The biggest challenges facing today鈥檚 K-12 technology leaders are no real mystery.
School technology chiefs are worried about cybersecurity. They have limited budgets, which have to be stretched to manage a flood of new devices, software, and apps. And they鈥檙e focused on how all that new technology and data can support schools鈥 bottom line: good classroom instruction.
鈥淚n addressing the myriad issues related to managing a district鈥檚 digital ecosystem, IT leaders have not lost sight of the big picture,鈥 according to the Consortium for School Networking鈥檚 , which outlines the priorities and hurdles reported by 335 respondents.
To better understand the big issues facing the K-12 sector鈥檚 chief technology and information officers, Education Week spoke with officials from five school districts around the country. Here鈥檚 what they told us:
1. Beefing up cybersecurity: 鈥淚f it can鈥檛 run on our network securely, there鈥檚 not much reason to have it.鈥
Joe Phillips鈥 leap from the U.S. Army鈥攚here he served as an intelligence analyst and IT director, among other roles鈥攖o director of technology for the 16,000-student Kansas City, Mo., school district was an eye-opening experience for a number of reasons.
The biggest difference may have been in how the two institutions approached protecting and securing sensitive information.
鈥淚n the Army, cybersecurity was second nature,鈥 Phillips said. 鈥淐oming to education was a lot like going back in time.鈥
In recent years, educational data has become a valuable black-market commodity. Districts around the country have fallen victim to phishing scams, hacks, ransomware attacks, and missteps by their own staff and students. The fallout has included millions of lost taxpayer dollars, tens of thousands of teachers and children who have had their personal data compromised, and an erosion of public trust.
It鈥檚 no wonder, then, that the CoSN IT Leadership survey identified cybersecurity as technology chiefs鈥 top priority. More than two-thirds of survey respondents told the group that the privacy and security of student data was more important to them now than in previous years.
In Kansas City, there鈥檚 been a commitment to putting cybersecurity first in the district鈥檚 five-year technology plan, Phillips said. His department is seeking funds for new firewalls, network switches, and wireless access points; new backup and recovery systems; an endpoint detection-response system that can be used to identify and investigate suspicious activity, such as potential phishing scams; and a new disaster recovery data center. By modernizing the district鈥檚 infrastructure, Phillips hopes to plug the holes that malicious actors might seek to exploit.
The work isn鈥檛 sexy, he said. Five years ago, it might have been a tough sell to the district鈥檚 leadership and board.
But not any more.
鈥淧utting out classroom devices is great,鈥 Phillips said. 鈥淏ut if it can鈥檛 run on our network securely, there鈥檚 not much reason to have it.鈥
2. Budgeting on a shoestring: 鈥淲e can get by with less funding because we have good systems in place.鈥
Mary Wegner knows a thing or two about stretching resources in a difficult financial environment.
She鈥檚 now in her 5th year as superintendent of Alaska鈥檚 1,200-student Sitka school district, serving a remote island community that 鈥渟its on a rock at the edge of the Pacific Ocean,鈥 as the district鈥檚 website puts it. During Wegner鈥檚 tenure, the district鈥檚 annual operating budget has declined 5 percent, to a little over $20 million.
鈥淭echnology has taken a cut,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut we鈥檝e learned that we can get by with less funding, because we have good systems in place.鈥
One example: Sitka鈥檚 leadership team and teacher-chaired technology committee recently committed to focusing on technology as a support for classroom instruction, rather than an end unto itself. That, in turn, led the district to change its staffing patterns. A standalone 6th grade technology teaching position was eliminated, and Sitka schools moved instead to integrate into all classrooms the tech skills and digital literacies that used to be taught in standalone fashion. The moved saved $100,000, Wegner said.
Such tough decisions are common in K-12, the CoSN IT Leadership survey suggests. School technology chiefs identified budget constraints as a major barrier for the third year in a row. One-fourth of them said they didn鈥檛 have enough resources to meet school board expectations. Many said they tried to supplement their funding by seeking out grants.
That鈥檚 been Wegner鈥檚 approach. The money that has come in, she notes, hasn鈥檛 been for technology per se. Rather, it鈥檚 been for priorities like culturally responsive teaching for the Sitka district鈥檚 large indigenous Tlingit population.
The lesson?
鈥淚t鈥檚 not about finding money in the budget for tech as an isolated thing,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really about helping teachers change in the classroom.鈥
3. Leveraging data to drive instruction: 鈥淚nstead of digital tools being used as a babysitter, we鈥檝e grown a lot more focused.鈥
Using ed tech to improve teaching and learning is the Holy Grail for many K-12 technology chiefs. Often, that means getting actionable data in the hands of teachers in time for it to actually inform key decisions, such as how to group students or what needs to be re-taught.
Three-fourths of the tech leaders surveyed by CoSN, for example, said they are working to be more responsive to educators鈥 IT needs. Nearly half said they鈥檙e focused on 鈥渟urfacing real-time data for educators pulling together multiple sources of information.鈥
It鈥檚 not as simple as it may sound, especially for small and rural school districts, said Jaraun Dennis, the chief technology officer for Wyoming鈥檚 3,000-student Uinta County School District #1.
鈥淚n our elementary schools alone, we have five or six different options for digital tools,鈥 Dennis said. 鈥淚magine the gamut of data generated when you have teachers logging into all those different places, then going to another place to look at state assessments, and somewhere else for literacy assessments.鈥
Uinta doesn鈥檛 have instructional coaches to help. The district鈥檚 IT staff are stretched thin. Convincing people who understand both the technical and the educational side of the work to come work for low pay in Southwest Wyoming isn鈥檛 easy either.
But progress has come, Dennis said, as the district has become more intentional about how and why it鈥檚 using classroom devices and instructional software in the first place. From a hazy plan to use technology to support 鈥渂lended鈥 and then 鈥減ersonalized鈥 learning, Uinta has grown into a model where teachers use specific software programs to identify and fill gaps in students鈥 learning.
鈥淚nstead of digital tools being used as a babysitter, we鈥檝e grown a lot more focused,鈥 Dennis said.
4. Breaking down information silos: 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to keep up.鈥
Even for large, well-resourced systems like Texas鈥檚 80,000-student Katy Independent School District, getting actionable information in the hands of educators in a timely manner is a major challenge.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the way it is with any large organization,鈥 said Jamey Hynds, the district鈥檚 director of business intelligence. 鈥淒ata are siloed, and people in different departments are trying to put that information together to fulfill their own needs.鈥
A variety of efforts to make the flow of information more seamless fall under the general umbrella term of 鈥interoperability.鈥 The CoSN leadership survey shows just how rare most are: 27 percent of respondents said their districts have fully implemented single-sign on solutions to make it easier for students and staff to access multiple software programs. Fifteen percent make regular use of data dashboards to visualize and analyze information. Just 8 percent say their digital content is fully interoperable.
Hynds has led Katy ISD鈥檚 efforts to address such challenges. The district has its own data warehouse, used to store information from a wide variety of sources, including assessments, the district鈥檚 student information system, and human resources and financial software. Hynds鈥 team has developed 鈥渨ell over 100 dashboards,鈥 he said, including one to track legislation that could affect the district.
How do such tools improve decisionmaking?
When teachers or counselors are meeting with parents, they can open the district鈥檚 鈥渟tudent viewer鈥 to quickly see an individual child鈥檚 full academic history, allowing for instructional decisions to be made on the spot.
Central office staff use other dashboards and data to project new student enrollment, including where English language learners are likely to be, and plan future facilities and staffing patterns accordingly.
And Katy principals can now easily track all the student devices used on their campus, seeing how they鈥檙e used and when they need to be replaced.
It鈥檚 just the beginning, Hynds said.
鈥淭hink about the Internet of Things, creating information about HVAC systems and lights and letting us predict energy costs,鈥 he said. 鈥淓verything is exploding. It鈥檚 hard to keep up.鈥
5. Improving training and professional development: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a cool tool. But how is it going to impact student learning?鈥
Perhaps the biggest issue school technology chiefs must help address isn鈥檛 really IT-related at all.
It鈥檚 about improving teaching and learning in the classroom.
Austin Houp, now in his second year as the director of curriculum, instruction, and technology for Missouri鈥檚 800-student Ash Grove school district, described the challenge.
鈥淎t times, some teachers have a tendency to use tech for tech鈥檚 sake, with no clear pedagogy or learning objectives behind it,鈥 Houp said. 鈥淚鈥檓 able to have the conversation with them, 鈥榊es, it鈥檚 a cool tool. But how is it going to impact student learning?鈥欌
There鈥檚 a lot of evidence that training and professional development around K-12 technology use is spotty. It鈥檚 also highly inequitable: A 2017 analysis by the Education Week Research Center found that students in high-poverty schools were much less likely than their counterparts in wealthier schools to have teachers who had received training on how to effectively integrate technology into their classroom instruction. Houp outlined the contours of the challenge in Ash Grove.
For years, Houp said, any training he provided came on top of his regular duties as a social studies teacher, basketball coach, and football coach. That meant that most of his work with other teachers was focused on the basics of how to operate the iPads and Chromebooks the district had recently purchased.
In his current position, though, he鈥檚 been able to branch out a bit. Now Houp works with teachers to analyze data from benchmark assessments. There are conversations about which digital curricular materials might make the biggest classroom impact. He鈥檚 even working with teachers and principals to reduce student screen time, including implementing plans to forego Chromebook time and promote board games and social interaction during recess.
鈥淭he biggest impact has been a higher level of consistency in how we view technology in our district,鈥 Houp said. 鈥淎ll of us are on a much better page.鈥
