The following is a collection of resources of interest. NCTET does not endorse the contents of these resources but is merely providing them as a service.

Papers:
 

KnowledgeWorks’ Federal Policy Agenda: Transforming to a World of Learning (July 2011)

As a leader in applying future trends to educational transformation, KnowledgeWorks seeks to inform thought leaders about the policy conditions critical to a world of learning. While the emergence of new technologies, school models, and anytime, anywhere learning, have begun to define learning environments of the future, federal policymakers must establish the policy conditions to help these innovations thrive.

STEM Teachers in Professional Learning Communities: From Good Teachers to Great Teaching (June 2011)

With the support of the National Science Foundation, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) and WestEd conducted a two-year analysis of research studies that document what happens when science, technology, engineering, and math teachers work together in professional learning communities to improve teaching and increase student achievement. This report summarizes that work and provides examples of projects building on that model.

NASSP Board Position Statement on Using Mobile and Social Technologies in Schools (May 2011)

The purpose of this position statement is to promote student learning through the use of mobile learning devices and social media in instruction that further prepares students to be active, constructive participants in the highly connected world in which they already live and will soon work.

Vision K20, Software & Information Industry Association (May 2011)

SIIA’s Vision K20 provides for how modern technologies can help create a world-class teaching and learning environment that prepares all students as global citizens capable of leading the world in innovation, including benchmark surveys and evidence of impact. 

Profiles in Innovation (April 2011)

This report highlights case studies of schools throughout the country that are leveraging the federal Enhancing Education Through Technology Program to improve teaching and learning.

AFT Report: Keep Generation Y Teachers in the Profession (April 2011)

Nearly half of new teachers quit teaching after five years. Some schools with high usage of technology are using the fact that they have modern tools to teach with as a recruiting device. In addition, research from eMINTS and other programs with high access to technology shows high gains in teacher retention.

When There's No Such Thing as Too Much Information: NYT Article on Using Data to Improve Education (April 2011)

Education is just now learning how to gather data and only the true leaders are using data to make decisions and change processes in the schools and instruction in the classroom that will increase student performance. The roadblock in the past has been lack of tools to gather, analyze and effectively use data.

Innovate to Educate: System [Re]Design for Personalized Learning (2010)

This report of findings and recommendations from a 2010 SIIA-CCSSO-ASCD Symposium provides a vision for a customized, proficiency-based, student-centered education and identifies technology as one of the essential elements to help address each student’s unique learning interests, pace, style and schedule.

NCTAF Report on Communities of Practice in STEM (2010)

This report describes a comprehensive knowledge synthesis of professional learning communities and their impact on STEM teaching and learning in K12 education. It is supported by a NSF grant awarded in 2008 to the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future and WestEd.

A Time for Renovation, Commonwealth Magazine (2010)

In this article,  Nicholas Donohue, President and CEO of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, discusses the Foundation’s new focus on student-centered learning and the need to update K-12 education in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

How Information Technology Can Enable 21st Century Schools (2009)

This report illustrates the potential for IT to help create innovative schools and outlines practical and policy implications and requirements needed to drive innovation in schools.

Transforming Education: Delivering on Our Promise to Every Child (2009) 

This reportby the Council of Chief State School Officers provides a vision for transforming education, and identifies a next generation learning agenda, including the role of technology and personalized learning.

Obama Administration's National Education Technology Plan: Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology (2009)

This plan calls for applying the advanced technologies used in our daily personal and professional lives to our entire education system to improve student learning, accelerate and scale up the adoption of effective practices, and use data and information for continuous improvement. It presents five goals with recommendations for states, districts, the federal government, and other stakeholders.

Maximizing the Impact: The pivotal role of technology in a 21st century education system (2007)

This Partnership for 21st Century Skills report identifies what students need to learn to be competitive, and the importance of maximizing technology in creating to 21st century education system to help deliver these skills.

National Initiatives:

 

Interactive and Policymakers' Guides to 21st Century Learning

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills runs Route 21: An Interactive Guide to 21st Century Learning--a web-based interactive tool to help school districts implement the nine steps for attaining 21st century education--and The Road to 21st Century Learning: A Policymakers' Guide to 21st Century Learning which helps state policymakers provide the environment in which 21st century learning can flourish.

Digital Learning Now!

Digital Learning Now! is a national campaign to advance policies that will create a high quality digital learning environment to better prepare students with the knowledge and skills to succeed in college and careers. The initiative was launched in 2010 by two former governors, Jeb Bush of Florida, and Bob Wise of West Virginia, and is managed by the Foundation for Excellence in Education, Alliance for Excellent Education, and Vander Ark Associates.

Project Tomorrow

Project Tomorrow is a national education nonprofit group based in Irvine, California. We believe that by supporting the innovative uses of science, math and technology resources in our K-12 schools and communities, students will develop the critical thinking, problem solving and creativity skills needed to compete and thrive in the 21st century.

US Department of Education’s Communities of Practice Project

Participation in online communities of practice is a key way educators connect. Robust online participation contributes both to individual excellence and to the vitality of the profession as a whole. The Connected Online Communities of Practice project will steward a scalable, sustainable ecology of online communities in education to improve teacher and leader effectiveness, enhance student learning and increase productivity.

Oracle Foundation

We inspire students globally to think, connect, create and share--using technology to help them dissolve boundaries, fulfill their potential, and create a better society.The Oracle Education Foundation sponsors ThinkQuest, works with over 80 partners globally, and makes select educational grants.

Training by Common Sense Media

Common Sense Media is dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology. We exist because our nation's children spend more time with media and digital activities than they do with their families or in school, which profoundly impacts their social, emotional, and physical development.

Center for Digital Media Literacy

A pioneer in its field, the Center for Media Literacy (CML) is an educational organization that provides leadership, public education, professional development and educational resources nationally and internationally. CML works to help citizens, especially the young, develop critical thinking and media production skills needed to live fully in the 21st century media culture.

State and Local Initiatives:
 

eMINTS Program

The eMINTS National Center is a non-profit, independent business unit of the University of Missouri. eMINTS offers professional development programs created by educators for educators.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s use of Discovery

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ superintendent partnered with Discovery Education to change the district’s approach to science instruction and teacher preparedness with excellent academic results.

IMPACT Program in North Carolina

This report highlights successful 2009‐10 school year statewide educational technology activities in North Carolina, with an emphasis on those activities supported by the federal Enhancing Education through Technology program to provide specific expertise in bridging technology with education reform priorities.

Ohio’s Personalize Instruction with Web-Based Assessment Tools

Summit Academy used EETT grant funding to provide web-based tools for assessment and communication to help personalize instruction. With the correlation of the Learning Management System and the growth assessment software, teachers improved their instructional strategies to better meet the needs of students.

Georgia’s Increasing Student Achievement with Digital Resources

Georgia found success in awarding a Increasing Student Achievement with Digital Resources grant to 14 Georgia LEAs to provide new technology, digital resources, and a technology integration specialist to support the implementation of the Georgia Performance Standards mathematics curriculum.

Wisconsin Digital Literacy 2.0 Project  

The Digital Literacy 2.0 project touched teams of educators and administrators from 21 Wisconsin districts focusing on digital literacy and problem-based learning. Participants increased their knowledge and proficiency in using educational technology to engage and enhance student content learning and student academic achievement.

Maine OER

ARRA EETT funds in Maine are being used to enhance the awareness of open educational resources, including identifying and aligning existing resources, including identifying open educational resources to support the integration of technology in teaching and learning in Maine’s Learning Results program.

Virginia’s Web-based Standards of Learning Technology Initiative

This initiative started with the goal of having schools use Web-based systems to improve the instructional, remedial and testing capabilities of Virginia’s Standards of Learning state achievement tests.

Michigan’s Improving Instruction through Regional Data Initiatives

Michigan’s Improving Instruction through Regional Data Initiatives program goal is to utilize state and local student data systems to provide teachers with real-time access to student data at the classroom level in order to inform instructional decisions.

Dropout Prevention and Remediation

A cyber high school in Detroit is having success re-engaging dropouts and at-risk students, earning state funds tied to enrollment.

Louisiana’s Algebra I Online Project

The Algebra I Online Project provided students, particularly rural and urban students without access to fully certified teachers, with a certified Algebra I instructor and a high-quality Algebra I curriculum in a web-based format.

Florida - Charting Okeechobee’s Course for the Digital STEM Classroom

The Charting Okeechobee’s Course for the Digital STEM Classroom program provided teachers and students with strategies and resources in the areas of science and mathematics to increase student achievement by improving instruction and technology integration.

The North Carolina New Schools Project

The North Carolina New Schools project is redesigning 100 high schools across the state so that every student is ready for college, a career, and life in the 21st Century. Thirty-four of those schools have a specific STEM focus and 16 of the redesigned schools have a one-to-one student-to-computer ratio, with an emphasis on integrating technology in the curriculum.

The Alaska Career Ready Initiative

The purpose of the initiative is to ensure Alaska students and citizens are well prepared for the workforce. The state of Alaska provides web-based courseware with skill-building lessons in the nine WorkKeys subject areas, plus additional lessons in career exploration and employability skills.

The Texas College and Career Readiness (CCRS) Program

Seeks to identify, define, and begin the implementation of college and career readiness standards. In addition to defining standards for the four core areas of English language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science, K-12 secondary and higher education institution faculty collaborated to define cross-disciplinary standards for success across all areas of study.

Blogs and Social Media:
 

KnowledgeWorks’ World of Learning Blog
 

KnowledgeWorks' YouTube Channels: Ohio Smart Schools and The Future of Education
 

KnowledgeWorks' Twitter Account
 

Other Resources:
 

Slides from NCTET Event: Student Literacy in a Digital World (July 2011)

Information from an National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training and Advocates for Literacy event on how teachers and schools are using technology in exciting ways to incorporate reading and writing instruction acrcoss content areas and improve literacy for all students.

Recap of Alliance for Excellent Education's Rural Briefing (April 2011)

On April 19, the Alliance for Excellent Education, in collaboration with the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), hosted an event to showcase four school districts from rural America that demonstrate how digital learning and technology have played critical roles in turning around their schools. Watch the event here.