> From Wired News, available online at:
> http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,49279,00.html
>
> Give and Take in Tech Education
> By Katie Dean
>
> 12:00 p.m. Dec. 21, 2001 PST
> Educational technology advocates were generally satisfied with this
> week's passage of the federal education bill, but they are concerned about
> some provisions that may make it easier to take money away from technology.
>
> The bill, dubbed the No Child Left Behind Act by the Bush
> administration, emphasizes accountability, assessment and greater local
> control. Districts will have more flexibility in how they spend money, but are
> required to raise student achievement and close the "digital divide" in the
> process.
>
> The Senate approved the bill 87-10 on Tuesday. Last week, the House
> voted 381-41 in favor of the bill. President Bush is expected to sign the bill
> into law in early January.
>
>
>
> See also:
> A Push for Bush's Education Plan
> A New 'Paige' For Education
> Refresher Course on Teaching Tech
> The Over-Testing of America?
> Picture Yourself in Politics
> It's time to go Back to School
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Under the proposed law, states will have more freedom in how they
> spend technology dollars.
>
> "We're moderately pleased with the education bill," said Jee Hang Lee,
> a lobbyist for the International Society for Technology in Education and the
> Consortium for School Networking. "It has some good points, it has some bad
> points.
>
> "We were happy with the high authorization level for the education
> technology block grant. We're also very happy with having a competitive
> component to the technology block grant," said Lee, who was concerned about a
> provision that allows schools to spend some of the money tagged for technology
> on other projects. "With the new testing and accountability provisions, we
> just don't expect districts to put money into technology. We expect that more
> money (from the formula funds) will be taken away from technology."
>
> Congress has consolidated the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund and
> the Technology Innovation Challenge Grants into one block grant for each
> state, called the Education Technology Grant Program. Although $1 billion was
> authorized, only $700.5 million has been appropriated for the block grants.
>
> In each state, these funds will be distributed 50 percent by formula
> and 50 percent by competitive grants.
>
> Competitive grants can only be used for technology, and are protected
> from transferability. Transferability enables districts to use the money for
> any educational purpose.
>
> Half of the formula funds can be transferred to other uses. With
> increased pressure to churn out high-scoring students, schools may decide to
> use some of their technology formula dollars for other needs.
>
> "Part of the advantage of tagged money is that districts see it as an
> approval for spending money in that arena," said Sue Collins, chief education
> officer at Apex Learning and a former member of the Web-based Education
> Commission.
>
> Though they weren't fully funded, educators were pleased to see $32
> million appropriated for Community Technology Centers and $1 billion for 21st
> Century Community Learning Centers.
>
> CTC is geared toward students, parents and community members who want
> to learn about technology. The 21st Century program focuses on after-school
> technology programs for children.
>
> The Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) grant
> program received less funding than hoped for. It was allocated half -- $62.5
> million instead of $125 million -- of what it needed to sustain the program.
>
> "I was incredibly disappointed. I've seen more changes in colleges of
> teacher education since the initiation of this program than I've ever seen
> before," said Lajeane Thomas, director of ISTE's National Educational
> Technology Standards project. "It's important that we continue the wonderful
> progress that has been made."
>
> Thomas said that the grants have benefited more than half of the
> universities that prepare teachers in the United States.
>
> "We have a national crisis in teacher quality and teacher
> preparation," added Don Knezek, director of PT3. "We are going to see a lot of
> funding going to technology in schools, but we're backing off on the
> commitment to prepare our new teachers to use it."
>
> Meanwhile, TechNet, a bipartisan organization of technology executives
> including venture capitalist John Doerr, Intel's Craig Barrett and Cisco's
> John Chambers, applauded the passage of the bill.
>
> "We feel that this legislation as a whole will greatly improve our
> K-12 public education system," said Connie Correll, executive vice president
> of the organization. "We need to make sure that students have fundamental
> skills like math, science and technology."
>
> "The technology industry right now has to go overseas" to find
> qualified workers, she said. "We shouldn't have to do that."
>
> "We need to make sure that students are ready to advance. Otherwise,
> they go into the workforce and they're not prepared to compete with other
> people for jobs."
>
> Correll said that testing is a way of ensuring that students have the
> necessary skills.
>
> The Associated Press contributed to this report.
>
> Related Wired Links:
>
> E.R. Docs Get Bio-War Training
> Dec. 3, 2001
>
> IT: The Industry Without Women
> Dec. 1, 2001
>
> Don't Fear Science You Can't See
> Dec. 1, 2001
>
> Internet2 Strikes Up Bandwidth
> Oct. 16, 2001
>
> The Over-Testing of America?
> Aug. 27, 2001
>
> Refresher Course on Teaching Tech
> June 25, 2001
>
> Feds Flunk Publishing 101
> April 16, 2001
>
> A New 'Paige' For Education
> March 12, 2001
>
> A Push for Bush's Education Plan
> March 1, 2001
>
> New Ed Sec Likes Ed Tech
> Feb. 5, 2001
>
> Bush Supports Tech in Education
> Jan. 24, 2001
>
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