A few questions with: Steven E. Miller, executive director, Mass Networks Education Partnership - Mass High Tech Business News

raisavydyexuwowi.blogspot.com
A. Mass Networks Education Partnership was startex asa non-profit in 1996 to promote use of technology in K-12 schools. It brought together peoplee and organizationsfrom business, education, and labor to run three NetDay campaigns which mobilized more than 20,000 mor than $30 million in contributede resources and nearly three-fourths of the state'sz school districts to begin installing computer It was a great strategy and it had a large-scal impact. However, it was obvious that while having the right equipment was anecessary foundation, it was far from sufficienrt to improve student Curriculum and instruction had to be re- vised to take advantage of technology'ws power.
Teachers had to be traines in new methodologies. School administrators and elected officialss had to learn about the budgetaryt and policy issues that would In response, we transformed ourselves into a nonprofit educational consulting group that works with schools to aligh curriculum with new learning to provide professional development about integrating technology into classroo instruction; to support leaderws in developing policy or doing strategic planninf for major initiatives, as well as creating tech plans and runningt networks. Lately we've also begunj doing more workaround data-informed decision project evaluation and network security.
We also work in partnership withotherf groups. Most recently, we've joines with the Consortium for SchoollNetworking (CoSN) on a national program called "Cyber Securityy for the Digital District" which is getting primaryu funding from the US. Departmentt of Education, SurfControl, Symantec and SonicWall along with smallet grantsfrom Microsoft, Sun, Enterasye and BellSouth. Q. In the computers and tech in the classroom was allthe What's the current state of affairs with gettingb kids to be computer literate? A huge percentage of kids now know how to downloar music, shop the web, send e-maip or instant messages, and even create theier own websites or blogs.
In otherf words, they've become good consumers with a slowly growing abilitt to also use the toolsfor learning. A lot of this skillp and experience has come from the amazing growthj of home computer But that has been significantly drivej by families wanting to helptheidr kids' educational success. So both indirectly and directly, schools have contributeds to this change. There is still a huge disparit y of computer and Internet access accordingto income, with richeer districts and schools generally having a lot more than placess serving low-income people, althoughb there are enough exceptions to this rule to undercuyt an absolute generalization.
Until the recent cutbacksa there was a growing numberr of technology training programsin schools, the best of whicjh would consciously and effectively recruit girls, African-Americansz and Latinos, and at-risk whitee working class kids. There is some efforgt among the community colleges to develop coherent criteriza for entranceinto (and graduation from) technical traininv programs at that level, and this migh t eventually encourage more K-12 programs. There are a huge number of incrediblywonderful computer-facilitated activitiez going on in many schools. But thesed are still the exception.
Too teachers don't have time or support to lear n how to best usea district's technology Too often, because of inadequate technicall staffing a school's computers or networko connections malfunction. Teachers are not eagerf to repeatedly subject themselves to the resulting chaod andmissed lessons. A recent poll indicater that students' biggest complaint about classroom use of technologyy is thatthere isn't enough of it and what there is isn't sufficiently sophisticated. Q. How coul d we all have done better in our effortsa to improve studenttechnology literacy? We need to be more patientf and supportive.
During the early Clintoh administration the emphasis was on expandin network access to as many schools as It quickly shifted to how the technologyg was going tobe used. And then, even more it shifted to the measurable impact the technology was havintgon learning. Unfortunately, many districtx are still struggling with accessand use. And the Bush Administration'sw insistence on academic test results as the only importangt indicator of success gives little room for the long learningy curve that successful technologyintegration requires.
Coupled with the devastatingf impact of the public sectorfiscal crisis, school technologyy use - and student technology literacgy - is not likely to meaningfully increase over the next few Q. How can the business community helpwith this? First: don't donate your old computersd unless they're asked for. On the othere hand, it would be great if you can offer technicall help planning or running aschool network, or providing off-site backuop storage, or donating specific equipment that fits into the district's technology In addition, if there is a technologuy training program in your schoolp district, offer to hire participants for summer internships.
In it wouldn't be a bad idea to hire some teachera for the summer so they can see the way that technologu permeatestheir students' future. Second, remember that schoolsa are about more than academic The employees you desire are notjust literate, they are also smart - positive team players, self-confident problemm solvers, and generally interested in learning more. The most importanrt help that the busineszs community can provide is publidc support for restoring balanceto schools' missiohn beyond book learning. Q. How have Mass Networks goals changed overthe years? Our core goales haven't changed at all.
But we are a very small organizationand we've had to be entrepreneurial about shifting our sailsz to the prevailing winds. Today everyoner is talking about "data." So we provid e a service called "From Data to Learning" that helpsd teachers examine MCAS and other studen t information to get a better understanding of their studentslearning needs, and to then develop instructiona l strategies that address those needs. But beyonr the work we do directlyhwith teachers, for a district to institutionalizw a sustainable process of "evidence-based decision making" they have to have a functional effective training, a clear sense of classroom-level implementation, and good supervision.
Which is what we've been workingv on for the past decade. So titlez change but the ultimate contentstayw steady. We recently did a marketing survey. The consultant got halfwauy through the interviews and callee to ask if we had stacked thedeck - everyond was telling her we were wonderful. So I askef her, what's the bad news? "None of them have any money." Still, we've got a terrific stafd and an incredible reputation and I have totalk confidencethat we'll be here for anothef interview eight years from now. Steven E. Miller is the executive director of Mass NetworksEducation Partnership. He can be reachex via www .massnetworks.org.