Margaret Spellings is under fire

[cross-posted at Moving at the Speed of Creativity]

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellingsnis under fire. Not only is the Department of Education dealing with the ReadingnFirst corruption scandal, challenges to the reauthorizationnof NCLB, and blowback from the recommendationsnof the Commission on the Future of Higher Education, apparently SecretarynSpellings also is receiving heat from members of Congress and others for the Department’snproposal to cut all educational technology funding at a time when many folksnare quite concerned about America’s ability to remain globally competitive (see,ne.g.., A nationnleft behind on ed tech?).n

What’s Spellings’ solution to her ed tech problem? Well, according to one ofnmy well-connected sources inside Washington, she seems to be setting up a seriesnof invite-only ‘ed technroundtables‘ to talk about educational technology issues. Her first one wasnin March in New York. Shensaid that she met with some of the ‘leading minds in technology and education,’nbut two of the three people she listed, WendynKoppof Teach for America and New York CitynSchools Chancellor JoelnKlein, aren’t obvious fits for that label and many ofnthe other participants seemed to either be government types or corporations.nShe did hear from a few K-12 educators about their uses of digitalntechnologies.

My inside source’s biggest concern is that the major ed tech organizations –nISTE, CoSN, SETDA,nNACOL, many of the foundations, etc. – arenbeing completely left out of the conversation. These groups have done an awfulnlot to further the cause of K-12 educational technology. At some point one hopesnthat they will have an opportunity to participate in these roundtables.nMoreover, Secretary Spellings likely has some purpose in mind for thesendiscussions. The last time she did this kind of thing it resulted in the Commission onnthe Future of Higher Education, which immediately made most postsecondaryninstitutions quite unhappy. Is she planning a similar group for K-12 educationalntechnology?

Another issue that will be of concern to many is her seeming interest inntechnology for data collection purposes, not for pedagogical purposes. As anparticipant in the first roundtable said, “She was especially interestednin the role of technology in collecting data about kids and their achievementnlevels.” If students truly are to become globally competitive workers,nattention must be given to effective classroom technology usage that helpsnstudents learn, be creative, and become collaborative problem-solvers.nTechnology to collect performance data on yearly, summative, standardized testsnof basic skills isn’t going to cut it.

The biggest challenge for Spellings is that her rhetoric doesn’t coincidenwith her actions. She says thatnunderfunding of technology in schools is a big problem, but the Department’snfailure to fund the federal Enhancing Education ThroughnTechnology (EETT) program gives her statements no credibility. The federalnTechnology InnovationnChallenge Grant program, the Technology LiteracynChallenge Fund, the Preparing Tomorrow’snTeachers to Use Technology (PT3) program, the Community TechnologynCenters, and the Regional Technology innEducation Consortia – they are all gone. The only thing left is EETT, andnnow the feds have proposed zeroing out that budget yet again.

If you’re an educational technology advocate, it is time to spread the wordnabout what’s occurring (e.g., link to this post!), express your concerns tonpoliticians and policymakers, and educate those around you about what the issuesnare and what potential responses might be. Although it’s not quite clear whatnSecretary Spellings is doing with these roundtables, the notable absence of thened tech organizations and a seeming emphasis on NCLB-related technologies is ofnat least some concern. And of course the biggest concern of all is the fact thatnthe U.S. Department of Education, under Secretary Spellings’ watch,nkeeps trying to walk away from our children’s technologically-suffusednfuture. I wish it weren’t so, but it’s hard to interpret the factsnany other way.

Be informed. Be proactive, not reactive. Get involved.