National Educational Technology Plan

Education has been called the great equalizer. It is key to America's ability to be competitive in a global economy. Technology is also an equalizer. It is at the core of many of our daily lives and work. It has created jobs and careers that did not even exist ten years ago. My son is a Social Media Expert, a career that I had never heard of until maybe 5 years ago. He has a degree in Advertising and planned on writing ads and jingles, which he does, on blogs, social media sites, and other sites on the Internet.

The National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) calls for a transformation in our education system to meet the technology needs of the 21st century learner. It is very possible that my middle school students will have jobs that we currently don't know about. They need to be prepared and technology is that key to preparation.

In order to transform American education, the NETP (p. xii) has developed five goals with recommendations for states, districts, and other stakeholders. This is a 5-year plan that addresses the urgent priority that the Obama administration has placed on education.

1. Learning - All learners will have engaging and empowering learning experiences both in and outside of school that prepare them to be active, creative, knowledgeable, and ethical participants in our globally networked society.
2. Assessment - Our education system at all levels will leverage the power of technology to measure what matters and use assessment data for continuous improvement.
3. Teaching - Professional educators will be supported individually and in teams by technology that connects them to data, content, resources, expertise, and learning experiences that enable and inspire more effective teaching for all learners.
4. Infrastructure - All students and educators will have access to a comprehensive infrastructure for learning when and where the need it.
5. Productivity - Our education system at all levels will redesign processes and structures to take advantage of the power of technology to improve learning outcomes while making more efficient use of time, money, and staff.

I think these are very similar to our state Long-Range Plan for Technology 2006 - 2020, which are similar to our local goals. Now we have federal, state, and district technology goals and all want the same basic elements for our students. We must provide 21 century tools and skills for our students so that America is able to stay competitive in a global economy.