District CIO

Two decades ago, Texas became ground zero for the accountability movement in public education. Now, after a revolt by teachers and parents who claim that high-stakes testing is ruining classroom instruction, the legislature is poised to undo many of its own reforms. Does anyone have the right answer?

In this University Business magazine column, higher ed tech expert Karine Joly offers K12 CIOs a wealth of information on the benefits and drawbacks of the responsive approach to web design, and why it’s catching on.

CIOs have struggled to connect teachers’ iPads to classroom projectors. Tammy Worcester Tang, who writes the blog 'Technology Tips for Teachers', may have found the answer. In this post, Tang discusses two options that successfully allow the teacher to go wireless and walk around the room, iPad in hand.

Richard Byrne, an award-winning, Google-certified educator from Maine, reminds district CIOs of the perils of weak passwords, and encourages us to enforce a strong password system across all staff, faculty, and students.

Stevenson High School seniors are using the newest technology in the video programming class to design Kinect body movement games for Xbox 360. Lake County high schoolers have the opportunity to become "not just users of technology, but creators of technology," said Joe Judge, who teaches the video game programming course at Lake County High Schools Technology Campus.

To ensure students thrive in a technology-rich world, the Le Sueur-Henderson school district has put over 400 iPads in the hands of STEM and middle school students. Next up: BYOD for high school students.

Watchung Hills (N.J.) Regional Board of Education members have been working on a new three-year plan to guide technology development and systems at the school, and the primary goal of a new plan set for a board vote next week is to expand the school network to a 1GB wireless system.

After an extensive search and interview process, Michelle Ament has been hired as the district’s director of technology and learning. This is a new position that was created as part of the restructuring of the district’s technology team, which resulted in a savings of about $300,000 in the technology staffing budget.

Karen Ann Tate, a former executive at two software companies and a former strategic consultant, along with Caitha Calvello Ambler, the Priory dean of middle school who also has taught at the private school and in the Vallejo (Calif.) School District, have been appointed to the Portola Valley (Calif.) School District board to replace board members who resigned this month.

Explore the experiences of a learning coach in a cyber charter school, or review distance education success factors. The iNACOL K12 Online and Blended Learning Research Database Project was created to be a central location for references to the growing body of research in the field of K12 online and blended learning.