District CIO

Online resources continue to shape every aspect of our lives, and are enriching, extending, and transforming schools. Web pages today measure in the billions, and the demand for education information has never been greater or more complicated. To help you decipher and prioritize what's out there, here is the newly-revised DA guide to favorite education websites.

Adventure filmmaker Elia Saikaly was approaching the top of Mount Everest when he took some time out of the climb to speak to a high school classroom in Canada about his journey.

Queen Bee School District 16
Glendale Heights, Ill.

Benton Harbor Area Schools
Benton Harbor, Mich. 

Bryan Independent School District
Bryan, Texas

With so many cloud options, district CIOs should push vendors for details about their security and privacy services. “With the cloud, you have to ask big questions,” says Taiye Lambo, founder of CloudeAssurance. He suggests that CIOs assess three major security areas: confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Next year, Sherwood, Ore. students will spend three fewer days in class, pay more for high school sports, and no longer have specialists teaching technology in elementary school labs. It's all the result of $1.72 million in spending cuts approved by a district budget committee.

A student convinced Blackhawk School Board members to videotape their meetings and post the video to the school’s website. Matt Young, a junior who made a presentation, told the board videos will increase public access and awareness.

The concept of a school library in a digital age is challenging. With the capacity to download books onto a range of digital devices, there is every possibility the library could look superfluous to youngsters growing up today. Why would you want to visit a room which is essentially about storage and distribution?

Districts are trading print for digital textbooks, with 22 states making significant digital content policy changes in recent years, and experts are urging others to go all digital within the next 5 to 7 years.