Education Technology: State Policy Overview
Technology is becoming an invaluable tool in today's classrooms. While states are improving the infrastructure for education technology, some communities are still lacking the necessary capacity. Rural schools have a greater challenge getting and maintaining high-speed connections for efficient Internet use. Schools serving low-income families, in urban and rural communities, often have fewer resources, which can mean outdated computers and lack of technical support.
Yet, there is a lot more to education technology then just ensuring every student has access to a computer. Teachers need to be adequately trained in incorporating technology into the daily curriculum and instruction. Students will be better served if they are using technology as an on-going part of the learning process, rather than a separate activity.
Adaptive testing can be used more effectively to measure student achievement and results can be returned to teachers in a much shorter time frame. Data can be used to highlight the achievement gap and help schools identify programs that are working or children who are falling behind. Teachers can use the data from test results to help guide the curriculum and improve classroom instruction. Professional development can be offered on-line to provide teachers better opportunities to hone their skills. School choice and supplemental tutoring services can be provided on-line to help schools meet expectations. In addition, schools can use on-line classes taught by highly qualified teachers to overcome teacher shortages, especially in certain subject areas.
Advancements in technology and productivity over the last decade demand new ways of integrating current and future technological innovations into public education. Policymakers are working to provide all students with high quality learning options, regardless of where they live or what school they attend. The expansion of digital and online learning can begin to alleviate inequalities that currently exist between students who have access to high quality teachers and a diverse array of courses and those who lack such access because their schools struggle to attract talent or lack the resources to provide a variety of options.
Key State Policy Issues:
Virtual Schools / Online Courses
Technology has great potential to personalize learning experiences both in and out of brick and mortar school buildings. Schools, districts and states are increasingly experimenting with meeting individual students’ needs through online learning options. As of late 2012, according to Evergreen Education Group’s Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning, online learning opportunities are available to at least some students in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. No state, however, currently provides the full range of potential online learning opportunities, which would include both supplemental and full-time options for students at all grade levels. A notable exception is Florida where, in 2012, the legislature acted to make a full range of supplemental and full-time options available to all K-12 students in the state. Once these laws are implemented, Florida will be the first and only state to offer both supplemental and full-time options for students at all grade levels.
State and district online learning approaches vary. State-led online programs are created by legislation or a state agency and are directly funded by a state appropriation or grant to provide online learning statewide. State-led online initiatives typically offer online tools and resources for schools statewide by combining courses from outside sources. Full-time online programs, also known as cyber schools, allow students to enroll and earn academic credit based on successful completion of courses provided by the online school. Single-district programs serve students who reside within the district that provides the online courses. Multi-district programs can be state-led, run by a consortium or network, or operated by one district that offers an online program to students from other districts.
An important distinction in online education programs is whether the online program provides a complete set of courses for students enrolled full-time or provides a small number of supplemental courses to students enrolled in a physical school. Full-time programs are expected to meet the same accountability measures as physical schools in their states. Supplemental courses can provide access to quality required and specialized courses, including advanced placement and foreign language courses, schools cannot or do not provide.
Increasingly, online learning is becoming more widespread through a “blended learning” model – with schools, courses and programs combining online and in-person instruction. Blended learning has potential to transform instruction by providing a rich data stream about a student’s learning that can be used by the student’s teachers – both online and offline – to provide differentiated instruction. For example, in a blended school, students’ online course results can be used by a face-to-face teacher to determine school group activities and learning experiences in a brick-and-mortar classroom.
State Action
State legislative efforts to date have focused on policies that evaluate enrollment limits and funding sources for online learning; establish statewide virtual schools; evaluate state regulations and policies to ensure proper accountability and transparency of online learning; evaluate laws and policies that prevent students from enrolling in online learning, such as seat-time requirements; and, increasingly, requiring students to complete online coursework for high school graduation.
At least four states now include online learning as a high school graduation requirement, often seen as a first step to ensuring all students are technologically literate.
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Virginia SB 489 (2012) requires that students earning a standard or an advanced studies diploma successfully complete one virtual course.
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Florida HB 7197 (2011) requires students to take a virtual class prior to graduation.
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Michigan SB 1124 (2006) requires all high school students to participate in an online course or learning experience.
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Alabama—Effective for all Alabama students entering the ninth grade on or after the 2009-2010 school year, students required to complete one online/technology enhanced course or experience prior to graduation.
A number of states have enacted legislation to expand online course offerings.
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Florida HB 7197 (2011) authorizes blended learning courses; requires full-time and part-time school district virtual instruction program options; provides funding and accountability requirements; and requires an online learning course for high school graduation.
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Ohio HB 153 (2011) lifts the moratorium on new e-schools, but limits the number of new e-schools that may open to five per year. It directs the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop operational standards for e-schools for possible enactment by the General Assembly. It requires e-schools to comply with the legislative standards, if they are enacted by January 1, 2013, or iNACOL’s standards, if legislative standards are not enacted by that date. The legislation also requires that the Board of Regents create a clearinghouse of online courses based on principles including “Students may earn an unlimited number of academic credits through distance learning courses” and “Student advancement to higher coursework shall be based on a demonstration of subject area competency instead of completion of any particular number of hours of instruction.”
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Utah SB 65 (2011) provides students and families with choice down to the course, with money following the student. Students can supplement their brick-and-mortar education with online courses. Students / parents choose the courses and course providers; the student’s primary school of enrollment does not have control. Course selection is tied to the counselor-led Student Education Occupation Plan (SEOP), and must be aligned to graduation requirements. Subject mastery replaces seat time, which allows students to advance based on competency. Funding follows the student down to the course level; from “Primary Local Education Agency (LEA) of enrollment” to “Provider LEA.” Funding is based upon successful completion; the provider receives 50 percent (25 percent per semester) up front and the remaining 50 percent upon credit earned.
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Missouri SB 291 (2009) provides state school funding to districts offering virtual courses to resident students who are enrolled in the school district. To calculate and distribute funding, attendance of a student enrolled in a district virtual class will equal, upon course completion, 94 percent of the hours of attendance for the same class delivered in the non-virtual program. Charter schools also can offer virtual courses for enrolled students and receive state funding. Nothing in the act precludes a private, parochial or home-schooled student who lives within a school district that offers virtual courses from enrolling in the school district in order to participate in virtual courses. School districts and charter schools must ensure that courses purchased from outside vendors are aligned with state curriculum standards and comply with state requirements for teacher certification.
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Montana HB 459 (2009) creates the State Virtual Academy as a unit of the Montana university system to make distance learning opportunities available to all school-age children through public school districts in the state; offer high-quality licensed instructors and courses that emphasize core subject matters; offer advanced courses for dual credit in collaboration with the state university system; and offer enrichment courses.
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Washington SB 5410 (2009) requires development of a process for approving multi-district online providers, requires accreditation of providers that offer online courses, requires creation of an office of online learning, requires school district boards of directors to develop policies and procedures regarding student access to online courses and online learning programs, and provides for funding to school districts.
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Pennsylvania HB 1067 (2008) establishes a Virtual High School Study Commission within the Pennsylvania Department of Education to examine the feasibility of and costs associated with creating a state-operated, internet-based high school.
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Colorado SB 215 (2007) creates the Division of Online Learning within the Department of Education. It allows a school district, a group of school districts, a board of cooperative services, or the state charter school institute to authorize an on-line educational program; sets forth the criteria for such programs; and specifies which students a district can count in the online program pupil enrollment.
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Florida SB 1522 (2003) grants parents the right to public school choice and lists Florida Virtual School as an option. The law defines full-time equivalent students for purposes of the Florida Virtual School based on “course completion and performance” rather than on traditional seat time, allowing Florida Virtual School to be funded through the state public education formula.
Laptop Computer Initiatives and other One-to-One Programs
Today’s students are surrounded by computers in nearly all aspects of their life, except when they are in school. Many states are beginning to explore the role laptops and other mobile computing devices can play in the classroom. The idea of providing all students their own laptop that can be used in the classroom creates many new learning opportunities and instructional tools. While the learning potential is encouraging, the cost of laptop programs is very high. Schools must have sufficient technology infrastructure to support so many computers using the internet at once. And the devices themselves need to be purchased and maintained. Then, teachers must be trained to incorporate computers into their classroom instruction.
While just a handful of states have enacted legislation creating laptop programs, others are experimenting with changing the definition of a textbook to include digital content and the devices necessary to deliver or experience the digital content—which in some states may be used to provide students with laptops or other mobile computing devices.
State Action
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Indiana HB 1429 (2011) expands the definition of ''textbook" to include certain hardware, software, and digital content.
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Ohio HB 153 (2011) clarifies that monies paid to districts for textbooks may also be used to purchase computer hardware and related equipment.
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Iowa SF 2178 (2010) expands the definition of "textbooks" to include books, electronic materials and laptop computers or other portable personal computing devices.
Electronic Materials / Digital Text Books
As electronic reading devices become more affordable, states have an opportunity to reduce textbook costs and engage students in a way they are more familiar with. Using electronic, or digital, textbooks reduces the need to make large purchases of traditional paper textbooks every few years. E-textbooks can be updated anytime with a simple download. Subjects like social studies where information is always changing benefit most from this feature. Where traditional textbooks rely on pictures and graphs to reinforce the reading, e-textbooks can use videos and other interactive features, making reading more engaging to students. E-textbooks can be either purchased from private publishers, or can be developed by the state itself or by universities.
State Action
According to the State Education Technology Directors Association, about a third of the states have made deliberate policy changes to increase flexibility and digital content. Several large states – including California and Texas – have called for open content and are encouraging more digital content. State laws, many of which have been rewritten to include digital content as an acceptable use of state textbook funding, will serve as catalysts to spur the transition to digital textbooks. While school districts vary, new textbooks for the K-12 curriculum are typically replaced every five to six years in each subject area. Laws enabling these shifts will continue to be important as states move toward increasing the use of digital text books.
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Illinois SB 3115 (2011) defines “textbook” to include electronic textbooks and creates the textbook block grant program. It requires the State Board of Education to annually publish a list of textbooks authorized for purchase.
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Indiana HB 1429 (2011) expands the definition of ''textbook" to include certain hardware, software, and digital content and requires the governing body of each school corporation to adopt textbooks for the school corporation. It requires the department of education to review curricular materials, evaluate their alignment to state academic standards, and publish the reviews for use by governing bodies making textbook adoption decisions.
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Ohio HB 153 (2011) establishes a new definition of electronic textbook as any book or book substitute accessed via a computer or other electronic medium or that is available through an Internet-based provider of course content, or any other material that contributes to the learning process through electronic means. It clarifies that monies paid to districts for textbooks may also be used to purchase computer hardware and related equipment.
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Iowa SF 2178 (2010) expands the definition of "textbooks" to include books, electronic materials and laptop computers or other portable personal computing devices.
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West Virginia SB 631 (2010) replaces the terms "textbooks", "instructional materials", and "learning technologies" with "instructional resources" and allows textbook vendors to submit electronic open source textbooks for approval by the State Board of Education. Also added to the list of acceptable instructional resources are electronic magazines, newspapers and periodicals.
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Texas HB 2488 (2009) permits the use of ‘open-source electronic textbooks’ that can be substituted for traditional paper textbooks. It defines "open-source textbook" as an electronic textbook that is available for downloading from the Internet at no charge to a student. It allows for state-developed, open-source textbooks or for university-developed ones. Faculty from state research universities and accredited private universities can create and edit open-source textbooks as long as they comply with state academic standards.
Support and Training for Teachers to Better Incorporate Technology into Teaching and Learning
Integrating technology into classroom instruction means more than teaching basic computer skills and software programs in a separate computer class. Effective integration of technology should deepen and enhance the learning process. State legislation specifically addressing support and training for teachers to better incorporate technology into teaching and learning has been passed in just a handful of states.
State Action
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Maine SP 161 (2011) requires the Commissioner of Education to develop a program of technical assistance for instruction in digital literacy to include professional development and training for educators in the effective use of online learning resources. It establishes a clearinghouse for information on the use of online learning resources, including open educational resources and open-source textbooks.
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Minnesota SF 2083 (2009) requires the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and Minnesota Department of Education to report to the committees of the Legislature with jurisdiction over teacher education on best practices in innovative teacher education programs and teacher education research. The report must include, at a minimum, information on: teacher education preparation program curricula that will prepare prospective teachers to teach an increasingly diverse student population; opportunities for mid-career professionals employed in professions in which there is a shortage of teachers to pursue a teaching career; and enhancing the ability of teachers to use technology in the classroom.
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