District CIO

While technology has revolutionized how people communicate and learn, federal and state governments insulate schools from the disruptions technology creates in other organizations. To overcome these obstacles, we must persuade teachers that technology will empower them and help their students learn. Here are five strategies for successful teacher adoption of education technology.

Lisa Nelson of the Innovative Educator blog looked to her peers for ideas on how to use Pinterest as a creative tool and was surprised that she was unable to get any help. Then she discovered Pinterest guru NewYorkBob and the ideas began flowing. Here are her five favorites.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative, which is managing the standards creation and feedback process, offers a wealth of information on its website to help district staff understand the process and get their questions answered.

If you're looking for software for your school or district, the SIIA CODiE Award winners may be a good place to start. From the cloud to mobile to collaboration, this list gives district CIOs a place to start when preparing an RFP or doing a software application search.

BYOD guidelines are just being defined, but one warning must rise above the din, this author says: never, ever, try to gain unauthorized access to an employee's private social networking site.

Rowland Unified School District
Rowland Heights, Calif.

Columbia Middle School
Sunnyvale School District
Sunnyvale, Calif.

George H.W. Bush Elementary School
Dallas Independent School District
Dallas, Texas

David Miller, who is completing his second year as assistant principal at Monett (Mo.) High School, was named as the new director of the Scott Regional Technology Center, also in Monett, succeeding Russ Moreland.

Amber Chalmers, fifth grade science teacher at Rolling Hills Elementary, has been appointed to serve on the State Review Panel for Proclamation 2014, where she will review and evaluate instructional materials submitted for the November 2013 adoption by the State Board of Education, including science, math and technology applications.