November+29,+2007

=**EASTCONN Tech Council Meeting Minutes**= November 29, 2007

Updates on State and Federal Tech Initiatives
Art Skerker, CT State Department of Education (arthur.skerker@ct.gov or 860-713-6553) spent the meeting with us giving us the good, the bad and the ugly about what's us with technology on the state and national level. Go to Art's Blog at http://cteducationaltechnology.blogspot.com/ for the latest updates Art brought a variety of freebies to share and talked about some great resources, including:
 * A CD-ROM of GIS resources
 * A CD-ROM of Google Earth resources
 * Information about http://googlelittrips.org/
 * Information on 21st Century Skills - go to http://www.rochesterworks.org/docs/ReadytoWork_12.06.pdf for more info
 * ICT Literacy Maps (go the Art's blog for electronic versions of the ICT Literacy Matrixes)
 * Information on the new National Educational Technology Standards for Students - go to http://cnets.iste.org/students/s_stands.html for more info
 * A CD-ROM on Cybersecurity Awareness

//**Grant Updates**// The RFP for the next round of competitive Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT AKA Title II Part D) grant funds will be coming out at the end of January 2008. It will be targeted towards middle schools and will encourage grantees to create standards-based lesson plans using online tesources and other kinds of technology such as computerized microscopes. Proposals can also include designing assured experiences in technology. Allowable expenses will include professional development, substitute coverage so teachers can received PD duirng the school day, instructional supplies and materials, etc. Through some new grant funding the RESCs will be offering Intel Teach to the Future professional development for teacher evaluators - principals, assistant principals, department chairs, etc. This training will help them understand what effective technology integration looks like and how to support it in their districts.

Art spent several days on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC recently. He spoke with legislators about having assured experiences in technology so that technology is used seamlessly as a tool for teaching and learning. CSDE would like to see federal support for such an initiative so that these assured experiences would become part of the public domain that all educators around the country would have access to. The not so good news is that it will be another year before NCLB is reauthorized. None of the social programs are being reauthorized this year. That's also the good news because both sides of the table are so far apart that if it would reauthorized this year it is very difficult to know what it would look like. What this means is that there will be level funding which will continue until NCLB is reauthorized. The EETT legislation is being reauthorized and it is being called ATTAIN. There is one bill in the House and one bill in the Senate. Currently, 5% of EETT funds go for administration and the other 95% gets split into formula-based and competitive funding. The current formula gives small districts under $100. In one version of the new legislation, the formula-based funding will be no less than $3,000. In the other version of the legislation, there's no amount specified. In one version of the legislation, they want a required state 8th grade technology proficiency test. This would not be a good thing. Stay tuned... Thinkfinity, formerly known as Marco Polo, is willing to give CT all of their databank of lesson plans and resources. Art has been in conversation with Ken Wiggin, the State Librarian and with folks at iConn.org, Connecticut's online library about connecting the Thinkfinity resources for Connecticut educators through iConn.org. //**Updating CT Student Technology Standards**// ISTE has revised the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S). Art has been sharing these with a variety of groups around the State of CT including other RESC Tech Councils and administrator groups. Most people are very comfortable with the new NETS-S and would like to have Connecticut sunset the 2000 Student Competencies and adopt the new NETS-S for Connecticut. The new NETS-S is aligned with 21st Century Skills and is encouraging integration of technology within each curriculum area rather than defining what technology skills need to be mastered in what grade levels. Legislatively, there is $2 million earmarked for infrastructure. We may not see this money until next May so don't hold your breath for the next RFP. //**Revising District Tech Plans**// The deadline for the next round of tech plan revisions need to be submitted to CSDE on April 15, 2009. So next year is the time to be revising your plans. The last tech plan had an LEA Profile page which CSDE used to help get funding. CT doesn't mandate but it's important to remember that NCLB is being reauthorized and EETT is going away to be replaced by ATTAIN. Therefore, those federal mandates may drive what districts will need to include in their latest tech plans. We had an interesting discussion about how to prepare to meet these mandates and how to align district curriculum with the new standards such as the Technology and Information Literacy Standards, the new NETS-S, etc. In the perfect world, technology planning should be tied with district strategic plans. However, currently there is legislation that requires all districts to have separate technology plans and until that changes, districts will continue to be required to go through a tech plan revision, probably every three years. We had a lengthy discussion about the fact that technology is always the first budget item that gets cuts. Because it is a moving target as new technologies emerge, it's hard to keep the people who develop the budgets up-to-date on the importance of this issue. It's important that we contact our federal, state and local legislators and Board of Ed and Board of Finance members to remind them of the importance of supporting technology in education.
 * //Federal Updates//**
 * //Assured Experiences//**
 * //NCLB Reauthorization//**
 * //State Updates//**
 * //Thinkfinity//**
 * //Infrastructure Bond Money//**
 * Funding for Technology**