Page History

Connect Home

• Comcast & HUD Collaborate to Close Digital Divide

ConnectED Initiative, Whitehouse.gov

• Established in June 2013 by President Obama, focusing on enriching education for every student
• Empowering teachers through training and students through individualize learning
• 99% of students access to broadband by 2018 (focuses specifically on internet access only in classroom)
• Supported by companies and FCC as it restructured eRate to support expanding accessibility
  • More than $10B committed including FCC dedicating $2B specifically for wi-fi + $1.5 in annual funds
• Real-time assessments > integration of interactive online tools to meet individual student needs
• Resources for teachers integrating tools, including interactive demonstrations & worldwide collaboration
  • EETT proposed to provide resources and support for teachers, which requested $200M for 2016 which will be distributed in the form of grants to model districts to achieve minimum student to device ratio & internet speed, and evidence-based strategies.
  • Model Districts - in-person or virtual coaching from expert teachers, create virtual networks for sharing resources & collaborating, and expanding online learning,
    • See Stories of EdTech Innovation
• Securing support of private sector companies to create more personalized experiences for students
• See Resources for Schools, Teachers, and Students

 Future Ready, Office of Educational Technology

• Builds upon ConnectED, encouraging District Superintendents to sign the Pledge, demonstrating commitment to "set vision for digital learning, to empower educators through personalized professional learning, and to mentor other district leaders in their own transition to digital learning".
• Components of being future ready - KCSD has established a strong foundation for each to build upon
• Future Ready Schools: Building Technology Infrastructure for Learning

CoSN's Digital Equity Toolkit

KCSD has established a vision and implemented strategies for achieving our goals consistent with that vision, focusing on instruction and student learning.

• Initiatives such as ConnectED and Future Ready, supported by the FCC's restructuring of eRate, and current state and federal legislation, including the potential resurgence of EETT funding. clearly reinforces the direction our District is heading.
• Our vision of Connected Teaching & Learning introduced in 2007-08, (pictured below), reinforced by the release of the National Education Technology Plan in 2010, updated most recently in January 2017, focusing on the criteria below.

• Accomplish our Achievement and Instructional Goals refined each year at both the District and instructional level to best meet our students' needs.
• Fulfilling the demands for proven resources as budget limitations become increasingly significant. 
• Changing the perception that technology and instruction are separate.  
• Continuously identifying strategies for maximizing existing resources while investigating & implementing initiatives involving emerging technologies. 
• Providing ongoing opportunities for authentic professional development and collaboration for all teachers, district-wide. 
• Supporting all teachers & staff, in an ever-changing technology landscape throughout the Kennett Community, while sustaining existing staff & resources available to the Technology Department. 
• Maintaining communication within each building and throughout the Kennett Community.
• Maintaining our vision and working towards our goals despite challenges. Instructional needs drive resources acquired. Students First, Technology Second

Strategies to Achieve our Goals

• Access to Resources to Attain Instructional Goals
• Clear, Strategic Expectations for Integration
• Consistent, Authentic Professional Development & Opportunities for Collaboration
• Consistent & Reliable Technical Support
• Communication & Community Outreach

1. Disseminate KMS Student Accessibility Survey and analyze data.
2. Identify and prioritize areas in need, including devices and connectivity.
3. Determine strategies for expanding existing accessibility opportunities for students such as extended library hours and BYOT.
4. Continue to partner with local businesses & organizations throughout the Kennett Community to address connectivity challenges.
5. Extend upon Student Loaner Laptop Program District-wide, to provide even more students with devices to access instructional programs and content outside of school.
6. Expand accessibility by partnering with local governments & municipalities, along with commercial and local service providers, including Chesconet, our District ISP.
   1. FCC Approves Reforms to Close the "Homework Gap"
   2. Establish partnerships w/ Comcast, Verizon, CenturyLink,  other providers, coordinated by CCIU to address accessibility issues. Possibly work with KEF to provide grants to cover costs for devices and/or broadband access.
7. Explore & pilot unique solutions such as mobile hotspot lending programs, with the goal of 100% connectivity.

• Microsoft White Spaces
• Tech Republic; White Space, the next internet disruption: 10 things to know.
• Spectrum Bridge; Show My White Space
• Carlson Wireless Technologies
• "Stop the Cap", Thurman, N.Y.’s Rural ‘White Space’ Wireless Network Debuts; Speed, Capacity Blows DSL and Satellite Away

Ed Tech Policy, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel (ISTE Conference Session, 6/30)

eRate

• Component of 1996 Telecommunications Act - initial focus to connect all libraries

• 30 minutes online a month on average

• Challenge not connection, it’s capacity, 200 times the users

• 2014 FCC rebooted eRate, updated for digital age

• Refocus from simple connection to capacity (wifi to all schools in 5 years)

• Streamlined application process

• Updated program budget - no longer capped ($1.5B annual increase)

• Adjusted annually for inflation

• Digital textbooks, ongoing updating vs. refreshed textbooks every 7-10 years

• Move from connectivity at school to connectivity at home

• Wrestling with old structure/configuration/expectations of eRate to reflect changes in education

Homework Gap

• 7/10 teachers assign online HW assignments, ⅓ does not subscribe to broadband

• Phone is not an ideal, or even useable device

• Hispanic Heritage Foundation - nearly 50% of students unable to do HW due to not access to internet or computer

• Pew Research - ½ teachers indicated lack of student access at home presented major barrier in integrating technology into instruction

• Going to get worse as more content online

Proposed Solutions

• Lifeline Program - began in 1985, helps support telephone access for low income families. Moving forward, families with school age children should have the ability to choose to apply savings to broadband or voice

  • Broadband will be the solution for voice as well

• Wifi - can be the only means for low SES, 600mhz (TV stations), 5GB (households), $140B dedicated to license spectrum

• Best Practice Expansion - innovative solutions

  • NY Library checks out wifi hotspots

  • CA Coachella - bus hotspots/wifi grabbers & tablets for every student

ISTE Focal Points

• House Bill: ESEA Reauthorization, with EETT component focusing on Blended Learning (see above)

• Hoping to merge tech initiatives with Reauthorization

• Senate Bill: iTech (similar to E2T2), formula program > states to districts

• Doubling funding on professional development

• Potentially 50% of funding must be dedicated to PD

• Bipartisan Effort - legislature addressing the Homework Gap, potential pilot programs

• Need to reach out about participating in pilot program

• Appropriations

• Very strict budget caps on an annual basis, lowered for education

• Possibly reintegrate E2T2 funding back into negotiations, but pessimistic

• Potentially cut $2B+, most specifically Title IIA funds (House),

• Senate proposals better but not great

• Theory that the education bills will not progress

• Very challenging leading up to September

• Privacy - Federal Gov’t noticing issues and pursuing very strongly, need to be mindful and aware that privacy laws could be connected to the ESEA legislation

• Senator Vitter (LA) - Bill would lock down data and would limit how data is used in planning for students

• Bills that would restrict targeted marketing for students, supported by ISTE