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Many resources useful for technology planning are also useful for evaluating technology implementation efforts. We believe that there are two primary reasons for this. First, evaluation should be rooted in an examination of your plan's vision and goals for technology. In essence, you want to evaluate your progress in meeting those goals. In this way, planning tools which assist you in creating good goals will also help you evaluate. Second, we often find that the biggest challenge faced by districts setting out to create evaluations is that they have no adequate plan upon which to base their evaluation. Thus, evaluation efforts often revert to efforts to update (i.e., re-write) the district plan.
Clearly the ideal situation is to write a sound plan -- with clear vision, goals, and action plans -- and then to set forth a rather straight forward process for evaluating your progress in implementing that plan. Even the thorny issue of "student impact and achievement" can be addressed most adequately if your plan is careful to define what you mean by student impact and achievement.
Unfortunately, most schools and districts are find themselves far from this ideal situation. This is why (as stated above) we often end up working with clients to first revise their strategic technology plans and then to develop a workable evaluation strategy. To get a leg up on this process, check out some of the on-line planning and evaluation resources listed below.
Learning with Technology Profiling Tool
Produced by the North Central Regional Education Laboratory, this tool is a
somewhat interactive derivation of the Plugging In framework. The tool is designed
to help schools and districts identify how they currently view educational technology,
and how they envision the future of technology as a tool for teaching and learning.
National Center for Technology Planning
It is always good to look at another school or district's educational technology
plan when developing or updating your own plan. Not that there is any "perfect"
comparable plan, or that your plan should duplicate any other plan, but by viewing
sample plans you can focus your own structure and content. The National Center
for Technology Planning has electronically posted technology plans from schools
around the nation and hence is a good place to start when seeking sample plans.
U.S. Department of Education, Future of Networking Technologies for Learning
Much like the above resource, this on-line bibliography from the U.S. Department
of Education points to reference material which supports understanding of the
role of networked technology in education.
Teachers and Technology: Making the Connection
This is the on-line version of the 1995 Office of Technology Assessment (OTA)
report on teacher use of technology. This is an excellent resource for understanding
and supporting the role of professional development in educational technology
implementation.
Technology and Education Reform
This resource, also from the U.S. Department of Education, summarizes the work of prominent educational researcher Barbara Means on the role of technology in education reform. This is "required reading" for technology committees prior to creating vision and goals.
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Research Reports on Technology and Education
Apple Computer Corporation. Changing the Conversation about Teaching, Learning & Technology -- A Report on 10 Years of ACOT Research. 1996. This report can be found online at www.apple.com/education/k12/leadership/acot/library.html
Becker, H., Ravitz, J.L., Wong, Y., Teacher and Teacher-Directed Student Use of Computers and Software. Teaching, Learning, and Computing: 1998 National Survey. Report #3. Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations. University of California, Irvine and University of Minnesota. 1999. This report can be found online at www.crito.uci.edu/tlc/findings/ComputerUse/html/startpage.htm
Schacter, J. The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement: What the Most Current Research Has to Say. Milken Exchange on Education Technology. Santa Monica, CA. 2000. This report can be found online at www.mff.org/publications/publications.taf?page=161
Sun Associates. Fayette County Public Schools -- A Formative Assessment of Educational Technology. Lowell, MA. 2000. This report can be found online at www.fcps.net/edtech/suneval.htm
Sun Associates. St. Louis Public Schools -- A Formative Assessment of Educational Technology. Lowell, MA. 2001. This report can also be found online at www.edzone.net/~stlouis/district_rubric.htm
Proven and Effective Technology Practice
Adams, S., Burns, M. Connecting Student Learning & Technology. Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL). 1999. This report can be found online at www.sedl.org/pubs/tec26/flash.html
Fayette County Public Schools Instructional Technology Standards. FCPS, 1998. Available online at itech.fcps.net/standards/
ISTE/NETS National Educational Technology Standards Project Standards and realated documents available online at cnets.iste.org/
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. Constructivism and Technology. TAP into Learning. Volume 1 Number 1. This resource is online at www.sedl.org/tap/newsletters/winter98/welcome.html
Evaluation Resources
Bingham, M., Stories with Data and Data with Stories T.H.E. Journal April, 1999. This article can also be found online at www.seirtec.org/publications/storiesdata.html
Bingham, M., Survey of Profiling Instruments. 1999. This resource is online at www.seirtec.org/publications/profile.html
Milken Exchange on Education Technology. Technology in American Schools: Seven Dimensions for Gauging Progress - A Policymaker's Guide. Santa Monica, CA. 1998. This report can be found online at www.mff.org/edtech/projects.taf?_function=detail&Content_uid1=152
Sun, J. How Do We Know It's Working? Designing an Authentic Technology Evaluation and Assessment Plan. Learning & Leading with Technology Volume 27 Number 7. This is available onlie at www.iste.org/L&L/archive/vol27/no7/index.html
Other Evaluation Resources
An Educator's Guide to Evaluation the Use of Technology in Schools & Classrooms
Produced by the U.S. Department of Education originally to help schools evaluate the impact of their Technology Literacy Challenge Fund (TLCF) projects, this guide offers a common sense approach to measuring your progress towards meeting the goals and objectives of your technology program. This guide is somewhat unique in its guidance to readers in creating their own evaluation indicators of performance. We very much favor this approach over the easier, yet considerably less useful, practice of using boilerplate indicators.
School Technology and Readiness (STaR) Chart
If you feel compelled to look at someone else's indicators -- and once again,
we believe that it is a seriously flawed evaluation process that relies upon
indicators designed by someone else -- then you should take a look at the CEO
Forum's STaR Chart. Created by a panel of leading technology-related business
people, this tool helps you assess your school's "readiness" to prepare
students for the technological workplace.
U.S. Department of Education, Future of Networking Technologies for Learning
This on-line bibliography from the U.S. Department of Education points to reference
material which supports understanding of the role of networked technology in
education.
Did Anybody Learn Anything? Assessing Technology Programs and the Learning Accomplished
This on-line article by Jamie McKenzie does an excellent job of summarizing the issues and challenges related to instructional technology assessment and evaluation. After reading this, be sure to search Jamie's website -- From Now On -- for other insightful articles related to the "big picture" of technology integration.
Technology and Education Reform
This resource, also from the U.S. Department of Education, summarizes the work of prominent educational research Barbara Means on the role of technology in education reform.
This special on-line edition of Education Week summarizes and overviews some important current research on the impact of technology. Case studies, graphics, the "test score" issue, and more!
Bellingham (WA) Public Schools
National Educational Technology Standards
The NETS project has established a set of recommended technology standards -- by grade level -- for students. The project has also developed standards for teachers.
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Information on this site that has been produced by Sun Associates is Copyright 1997 - 2006 Sun Associates and is available for individual, one-time, use by educators. Duplication is prohibited without permission. All other material is the property of its authors and Sun Associates makes no warranty for its use or accuracy.
Last updated,August 14, 2002