The State Leadership Center (SLC) is proposing to move forward with its collaborative venture fto foster the use of research in support of state policies that aim to advance systemic educational reform and improvement. Dr. Arthur Sheekey, the principal investigator, will continue to work with a team of state educational technology directors and a team of highly-qualified researchers to achieve the goals as stated in the original proposal to the National Science Foundation (REC 0000509). As a member of the SLC's professional staff, he will assume responsibility for developing and field-testing an instrument process for helping states in examining statewide policies for educational technology and determining whether or not the respective state poloicies complement and reinforce the state's goals to achieve standards-based reform and improvement. The principal objectives for the initial phase of this project (December 1999 - December 2000) involved the identification of a set of critical related to state educational technology decision-making and to engage a cadre of researchers that could communicate efrectively on what states need to know about what works and under what conditions. The product of out efforts to date is to draft assessment instrument - a CCSSO State Policy Chart, which is designed to assist teams of state officials to determine the extent to which state policies and investment strategies for technologies and telecommunications are strengthening curriculum officers and student achievement. The objective for the next or upcoming phase of the project, January 2001 - April 2001, will involve a critique and validation of the proposed Policy Chart [See Attachment] and assessment process.
A long-term goal for this proiect is to incorporate and customize technology assessments into the ongoingStandard/Benchmarking reviews that are conducted by the Council's State Leadership Center. The SLC presently works with all states involved in the processes of changing and upgrading performance statards for teachers. Recent reports from states indicate that virtually all states are attempting to broaden and deepen the disciplanary and pedagogical knowledge of teachers, ijmproving their ability to deliver more challenging and difficult courses of instruction, paraticularly, courses in science, mathematics, and technology that are available to all students. Recent reviews of the states' five-year plans to attest to the fact that states recognize the integration of technology as a critical element for achieving higher performance standards. However, state officials need statewide practices and investment strategies. State policymakers want to know what legislative mandates, regulatory requirements and administrative directives are most likely to stimulate institutional reform and renewal. As advanced telecommunications infrastructures emerge and as virtually all schools and classrooms are "wired," state officials increasingly are directing their attention to human issues.
By concentrating on policies and programs relating to teachers, the SLC is responding to one of the most pressing concerns of states: ensuring the quality of the next generation of classroom teachers. The SLC is committed to helping state officials to learn and share information on how a state, region or school system can develop collaborative and constructive relationships with institutions of higher education or other partners to ensure that teachers will operate effectively in new and different learning environments. The upcoming State Educational Technology Leadershipe Conference, as in the past, provides an excellent opportunity to promote a dialog between key state decision-makers and a group of researchers that are familiar with states and their role in setting and achieving higher standards for all students. Several of participants will work directly the principal invest8igator for this project, and all attendees at the conference will receive a progress report and plans for moving forward.
