innovative Programs), 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Star Schools, Part D of IDEA, Ready to Learn and Ready to Learn programs all survived unscathed.