District CIO

Technology Director Ryan McGee of the Mattapoisett (Mass.) schools estimates that the district's funding for technology needs over the next five years will cost at least $366,000. While selectmen were not opposed to most of the items included in McGee’s priority list, including computer labs and iPads, they did take issue with the source of the funding.

A few weeks ago, Don Greenberg, CEO of eGenio Education Solutions in Cleveland, had lunch with a superintendent who used to forbid students from using their smartphones at school. But his attitude toward technology in the classroom has changed. In fact, his start-up is one of many northeast Ohio companies riding a wave of interest in education technology.

In 2012, education technology firms attracted $1.1 billion from venture capitalists, angel investors, corporations, and private equity—an order of magnitude more than the industry was pulling in 2002. But will the rush of cash translate into a radically transformed education landscape?

A new bill in the House of Representatives would allocate $750 million toward new equipment, teacher training, and competitive grants for K12 classrooms, all aimed at increasing education technology in U.S. schools to improve college enrollment rates.

Technology has changed lives in a number of meaningful ways. Unfortunately, the U.S. education system is a decade late on entering the new century. It must catch up, and quickly, to ensure that all students—especially low-income students and students of color—graduate from high school ready for college and a career.

Digital content has been mispositioned as optional: as a tool for some of the students, some of the curriculum, some of the time. In this view, software serves a role of “cleaning-up” whatever gaps were left unfilled or incomplete after normal teaching.

Jordan Valley School in the Canyons School District in Sandy, Utah is using an iPad to show pictures and icons that help children on the autism spectrum to more easily manage their day so they will know what to expect. Pictures, for example, depict a toilet, handwashing in a sink, reading, and math, among other tasks.

In the months following the Sandy Hook massacre, schools nationwide have stepped up efforts to provide safe environments for teachers and students, and many have turned to high-tech solutions.

New Superintendent Rick Mills, the former chief executive officer of Minneapolis Public Schools who started in Manatee County on March 20, has recommended former Minneapolis colleague Don Hall, a chief information officer, for one of two deputy superintendent posts he created earlier this month.

After serving nearly 20 years in Mokena, Charles Vitton told the MSD159 Board of Education on April 17 that he was moving on to join outgoing Superintendent Steve Stein at Peotone Community Unit School District 207U as director of curriculum and technology.