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Overview

Our nation is at a turning point. We know that the world in which our education system was created - the industrial world of the 19th and early 20th centuries - no longer exists. Today we live in a technology-driven global marketplace where ideas and innovation outperform muscle and machine. In an age of digital content and global communications, we must build an education system that meets the new demands of our time. Technology can help us create schools where every child has the opportunity to succeed, while we work to close the achievement gap and address the economic and workforce needs of the future.

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) adds even more urgency to the challenge of determining the proper role of technology in education. To meet NCLB's goal of having every child performing at grade level by 2014, we need to be able to reach and teach every student. Our teachers need tools to help them design and deliver lessons that reflect a 21st century context and engage and inspire student creativity, while educators assess and monitor individual student performance and customize educational services based on that data.

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings is holding a series of roundtable discussions in several cities on technology in education with educators, business leaders, information technology professionals, and others. The goal is to explore specific actions to improve education outcomes through targeted applications of technology and to find a renewed perspective on the role of technology in education reform.

Public Comments

Secretary Spellings would like to hear your ideas on the integration of technology in education. Please take a moment to provide feedback on the following questions:

1. In what ways has technology improved the effectiveness of your classroom, school or district?
2. Based on your role (administrator, parent, teacher, student, entrepreneur, business leader), how have you used educational data to make better decisions or be more successful?
3. In what ways can technology help us prepare our children for global competition and reach our goals of eliminating achievement gaps and having all students read and do math on grade level by 2014?
4. What should be the federal government's role in supporting the use of technology in our educational system?

To share your comments and suggestions, please click on the box above or send an e-mail to edtech@ed.gov. We will read and consider all suggestions. However, we will be unable to respond to individual suggestions or emails.

Resources

Please consult these resources on technology in education available from the U.S. Department of Education:

• "Helping Practitioners Meet The Goals Of No Child Left Behind," information for school leaders on e-learning and other education technology issues: http://www.edpubs.org/webstore/EdSearch/Details.asp? ItemID=ED000258P%20&EdSearchPage=0

• A sample collection of technology-driven resources for teaching and learning produced by various Federal agencies: http://www.ed.gov/free/files/samples.html

For additional information, go to: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/index.html?src=oc

To read the Secretary's "Notes From the Road" online travel log, which includes details on her roundtables on technology in education, please visit: http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/notesfromtheroad/