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Virginia Society for Technology in Education

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Advocacy

VSTE Advocates for Fully Funding Title IV, Part A

June 5, 2016

Dr. Karen Richardson, VSTE Executive Director, was part of a press event on Capitol Hill, May 18, 2016, asking Congress to fully fund Title IV, Part A, the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grant (SSAEG) program, which includes the initiative's critically important education technology provisions.

We are urging VSTE members to contact Congress to ask them to fully fund this program. You can learn more about this issue and send a letter at the CoSN Advocacy website.

Here are her remarks:

My name is Karen Richardson and I am Executive Director of the Virginia Society for Technology in Education. CSTE is an affiliate of the International Society for Technology in Education. My role here today is to talk about the importance of fully funding Title IV, Part A in the context of this program's education technology priority.

My first exposure to computers came in 1984 at my first job at a large metropolitan art museum. While I began there in a world of typewriters and paper, within a year, a PC arrived on my desk as well of the desks of almost everyone else in the professional staff.

Fast forward to today, where it would be a very unusual business that did not provide a computer for its working professionals, maybe even multiple devices including laptops and phones. And yet, we seem to still be arguing over whether we should provide funding for computers for students and educators. Moreover, even with all of the technology training private sector employees receive now, there is still debate as to whether we should fund technology professional development for educators. We simply cannot allow digital technologies and technology training to continue to be add ons for our classrooms in a world where they are otherwise ubiquitous. 

Thirty-two years after I received my first computer at my job, far too many of our students and teachers are in schools -- and sometimes in homes -- without access to technology and broadband. It is far worse in our poor and rural communities where broadband access is more difficult to find and more expensive and personal devices are unattainable luxury items.

And yet despite all the challenges, many schools ARE innovating: the are opening up makerspaces in libraries, finding ways to offer multiple pathways to learning for their students, initiating 1:1 programs to level the playing field, sending mifis home with students and teaching kids to code. But fully funding Title IV, Part A would really help all of our schools to innovate.

Fully funding Title IV, Part would mean opportunities for all. It would allow school districts to invest in appropriate, on-demand professional development for educators, allowing them to not only understand how to use the latest digital tools and devices but to integrate them into their classroom curricula and personalize learning. It would allow districts to purchase devices, equipment and software for their neediest students, helping close what we call the "homework gap" which prevents too many low income and rural students from full participation in their educations. It would allow states and districts to hire technology directors, who have the expertise needed to orchestrate education technology initiatives. It would allow districts to provide their students with the computer science and coding skills that will make them successful not just in high school but in college, the workplace and life.

Back in 1984, I didn't know that I even needed a computer. Today, I know that technology is indispensable for my life and work. And it is the same for the lives and futures of our children.

I am here today to urge Congress not to shortchange our students and our country by underfunding this important program. My message is simple: fully funding Title IV, Part A is vital to us all.

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Webinar Event: District Strategies for Achieving Digital Equity

April 29, 2016

Vincent Scheivert, Chief Information Officer, Albemarle County Public Schools (VA) will be a panelist for the upcoming webinar Digital Strategies for Achieving Digital Equity conducted by The Alliance for Excellent Education and Consortium for School Networking. Registration is required for this free webinar which will be held May 6, 2016, from 11:00 to 11:30 AM. This will be the first in a series of webinars exploring digital equity and broadband access.

Vince will be joined by Keith Krueger, Chief Executive Officer, Consortium for School Networking, and Kamila Thigpen, Manager of Digital Learning Policy and Advocacy, Alliance for Excellent Education.

CoSN released its “Digital Equity Action Toolkit” on the 2016 Digital Learning Day. This webinar will provide an overview of resources available in the Toolkit to help education leaders address digital equity in broadband access. It will also include a discussion about emerging strategies that districts are using to overcome disparate levels of access within their communities.

Participants are welcome to submit questions to the panelists to be addressed during the webinar.

Learn more and register now. 

 

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ISTE’s ESSA Primer: Meet the New Law, Not Like the Old Law

April 20, 2016

Thursday, April 28, 2016, 4:00 - 5:00 PM ET

ISTE's legislative counsel, Jon Bernstein, will provide an interactive introduction to help you understand what ESSA has in store for educators. The webinar will include:

• An explanation of ESSA's new framework, including implementation milestones
• A deep dive into SSAEG and how it may benefit ISTE members
• A federal funding forecast for next school year
• Opportunity to get your questions answered

You will need a free ISTE account in order to RSVP for this event.

Learn more

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E-Rate Application Filing Window Extended

April 20, 2016

On April 15th, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) announced that the FY2016 E-Rate application filing window will be extended to allow applicants more time to submit their applications. This move followed letters from a number of parties, including one signed by VSTE's parent organization, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), seeking an application window extension because of problems that applicants were encountering in navigating E-Rate's new application portal.
Specifically, USAC is extending the window for all applicants by four weeks with a new closing date of May 26. 2016. When that window closes, USAC will open a second filing window for consortia and libraries, which will close on July 21, 2016. USAC indicates that the reason for the longer window for consortia and libraries is that many are unable to complete their applications until their member/related school district(s) finalize their discount rates in the system.
Learn more

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Governor Vetoes HB 8

April 7, 2016

VSTE is pleased to announce that Governor Terry McAuliffe has vetoed HB 8, which would have established a new executive branch agency known as the Board of the Virginia Virtual School, to govern and facilitate the provision of full-time, online educational programs.  The VSTE Board of Directors opposed the bill.

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